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My brother bought an E550 benz and had a great experience and my buddy bought a Porsche Cayman and had a similar experience. They have a great rep for a good reason
If we had a bad experience and had to seek legal measures to resolve those issues then it's not like we could talk about them anyways as Carmax makes anyone that takes them to court sign a non-disclosure as any part of a settlement (unless they're grossly negligent or something and have no power at all during negotiations).
i just bought my obsidian 2012 with the red interior from carmax
traded in my g35 coupe they gave me pretty good value for it.
the isf has had some paint work done on it, and the red leather was a bit dirty, but other than that ... it was good.
i made them put the car on a lift so i could inspect under it, and in the 5 day return window i went to lexus to get a pre buy inspection. everything checked out except for some surface rust under the car .. but that was expected.
I bought my F from a CM here in Md. and it was the most disappointing and aggravating car buying experiences of my life. I always said I would never buy from CM but they were local and had one for sale in the color and mileage range I was looking for. I had lost out on a couple others for different reasons at other dealers mostly either due to travel distance to look at it or just not getting there soon enough before it sold. That being said, I wasn't about to let one around the corner from me slip away. I probably overpaid too but that's on me.
As for my overall experience, there's too much info to tell here about the specifics but it sucked. As we know, the F is not your ordinary ride and the sales associates and so called mechanics don't know squat about them. I found this out very quickly after having to return it the first day after I bought it. Don't let any of these guys touch your car. How this car passed a MD state inspection is beyond me? Only goes to prove that there is a lot of questions concerning the accuracy of these inspections. After everything was repaired to my satisfaction, I demanded another inspection by a different inspector and got it. The only good thing was that after all my troubles I got 4 brand new oem michelins installed since they could have just installed 4 cheap tires. Laughably, they also gave me $100 coupon for "future service". (Like I'm going to use that? Lol!) In short, all the tires wound up needing to be replaced for one reason or another since after further inspection the cords were showing on the 2 inner fronts and the one front tire had two small bulges in the sidewall. The rear tires were very low on tread and barely acceptable but also wound up being two different brands. My relative who accompanied me on an inspection even thought they may have been two different sizes too. Upon changing of the tires, 2 of the rims were found to be bent and had to be repaired. Be advised this was not the only issues I had but the main ones. I later sold the rims and bought like new ones so it drives like a champ now.
Needless to say, I will never buy another used car from CM again and would not advise anyone to do so.
I'm definitely not an advocate of Carmax, but I did purchase mine from car max as well. After I purchased it I brought it over to a lexus specialist over here in Vegas and after his inspection he surprised of how clean the car was (2008 ISF). No bends in the wheels or issues with the underside... BUT he
noticed the exhaust was kinked a little bit ( see attached pictures). Long story short it seems that it was kinked due to someone careless backing up the car, damaged the quad timps and bent the exhaust. Because it was in 30 days, carmax ended up replacing everything free of charge (no deductible). They gave me a new exhaust, new exhaust tips, rubber hangars and brackets.
Moral of the story, carmax overcharges and they definitely can be shady. Luckily they weren't in my case, but carmax = pass if you can.
I have not heard great things about carmx buys. I would just have the car inspected if you can. They do alot of their own work as they are such a large corporation. Meaning repaint, quick fixes as most people that buy from there dont know didley about cars. I would say looks good on outside but what you cant see is what will hurt you.
Had a friend that worked there. Said do not buy from us. Now this could be just the one by me.
I would wait for the right one and don't jump on anything quick as stated above with all service records.
I bought my ISF at Carmax Irvine. Fantastic experience.
Around here, half the cars don't make it on the lot, my trade in was
auctioned out to local used car dealers, because it wasn't stock enough in spite of super low mileage
and mint condition. That tells me they are good around here.
In Texas I've worked with a couple of CARMAX sites with pretty decent results, though I bought my IS-F from an actual Lexus dealer. based on these replies it sounds like CM quality can vary from state-to-state.
However even with good experiences I'll admit it seems you will pay a premium; i'd guess it's about 2 to 3% higher than other buying options. You also have an option of buying an extended warranty from CM, though as someone else suggested, I wouldn't trust their knowledge of an IS-F
No experience buying from Car Max. Seems like hit or miss per the previous posts.
ISF is a pretty rare and special breed of car, Car Max works on volume and as mentioned, they probably don't know what they have in their hands as far as the ISF goes.
I would buy it somewhere else. Just my gut feeling.
I bought my ISF from Carmax. It only had 16k on the odometer so I expected mint and it was. I had a great overall experience. History showed it always serviced at Lexus here in town. I continue to take it there. Avoid CM service department, they are terrible.
I bought my F in CarMax from Tampa. Had it shipped in, so took it for a test drive and then signed the papers. There were a few issues that I had to bring to their attention to correct (the sub was blown, or definitely on its way out, and the right rear tire was pretty well worn). The service advisor was fantastic and ordered a new pair of OEM Michelins and a new ML Sub. Had them both installed within a week of buying the car at no cost to me. The primary reason I sought out CarMax to buy the car from was for their aftermarket warranty. I bought an 08 with 52k miles on it, and got a 6 year 100k warranty (that's 6 years from when I bought it 2013 and 100k miles from when I bought it -- so it is warranted through 2019 and 152k miles) that takes care of virtually everything for 3k. If you buy the car from CarMax with the warranty, they are a good deal. If you don't get the warranty (not here for a warranty debate) you can probably find one priced better elsewhere. That said, below is a great article from a good car writer named Doug Demuro who bought a Range Rover with the CarMax warranty and has absolutely killed them with the repair costs vs. the warranty cost.
03-01-16, 01:15 PM
