Q5 TDI

Similar experience for me, I tried them twice and they were 2K lower than the next lowest offer I got for a trade in. I never consider them any longer. I was later told they lowball the trade ins to maximize profits with every vehicle in every state. The "we base trade in on auctions" is complete BS.

tjacopi

Of course they maximize profits....that is what each of us are doing too by trying to get the best price. I've sold two cars to them, and similar to the other posters, their price was above the dealers trade in offer.

Net of this is they will give you a wholesale price, similar to a trade in from the dealer. It pays to shop around for the best wholesale price just like any other price.

rbradleysd

They don't seem to love older, high milage cars. Doesn't seem to be their "niche" BUT they did amazing on my 2013 GS350 with 11k OTO (beat the Lexus dealer)
and on my 2013 Golf TDI with 38k OTO. I sold them the 'Dub and traded the Lexus in for the Audi

sly1

I would be surprised if CarMax wouldn't beat the price offered by any dealer, but it can't be on a trade-in because trade-in prices are affected by the price negotiated for the new car. A fair comparison would be to take a car to a dealer and ask them what they will pay you for your car: simple purchase, no trade-in.
In my case I always negotiate a price on the new car, and don't even mention that I have a trade-in. It's only after we agree on the new car purchase price that I even mention that I have a trade-in, and then I wait for the litany of reasons as to why they offer so little for my car: they have a glut of the same model in their inventory, my car has too many miles, the economy is bad, the car has some flaws, i.e., it's not perfect, etc. etc. I then pull out a CarMax offer, and tell the dealer that they can either match the offer or I'm walking.