CarMax

This is really a 3.5 star rating, not a total 4.
Went into Carmax/​Town Ctr to purchase a car, hopefully, that same day. I had no appointment. After waiting a few minutes, a salesman came over and we started the ‘process’. Found a couple of cars to look at in the lot. Had looked at 2 – 3 when he rec’ved a call. He politely explained he needed to say ‘hi’ to a person and would take 5 min… for me to continue walking around looking, and politely excused himself to his appointment for 11:15, which he was obviously going to have to say more than ‘hi’. After walking around another 15−20min in the blazing hot sun on the asphalt, I went in and was seated. Saw him still w/​his appointment. He came over, apologized for taking so long but would definitely be with me in a few more minutes. He was and we proceeded to talk about a specific car I found and planned to purchase. He got another call that he needed to help some disgruntled customer in the service dept. He left again, but not before handing me off to another salesman who would help me. This salesman was not as likable as the first but was okay. We talked and I was ready to ‘test drive’ the car. AFTER the test drive, immediately as we parked in the lot, he asked me if I was ready to purchase the car or not. I told him that I’d like to think about it a while; needed to discuss it w/​my ‘person’ and would be a couple of hours before I could let him know for sure about the purchase. He THEN informed me that Carmax policy was that if you took a car for a ‘test drive’, you were obligated at the end of the drive to tell them whether or not you wanted to purchase the car and if not right then, there was no waiting period of even a few hours. The car would be put back on the lot for sale or transfer to another location and would not guarantee it would still be available if you later decided to buy it. I advised him that neither the 1^st salesman nor him had EVER disclosed that info BEFORE the ‘test drive’ so that I thought I should be given at least the 2−3hrs I needed. He again repeated the Carmax policy and proceeded to push me to make my decision at that time. I was able to text my ‘person’; we discussed things and I did decide to purchase the car.
At purchase time, the salesman PRESSURED me about taking their extended warranty. I really had not felt haggled about the purchase of the car (except after the ‘test drive’). It was what it was and that was it. I let him do his ‘spill’ about the warranty, but told him I didn’t want to purchase it. He kept on…‘you want to take the risk?’ ‘you are a gambler?’. AGAIN, I told him I did NOT want to buy it. The rest of my experience in closing the sale was a pleasant one.
#1 comoplaint: I do not think a sales person should be given a new, potential ‘buyer’ 30min BEFORE he as a scheduled appointment; knowing it takes longer than30 min from start to finish in selling a car. I was handed off to another salesman… not appropriate.
#2 complaint: The Carmax policy of what is expected of you AFTER your ‘test drive’ should be disclosed BEFORE you decide if you want the ‘test drive’ or not.
#3 complaint: A no haggle purchase of the car; however, felt PRESSURED by the salesman to purchase their extended warranty.
Overall, I would actually recommend Carmax to others, but warning that if you weren’t absolutely sure about purchasing that car BEFORE taking a ‘test drive’, NOT to take it until you were sure.
MSG

I’m obsessed with Carmax. Great customer service. I always take my car to their service center and they take care of calling enterprise.

Bought a vehicle at CarMax in Kennesaw, GA in December of 2015. This is the first time buying a car from CarMax and for the most part, I’m satisfied. The salesman made the process easy and was patient with us in dealing with our car insurance issues (beware buying cars on days your insurance company is not open… like Sunday). They had a great selection of cars and the vehicle we purchased was at a fair price. We did have to take it back for new rotors, brakes and interior fixes, but it was taken care of. I would recommend this dealership to family and friends.

My experience with this CarMax Service was TERRIBLE! I have an extended service contract on my Nissan that I purchased from this very same CarMax about seven months ago. Granted, this is the first time I’ve had to use it. Given my experience, I will probably never use it at a CarMax location again nor will I ever purchase another car or have anything to do with this company EVER again! I first called because my malfunction light came on in my car, my heat indicator showed my car was cold even thought it had been running for enough time to be warmed up, and my heat stopped working (bad thermostat, duh!) and the lady I spoke with was very unsympathetic, telling me they wouldn’t be able to get me in until the next week. HELLO! My car may overheat at any time, but they can’t get me in for a week??? I proceeded to ask a few questions, which the lady curtly answered and then hung up on me. I called back to speak with her boss and I was referred to the service manager who told me that lady is one of the best representatives in the region (Wow! If that’s the best they have, they should seriously consider cleaning house and hiring all new staff). He also told me to go ahead and bring my car in that afternoon and they would arrange a rental for me. When I arrived, I was told that I had to sign an agreement that if the problem was not covered by my warranty, they would CHARGE ME OVER $ 100 for the diagnosis. I only signed because I was desperate to get my car fixed and I knew that the problem was covered anyway. I sat for THREE HOURS in their waiting area for them to tell me that the thermostat on my car had to be replaced, which I told them when I walked in. The guy at the oil change place where I stopped on my way to CarMax ran the code and asked me about the symptoms before confirming the thermostat was bad in FIVE minutes FOR FREE. I was just told today that the wrong part came in for my car and they weren’t sure they were going to get it done today. Side note: there’s a Nissan dealership right down the street and the thermostat should be a pretty common part. When I vocalized my irritation about the situation, the service writer accused me of treating him badly AFTER HE ATTEMPTED TO TALK OVER ME and refused to speak to me anymore. I did not yell or use offensive language. I simply had enough and I let him know that their handling of this situation is unacceptable. It is sad AND RIDICULOUS that I had to waste my time AGAIN escalating my concerns to the service manager to get anything done.
Even worse, as I sat in the waiting room the other day, I heard them upsell a girl several times when all she wanted was for them to tell her why her brakes were making a funny noise. They ended up «adjusting» her rear brake drums, rotating her tires, changing her oil, and a whole slew of other things she may or may not have needed done to the tune of, from what I heard, somewhere around $ 400. These people should be ashamed of themselves! They did NOT attempt to upsell any of the men that were there. As a woman who often feels vulnerable when taking my car in for repair, I am appalled at their shameless, sexist ways of dealing with female customers.
I will NEVER buy another CarMax car nor will I EVER take my car there again for repair. I will gladly pay my full deductible to take my car elsewhere. Their service writers are incompetent, rude, and they just want to bleed money from people. Worst service EVER!!!
UPDATE: Finally, after speaking with the service manager, they got the right part. According to him, the initial part they received was used. I’m not actually sure if that was just an excuse to cover up their incompetence. They did indeed get my car ready on time and I picked it up today. I did notice a weird burning smell right after I parked it in my garage, but no warning lights are illuminated, my car stayed cool on the drive home, and the heat works. We shall see how it smells in a few days. I still will probably never take my car to CarMax to be serviced and/​or repaired ever again. I simply refuse to support a business that tries to get one over on customers simply because they’re women or treats people who pay extra for extended warranties in such a disgraceful fashion!

Extremely disappointed that the Carmax «policy» is that the car owner must be present before a car can be appraised. Why you ask? Your guess is as good as mine. I was told something about it being a liability issue which makes no sense because the car is insured. Appraising an inanimate object should not change depending on who drops the car off. They treated me like I was trying to buy a timeshare and they couldn’t proceed with the deal without my wife present, instead of trying to get a vehicle appraised as a favor to my brother. Just be honest and say that you don’t prefer to do an appraisal without being able to give a hard pitch to try and close the deal immediately.

Wow. So I was moving from the area and wanted to get rid of my car. Nissan advised that while my car was leased, I could still get rid of it by selling it and paying the difference. This Carmax location offered me a higher deal than I anticipated. I paid the difference a few days later and was car-​note free ahead of my big move. Everything from inspection to final sale was seamless and timely. Nissan got their money less than a week later. If I ever need to purchase again, Carmax will also be my first go-​to place instead of a brand dealership. They are really reputable, and probably the only place I’ve ever been that didn’t put the pressure on and intimidate a potential buyer for a sale. Highly recommended. They legit saved me from a ton of stress, an unnecessary car note, car insurance (HALLELUJAH!) and storage fees.

I wound up not buying a car here, but had a great experience, and feel like I owe a review:
The salesman I worked with was excellent — he walked me through a transfer, gave me frequent updates on the process (I know, CarMax emails you during the transfer, but it is nice to have the rep you’re working with communicate personally!), and was willing to meet on short notice.
I found what I was looking for elsewhere (got a call at the last minute from a dealer) at a lower price, informed the CarMax rep that I was going to be looking at a better deal, and (though he was probably a little annoyed — I know I would be!) he never gave me anything but his best service.
The four stars are because, well… CarMax sets the inventory prices, and the sales reps have no control over that. Frankly, they’re too high, and the financing is astronomical. I know my credit score, and the figures I got were for someone with less than half. I didn’t have any choice but to purchase from a dealership because the dealer was offering me such an astronomically better deal — on a CPO — without haggling.
CarMax: Stop punishing your sales reps. They’re great people, and they could push a lot more units if you gave them something to work with!
I would absolutely recommend CarMax to anyone looking for a difficult-​to-​find vehicle, or if they have a decent price on one — but make sure you shop around!

BEWARE OF THIS CARMAX LOCATION! Most of the vehicles on the lot have bad tires on them… dry rot, bald, unsafe tires. I tried to buy a vehicle twice in the past 4 months and at the last minute pulled out of the deal because I asked the manager to take a second look at the tires and they claim that they meet state requirements. I do not believe they meet any safety requirements and if some of them do, they are barely passing! When I finally spoke to a manager I was told the vehicle I was about to purchase would be checked again to determine if they should replace the tires and I never heard another word from anyone at that store. My sales person did not even have the courtesy to call me and say anything at all so I had to cancel the check that was being mailed from credit union. I pointed out a few other cars on the lot with bad tires and they seemed annoyed and are definitely not going to check on any of the vehicles. If you plan to buy a car from this CarMax location, be sure to check the tires. Look underneath the car as well at the inside of the tires. If the previous owner did not rotate the tires on a regular basis, the tires will be worn on one side but may look new on the other side… don’t let them fool you by turning the tires around so you only see the good side… then a month later you discover you need new tires!

My family and I absolutely loved Caitlin. She stayed with us and worked with us to help us find the perfect car. We visited this Carmax twice before fully commiting to a vehicle but Caitlin was helping us figure things out in a comprehensive way, she asked us all the right questions and really listened to our must haves and preferences to help us narrow down our choices. Her easy-​going attitude also helped us and made us feel comfortable with no pressure. She was super friendly and receptive. Ask for her and you won’t have any trouble buying your next ride. Thanks Caitlin !!

We had some car problems and impulsively went to this location to buy a replacement. The sale was low pressure and low hassle, Ernst is a good guy. After a couple of days, though, we decided to go a different route, and took advantage of their buyer’s-regret 5 day guarantee. I expected for the process to take hours and to be pressured into keeping the car, but it could not have been a simpler matter. Through the entire process we were treated with courtesy and respect.
We have bought a few cars through CarMax and have never had a bad experience. In one case we purchased the extended warranty, which we ended up using a couple of times for expensive repairs, and again, I got no hassle when I was expecting a fight. I am a big fan of CarMax!

I just purchased a 2013 Nissan Rogue from this Carmax location. It was my first experience at any Carmax and I was very pleased with how smoothly everything went. I was fortunate enough to initially be working with Patrick Murchison and he did a great job of answering all of our (my husband was with me) questions, listening to what we were looking for and steering us in the right direction. Part of our car searching involved transferring vehicles from other locations and this all went very smoothly as well. When it came time to actually come in and purchase the vehicle, Patrick was off that weekend but he set us up with Trey Jones who did a great job assisting us and finishing out the car buying process.
I really like that there is no haggling and no hidden fees in this process! All in all, I was very happy when I left and it was a very positive experience! Patrick and Trey were both great to work with!

I just bought a 2014 Jeep Compass at this location a couple of days ago. I was able to get a great interest rate considering my less than spectacular credit.
My Salesperson, Harry D’Arcy, was wonderful!!! He was patient, helpful, very knowledgable, and responsive! He listened to what I needed for the deal to work and he worked hard to make it happen. I love Car Max’s salespeople are not working for commission. I felt that Harry wasn’t just trying to make a sale.
I bought a car, then changed my mind and brought it back the next day. They have a 5 day return policy. Harry was just as patient, considerate, and helpful the 2^nd time. Again he worked tirelessly to help me find a great car!
If you want an amazing salesperson, see Harry! If you want a company with policies that are fair and actually help consumers, go to Car Max!

Not a good experience. I was looking to suprise my wife for Christmas and did a lot of research and shopping on-​line. Narrowed down my choices and went to several places including the Kennesaw CarMax. Terrible experience. First, I am in medical sales. People buy from people they like, pretty simple. Well lets just say they should have Bob’s picture under «used car salesman» in the dictionary.
He was a condescending, arrogant, jerk that couldn’t even remember my name. He was late for our appointment, and then had me confused with a different customer. I used my credit union for financing and this seemed to irritate him. When I declined the extended service, he was really irritated (they must be compensated nicely on extended service becuase they push it hard). He went into some story about how he had to send his watch in for service and it was going to cost almost as much as the initial purchase to have his watch repaired. I think he was trying to use that as an example of why I should purchase the extended service. Whatever dude.
This is the best part, so I left and told him I had some other appointments. Bob tried to scare me by saying he can’t promise the car will still be here. How frightening!
After I had visited other dealerships, a couple of days later I called Bob on his cell phone and told him I was ready to purchase the vehicle. He told me he was on his way to the lot and he would check to see if the car was still there and would call me back. When he called me back, his exact words were. «you’re lucky, the cars still here». WHAT??? I’m lucky??? My reply without skipping a beat, «no you’re lucky, because I’m going to buy it». What a jerk!!!
But it’s not over. He did not ask me what’s a good time for me to meet (as any salesman worth his salt would do), he started telling me his schedule and when he would be available to see me. What a joke. Finally, I asked if after the paperwork was complete would they hold the car unitl Christmas Eve. I’m trading in my wife’s car without her knowledge so this process is a little tricky. Bob got irritated again and said, «no, absolutely not, we can’t hold assets». What? Every other dealer I spoke with had no problem whatsoever with this scenario. Bob did not even ask his supervisor, just an emphatic «no». Well that was the end of that.
It’s experiences like this that give car salesman a bad name and is why people cringe at the thought of walking onto a car lot. This Carmax might not be bad, but Bob is.

My wife and I have purchased three (3) cars from this location over the years: a 2002 Isuzu Rodeo, a 2010 Honda Insight, and a 2008 Mazda Mazda5.
Our last purchase was done with Paul, who was helpful and professional throughout the entire process. We found a car we liked at another location, and Paul helped us have it transferred to Town Center.
Word to the wise: If you are dealing with a sales rep you like, deal ONLY with that person. Paul had told us (as politely as possible) that if we had ANY questions or problems, to call him directly and that he would help us out. We stopped by the day before the car was to be delivered and decided to have our trade-​in appraised. We thought we were being helpful and that it would speed the process along, but by having somebody other than Paul do the appraisal, we cut his commission. He was a good sport about it, but it did slightly irk me that all the effort he put into helping us was rewarded by a reduction in pay.
All together, we have had good experiences with this store, and would recommend them to anybody.

The service manager at this location is the only reason this place didn’t get one star. He was a great guy and promptly helped me with an issue I had. That’s the only positive thing I can say about this Carmax location.
I initially visited in June with a list of 7 vehicles I wanted to look at. I was helped by John (I believe he is who another reviewer lists as «Jay B» because he is older and has a difficult last name that starts with B) and he seemed really nice up until the point he realized he wasn’t going to make a sale. He showed me all the vehicles on my list and I test drove two of them and decided to purchase one of them. Right before doing the paperwork, I told John I wanted to do a once over of the lot to make sure I wasn’t passing up another car that I may like better. While walking the lot, I texted a friend about the car I decided to purchase and was told what bad reviews that make/​model showed online. I had looked up professional reviews, but didn’t think to look at owner reviews. I returned inside and told John that I wanted to go to lunch and do some thinking on it and would return afterwards with a final decision. He suddenly changed his tune and became very pushy and somewhat rude, saying I should just go ahead and purchase the vehicle and could always return it if I changed my mind. He even had a sales manager come over and encourage me to do the same even though I kept repeating that I wanted to do a bit more research on the car and would definitely come right back after a lunch break (we had been there almost 4 hours by this point).
I decided not to purchase that vehicle after reading the reviews and called John on his cell (like he instructed me to do) and explained why. He was again very short and somewhat rude, but I told him I would contact him if I ended up seeing something else on their site that I liked.
Couple weeks later, I did just that. I found a vehicle at the Southlake location in Stockbridge that I wanted to look at. I was unaware that vehicles can be transferred between locations for just a test drive, so I drove to the Southlake location to see the vehicle. Before going in, I called John (who, btw, never even once contacted me to follow up on whether or not I found anything else) to ask what I should do if I wanted to purchase the car. He told me not to tell the salesperson at Southlake that I liked the vehicle, and to call him back as soon as I left and he would set up the transport to Kennesaw so I could purchase it from him. I felt obligated to make the purchase from him since he had spent so long showing me vehicles in Kennesaw, but was really turned off when he essentially instructed me to lie to the Southlake salesperson. He even said «Ya know, because if you buy it there, I don’t get any commission.» I was shocked that he was that unprofessional and tacky.
Come to find out, in this type of situation, salespeople are required to split the commission if multiple people at different locations have helped the customer with their transaction, to include vehicle appraisals. Of course John would know that as an employee, and the fact that he wanted me to be shady and lie just disgusts me.
On another note, the receptionist who answers the service line at this location (like another reviewer has stated) is very rude and doesn’t even try to assist you or give you any helpful guidance.
I ended up purchasing from the Southlake Carmax and HIGHLY recommend them.

I would only recommend dealing w this carmax if you enjoy the following
1: being lied to
2: being talked down to
3: listening to a receptionist pop her gums at you
4: getting terrible service
5: having to deal with all the idiotic employees time and time again because they cut corners and can never do anything right period
To put my entire experience into perspective in advance, I hope their fucking building burns down for the way they treated me.
Terrible, horrible, worst carmax/​car dealer ever! I cannot say enough awful things about this place! The sales person made several empty promises just to sell the car like the 6 months of satellite radio, fixing everything wrong w the car, buffing the headlights etc. He deliberately made an appt for service outside the return timeframe and said the timeframe would be extended to make sure I was satisfied w the service but it wasn’t. They made me buy the tires to replace the ones that were damaged and unsafe on the car plus didn’t even tell me there was a recall that hadn’t been serviced! A few months after they supposedly fixed my car it broke down while I was out of state on vacation. The carmax there was very nice & offered to fix it that day for free but I had to get home so they fixed it enough to get back to atlanta. This terrible awful carmax however made me wait 2 weeks after returning home for an appt, refused to give me a loaner car in the meantime and made me bring the car up there for over 2 hours in the middle of my workday! Then 2 more weeks later when the part gets there they call to set up another appt this time they tell me on advance it’ll take a few hours (they continue to claim they never give a loaner to anyone) and the only times they EVER do appts is 9am — 2pm. Who except housewives can make a ridiculous appt time like that when they’re only open Monday to Friday?! I am absolutely furious at the lack of empathy from everyone on the staff — especially the receptionist in the service dept who pops her damn gums when you ask if they have anything later than 2pm or earlier than 9am! When I tried to speak w the service mngr to reason w him to give me a loaner since I only work 5 miles away he said I could take a cab and stared blankly like he didn’t understand why that was unacceptable.
This is the 4^th car I have bought at carmax and the first experience I have had w this particular location. Due to the awful experience here in atlanta I will absolutely never have dealings with any carmax ever again and will be refinancing my car so it won’t be with their financing anymore!
The only way they will learn that it is not ok to treat people this way is if people stop buying cars there!

*** UPDATE 5÷28÷14 *** I received a phone call from a manager at CarMax in Kennesaw yesterday. He referenced the social media post and wanted to hear about my experience. I shared with him everything that happened and then took ownership and apologized for the experience and told me that is not the CarMax way. He said they would address the situation with their salesperson and asked if I would give them another opportunity to earn our business. He had another salesperson reach out to me named Paul. Paul was friendly, he also apologized for the experience and said all the right things as well. I very much appreciated how the response to my grievance was handled. I will give CarMax another shot because of it. Increasing star rating to 3 stars.
*** ORIGINAL REVIEW *** My wife will be purchasing a vehicle this year after we close on the sale of our new house. We went to check out a few cars at Carmax today with her sister and husband. When we arrived to Carmax, the salesperson, older fellow by the name of Jay B (didn’t get his full last name), asked us what we wanted to see. We told him 3 cars. We were able to test drive two of the three cars. On the last test drive, we confirmed our timeline and by the time we got back to Carmax, he was ushering us out of the car and when we asked about the 3^rd car, he blatantly said he would rather not spend more time with us… We were shocked… I asked him to repeat that and he said he’d rather not because of «a time thing» as he so eloquently put it… Basically, because we weren’t going to be buying THAT day, he no longer had time for us. It had been raining and there was hardly any other customers on site too because of the weather… This is TERRIBLE customer service. Up until that point our experience with Carmax had been very positive and rather than spend an extra 10 minutes helping us test drive the final vehicle, he chose to destroy the experience. Not only is he losing out on a sale but it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth about Carmax and the culture amongst salespeople there that i question whether or not I would buy here.

I have no problems with the purchasing side… the service people are friendly but the service sucks… I had my C 230 Mercedes fixed there transmission and a creeking sound in the tires. They fix it it doesnt come back right. I purchased a warranty with the vehicle they wanted me to pay it again for what they missed the 1^st time. Not happy and I wont take it there again.

I had to get a new vehicle, as my previous one was totaled in an accident. Tom, here at CarMax, was awesome through my entire process. Very friendly and helpful while still making it very professional. He was very honest with me about the car (oxymoron, I know) and sat with me every step of the way. He made sure that I was not getting fucked over and gave me advise on what/​what not to do when purchasing from them.
I was in and out of here in just under an hour & a half and when the time comes for me to get another car, CarMax in Kennesaw it is!

Carmax is alright in my book. Although I’d never buy a car here due to their inflated prices I would still bring them a car I was thinking about trading in and see what they value it at. I took my old Highlander here to get appraised after going to a Toyota dealership and having them offer me $ 3k for it. Carmax offered me $ 5k for my car cash if I would sale it to them in the 7 days. I took the print out from Carmax back to the dealer which matched Carmax’s value, saving me taxes since I was trading it into the dealer.