I recently took my 2005 Mazda RX8 Shinka limited edition to Carmax to get an appraisal because I need to buy something more spacious. My car was purchased as certified pre-owned from a local Mazda dealership, and is in perfect condition inside and out. It is a limited edition, only 1357 were produced. The NADA trade in value on a car like mine is $11,275. I expected to be low balled, but not to the degree that Carmax low balled me! The sales person was very dismissive of me from the outset, and that set the tone for what followed.
After looking my car over, the report they gave me said that the whole front of the car had been repainted, as well as both doors. The car has a clean carfax report, and none of the bolts have been touched. All door stickers are present and original. Carmax offered me $9500! They said it wasn't up to their "high standards, " which I found laughable after some of the reports I've read here.
I am willing to bet that if I had been desperate enough to sell it to them for $9500 that they would have turned around and sold it for close to $15,000 and the repainting issue would have disappeared. When I was shopping for an RX-8 I test drove one at Carmax that was the same price as the one I ended up purchasing, which is a limited edition, and the whole inside of both front seats were deeply scratched from someone having shoved something between the seats.
When I told the salesman that he stated that the value of a car didn't come from the interior, but from the exterior! I told him he was full of crap and left. Bottom line: these people are dishonest to the core, and I don't know how they sleep at night. I would NEVER recommend Carmax, and I would NEVER buy a car from them. Stay away!!
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