CarMax Hartford

I bought a 2018 Lexus RX 350 from CarMax. I had to pay the $800 personally to get it shipped to Carmax (no refund for me and I paid almost $30,000 for the car before taxes, warrantees, shipping, and other fees). After received the shipped car and checked it out (a couple days) I took possession of it and took it in for the 5 year big servicing which hadn't been done yet. Hoffman Lexus gave me a written list of all things that were wrong with the car (considered critical that need immediate attention) and they tole me it wasn't safe to take on a road trip until fixed. So they provided a loaner for me to go on vacation the next week. Here is their list and CarMax’s response: 1. The Control Arm – front bushing was torn. According to Lexus, a broken or damaged front control arm will affect the stability and smoothness of the ride. If not replaced the front control arm will cause “wheel hop” and can cause damage to the drive train. o Car Max said the front bushing was not torn, broken, or damaged. They refused to provide picture of it so I could validate that conclusion. They say the car is fit to go on a road trip. 2. Water Pump Replacement – The water pump was leaking. o Car Max agreed and has scheduled servicing in about 30 days. Car Max says it is safe to drive on a road trip until then because the leak is slow. I have another vacation coming up in a week. 3. Wheel Alignment – the wheels are out of alignment o It’s not clear to me if CarMax is doing this fix or not. They have not provided a written list of all the repairs they are doing. I have listed what I heard from the service person over the phone who scheduled the nearest appointment for the servicing. They have not provided a written list. 4. Drive Belt – It is worn and needs replacement with the “Serpentine” belt – a modern better designed belt. If a worn belt is not replaced and breaks, such as the alternator belt, the driver may not realize there is a problem before the engine is damaged. Lexus recommends replacing with the “Serpentine” belt. o I’m not sure if CarMax said they were fixing this with Serpentine belt or not. They said they were replacing some belt but I don’t have the details. I don’t know what belt they are replacing. 5. Brake Rotor Resurface – front: having a vibration. Lexus: The technician took my car for a drive and noticed the front vibration. Upon further examination, they determined that the brake rotors should be “resurfaced”. Resurfacing brake rotors means that damaged material is removed. Brake rotors in poor condition can cause undo wear to the brake pads and calipers. Lexus recommends resurfacing the brake rotors to remove the damaged material before the brakes and rotors are deemed not serviceable and must be replaced. o Car Max says the brakes are fine and don’t need any servicing 6. Tires – the tires should be replaced as they are close to worn out. Selling me a vehicle for $30,000 plus $800 shipping should be a vehicle that doesn’t need immediate maintenance of tires replacement. In our climate, tires should be above 6/32 to go through our winters. o Car Max agreed the tires needed replacement but they won’t pay for that because they say I must have driven the extra miles since I took ownership of the car (they should look at the odometer now versus when I bought the vehicle and they would see I have hardly driven the vehicle since the purchase date.

The truck was misrepresented It was not an SR5 It was advertised with aluminum wheels. It had painted steel wheels They did adjust the price but nit enough. I believe they would wait and let a less experienced buyer to purchase the vehicle.

Feeling very disappointed. I’ve been purchasing vehicles from CarMax Hartford for years. They should have taken better care of a returning customer. I test drove a vehicle that I was interested and had already gotten the pre approval. While I still owe $29000 on my current vehicle, CarMax only appraised it at $3900. It’s a bmw which I’m sure they are going to turn around and sell for much more. So much for valuing your customers.

I inquired about a car on their website.And they sent me an email which had no information that helps me. I tried calling them 3 or4 different times and they never picked up the phone. I guess they're hiring kids who are afraid to talk to people!!

If I could leave zero stars I would. I scheduled a test drive appointment today. Everything was confirmed and in fact I received way too many phone calls and texts after scheduling my appointment confirming everything and seemingly trying to ensure a sale even though I was clear I was just doing a test drive. I was unaware the car had to be transported from RI to Hartford (I would find this out later) since Hartford was the location listed on the Carmax website. I arrived for my appointment after driving for 45 minutes from Mass, and was initially told I would have a long wait even though I had scheduled an appointment because Carmax just let's people book appointments without having a system set up that keeps track of the amount of people booking (the person who checked me in seemed to think this was a pretty horrid system as well). Turns out I didn't have to wait long at all to meet with someone and give them my license and insurance to start the test drive. The employee then asks me if I had the car transferred (I said, not that I know of because it was listed as Hartford on the site.) Come to find out, the car had just arrived and requires an inspection before it's let out for a test drive. Guess what? No mechanics were on to complete the inspection. So after 5.phone calls and at least just as many texts confirming everything with me and telling me the car was ready, the car had just arrived there. In fact, as I was leaving and saw them pulling the car out of the service bay (as no one was going to be able to complete the inspection), I noticed that I had passed this car on my way into CarMax on the highway. It had a distinct NJ license plate and I remembered looking at the car because it was exactly what I was going to see and I did notice the numbers on the plate. Same car. So, poor planning, horrible customer service and total lack of give a xxxx of a customers time, caused me to put miles on my already wearing vehicle and wasted 2.5 hours of my day. No apologies, nothing. I was told at the end of my sit down that best case scenario the inspection could be done tomorrow. I looked at him and said, "yeah, I won't be coming back". This was my first visit to a CarMax and will certainly be my last. If you want the experience of being herded like a cattle and no personalized consideration whatsoever, definitely give them a try. I have never been so pissed in my life. I will never step into a CarMax again.

Transfered the vehicle I was interested in to a closer carmax near me in no time!

Jennifer Ledwith (salesperson) was fantastic in helping me secure my vehicle. She made sure all the details of the vehicle were handled professionally. They even reimbursed me for some minor issues to make the car perfect. Their 30 day money-back guarantee plus the advantage of adding Maxcare was the Deal-Maker for me. It was a win-win! I would definitely purchase a car through Carmax again. Extremely satisfied.

Purchased two cars from Carmax. First experience I assumed the challenges were due to the new employee so I gave them some leeway. Showed up and they had to rerun my credit application because the individual accidentally deleted my transaction. Ok he’s new. Took a very long time to process. Got to the point of actually getting the car and it was filthy, but at that point it had been a couple hours so I was ready to go. The warrantee is good so I decided when I needed a second car to go there thinking it was just the previous employees issues. I show up after being told I’d be signing paperwork and leaving since everything was emailed in. Not the case. 1 hour drive for nothing. So customer care does not communicate with the actual location. For my inconvenience I was told they’d do some extra things. Looking at the vehicle there was a small chip in the paint and a light scratch on one fender. They said no problem that’s easy to fix as we are prepping the car for you. Car supposedly is getting cleaned up as I am signing paperwork. They had to run my credit app again because they “lost it in the system”. Hour later car is parked outside ready for me. It’s dark so you couldn’t see much. I thought this was odd because you’d typically get the car in the well lit garage bay and drive it out. Well the truck was still dirty, the chip was still there and the scratch was still there. They say what they need to so they can get the sale. The first instance was not due to the person being new. That’s just how they operate. A call back said I should have inspected the car, which I thought was funny since it was parked out in the dark on the side of the garage. That will be my last time purchasing a car with them. This wasn’t a 10k car. This is 35k and they were just saying and doing what they needed to get the car in my name and get me out the door.

Extremely disappointed. Don't pick up your car and assume that they've done their do diligence inspecting the vehicle. During my test drive I noticed that the entire back window view was obscured and I was told it was just from being rinsed off. Of course, I come back to pick up the vehicle and get half way down the highway only to find the back window still blurry, likely because of a tint job gone wrong. They simply ignored it, or somehow missed it during their "detailed" inspection. My backseat isn't totally connected so it rattles like the right side of the car is falling apart when I hit a bump. Thermostat is problematic, front ashtray door sticks and the charger inside of it is blown. Transmission feels like it needs servicing. Check engine light has come on and off twice in 6 weeks. While it's nice to have a 90 day warranty, it was hard enough to pick the car up before closing and now I must schedule a time to service things that they claim that they look over before I made the purchase. Do not buy a car from HARTFORD CARMAX! I'm stuck with this car that will likely give me problems from here on out. The icing on the cake is that the car was nearly $4,000 more than the ones at other Carmax's with similar mileage. I was an idiot for trusting this company!

I brought my car in to sell today, it was an experience. Their "offer" came in so far under blue book value it was laughable. Everything was in good shape until they told me the frame of my car was all rusted away. Really, I had just walked the entire underneath of my car two months ago while having repairs done. Dirt yes, rust no. They then tried to tell me the hatch was full of rust, again there was dirt but not one spot of rust. I will never again set foot into this dishonest place again. Blond woman does not equal stupid. I know more about my cars then most people.