This is incredible!
I'm down in South FL right now visiting my dad and i went down to sample rd. to look at a 99 328i bmw. anyways, it was some small dealership, nice car, nice price, wasnt that impressed though. On the way back to 95, i see a carmax and figure i'd just see what they have.i get there and talk to the lady at the front. she says the have an 02 330i with 62k mi for 18,999...w/e, im here and ive always wanted to drive a 330. It was a 5 spd and a blast to drive, handled amazing. anyways, we finish and i make sure the titles clean, he says it is. I said, has it ever been in an accident?
he said, Oh deff. not, its in great shape. ( i pop the hood. feeling the edges i realize its been resprayed. there are 0 vin stickers. the driver door, fender, bumper, hood, pass. fender were replaced. after telling him this he says thats not true and thats how BMW's come. At this point i'm really starting to wonder how they stay in business. I said, do you have a carfax on it? he says, absolutely, lets go see it.
We get to his desk and he pulls it up. the carfax, (though usually not trustable) shows a number of things the guy lied about. ( being a florida car, had never been in an insurance auction) SO THEN, what do you know, it had an accident reported. I then picked up the brochure lying on his desk...
"Um, your brochure says, 'we would never sell you a car like this, because it looked like this' (you've probably seen it, it has a pic of a nice looking car and then a pic of it wrecked) and this car has been in a considerable accident." He said it met their standards. I asked what his standards were. he said the car has to have less then 5 body panels replaced. side note:it did have a clean title however. I said what about frame damage. he said that car had no frame damage (which it did, i even went out and showed him all the welds).

So just toying with him at this point, "so, is $18,999 the best you can do?" "there are no negotiations." "Thats a pretty high price, is that because your charging more for the new xenons, fogs, radiator, condenser, and whatever else has been replaced?" "If you buy it now, I'll detail it for free" "(LMAO) oh, thats a good offer, give me your card so i can think about it."

IT IS ABSOLUTELY ABSURD THE STUPIDITY OF THAT PLACE. Anyone else have funny stories about them or care to comment?

 

The guy was telling you the truth about the CarMax policy of no negotiations.....that's the way CarMax works. They post the price on the window sticker, a dealer processing fee if state law allows it (don't know about FL), and that's it. Add tax and tags, and any aftermarket stuff if you agree to it, and you're on your way. They do that to make the deals easy for first-time car buyers and people who don't like to haggle.....like Scion, Saturn, and Internet-price dealerships.

However, I agree that it sounds like he was kissing the Blarney Stone a little on the car's condition. Still, with any used car, it is let the buyer beware. Always look underhood, inside the trunk, underneath, inside fenders if possible, etc.....and inspect the wheels and tires for signs of accident damage. Also the obvious wear signs.......engine smoke, brakes, transmission, steering, etc.....Heck, when I shop with people, or buy a car myself, I even do this for NEW cars, much less used ones. Yes, new cars can be damaged on....or off.....the transporter, and dealerships, in spite of often glowing advertisments to the contrary, are sometimes less than totally honest.

Fortunately, CarMax, like Saturn, has a Buyers' Remorse policy that (may?) vary a little from state to state with local laws, but in general, for a brief period, you can bring the car back in the same condition it was in when you took it home (all the MORE reason to inspect it thoroughly when you buy it) and a clear title and your money, minus tax and tags, will be refunded. The tax and tag money, of course, goes to the state, not the dealership.

 

That sales guy bold face lying about the accident wasn't good, but I wish all dealers had the no haggle policy. The 'song and dance' most of us go through buying a car is one of the more distasteful things in life. I know people who would rather have surgery than buy a car.

 

yeah, it just kinda seemed strange that they can sell a car that has knowingly been in a bad accident. it obviously didnt meet there standards

 

Thank goodness for well educated buyers.

CarMax has it's pros and cons, just like any other dealership out there. Too bad this one dealer was not upfront about the car's previous history. Perhaps he didn't know; perhaps he flat out lied. At least you were smart enough to know what to look for...

 

Carmax tried to offer me $3000 for my 1999 GS400 with ~120,000 miles on it just because it was a Canadian car. Because I didn't want to waste my time, I called in advance before I made the f#$#king 1.5 hour drive from Boston to Conneticut and they assured me that they accept Canadian cars. I guess their version of 'we accept Canadian cars' is 'we will glady offer you 1/3 or 1/4 of the value of your car without telling you that before you waste a Saturday afternoon driving here'. I wanted to kill somebody in the Carmax office for blatantly disrespecting my time in such an egregious manner

 

Hmm we just sold our ML to them, they gave a decent price.

 

Carmax just gave my friend $3500 for his 95-97 chevy silverado with over203,000 miles it, go figure. LOL

 

I have a friend that works there. He says it's the biggest scam ever. He always laughs under his breath when people buy cars from him.

I personally could never buy a car without haggling.

 

If their stock is anything like the car you inspected...that is pretty scary.

 

Their salesmen/women are very uneducated when it comes to there products. They don't know the difference between a 328i or a 325i but from what I see down here they get some pretty good cars.