Lets Drive

iTrader: (3)

Same, I've had two good experiences with them, too. They're useful for what they are, which is a means to some leverage with the dealers. One dealer offered $700 less than what Carmax was willing to do on a trade-in (even when purchasing a car from that dealer), so it's always good to explore options.

yjk1975

Pembroke Lexus

2012 13k miles for $49,500. White

melbitoast

iTrader: (1)

Go to Cars.com and do a search for used ISFs similar to yours (year, mileage, and color if possible) that are within reasonable driving distance (~250 miles). Find out what the average market value is for your car, and use that as another bargaining tool. Do the same for a search on the new one you want.

I did this last week for mine, and the average dealer selling price on an '08 in Texas with ~60k was $35,545. So honestly, that $33k offer doesn't sound terrible. With yours being CPO and still having time left on it, I could see how you'd want to push for more. I just wouldn't expect too much more, IMO.

vbb

iTrader: (3)

Of course you want top dollar on your trade, and bottom dollar on your purchase. What you need to ask yourself is how big of a gap between the two can you stomach (ie: how much are you willing to pay?)

Like you, I've had thoughts of trading in my 09 for a 12. I'm not anxious to do this unless the stars really align though, which means I probably will just keep what I have. So for you, what is the magic number? If they offer you $33K on your trade and most of the cars with the year and mileage that you want are going for around $50K out the door, then that gap is $17K. When I go to buy cars, with the intention of trading something in, I tell the salesman and manager straight up that I don't really car which way they need to work the numbers to make their profit, but either they hook me up on my trade or they hook me up on the price of the car I'm buying. Neither of us can have it both ways. When I bought my ISF, I didn't haggle with them a whole lot on the price (they knocked it down about $1K) because they gave me a better than average price for my trade. I'd done the research and knew what was fair for my trade, and they were at the upper end of that figure. The manager was straight up in saying he could work the price of my trade more than the price of the car he was selling, and we both felt we'd made a decent deal.

In short, I'd skip Carmax entirely, and just deal with the dealership where you want to buy the new car.

Mrd916

I called on the Pembroke Lexus 2012 and so far 3 different people from the dealer have called me but still haven't sent me any pics or other info. They are just terrible there just like all the reviews say. Sales manager even called me to ask if I was being treated great and I told him no. He said he would get pics to me right away and an over the phone appraisal on my car. So far he hasn't done either. Also price on that car now says $53k instead of $49,900 so I have no idea what is going on down there. I would hate to drive 4 hours down there and waste my time. I sent the sales manager my final offer on the CPO 2011 and my final price on my 08 trade and we are very close to a deal. Gonna call Pembroke sales manager one more time and see if he wants to sell a car or maybe sending pics is just too much trouble

yjk1975

Take a printout of the autotrader ad. They will honor it. They may not have any pics. There are no pics on the ad.

Mrd916

Pembroke Pines sold the white 2012, sales manager said they didn't bother posting pictures or sending me pics cause they had several people wanting the car. Jacksonville Lexus stepped up a lot, I told sales manager I had to have $35k for my 08 or I would just keep it and he called me back and gave me my price which works out to $37k with the tax savings which is about all I could ask for. He is even having sales guy drive the car to me this weekend cause I can't get off work to go up there and sales guy is gonna drive my 08 back. I ended up getting the 2011 for $49k, not the greatest deal in the world but it's the exact year and color I have been looking for.

KA8

iTrader: (1)

I had one good experience and a bad one. Bad one being this week. I wanted to trade my ML350 for prius, they offered $30K. So I went to Longo toyota and they offered $32K and got certified prius. That was two days ago. Sell to carmax if you HAVE to but go somewhere else

cremaster

iTrader: (1)

although my 2 experiences were great, i also went to them to sell my old G35. they offered $7200. i sold via private party for $10,000. basically, my G was heavily modded. minus for carmax, huge plus for the right private buyer.

SatComm302

Sorry, didn't realize you'd already decided on another F.

Good luck!

2URGSE

Enough said.

ISFWes

Carmax is like any other dealership. If you dont like the deal. Just walk away.

For me they bought my RX350 for 1K less than Lexus was going to give me for a trade in. And 2K less than the blue book.

Yes, I could have played games for a couple of weeks. With people looking at the car and hoping that they had cash.

But 45 minutes after I walked into Carmax. I was out the door with my plates and 25k check.

Rossi

iTrader: (5)

Love the Carmax of Irvine.

Got my 2010 Isf there last year, amazing experience buying the car.
I did not get that much for the trade in, $6k for my stripped eclipse.
I could of get around $9+ if I kepted it modded and found the right buyer,
but I had a loan against the title and could not walk away from the ISF
which had only 6k miles on the odo.

My next (additional) car Porsche Cayenne GTS is going to be a Carmax car, hopefully.

CometVR4

CarMax offered me $1,200 for my 2004 Acura TL with 235,000 miles.

I walked away and sold the car private party within one week for $5000

keyframe13

Smart move, I bet a lot of people would just accept the CM offer.