Car Buying & Shopping Made Simple Through Carmax

Buying cars is an exciting time, however it can be stressful, frustrating, and mind boggling. Car shopping can make you want to take the bus. Then through the process you must deal with pushy sales people. I hate the thought of an annoying sales person, getting my money. My wife and I no longer shop at these traditional lots. The hassle is not worth the new vehicle. We do not buy new cars either. Your car will lose 25%-30% when you drive away. We prefer to let others buy the new car, and take the initial loss.

We bought a Volvo XC90 used, with seventeen thousand miles on the car. We paid fifteen thousand dollars less than a comparable new XC90. The shopping was simple because we used Carmax. This is our second purchase from them, and there will be many more. Carmax has given us excellent service with both of our purchases made there. We knew what we were looking for and started searching online. There are three locations near Charlotte with a large selection. We drove to Carmax after finding the car we were looking for. The Volvo was not in condition we wanted, so the salesman took us inside to search online. The car we wanted was in Charleston, SC, about four hours away. Carmax shipped the vehicle to our location, and we had no obligation to buy. After a few days the car arrived, and we decided to make the purchase. There was a small fee for the transport. Carmax will ship to your location from anywhere, however they calculate the cost by the distance.

Carmax uses the Kelly blue book to price their automobiles. This is a fair way to determine the price, which you can check for yourself. If you think the price is high, don't buy. With the Volvo XC90 that we purchased, I felt that they lost money. I would have paid more for the car than we did.

Spend time on their website. They have tools to answer all your questions. The advanced search is a fun tool to search for vehicles. You can search very specific details if there is a feature you must have. If you don't like your results, it's very simple to start over. With over 100 locations nation wide, you should be capable of finding one near you. If you need to drive to another state, it will be worth the trip.

Log on and search for car of your choice. Call the location and make sure your vehicle(s) of choice are available. Schedule a time to meet and look at your choices in person. The vehicles can also be purchased without ever visiting to see the car. If you are making a trade in you will need to visit. You will get a fare price on this as well. We were shocked when they told us the price they would pay for the trade in. We had bought the car from them.

My parents bought a Ford Explorer through Carmax. They had it for two weeks and then had a extremely hard rain. The seal around the front window started leaking. They called Carmax and were given the option of having it fixed, or swapping. They choose the swap. They had to go back and resign new papers, however in three hours they were back home with another car.

Carmax takes pride in their no-haggle car buying. Blue Knob auto sales in Duncansville, Pa is smaller, yet they have a similar shopping experience. I have a friend who makes all his purchases there. He will not haggle with traditional dealers either. Some people enjoy the back and fourth buying, because they feel they can get a better deal. These salespeople do this for a living. They are in the business of ripping people off. I'm not saying every dealership is like this, however most are. I recommend finding a no-haggle place for your car shopping.

My neighbor lost his job and started working at a used car lot. Everyday he would come home tell me the new tricks he learned. He was taught daily how to lie and cheat people. It is a numbers game and the car lot has the advantaged. They take advantage of people to get their money. Car sales people don't have a good reputation for a reason. The joke,"How do you tell when a car salesman is lying, his lips are moving", really isn't a joke.

You can finance your purchase through Carmax, or they will check outside banks such as Bank of America. This will give you different interest rates and monthly payments options. They provide a online calculator to play with. This will give you a rough estimate of your possible payments. You can also find a calculator for your tags, title, and taxes. Use these tools ahead of time to avoid price shock when you arrive. If you are looking for hassle-free car shopping and buying, this is they way to go. I will continue to use them, because this is the way I prefer to shop. I take our Volvo to the dealership for oil changes and service. I can't walk through the lot without having a salesman come after me. This just confirms my thoughts and makes me smile, because I will never buy from people like this again.

http://www.carmax.com/