k9shelly1

It is with great sadness that I relay my experience with my ES 350.

I owned it for exactly two months. Of no fault to the car, I experienced several issues which, IMO, were the dealers fault.

I had leaks in the windshield (replacement gone wrong before I purchased).
The rear deck was off center (can't explain why).
CD's got stuck in stereo.
Car began to vibrate when in "Drive" and stopped.
Rear window fell off track.

At that point I decided to get rid of the car. I don't know if I'll get another but I wouldn't rule it out simply because of the experience.

BTW, do not buy a car at CarMax. It doesn't matter how good it looks. They specialize in the "make it look good" department.

It is my fault for trusting but it is a Lexus and it "looked" and drove great during the test drive.


This also got me wondering, when is a leased vehicle not "certified" for resale by a Lexus dealter?

Diogenes

If you con't mind, what year was the car and what mileage? Which CarMax? Thanks

garsarno

Sounds like an accident victim (the car).

overclock

I thought all CarMax cars went thru a 1.2 million point inspection and then they fixed what they found wrong?

I had a friend that bought an "inspected" car from a dealership. About a year later everything started going wrong on the car. They went back to the stealership. Those jerks actually said, "Yeah we inspected the car. Doesn't mean we fixed anything but we inspected it." It was an old Ford Escort that had the wrong transmission installed.

That's why I went with CPO. But I've found many things wrong with my CPO that IMHO would disqualify it for CPO status. I'm going to burn that warranty up!

tC350

Moral of the story: don't buy from Carmax

k9shelly1

When purchased the '08 ES 350 had 38,000 miles. When I sold it back to them it had just over 42,000 (two months later). This was at the San Antonio (IH-35) location.

I am a good negotiator when it comes to cars but had an '08 Acadia that I wanted to get rid of. Most dealerships won't give you squat for those as they have several issues as well.

When CarMax offered me $3,000 more than any dealership I jumped at it. I should have just sold that car to them but I felt they were "treating me right" at that point.

That CarMax inspection is a joke. No way that water leak in the windshield could have been missed. The rear deck being off center was noticed after I installed tint on the car and the tint was off (so I thought). Tint was perfect. Even measured and it was dead on.

JRey350hou

kshelley...unfortunately the inspection works both ways. I developed a sm oil leak when I was looking to replace my es330/ 04 . So I took it to carmax within couple days of problem and they gave offer that I thought was in line with value of veh, especially being it had 109 k mi. They looked at car for all of 5-10 mins...i could go on but no need. Anyway called my wife to come pick me up, she thought I was joking....so the transaction was quick and easy . had to use my wife's veh( carpool ) for over month till i purchased ES350-2010 March...which I'm very happy with . So sell dont buy from Carfax I guess.

Diogenes

I'll probably sell my Passat to CarMax, and get a CPO Lexus from a dealer.

k9shelly1

Good point. When I took the car back to them so that they could buy it back from me they did give me nearly $6,000 more than any dealer was willing to give on trade in.

Also, while they were buying the car back I had them remove the "Sirius" radio option that I had installed. While they were removing it they broke several clips and guides for the panels. When I pointed that out to them they just told me, "don't worry about it. No one is going to see that anyway." Made me feel like a bigger idiot for buying from them. What did they see in the car before I purchased it that they thought I wouldn't see.

I would definately sell my "problem car" to them but I will never again buy a car from them. You'll just get a "problem car" that someone else got rid of.

JRey350hou

Now go try to get your hands on ES 2010...the discount levels they are giving right now are unheard of -- 15-20 %, choices will be low , as the 2011 start coming in....I doubt any more 2010 are coming other than whats on the lot. Let us know how and what you decide to do on your next Purchase.

k9shelly1

Actually, we were thinking about the RX 350. Any idea what a "great deal" would be? The sticker for one that I would like is about $48,450 with invoice coming in at about $43,800.

With incentives and what not could I get a better price than sticker?

LexBob2

You might check over on the RX forum. There is probably a lot of pricing information from members over there.

Stu

you got a bad car, just bad luck, and smart to get rid of it

Take your time and find a good one ! its a good time to buy a Lexus ...

k9shelly1

Took your advice. Got our 2010 RX 350 yesterday. Great buy and the customer service at Lexus is second to none.

I won't recommend CarMax ever but I can thank them for introducing me to Lexus.

See you all over on the RX 350 threads.

Megafast13

Yeah those issues sound like it was in a wreck at some point. I haven't heard those comlaints before.