CarMax Ripoff artists Orlando Florida

there are several books out there. blue, green, red, etc. most consumers think blue book value is the value you are going to get for your car when you trade it in. this is not generally the case.

many, if not most, dealerships actually use the black book. what is the black book, you ask? it's the auction value of similar year/model/mile vehicles for the area the dealership is in. let's say you have a 2003 XYZ brand truck. blue book shows you a value of 8000, but dealership checks and sees that they can expect a return of about 6000 if they have to auction your vehicle. guess which number a dealership will present you? the biggest problem with blue book is they don't have a 'print check here' box on their website. i wish there were, in fact, an industry-standard website that would allow for an accurate assessment of vehicle value, but there is not at this time. an on-site evaluation allows to check for damage, both cosmetic and frame, paint, function, etc.

you are NOT being 'ripped off' when you don't get blue book value. consumers refuse to pay sticker price for the car they are buying, why would a dealer offer full price for the car THEY are buying?

it is a negotiation. if you don't like the numbers you are given, ask for a new set, make a counter-offer, or move on. you don't HAVE to pay what is asked of you on the first try, nor do you have to ACCEPT the first offer on a trade in.

I used to work for CarMax and I really don't like the company. They treat their employees poorly and pay them even worse.

HOWEVER, when I worked there as a Sales Consultant, I absolutely HATED doing appraisals for customers. Here's why...

I didn't get paid to do the appraisal. So any time I spent on it was mostly wasted time, time where I couldn't make a living.

I didn't determine the amount of the offer. But the customer always blamed ME, and some of them literally told me to F*CK myself because they were angry.

RUDE PEOPLE. Look, I never held a shot-gun to any customer's head and force them to bring their car in for an appraisal. AND the customer was NEVER forced or pressured into accepting the offer.

So you had these people come in, take up my time, then get ANGRY and UN-civilized about an offer I had absolutely NOTHING to do with, then curse me out from A to F.

People just don't understand the car business. Yes, the profit margin is HUGE on used cars. There can be a 50% mark-up, so I agree that the car they offered you $8,000.00 for might very well have been priced at $14,000.00.

I used to get these idiots coming into the store with a car they bought new only 4 months or so before. I never liked doing late model appraisals because it's a waste of time. People got so d**n mad when they lost $10,000.00 on a car in 4 months.

Like I said, I don't like CarMax for many reasons. But you have no complaint here. They did the appraisal for you at no charge. If you didn't like it, just say "Well, I don't like the offer but thanks for your time." Be professional and civil and think about how the other guy feels for a change. As the Sales Consultant should do for you.

And by the way, did I mention that working for CarMax SUCKS?

Maybe your car was in good codition but the buyer noted that that some reconditioning of your vehicle was needed to meet their standards. Such as cosmetic dings & dents, hail or bug damage, paint fading, etc.. Or possibly the buyer noted a mechanical problem(s) while test driving your vehicle. Such as brake noise or pulsation, tire condition, wear or noise, vibration, rattles, wind noise, etc...

My point is that these repair costs would have been deducted from the Kelly Blue Book fair trade in value. Being that it was an older model vehicle it would have most likly needed several repairs before the vehicle could be made salable. The best thing you had in your advantage was the low miles of your vehicle. But I have yet to hear of anyone getting more money for their trade in for this, only when sold to a private individual.

Or possibly it could have been due to that they have to many of these models on lot and would have to account for transportaion cost to ship your vehicle to another store.