Anyone ever sell a car to Carvana or Carmax?

[Silveroddo]

Hey there, has anyone here ever used Carvana or Carmax to sell a car?
My mom recently passed and we’re taking care of the estate, which includes a 2023 Equinox premier AWD w/ 20k miles on it.
Local dealers are just giving lowball offers on it and it’s not generating much interest at KBB private party pricing (25-26k).
I ran the info through Carvana last night and got a higher offer than we were trying to get out of it.
Has anyone gone that route? Is there a bait and switch or are things above board?
Title will be back this week and we’ll proceed through the process, but figured I’d check here to see if anyone’s done it. Couple YouTube videos make it seem simple but I’m always skeptical when something seems to good to be true.

 

[03mossy]

I’ve bought 2 and sold one using Carvana. Seem-less each time. I had to sell my commuter car in January to buy my 16 year old a car and they gave me $3,000 more than any local dealer would. Dropped off the trade and picked up daughter’s car and all the paperwork was ready. Super simple with no pushy salesman in the way.

 

[Ucsdryder]

Sell away. Make sure they pay off the loan if you have one, I assume you don’t if you’ll be getting title.

 

[TrackerG]

I have used car max to sell. Highly recommend, they pay way too much

 

[ResearchinStuff]

i sold a van to them - had a good experience. 2 hours of my time and got as much or more than i would have trying to sell it private party

 

[tracker12]

CRMAX treated me very well when I sold one of my Subaru’s. would to hesitate to use them again.

 

[RuggedYogi]

I went to Carmax and got an offer before going to a dealership and using their offer as leverage for a trade-in. Ending up getting way more for it than I would have if I had traded it in without the Carmax estimate in hand.

 

[Carr5vols]

Sold a few to carmax...would do it again they offered more than dealerahips...

 

[Silveroddo]

Well that’s encouraging, it seemed like the dumb money was starting to dry up. If we can get a deal done anywhere in the ball park of their offer all party’s will be happy. The dumb thing is it’s an immaculate 18 month old loaded car, but without dealer financing the market seems pretty slim.
Thanks guys

 

[ElkArcher918]

Traded in my 2012 F-150 and purchased a newer midsize truck 2 months. Good experience. Got fair value for my trade in. Probably could have sold my F-150 privately for more but that involves alot of time and headaches with tire kickers.

 

[thedutchtouch]

Have sold at least 4 cars to CarMax over the years, a few others I can't remember if I just got them appraised or went through with it. All were reasonably valued except one I was pleasantly surprised by and i think I just got lucky with timing- sold it during a chip shortage, I think the car was worth more in parts than whole. Caveat- all cars I sold were worth between 3-15k that they likely sold off wholesale for parts etc rather than put out on their lots, so not sure how this carries for newer/higher value vehicles. On the flip side, though I have done a decent amount of online and in-lot perusing, I've never considered buying from them, as their prices seem to be consistently a few thousand more than other dealers for the same vehicles.

 

[Crusader]

Do these outfits buy older cars, say a 2006 SUV in good shape w/125k miles? Maybe worth $3-4k?

 

[cfounta1]

I sold a truck to Carvana. Very easy process

 

[twall13]

I just picked up a new vehicle for my wife and need to sell her old one. This thread got me curious so I jumped on Carvanna and they sent me an offer but it was $8k less than what the dealership offered me in trade. CarMax wants some photos so I'll see how that shakes out later. I'm guessing I'll be selling it to a private party as planned but we'll see what happens.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

 

[Ucsdryder]

Do these outfits buy older cars, say a 2006 SUV in good shape w/125k miles? Maybe worth $3-4k?

They will but usually that stuff ends up being wholesaled. You’re way better off putting it on facebook marketplace for 5k. That price point sells fast.

 

[intunegp]

Do these outfits buy older cars, say a 2006 SUV in good shape w/125k miles? Maybe worth $3-4k?

Carmax will buy just about anything and send it to auction. There is a certain threshold that they know a car will be going to auction rather than put on their lot. Seems pretty hit or miss once you're in that territory.

A few years ago I took them a 2006 Acura MDX with around 170,000 miles and in good to great shape and they offered me right around half what I ended up getting when I sold it on Craigslist. At about the same time, a buddy took them a rusted out beater of a 90s F150 with over 250,000 miles and they gave him like $3000.

 

[Ucsdryder]

I just picked up a new vehicle for my wife and need to sell her old one. This thread got me curious so I jumped on Carvanna and they sent me an offer but it was $8k less than what the dealership offered me in trade. CarMax wants some photos so I'll see how that shakes out later. I'm guessing I'll be selling it to a private party as planned but we'll see what happens.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

The key is to always shop around. Carmax will sometimes step up and sometimes they’ll be thousands less. The more bids you can get the better. Then you can take your offer to the next highest offer and see if they’ll beat it.

In many states you get a credit on taxes for your trade. If that’s the case in your state get the best offer from all the normal places and take it to your dealership and have them match/beat it. With the tax break you’ll save another 8-9% of the value of the trade.

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

The key is to always shop around. Carmax will sometimes step up and sometimes they’ll be thousands less. The more bids you can get the better. Then you can take your offer to the next highest offer and see if they’ll beat it.

In many states you get a credit on taxes for your trade. If that’s the case in your state get the best offer from all the normal places and take it to your dealership and have them match/beat it. With the tax break you’ll save another 8-9% of the value of the trade.

Example: I got a Carmax quote on a 2010 Silverado before trading it in. They offered me $9k, dealer offered me $8k. However, the sales tax difference based on trading it in vs selling and using that money down was something like $998 making the dealer's offer comparable.

 

[bjones926]

I always go to Carmax to get an offer on my car before selling it privately to get a sense of the value.

In the end I have sold 3 cars to Carmax as the value was right and the process was super easy

 

[LFC911]

I put my 2021 4Runner TRD Pro on CL and FB Marketplace for $49k, which was on the higher end of private party value from KBB and Carfax. My Carvana offer was $41,800, which was more than any local dealer would offer. I had some company in TX https://texasautovalue.com/ reach out to me and offer me $46k and I got them up to $47k. They said they would fly in tomorrow, meet at the bank, pay off my loan, dot the i's and cross the t's and drive away. If I were you I would have them give you a quote and see what they say?!? If I'm not responsive after 1pm tomorrow you know why lol. Google review are 5 Star and almost 7k of them.