should i sell my car at carmax? any suggestions? (Houston: transfer, buyers)

[lane_change]

Yes.

[HoustonRonnie]

Originally Posted by desertsun41

People seem to think they can command full retail price when they are selling to a dealer. Did it ever occur to you that they need to make a profit in the end? They have to spend a great deal of money cleaning and detailing it before they can even consider putting it on the front line with shoe polish on the windshield. And that car still may sit there and rot on the lot for months all the while incurring carrying costs.

This is the kind of thinking that really puts the screws to every Joe Blow trying to sell a vehicle. It's no wonder that just about everyone hates buying and selling vehicles. One shouldn't give a rat's youknowwhat if the dealer is making a profit. What you specifically DON'T mention is that dealers won't help you at all to determine value. They certainly won't truthfully tell you what, as you say, "full retail is". It's not KBB, it's not Edmund's.. it's not anything you can easily lay your hands on or anything the dealer will quote as an index. Doesn't really matter what you say to the dealer as your price, he'll turn around and say "That's above retail".

Want to sell a car to a dealer or make a trade-in?

Find a friend who has access to Manheim Auction. This is the most accurate, detailed information anyone (including dealers) can get on trade-in and retail values for used cars. 90% of buyers don't even know Manheim is nor that dealers use it more than anything else lately. And, no, I don't have any vested interests in Manheim. Price your sale to the dealer at about $200 over the Manheim price.

So, I, for one, don't care one iota if the dealer makes a profit on my used car, straight sale or trade-in, nor should anyone else.

Just sayin'...

Ronnie

[tstone]

The post mentioning wholesale price is definitely right.

There's a price you have to pay if you simply want to ditch a car quickly and easily.

[houstonfan]

Agree with Desertsun41. These companies exist to make a profit, so they buy low and sell high. It's like flipping houses or trading stocks. The price difference b/w buy and sell has to cover overhead costs (which is not cheap as cars take up a lot of volume and can have long shelf life) pay the staff as well as make a decent profit to make it worth the company's time. The actual tradein value can also be affected by recent trends (ie, Toyota recall, Hummers demand dropped when oil prices soared, etc) which is not reflected in KBB values if it is a temporary trend. If you want top $ for your car, you either sell it yourself (totally avoiding the middle man's cut) or find a place that has the lowest spread (lowest overhead and margin of profit). My opinion is that Carfax is one of the worse places to buy a used car or sell one if money was the only criteria we're going by.
Let us know where you found the best offer for your car.

[desertsun41]

Originally Posted by HoustonRonnie

This is the kind of thinking that really puts the screws to every Joe Blow trying to sell a vehicle. It's no wonder that just about everyone hates buying and selling vehicles. One shouldn't give a rat's youknowwhat if the dealer is making a profit. What you specifically DON'T mention is that dealers won't help you at all to determine value. They certainly won't truthfully tell you what, as you say, "full retail is". It's not KBB, it's not Edmund's.. it's not anything you can easily lay your hands on or anything the dealer will quote as an index. Doesn't really matter what you say to the dealer as your price, he'll turn around and say "That's above retail".

Want to sell a car to a dealer or make a trade-in?

Find a friend who has access to Manheim Auction. This is the most accurate, detailed information anyone (including dealers) can get on trade-in and retail values for used cars. 90% of buyers don't even know Manheim is nor that dealers use it more than anything else lately. And, no, I don't have any vested interests in Manheim. Price your sale to the dealer at about $200 over the Manheim price.

So, I, for one, don't care one iota if the dealer makes a profit on my used car, straight sale or trade-in, nor should anyone else.

Just sayin'...

Ronnie

Just saying what Ronnie? What did you say anyway? Most of it made no sense. I know full well about Manheim, more commonly called as just simply, "the sale". Selling a car to a dealer, a private Joe or giving it away has nothing to do with an end user like an auction. A car auction where dealers dump stale inventory for hopefully that measly $200 profit you speak of has nothing to do with any car auction. And there are many more then just the Manheim franchise which is in almost every state.

My wisdom was dead on with no variations. I know the car business intimately as I was a silent partner in a very large auto wholesale company back in the 80s.

As far as you don't care one iota if the dealer makes a profit, that is proper thinking. But you are all alone with that thought. Most consumers do not want others to make a profit off them. They subconsciously know the seller is making a profit but don't see it so it's ok. If I sold you my product and told you I bought this box for $10 and am selling it to you for $25 you would be pizzed. If I put a price tag on it for $25 you would know no better and buy that box with a smile.

If you only knew the retail markup on everyday items you and I buy today you would be pizzed and feel raped and violated. I know I do. That's why I sell my products today at wholesale. 55% off list price every day and I still make a nice profit. What does that tell you about how low wholesale prices are which is what stores buy at?

Whatever the case.....stay away from Carmax. As some one said before, their overhead is huge and they have to over charge and underpay to cover that nut every month.

[Jacob11]

Originally Posted by desertsun41

Just saying what Ronnie? What did you say anyway? Most of it made no sense. I know full well about Manheim, more commonly called as just simply, "the sale". Selling a car to a dealer, a private Joe or giving it away has nothing to do with an end user like an auction. A car auction where dealers dump stale inventory for hopefully that measly $200 profit you speak of has nothing to do with any car auction. And there are many more then just the Manheim franchise which is in almost every state.

My wisdom was dead on with no variations. I know the car business intimately as I was a silent partner in a very large auto wholesale company back in the 80s.

As far as you don't care one iota if the dealer makes a profit, that is proper thinking. But you are all alone with that thought. Most consumers do not want others to make a profit off them. They subconsciously know the seller is making a profit but don't see it so it's ok. If I sold you my product and told you I bought this box for $10 and am selling it to you for $25 you would be pizzed. If I put a price tag on it for $25 you would know no better and buy that box with a smile.

If you only knew the retail markup on everyday items you and I buy today you would be pizzed and feel raped and violated. I know I do. That's why I sell my products today at wholesale. 55% off list price every day and I still make a nice profit. What does that tell you about how low wholesale prices are which is what stores buy at?

Whatever the case.....stay away from Carmax. As some one said before, their overhead is huge and they have to over charge and underpay to cover that nut every month.

where do you suggest i look into selling my car?
carmax, texas direct auto, where else?

[old hunter]

I had the same problem, then I googled "who pays more than carmax" MotorsOnWheels.com came up. I went there with my carmax offer and paid me $700 more and gave me a free ride to my home.

[katydogs1]

IQ auto buyers is another car buying service. The gave me $700 more than my Carmax offer.

[mikem395]

I believe it largely depends on what car you're selling. Different vehicles have different demand. I sold my 2008 Dodge Durango to CarMax in Virginia for more than what I paid for it. The late model Durangos of that body style were hard to come by, so I got decent money for it. It was still about $3k under retail, but I didn't expect to get retail at a dealership. You don't get retail when you trade a car in, so why expect it there. The VW dealership where I was buying my new car offered me $2k under CarMax. In the end you have to decide on what's right for you, how bad you want to get rid of the car, and how much you're willing to part with it for.

[mark Houston]

Originally Posted by old hunter

I had the same problem, then I googled "who pays more than carmax" MotorsOnWheels.com came up. I went there with my carmax offer and paid me $700 more and gave me a free ride to my home.

I had a similar situation. I have a 2003 honda Accord. I went to carmax and they gave me $4500 then I went to texas direct and they gave me a $100 more . Than I called up these guys and they asked me to come in. They were very professional and knowledgeable about the car and asked for the carmax appraisal and beat it by $800 without buying a car from them. IF i was someone trying to sell my car I would first get the car appraised by Carmax or Texas direct and then call Motors On Wheels and see if they are interested in the car, that way you can get some more money.
I later found out that the bigger dealerships like (Carmax.....) sell your trade-in to smaller dealerships at the auction thats why they pay less for your trade, where other dealers are willing to pay more than what the bigger dealership pays.

This makes a lot of sense, because later i looked at carmax website and they dont sell cars like mine, (older car with a 100K) thats what got me thinking of what they will do with my babe.