Why CarMax is a Useful Place for Buying a Car

Have you tried buying a new car lately? Someone meets you in the lot, shows you around, and, when it comes time to test drive, they hop in the backseat, listen in on your conversation so that you can't discuss the car, and tell you which way to turn. They could be trying to be helpful, or they could be keeping you from discovering any problems with the car by making sure you make only right turns and do not go above sixty miles per hour. Buying a car this way is not only aggravating, it is also incredibly treacherous for the consumer, as it does not give you the opportunity to thoroughly inspect a very expensive purchase.

More and more, car lots are not allowing would-be buyers to leave the lot unattended, much less keep the car for any period of time which would allow for an inspection by a mechanic or a knowledgeable family member. Citing things like "insurance reasons," these companies expect you to buy a car on faith, when they don't even have the faith in you to allow you to leave the lot unaccompanied. This bothersome habit is making companies like CarMax more and more appealing when it comes to shopping for vehicles.

Last year, when shopping for a second car, I went through the CarMax experience. A salesman met us in the lobby and took us out to the lot. (Perhaps the most exasperating thing about the experience was the fact that we were not allowed to roam the lot on our own.) He asked what we were looking for and took us around to vehicles that met our criteria, though he did have a tendency to try to up-sell by about ten thousand dollars. When we found a car we liked, we took it out for a test drive with our salesman tucked in the backseat. We drove where he told us to drive, and though we didn't have a lot of time to talk amongst ourselves without our ever present salesman, we did decide that we liked the car enough to want to keep it. Due to CarMax's five day, no questions asked, return policy, we felt pretty secure in this decision.

The car was cleaned up and the paperwork was drawn up and we were on our way. Once we had the car out, and had the opportunity to drive it a little more at our liberty, we noticed a jolt that we thought was a brake problem. We took it to a family member, who told us that it was probably a transmission problem that would be expensive to fix, and that he would not recommend us keeping it.

The next day we returned the car to CarMax. Regardless of the "no questions asked" policy, I was certain we would be bombarded with them. The only question they asked though was if there was something wrong with the car. We told them and they cancelled the sale without another word.

In many aspects, CarMax has the same service that annoys me about other car lots. However, with a policy that allows you to return a car at no penalty to you, and with very little inconvenience, I would definitely buy from them again in the future.