Attention to anyone deciding to purchase any vehicle from carmax!!!
1. Do not even attempt to do this unless you want total frustration and a car that isn't reliable.
If you take the time to read this entire story, you will see why BUYING a car from carmax is an extremely poor decision.
Back in September of I decided to take on a job requiring me to have a personal truck to use for work. I heard about carmax and about their 125 point inspection on cars, so I decided to go to the closest dealer and see what they had to offer.
I ran into a "friend" of mine, who actually worked there and was telling about all the different trucks. Well, he suggests a Chevy Colorado that he had driven before. We get in it, everything seems fine. I'm not even sure if I am going to be approved to buy this car, considering I had just turned 21 and I didn't have much credit behind my name.
Well, we get back in there, I'm INSTANTLY approved and am told what I will have to pay. They ask me if I would like to purchase the extended warranty, which would factor a little more in my monthly payments. I decided to be smart and purchase it just in case anything went wrong with this "throughly" checked vehicle.
I drive it for about 3 months and something happened to where it wasn't working right. I carry it in because the maintenance light is on, they find its a small problem, take it in for about 2 days, give me a loaner vehicle, and I get my truck back. I thank them for prompt service and still at this point had no problem with carmax. I figured, a used car is going to have some problems, and I only had to pay 50 dollars for the "co-pay".
Anyway, about a month later, it starts messing up again. I carry it in, they tell me it's a more severe problem and that they would call me. I get a loaner truck and for almost 3 weeks I hear NOTHING from them at all. I figured I would call to see the status of my truck, they tell me that they are going to have to replace the entire engine and that they need all my oil change reciepts (WHICH BY THE WAY, is written in very, very, small print in your extended warranty, if you do not have a "professional" oil change, your extended warranty becomes null and void).
I go through all sorts of trouble to get these reciepts because I drive all over the state and had my oil changed at 5 different places. I FINALLY get all the reciepts faxed over (over the course of 4 or 5 business days), and they approve the engine replacement. The reason they had to do this is because one of the cylinders was low on pressure, (yada yada yada, basically things I do not understand because I'm not a professional mechanic). I accept this and they kept my truck for a little over a month, now it has a new engine in it. I figured, man I will NEVER be seeing these guys again. (yeah... Right)
Now approximately 5 months later, this is now June of the truck starts messing up again. It won't accelerate right, so I take it in. They tell me its a computer problem and shouldnt be hard to fix. Well under the extended warranty, I am covered for a rental car. Well the "manager" couldn't approve a loaner/rental car until he figured out exactly what was wrong. I had to be at work at 3pm and I use my truck to make money.
I'm a professional locksmith and I had to be on call at 3. I get down to carmax at 10:30am.By 2pm, I still had no idea if I was going to be "approved" for a loaner car. The service manager offers me an option to tell me he can call enterprise and they will come pick me up. The only catch is, I have to put it on my credit card for them to give it to me. But, he said, once I figure out whats exactly wrong with it, you should be approved and I will change it over to our account.
Well, 3 days go by, still haven't heard anything, so I decided to call. He told me "I was just about to call you", and tells me that I am approved for the rental car and that he will call enterprise and that it will all be taken care of. He assured me that I would not be charged on my account for this rental car.
I get a call from enterprise around the 28th requesting another deposit to be made, I explain to him that carmax was suppose to take care of it. He said he would call and it should be no problem.
I get a call back from him on July 2nd, and he tells me my truck is ready. Explains to me what happened, and that it should be ready to go. I return the car to carmax, not enterprise where I had picked it up, and go about my business.
Well I drive my car for 2 DAYS, yeah 2 DAYS, and guess what? IT BREAKS DOWN AGAIN. So I'm suppose to go on vacation that next day, it breaks down on me on sunday night around 10pm. It will not go over 40mph. I do not want to wait till tomorrow to get it down there. I drive the truck, really, really, slow to carmax and just leave it there.
I show up at carmax at 06:00am, they do not open till 7 but I wanted to be sure I was first in line, considering I was already losing time on my vacation.
I talk to him, and its not till 730 he finds me another loaner car. I look at him and tell him, "I do not care how long you keep my truck, FIX IT! Keep it a year, I do not care, just fix my truck." He assures me this will happen.
Exactly one month goes by, I have not had ONE phone call from them, giving me any updates. I do not want to call them because I didn't want to feel like I was rushing them. I finally decide it's been a month, I think I have a right to know whats going on with my 16k truck.
He tells me that it has been taken to another dealership and that they have a tech working on it exclusively. They get the truck back, tell me that need to keep it themselves for a little bit longer so they can "test" drive it. I'm still VERY VERY patient at this point, and go along with it. Heck, I really didn't care because I was putting my work miles on their car instead of mine.
I finally get the call that my truck is ready. I go down to the carmax. The manager assures me everything is ok now. I actually believe him because they at this point had my truck for over a month and a half. I get the keys to my truck, and for some reason, the key would not work for my truck.
I go back inside to tell him this, he tells me that it should work. He goes out and tries it, it doesn't work, and tells me that it will work in the ignition. So now, I work for a locksmith, I go and unlock my own car. I try and put this key into my truck, it will not even go in the ignition. Its not the wrong cut on the key, its the completely WRONG blank for my key.
I just look at him all puzzled, he asks me if I have a backup key. I didn't think I did but I would check when I got home. I go home, which by the way is 22 miles away from carmax, and I do not have a backup key.
I call the next morning, leave a message to tell him I had no backup key. I didn't hear anything back. I call back, no answer in the service dept, just the answering service (audix is the name of it, the only reason I know this is because of how many times I heard "your call is being answered by audix").
Now I'm furious at this point, I call down there and finally get in touch with someone down there. He asks the other service guys if they knew anything about it, well they didn't. He tells me he will call me back, I wait for 2 to 3 hours, no call back. I call them back, no answer again just AUDIX. I call back 2 more times, got in touch with another worker there. He tells me the same exact thing and assures me he will call me back.
I do not hear anything back from him, NOW I just decice to go down there. I go in, I do not want to talk to anyone but the manager. I talk to the main service manager, who i had never seen before, and explain to him what is going on.
ONLY BY ME GOING DOWN THERE was anything accomplished on having a key made. It is 445 on a friday afternoon, he tells me the key would be made within the hour. (by now I know everything coming out of their mouth is a lie), so I decide to leave.
They call me at 5:54 to tell me the key tech just made it there and it should be ready within 30 min. I get a call back at 6:15 to tell me that the key that was made doesn't work too well and they will have to get another key made on monday.
At this point, I'm completely speechless because I wondered how in the world did they work on my car, considering they gave me back the completely wrong key.
Again, I'M STILL PATIENT, I do curse, yell, scream, or anything with these idiots. I get a call on monday that everything is good. I get my truck and I told him that I didn't want to see any of them ever again.
Well guess what!!!
3 weeks later my 2005 chevy colorado breaks down for a 5th time in less than a year! And guess what for? The same exact thing i carried it in there when it wouldnt go over 40mph.
I am unable to work the rest of my shift that day and the following 2 days. I call the corporate office monday morning, thinking I do not want to deal with these idiots in hoover.
I talk to someone there, the conversation, and notes were supposedly sent to all the people at hoover, including the operations manager. This was at 9:30 on monday morning.
It comes 2:00 and I have not heard anything from them, so I CALL CORPORATE BACK.
I tell them i'm not hanging up till I hear something. Then, as soon as I said that the operations manager calls me from hoover.
I am boiling at this point, he "tries" to help me, they get a tow truck to come get my truck, and I am put in a loaner AGAIN. The operations manager is pretty rude to me making comments like "well you've driven your car for 30,000 miles, it must be pretty reliable".
I get it taken down there and I'm still awaiting an answer on when my TRUCK will be ready.
And here's the ultimate...
You thought i was done right... Well if you recall in the story, I had to go to enterprise for a rental car, and I was assured I was going to be charged for this. Well I had no access to one of my accounts due to some techical errors on the internet, and I just checked the balance on my american express.
I noticed the balance was significantly higher than what I had charged. Well, I go to check my statement, and guess what was on there. A charge from enterprise for 397.22. Ladies and gentlemen, This is what drove me to write this entrie story on this usacomplaints.com.
Do not buy a car from car max...
I will update you all with the story later. I'm going to seek legal action at this point, consdering how much turmoil this "high quailty" company has cost me.
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