Learn About CarMax Competitors and The Alternative Options
Blog/ Learn About CarMax Competitors and The Alternative Options
AuthorSarah RobinsonCategory General Automotive
We believe you’re quite familiar with CarMax’s commercials. No doubt, they’ve got some really good ads but that’s not enough to crown them as the best company to sell your car to.
You’re probably considering the ‘benefits’ CarMax appears to offer. This doesn’t stray far from the conveniences of having to sit on your couch and relying on the inventory they provide for your decision making.
However, when you take your time to study how this online car-buying company works, you’ll have a change of heart and go for better options open to you.
Today, we’re going to tell you all that there’s to know about CarMax and its alternatives.
Let’s get right into it.
The Best CarMax Alternative.
SellMax is the best CarMax alternative. We keep our overhead low and so, passing on the savings to you in the way of a higher payout on your car is quite easy for us.
Whatever offers you get from CarMax, we’re typically able to beat the carmax offer on it. However, you shouldn’t just take our word for it. You can easily confirm by finding out what your car is worth using our online car value calculator.
You’re under no obligation to accept our offer but if you like it then you can accept it and we’ll take it up from there. Unlike CarMax, we’ll send our professionals to meet you wherever you are. Whether it’s your office, home or anywhere else, we’ll come to you and tow your car away for free after leaving you with a stack of cash.
With SellMax, you don’t have to worry about selling your car privately and the stress that comes with it. We take all that hassle off you. Whether your car is used, damaged, new or no longer runs, you’ll always get a fair price for it at no hidden costs or nasty charges. Selling your car has never gotten this fast, easy and safe.
We even pay cash for junk cars, and damaged cars. Plus, if your car isn’t running any longer we will come to you with a tow truck to remove your junk car. All you need to do is get your guaranteed offer from us at no extra cost to you. Then you’ll see that saving you time and money is of optimum importance to us. The best part? Our offer won’t suddenly change.
Other Options to Consider Over CarMax.
Other options exist for you to consider before hurrying off to CarMax. Here are a few:
Trading-In to A Dealer.
Trading in your car to a dealership is much better than selling your car to CarMax. You might not be aware that in most states in the USA, trading in your car to a dealership will give you a big break on your sales tax. We’ll explain how.
Let’s say your tax rate is 8 percent and you want to buy a car worth $20,000. This means you’ll be paying about $1,600 in taxes.
But if you’ve got a trade-in value worth $10,000, most states will only require you to pay the sales tax on the difference between the two. In the end, it would cost you about $800.
So, if you’re planning to sell your $10k car in the private market, you should be looking at getting above $10,800 for it to make up for the sales tax difference.
If you decided to sell to CarMax instead of a dealer, you won’t be able to utilize this sales tax reduction or difference. This means a dealership offering you $10,000 is much better than CarMax offering you $10,500 for it. You’re still much better off trading it in at a dealership.
Selling Your Car on eBay or Craigslist.
You might be lucky enough and there’s nothing like sales tax in your area. That means the trade-tax advantage from a dealership is no longer in the picture.
If your car is fairly used, there’s a high chance that you’ll make more money selling it yourself to a private buyer via eBay, or selling your car on Craigslist or any other medium.
Just be ready to do your part in avoiding scammers and unserious buyers. It’s good for you to know what your car is worth as it’ll help you decide if the private buyers and what they’re willing to offer is worth your time in the first place.
If your car has high mileage but is still in good condition, a private buyer will offer more than a dealership. Plus, private buyers are always looking to offer top dollar for cars that are in-demand than a dealership that would just dump a number on your car.
Just in case your car isn’t worth much and you’ve realized how spending a lot of money to market it won’t make financial sense then you can always list it on Craigslist or other listing sites.
For example, eBay costs around $60 for a 7-day listing, Autotrader charges about $25 for a three-photo package for four weeks and you can list for 30-days free on Cars.com.
Why CarMax Doesn’t Have Much to Offer You.
CarMax might seem very tempting but it also comes with its disadvantages which you won’t find pleasant. Unfair trade-in values and a lack of flexibility is not far-fetched as well.
Here are a few reasons why The Competition might be better than selling to CarMax
CarMax’s Offer Is Only Guaranteed For 7 Days.
Let’s say you weren’t sure or ready when you received your first offer. Too bad because your offer is only guaranteed for 7 days after which when your car is re-evaluated, you’ll never end up with the same offer.
You’re likely to get much less but not a higher offer. If it does go up then that means there was a mistake either in the first quote, the second quote or you must have fixed up your car which gave it its value boost.
The CarMax Offer Is Based on What Your Car is Worth to Them.
If your car has a high mileage of 130,000 miles or over then CarMax won’t retail your car. Your car will most likely go to a wholesale auction of which they generally make little profit.
So, if you come across someone who sold his Toyota in perfect condition to CarMax and got a little payout from it, it’s because the car has high mileage and they couldn’t have it retailed. The same goes for a car that is over ten years old.
Let’s even say that your car is very valuable and you’re supposed to get a high payout. You might just be shocked that you’ll still receive a low offer. This is usually a case of them having too many of your car’s models in their inventory. Once this happens, they begin to pay less for trade-ins of your car model.
Another thing to look at is demand. If the demand for your car model or make is quite low then you should be expecting a low-ball offer.
CarMax will only offer you a price that’s pulled from their database and based on what the car is worth to them as a company. They’re not going to offer you what a private buyer is willing to because they don’t pull their pricings from general or current market values.
They might make their entire process very simple and offer you authentic checks. Yet, they’re not the best answer for everyone, all the time.
Final Note on Selling Your Car To Carmax.
So, if you’re looking to get the most off your car, CarMax isn’t the best option. There are other options to consider as we’ve discussed above.
Looking for the best alternative to CarMax? Then we’ve got you covered at SellMax. We won’t give you a temporary offer only to change it all of a sudden. You also get a quote from us online and won’t need to come to us, unlike CarMax.
The condition of your car, its mileage, make or model won’t stop us from taking your car. You don’t need to spend a lot of money on repairs just to boost its value too. Our junk car buyers will pay cash for your clunker as it is.
We’re not picky. We’ll never reject a car because we’ve got most of them in our inventory or give you a low offer off that. The guaranteed offer you receive from us has been calculated by car experts based on your car’s make, model, condition, year and location.
With that being said, don’t waste your time on CarMax when you can get a better deal, more flexibility and competitive offers with SellMax.
We’ll make it worth your while. All you’ve got to do is to Value Your Car Today.
