Selling to CarMax, Carvana-tips?

[ocean view]

Heard on the news last night that Carvana is getting into big trouble for delays in transferring proper title documents to their customers.

Thanks for this. It sounds like this would mainly impact buyers not sellers. I would think that when they buy they are on top of the paperwork because they want to be able to legally sell as quickly as possible. But just in case, I’ll be sure to have DM file the CA DMV Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability Form, regardless of the company she goes with. Better that the DMV gets the form twice than late or not at all.

 

[militaryman]

Am interested in the New Ford Maverick Hybrid compact "truck" but they can take 6 months to get after ordering so after thinking it over we decided we could do with one car for the 6 months or so and sell our 2019 VW Jetta to CarMax. I had heard now was a great time to get rid of a low mileage late model car and I sure heard right! I bought the 2019 in Jan of 2020 for $16,998 after a military rebate ($500) and put 22K miles on it and sold it to CarMax for $20,400 --- Deposited the $$ and ordered my Maverick the same day -- CarMax experience was great, I put in all my info. only (VIN, mileage, condition) and they verified and cut me a check within an hour of arriving at the dealership.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

They seem to move cars to different states all the time, I bet that's part of the problem.
When I sold them mine, I did get a phone call a couple of days later saying they needed one more piece of paper signed and they sent it through an online notary service. I have to admit I hesitated in case it was some kind scam of but I did go ahead and sign it and that was the end of that.
I wonder if some people refuse to sign and just ignore them.

 

[rk911]

I got an offer of $200 from Carmax, for my mom's 2004 Mercury Sable with 60,000 miles on it. Then a dealer offered me $625. Then I sold it on Craigslist for $1,800 and the buyer was ecstatic.

the difference between selling it wholesale vs retail. CarMax and the dealer buy to resell and, hopefully, make a profit. much different from selling to the end user. IMO CarMax, their imitators and dealers are useful as buyers only if the seller needs a quidk sale.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

Or a hassle free sale at a reasonable price and I think there is a market for that especially with all the criminal on the loose these days.
They definitely offer more than any dealer would on a trade in.
There was talk of a Carmax coming to my town and the local car dealer association went crazy arguing about how this would be bad for the consumer. I think they sent some money to the local congressman and we've never heard anything since.

 

[ocean view]

If you do go the CarMax / Carvana route, please let’s us know what they offer.

As promised here is where we ended up:

Carvana offered $400 trade-in only, not a cash offer

CarMax initially said "you have to bring it to us, no internet offer", but DM tried a second time (browser navigation is still a mystery to Mom) and she got an offer of $2400. Which she accepted.

She took the car in yesterday to complete the deal. The local dealer is about 10 miles from her home. She promised me that she would only take city streets and not the freeway. I asked her if she had arranged for someone to bring her home and she said she was going to wing-it, which if you knew my mother, is not typical. When she arrived a "nice young man, Jim" helped her and she told him her age and why she was selling the car (played her little old lady card) and asked did they have a shuttle service to take her home. He said they sometimes were able to provide complimentary Lyft rides, and he would ask his manager, which was approved. So that part worked out okay. They did make her wait around for several hours while they prepared the paperwork. She was pretty tired when she got home, having missed her afternoon nap. About 3 hours in total (the time at the dealer, not her nap ).

Before she started asking for offers I searched on Ebay, Craigslist and FB Marketplace to see if there were comparable cars on the market. There are really almost no older Buicks on the used car market around here. I found one 2001 Buick Century, 38K miles in the SF Bay Area, at $8000. This is the same car as Mom's with similar mileage. It's still listed as available for sale and has been up for two weeks now, so the market is not as hot as we believe.

I'm glad to have her off the streets. One less thing for me to worry about. Hopefully her transition from driver to passenger will be okay. Thanks all for your input.

 

[RetMD21]

That's great that she did it herself and got a free ride too!

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

Good for your mum, she got a great deal, she must have come out of there feeling pretty good about herself.

 

[Murf2]

Yeah, that’s really a fair deal! I’m glad it worked out for her / you.

Happy Thanksgiving
Murf

 

[finnski1]

Good job mom!

 

[Sue J]

Does she have a way to take the CarMax check to the bank?

Or, since she's mastered selling her car on her own, can she learn to do mobile deposit? I bet she can!

 

[ocean view]

Does she have a way to take the CarMax check to the bank?

Or, since she's mastered selling her car on her own, can she learn to do mobile deposit? I bet she can!

Mobile deposit? Ha ha! I think her hands are too shaky for mobile deposit.

A local bank runs a “branch” at her CCRC. All banking is in person, no ATM. She mentioned that they would only be there a couple hours today because of the holiday, so she would make an effort to get downstairs early to make sure it goes in today.

 

[Paulz]

I've sold two cars to Carmax and both were super easy. One was a newish car and they gave me slightly more than blue book. I know I could have gotten $1000-$1500 more selling on my own, but they made it so easy and well worth my time.

My second sale was for a 10 year old car with high miles. I had hoped for $1,000 but would have accepted $800. They looked at it and said it was too old for them to sell so would pass it on to a auto auction firm. Gave me $1200 for it.

Highly recommend Carmax. You won't get as high of a price as selling it yourself, but you won't get scammed or deal with all the hassles either. Well worth it in my opinion.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

While both Carmax and Carvana may offer different pricing, I think they both offer a price guarantee for 15 days so it's not a take it or leave it deal, there is no pressure at all.
You can even go back after the offer expires and get a new offer and sometimes it may be higher especially right now.