Car Max

[NoCalMike 0]

So yeah I just found out my car has a cracked cylinder head and the estimate is $2400. No fucking way am I paying that much for a repair on a car that probably blue-books for $4-5k. And has over 100k miles on it....

 

So I was looking at Car Max and they have some cars within 10k that are '02 - '05 year models that have low mileage, and I am not looking for anything fancy, just a 4-door Sedan type of car with decent - good gas milage. I already have a very good sound system that I will be ripping out of my now USELESS defunct car, and every car listed on Car Max has more frills then my current car, so no complaints there.

 

I am just looking for comments/concerns/input from anyone who has or knows someone who has used Car Max before that can tell me their experience. Lets just say I have been burned before when buying a used car from a dealership and it kind of scarred me from wanting to deal with a dealership ever again when it comes to used cars.....

[sfaJack 0]

My fiancee bought a Saturn from CarMax a couple of years back. It wasn't the best experience because the A/C didn't work at all like they swore it did (kind of important in Houston in early summer) and there was a problem with one of the ball bearings getting so overheated that the car wouldn't turn/brake properly. Carmax fixed the A/C, but it was after a half hour of haggling with the guy; he tried to give us some bullshit about their 30-day warranty not covering A/C since it was a "luxury" item. They flat out refused to fix the ball bearing and she ended up paying about $900 at the Saturn dealership to get it fixed.

 

Now whether those problems were Carmax's fault or not I don't know. I'm thinking it might be the car since she's had another brake problem since then and her engine leaks oil every so often, but I'd be beware when dealing with them. Even if the mechanical problems she's had weren't Carmax's fault, they still should have been more than happy to fix them since it fell under warranty.

[Hawk 34 0]

You're better off just buying from a restorer. I brought a little 2000 Saturn off a restorer for my girlfriend since I was tired of repairing her old car and it was getting more costly anyways to fix it then it was worth. It's about the same price as you'll find at a dealership or any of these Car Max type places. Not only is the price usually fair, you can actually trust them more so then you could with a dealership whom usually take anything they can get or someone just selling it in his drive way.

 

You can buy a total junk car and get it restored for about the same price as buying a used car and hoping you didn't get fucked.

[Guest Legalise Drugs and Murder]

Just get a car off of some guy. There will always be something wrong with it, but they always run for at least a year or two, and never cost more than a thousand bucks or so. Plus it's a great learning experience. I wouldn't know half as much about engines and things that I know since owning an 82 Chevy celebrity that was started with a screwdriver, with a coathangered-on muffler. I rocked that thing to work and back for 18 months before it croaked. My insurance every six months cost something like three times as much as the total cost of the car. Thing was awesome.

[EricMM 0]

I bought my Corolla from them.

 

Get the warranty, just in case.

 

But it wasn't a bad experiance.

[In Credible 0]

I've been looking for a 02-04 Dodge Stratus and just today signed up for carfax. Get me a list of the VIN #'s and I'll check out their histories for ya. If anything else knowing how many owners and accidents (and severity) can help when negotiating a price.

[Red Baron 0]

Just get a car off of some guy. There will always be something wrong with it, but they always run for at least a year or two, and never cost more than a thousand bucks or so. Plus it's a great learning experience. I wouldn't know half as much about engines and things that I know since owning an 82 Chevy celebrity that was started with a screwdriver, with a coathangered-on muffler. I rocked that thing to work and back for 18 months before it croaked. My insurance every six months cost something like three times as much as the total cost of the car. Thing was awesome.

 

Thats how I got my first car. My 84 Pontiac Parisenne(sp?) was a hunk of junk. Front right coil kept snapping, shocks went on it, brakes went after a year, no A/C, no cruise control, the vinyl roof was ripping off. But man that car was awesome to drive in the winter time.