[turboftw]

Hello im new here but im in the market for a 2007+ 335i sedan, manual... so heres my story...
So these cars in the combo that i want arent easy to find, especially with low miles. So i found this 2009 335i sedan w 37k miles for 28k, sport and premium packages, space gray. I think, awesome! Good color and everything that i want. I had the car transferred from san diego to ontario... looked at it, everything seemed nice. Decided to get it saturday, and have a 5 day return period ending sept 20.

I noticed one cupholder wont come out and interior and exterior arent detailed, looks worse than my car after my local car wash washes my car... I express concern, sales guy says he will fix both issues and i could pick up car 3 hrs later on saturday. Upon picking up car, carmax says they have to order cupholder. Car still looks dirty especially inside.

I start car sunday morning, dash says coolant is low. I check level in reservoir, float is so low i cant even see it. I call carmax and express concern on monday, sales guy says he will find out from manager about getting a loaner while they fix everything. I wait for call, nothing. Call him today, he says he can get me un THURSDAY, the day my 5 day return period ends... i smell fish, i tell him that i will return car today and get my money back and ill get the car when everything is fixed and the car is actually detailed. And because of coolant level i decide to not drive it till it is fixed. Btw, i know how to add coolant, but i should not have to, plus i'd have to buy bmw coolant or make appt with local bmw dealer to get it checked out.

Am i being picky? Its not CPO so i thought i should be a little more nit picky because once the 5 day period expires im stuck with the car. The fact that the coolant is low and that this got overlooked gave me concern about how thorough their 125 point inspection really was.

Btw carfax says it was serviced in desert bmw las vegas, and other than regular maintenance, its had a new taillight, fuel injectors, and ac evap replaced. orig sale date was 8/5/09.

What do u guys think? I like the car a lot. Would you still get it after that experience? Thanks in advance...

[mccannable]

Carmax has ways been "pleasant" but their cars all look rough. Looked at a mini for the wife there. Wouldn't buy unless rare car/good deal/ great shape. Return

[theblackmamba]

I steered clear of carmax.

I'll tell you why; they are a VOLUME dealer. The salespeople are great but they aren't in the business of selling you a bmw, lexus, mercedes, honda, etc. They are in the business of selling you a car. If a car sits on a lot anywhere in the system more than 30 days -- it goes straight to auction. Their 5 day return policy is crap. 5 days? I takes one day to get the paperwork done and get the car home.

I shopped around and it worked out for me. I got an amazing deal.

[Envuks]

No hpfp done?... Surprising, but doesn't really matter because it's covered under extended warranty.... If you like the car, keep it. Clean it yourself, you'll probably do a better job anyway.

As far as the coolant goes, get it in writing that they are going to fix it for you. Then gold them to it.... Once that's done you're clean.

Just my $.02

[don_zielke]

I tried to trade my '07 MINI Cooper S in to CarMax and they lowballed me on value. They said the car had been repainted. I was absolutely sure the car had never been painted so I walked and will not go back there again.

[r3dbimmer89]

I would never buy a car over $20k from Carmax...for that price you could've gone to BMW and found a CPO 335i with the extended warranty. Although, the manual tranny is a rare thing.

[JBE90335]

if it still has factory warranty left I'd go for it. I would detail it yourself, i can't imagine carmax doing a good job anyway. The cup holder issue is no biggie and you could always just take it to the dealer to fix everything under warranty anyways.

[techwhiz]

I would have passed.
I actually looked at some cars on Carmax before I got mine. They had the color combos, etc that I was looking for but not CPO and I had to pay to have them transferred.

I would up buying local and not exactly what I wanted, but better than Carmax. I can tell you that a MT is going to be rare. Even more rare is a blue car with MT.

Most MT were ordered and not leased. You might have to settle for an AT with sport package.

[GChase]

Never buy from or sell to Carmax... Ever

[straightcashhomie]

No you're not being picky at all. take your time and find the right 335, because u want one that was taken care of. I was willing to pay extra for CPO, for the piece of mind warranty, and the CPO inspection process that the car goes through to run in like new condition... take ur time, its a big investment

[maxipad96]

My coolant light went on once... BMW dealer told me to put some water in it until I could bring it in a few days later. It worked out fine. Clean the car yourself or pay someone to. Like a previous poster said, will prob come out much better than a dealer dodging your phone calls.

[pracklam]

The best advice for buying a car at CarMax is not to buy a car at CarMax. I looked at an M3 while shopping for wife's car and it would barely idle. Probably had the crap run out of it.

[Fillyo75]

Well, I just bought my 2009 335i 6MT from Carmax last month. $29,900 with 29,000 miles. It has sport package and black on black w/ aluminum trim. I had the BMW dealer run the VIN, clean service history, it has not had the hpfp replaced. I am still covered under regular warrant until November 2012. This was a CPO car (i am 3rd owner), so it is covered under that through Nov. 2014. Without knowing that, I would not have bought the car from Carmax. However, it has been problem free and I love it. Due for schedule maintenance shortly and will get it in before full warranty expires. Just do your research. I looked for months in the Chicagoland area for 2009 6MT with good mileage and this kind of price.

Just get all your issues in writing to be fixed.

[calicolorado]

We bought an X5 4.4i from Carmax and I have nothing but positive things to say about the car and experience. Our car has every available option box checked except the Sport Package, which is not necessary on that car IMO. We DID, however, buy an extended warranty, which gives me peace of mind knowing I've got height adjustable suspension, 4 heated seats and steering wheel, navigation, etc. The pricing (at the time) was very good for that car.

I have noticed more recently (when looking for my E90), a big spread between KBB values, AutoTrader pricing and CarMax pricing with CarMax being way too high. When I looked for my E90, I went to CarMax and I was underwhelmed by the prices and condition of certain cars.

You can find a diamond in the rough there, and you at least have the initial few days to reconsider your decision, or you can buy peace of mind with a warranty. We had a nice experience there AND found a great car.

Good luck to 'ya!

[BrazilianBimmer]

Don't buy a car from carmax, period...It is truly the way car buying shouldn't be! trust me I bought my car from there

[BabyrayS2k]

Originally Posted by turboftw

Hello im new here but im in the market for a 2007+ 335i sedan, manual... so heres my story...
So these cars in the combo that i want arent easy to find, especially with low miles. So i found this 2009 335i sedan w 37k miles for 28k, sport and premium packages, space gray. I think, awesome! Good color and everything that i want. I had the car transferred from san diego to ontario... looked at it, everything seemed nice. Decided to get it saturday, and have a 5 day return period ending sept 20.

I noticed one cupholder wont come out and interior and exterior arent detailed, looks worse than my car after my local car wash washes my car... I express concern, sales guy says he will fix both issues and i could pick up car 3 hrs later on saturday. Upon picking up car, carmax says they have to order cupholder. Car still looks dirty especially inside.

I start car sunday morning, dash says coolant is low. I check level in reservoir, float is so low i cant even see it. I call carmax and express concern on monday, sales guy says he will find out from manager about getting a loaner while they fix everything. I wait for call, nothing. Call him today, he says he can get me un THURSDAY, the day my 5 day return period ends... i smell fish, i tell him that i will return car today and get my money back and ill get the car when everything is fixed and the car is actually detailed. And because of coolant level i decide to not drive it till it is fixed. Btw, i know how to add coolant, but i should not have to, plus i'd have to buy bmw coolant or make appt with local bmw dealer to get it checked out.

Am i being picky? Its not CPO so i thought i should be a little more nit picky because once the 5 day period expires im stuck with the car. The fact that the coolant is low and that this got overlooked gave me concern about how thorough their 125 point inspection really was.

Btw carfax says it was serviced in desert bmw las vegas, and other than regular maintenance, its had a new taillight, fuel injectors, and ac evap replaced. orig sale date was 8/5/09.

What do u guys think? I like the car a lot. Would you still get it after that experience? Thanks in advance...

I was a sales person there for a little over a year. Their 125 point inspection is crap. They half ass do it. Also, as a sales consultant I had to clean the cars I sold myself myself because the detailers are trying to get the cars to the lot as quickly as possible and they do cut corners. It was extremely frustrating as a straight commission sales person trying to feed a family and the cars are dirty. They are the largest retailer of cars in the country and management really does not care if you buy the car or not. They know someone less demanding than you will. It costs them money to clean it properly so they would rather sell it to someone who will buy and then clean it themselves.

One thing I will give them, is their MaxCare is a good buy. Will cover BMW to 125,000 miles. Their service technicians do very good work even on german cars. I have witnessed this myself.

[BabyrayS2k]

Originally Posted by pracklam

The best advice for buying a car at CarMax is not to buy a car at CarMax. I looked at an M3 while shopping for wife's car and it would barely idle. Probably had the crap run out of it.

It had garbage gas in it. All m3s idle like crap there. They put shitty gas in them.

[Lankster]

Buy their extended warrantee. I did, and it comes in handy and all warrantee work can be done at BMW if you like. Worth it. I took mine in for wastegate rattle and they replaced both turbos (win)

[turboftw]

Originally Posted by BabyrayS2k

I was a sales person there for a little over a year. Their 125 point inspection is crap. They half ass do it. Also, as a sales consultant I had to clean the cars I sold myself myself because the detailers are trying to get the cars to the lot as quickly as possible and they do cut corners. It was extremely frustrating as a straight commission sales person trying to feed a family and the cars are dirty. They are the largest retailer of cars in the country and management really does not care if you buy the car or not. They know someone less demanding than you will. It costs them money to clean it properly so they would rather sell it to someone who will buy and then clean it themselves.

One thing I will give them, is their MaxCare is a good buy. Will cover BMW to 125,000 miles. Their service technicians do very good work even on german cars. I have witnessed this myself.

i will def look into the warranty... but i've heard some horror stories about reimbursement, especially if you decide to take it to your own mechanic or bmw dealer...

but cleaning a car inside and out is pretty basic stuff, and in reality, the interior should be cleaned out thoroughly once only before it's ever put out to sale, the exterior will need periodic washing of course... but its really simple, you install car wash bay (which i presume they have), and then take wet cloth with cleaner and go over the car. use vinyl/leather conditioner, clean inside windows. it shouldn't take very long, especially with a few people. I dont excuse a dirty car.

so update so far:

i'm waiting to hear from carmax to see if they fixed everything that i had asked them... no call so far...

[BabyrayS2k]

Originally Posted by turboftw

but cleaning a car inside and out is pretty basic stuff, and in reality, the interior should be cleaned out thoroughly once only before it's ever put out to sale, the exterior will need periodic washing of course... but its really simple, you install car wash bay (which i presume they have),

Its extremely basic to clean a car. But they don't do it. It was one of the major reasons I left the company. I got tired of selling sub par quality, dirty damn cars. Put it this way, dirty, stankin' ass cars cost me litterally at least 2k a month in lost commissions. Nothing like opening an suv for a family and it smell like feet and ass, with cheerios in the damn carpet and a melted sucker in the console.

[turboftw]

latest update to saga... so carmax said they tried to fix it, couldn't, now it is at local bmw dealer getting new water pump... ive never heard of a car at 37k mi needing a new water pump... is this a common issue??

this car is starting to look less and less attractive, i don't want to inherit a car that is gonna have continual issues... btw, i was intending on getting carmax extended warranty...

i also asked carmax salesman if they would do compression and leakdown tests at the dealer and give me results. could there be a head gasket issue with a water pump failure, how would i ensure the head-gasket is good? i'm hoping the dealer checks head gasket while they replace pump...

[ASAP]

Originally Posted by GChase

Never buy from or sell to Carmax... Ever

if you are a sucker, then dont... if u know what a good deal is, then do. I sold my 4 year old civic to them for 10500 after purchasing it years earlier for 13000 with half the mileage. Good luck getting that with the cheapasses on craigslist or trading it in.