In May I bought my second car from my neighborhood Carmax. It was a 1996 Ford Windstar with 39,000 miles for $11,900. I financed it with Carmax at the excellent rate of 18%.
I drove it for a week before I took it back for seeping water in to the rear seating area and screeching belt noise. I noticed a tough gear changing but didn't mention it due to Carmax's so called impeccable reputation for checking out cars.
In July, I drove to Florida to NY and at the begining of September, the cars transmission blew. I had put 2000 miles on it. I took it to a mecanic who inspected it and said it did not have the original transmission in it. It had been rebuilt. I paid $1500 to replace it. The cars transmission continued to give me problems. The rotors went out. I replaced those. The mecanic said the car had more than 40,000 miles.
I have since investigated the minivan and its had a history of problems. Eventually, I had it towed from Georgia back to New York ($600) when it broke down on my trip back to Florida. I took it back to my mecanic and he repaired it again at no charge. He insisted that it was the van from hell.
In November with only 44,000 miles on the car I took it to Carmax. Once there I explained my situation and was told I could trade it in for $5000 because of 9/11 and the transmission (really!!!) they said the car had devalued $7000!!! I spoke to the manager and he restated the previous offer to buy back the car for $5000.in three months my used car was worth 7 grand less than what I paid.
Since then, the car has a had broken ignition swith, tires blew out on the highway, the alternator blew, the battery went, the rear ac blows hot and the transmission had to be replaced again ($2200). The car has 70,000 miles and its value is somewhere between $2000 and $2500 retail. Unfortunately, I still owe $4000 on it.
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