Should I sell my crappy car to Carmax?

thecarman

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2005
Location
Apex, NC
My dad has a 1998 VW Passat sedan 1.8L turbo automatic with 145k miles. It is driveable and not really beat up, but has the check engine light on, so will not pass inspection and is overdue. It also won't idle right and sometimes cuts off. He's always had the oil changed, and had a new turbo put on in the last few years and some other work done, including timing belt. He's tired of putting money into it, but doesn't think it will sell for much.

Should we just sell it to Carmax?

How much does Carmax usually pay for something like this? (I know, we should just go there and find out, right? :rolleyes:) I'm looking for some confirmation on which way to go with it.

Option 1: Carmax
Option 2: Sell it to an individual. My dad doesn't need the hassle of dealing with potential buyers. And also we believe the car was hit by lightning at one point - it has had freaky electrical problems, and I'd hate for the future buyer to have the same. Our mechanic and insurance company agree on the lightning thing - I'm not making that up. :)
Option 3: Part out on eBay - we don't have the time or energy for that.

So Carmax is looking good to me...
 
Don't sell to carmax. At best, they'll only give you wholesale value for a car of that age with that many miles. You'd be suprised at how bad they'll insult you.
 
i don't know, i've been surprised at a lot of the prices i've heard of people getting from carmax, especially for older cars that need work.

i think it's worth a try, worst case you have to fall back on one of your other options...
 
RufusTheRam said:
i don't know, i've been surprised at a lot of the prices i've heard of people getting from carmax, especially for older cars that need work.
i think it's worth a try, worst case you have to fall back on one of your other options...
Click to expand...
Maybe it was just me they insulted. I ended up selling the truck for twice what they offered me.
 
they offered my wife $1500 for her 02 grand prix because it was a "low demand" vehicle
 
They offered my wife $1700 for her 2000 Sunfire. Thats a little over half what KBB is on it.
 
haha I got you all beat. They offered me 650 dollars for a 97tj with a 4" lift, 33"s, and 80k miles. They said they would have to spend a fortune returning it to stock so they would just have to sell it at auction. Needless to say I sold it 3 days later for 6000 and didnt buy a car from them nor will I ever
 
My wife and i bought an xterra from them. Nice ride....
We paid 16,000 for it and two years later and still only 41 thousand miles they, offered us $5 thousand for it.

what a joke!!!
 
Haaa what a racket that place is, when i was selling my ford in '05 they offered me 6k for my 01 PSD w/ 78k I sold it in the truck trade for 17k. They said large trucks were in low demand and it had high mileage...
 
after we bought the extera...i did say it was the easiest and simplest way to buy a car. Seems like we only actually signed 3 papers and done. Maybe it was so easy because they had hardly ($$$) nothing in it.
 
I work at carmax and they will offer you what it is worth to them considering they are trying to make money on it. That car will be an auction car because of how old it is and the mileage it has. Everyone gets pissed because they are being offered low on their cars, but you have to remember, carmax has to make money too........if you want good money out of it dont be lazy and try to sell it to them, clean it up and sell yourself.

Josh
 
Like what was said, if you have a demand vehicle, they pay top dollar. If it has to go to auction, youll get low balled. I would think a vw would be somewhat of a demand car and it may be worth a shot. Put it up on ebay and explain its condition.
 
If CarMax is gonna lowball you anyway b/c they have to auction it - why not just sell it at auction yourself?
Look up Ray's southern Auto or Mendonhall auto. That way you can set your own price range and see what it goes for, if no takers then just wait 'til teh next week and try again... and if you get tired of it you can just choose to accept a lower bid.

Oh and as long as we're on the "carmax ripoff" stories, how about an offer of $250 for a convertable RX-7 with a recently new factory motor? I sold it for 5x that. Even at auction it would have gotten at *least* $500. Anything with 4 wheels that moves under its own power will get that at auction.
 
Back
Top