Last week my beautiful white 05 v6 was totaled by an idiot driving a camry. Im fortunate to be alive. Needless to say it's been a rough week, but I've finally gotten everything settled with insurance and the bank, and am shopping

To make myself feel better after all the trauma, I decided to upgrade to an 8 cyl GT with leather. I'm obnoxiously picky about color- must be black, legend lime or white - preference in that order, and an 05, 06 or 07.

I looked at a car today I liked quite a bit, but yesterday I had seen a car on Carmax site that was exactly what I wanted, so I ordered it get transferred to where I live- short distance, free transfer.

Then I started doing online research on Carmax....OMG the horror stories.... It seems everyone either LOVES them or utterly DESPISES them. There is no in between. Some of the things about their service dept were really disturbing, and I hate that you can't take the car to a mechanic for a look see before you plunk down your money. I realize happy people don't post stories on the net nearly as much as angry people.... And that they sell millions of cars band have less then 800 BBB claims which is actually pretty good.

But what I saw really made me nervous. I go in tomorrow to see the car- then I will decide between that one and the one I saw today.
Has anyone had any experience with them? Any info or opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

I looked at trading in my 67 and everyone there was nice and helpful. I know a guy in our local mustang club bought his at Carmax and hasn't had a problem.

 

I sold my car to carmax and had an easy experience. The cars on the lot were nice too! I would go 06 if I had a choice. 05 had a few gas tank fill isuues and a couple other , then 07 some things changed like side strap delete on job order #2 (speaker covers, chrome diff, and a couple other small things.

my carmax thread -

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=779028

 

have them show you the car fax also keep in mind sometimes the car fax doesn't show all the facts. Take it for a nice long test drive, turn everything on push all the buttons shut it off restart it right away. Make sure all the body panels line up just right.
Good luck have fun.


Oh and what color did they have for you?

 

IMO, you should buy from an individual. As mentioned above, check the Carfax, and take it to a mechanic. Dealerships are trying to make as much profit as possible. Most private sellers are just trying to get rid of the car to buy something newer and/or different. I've found that bringing cash helps, too. I just got a great deal on an 01 GT convertible last week. The owner seemed to like my $100 bills!

 

$100 bills are so much fun.

I noticed on the lot at CARMAX that the prices were not bad and the quality was nice. I have seen some s197s that are mint and low mileage as many of the cars there are. I didn't used to think they had such nice stuff.

 

As you can see from my icon I went with the legend lime
I had ordered the Carmax car transferred last Thursday - it was only a couple hours away. The sales guy kept stringing me along... First he said Saturday, then maybe Sunday.... Then for sure Monday. When it still wasn't there Monday I had about had enough. Not to mention the dealership with the legend lime offered to sweeten the deal by throwing in a set of brand new tires and beat the interest rate I got from my credit union- which was darned good to begin with. Add in the fact that the lime had more than 25k less miles on it and had a black leather interior and the Shaker 1000, and it was more than I could resist.

I would have liked to have seen the other car just for fun, but I can't imagine it would have been cleaner than what I got. This car does not have a scratch on it anywhere inside or out.