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JackintheBoxster
Let my 986 go today. Will buy another, or another German sports car when I can -- a friend is pushing the Mercedes (? I don't know anything about their models). Have been looking at prices at Carmax--any thoughts on how they are to buy from?
A few months ago a family member had her heart set on a used Lexus LX470 (I think that's the model name/number). She found one at the CarMax site up near Sacramento and asked me to drive her there because she was going to buy the car if it checked out. She had talked to me beforehand and I gave her some advice regarding how to research prices and such and she left her house feeling comfortable about how much the car was worth. 'course, the asking price was high but they always are.
We arrived at CarMax -- big facility and nice inside and very busy -- and she got to the car pretty quick. A walkaround and under the hood inspection found nothing amiss other than a non-functioning automatic radio antenna. The car looked pretty darn good. Oh, I can't recall the year now but it wasn't that old and the mlles were not huge. It wasn't a garage queen but was in nice condition. Test drive went well -- I remained in the back seat and silent for the most part.
Back at the lot we talked on the way to the office and she decided she wanted the car and I agreed it was a good car, albeit a huge car but that was part of the car's charm to the family member. She wanted a bigger car for I guess safety's sake.
At the office the salesman blah blah blah and then the family member made her counter offer. Crickets. And an awkward pause from the salesman. I won't give a blow by blow account I can't recall it now -- but I've heard it before when buying cars. After some back and forth with the family member sticking to her counter offer the salesman left to fetch the manager. The manager -- this the shortened version -- said "we do not negotiate price." "The price listed is the price we sell the car for."
Family member looked at me and I looked at her and said "If there is no negotiation and if you do not want to pay the price listed then you're done." She said she liked the car but the price was too high (and based on research it was and not just a few bucks too high but several thousand dollars too high). I had coached her before that if she was unable to make a deal to get up and walk (slowly) for the door and that's what she (and I) did. There was no "hey come back we can make a deal" or any of that. Drove her the 90 miles or so back to her house then drove the 60 miles back to my house.
Once home she got online and found another suitable car but the car sold before she could make a deal. Then she found yet another suitable car this one I think in Utah and bought it and had it shipped to her. The car she bought was the same model maybe a year older and with a few more miles but in otherwise fine shape and even with the shipping still cost here way under what she would have paid for the example at CarMax. She had her new used car checked out at the local Lexus dealer and the service department found nothing wrong. The car passed smog just fine and she's happy and putting the miles on the car. I've seen the car a few times when she's driven over and it looks nice inside and out -- but big! -- and appears it will deliver her thousands of miles and years of trouble free service.
Overall CarMax is a nice place and for many a nice place to buy a car. But one pays for this, and based on the asking price of the Lexus I think rather dearly. But the place, at least the one we were at, appears to do a lot of business and oh we were there on a rainy day too.