I went to this dealership because it generally had great reviews and I thought the extra price (all the cars I looked at were significantly more expensive at Carmax than other dealerships) was worth it when everyone raved about the quality of service and trustworthiness. Yeah, less than a year after buying a car here (for $3k more than other places--because I thought it was worth it!) I had to get new brakes. Old brakes were rusted through from having just sat on the lot for so long--and this is a 2012 car. Would never, ever recommend Carmax to anyone after this experience; you don't have to go to an expensive dealership to get the 'replace your brakes a few months later' experience. read more

This was my first CarMax experience and it exceeded my expectations. The car I bought was rock solid, and fairly-priced. The CarMax people seemed to be OBSSESSED with ensuring my satisfaction with every step of the buying process, and the resolution of the few post-sale issues I encountered was top notch. I would instantly use them again and recommend them to anyone shopping for a used car. read more

Will never do business at this dealership again. Purchased a vehicle that had issues from the day I drove it off the lot. When I reported it within the week, I was told by Carmax service, they could not duplicate what I was feeling, therefore, nothing to fix. I continued to drive my vehicle until this past summer when the issues became so bad. Now I have spent months, yes months, waiting for Carmax to figure out what is wrong. Weeks at a time with a loaner car, not a van like I drive, for them to never fully rectify the issues with my vehicle. Several things have been suspected, some fixed to find that wasn't the problem, others I argued it wasn't the problem and refused to pay, later to find out, I was correct. I would have potentially spent a lot of money fixing unnecessary things as the service department threw shots in the dark. An attorney was hired to try to turn the vehicle in and purchase a different vehicle. Carmax has been less than accommodating, won't take ownership of the problem and is offering me $6000 trade in for a Honda Odyssey I paid $14,000 for less than 2 years ago. High way robbery. Their attorney hide behind a poor claims specialist name Audrey who basically pushes papers back and forth. Their repair shop is a joke and I don't trust any of them. I had a car shipped here from Omaha carmax in hopes to swap them out...but the car that was sent here made some loud ringing noise while driving. What happened to this 125 point inspection all of their vehicles go through? Clearly my van and the Ford Flex I had shipped here must have been exceptions to this inspection as neither should have been up for sale in their condition. I have pages upon pages of documentation of how this situation was mishandled. This won't be the end of me Carmax. Shame on you, shame on you!!!!! Your review helps others learn about great local businesses. Please don't review this business if you received a freebie for writing this review, or if you're connected in any way to the owner or employees. read more

NEVER PURCHASE A CAR FROM CARMAX, URBANDALE (DES MOINES) IOWA OR OTHER CARMAX LOCATIONS. I had a terrible experience as I see many others have had with CarMax also. I located a 2017 Subaru Crosstrek with under 5,000 miles, which was supposedly in Buford, GA. I placed the car on hold over a week ago. Shortly thereafter I discovered through the local Subaru dealership that the 2017 Subaru Crosstreks currently have a recall for a brake light switch. I contacted CarMax via email asking about the recall, by responding to an email that I had received from CarMax, which came from a gentleman at a NC address, not the GA address where the car was supposedly located. I never received an answer to my question as to how the recall would be handled and why I was not made aware of the recall by someone at CarMax. That in and of itself is unprofessional. I tried to phone the person who sent me the original email confirming that the car was on hold but no telephone number was listed in the email to contact the person (I found that very odd and unprofessional). I then drove to CarMax in Urbandale and met with a gentleman asking that the unit be taken off of hold and transferred to Urbandale. With the CarMax stock number, the unit could not be easily located in GA by the rep at the Urbandale, IA location. Given that the email sent to me confirming the hold, came from a NC address, I questioned if the car was in GA or NC - no one immediately seemed to know. After much effort and getting others involved, the car was located at a dealership (I trust in GA, but that was never confirmed to me). The gentleman I was working with at CarMax Urbandale was on hold for at least twenty minutes while I sat and waited, in trying to confirm the transfer of the car. He finally told me to go home and said that he would keep trying to get the car transferred, and would contact me the next day. I completed an application and he took my credit card information. The following day I received a call saying that the transfer had been approved and that my credit card was being charged $299.00. I also received a confirming email. Within a few days I received a second email stating that the car was being transferred to Urbandale and that I would be contacted when it arrives. Today I received a call stating that the car was never transferred because the car has a major technical issue. When I questioned exactly what is the issue, the local sales rep did not know. I found that first of all to be interesting and extremely annoying. I immediately began to not trust CarMax and its employees in general, and asked for further information and clarification. I further questioned why a car with a major technical problem was offered for sale to begin with? That is wrong on all levels. Moments later I received a second phone call stating that when the car got to the transfer station the major technical issue was discovered and that the car never was put on a truck to be transferred. If that is truly the case, why do I have an email indicating that the car was on its way to Iowa? Truly unprofessional. Furthermore, after my email stating that the transfer was approved and the next email stating that the car was on its way, I received a reminder email confirming the appointment that was scheduled when I originally put the car on hold. When today I questioned the confusing emails, I was informed that one set of emails is generated from the location where the car originally sat in inventory and that the second set of emails came from the local (Urbandale) location. My reply was that the systems are extremely poor, and to the customer, conflicting emails do nothing but cause confusion and provide poor customer service and a poor customer experience. CarMax advised me that given that the car has an unknown major technical issue, I could either receive credit for the $299.00 that was charged to my credit card, or that the dealer (I guess one of the dealers located in GA - I am still not sure where the Urbandale sales rep was able to locate this specific car) would waive up to a $299.00 transfer fee for any other car I might want transferred to Urbandale from his dealership. OMG - I do not even know what dealer to deal with in GA (or is it NC?) so how would I know what other car I may want transferred to Urbandale, IA? During the first phone call I received today telling me that the car is no longer for sale, good customer service would have been to immediately offer me a choice of similar cars, that I may be interested in, with all fees waived, but that absolutely did not happen. CarMax obviously knew the type of car I am interested in, the low mileage I am looking for as well as the price I would be willing to pay but no one researched other vehicles that may be of interest to me given that the car I thought I was purchasing is no longer for sale. read more

We were shopping for our 16 year old son's first car. He found the one he liked at a Car Max in Texas. The transfer process went very smoothly and it came in sooner than expected. We test drove the car and purchased it. Thank you Car Max for making our car buying experience enjoyable and no hassle. We would definitely consider buying from Car Max again. Our son is very happy with his new car! read more

Our associate Marty was not very helpful. I wanted to test drive the scion frs that they had in their inventory, after waiting for a bit for him to get a copy of my insurance and license he told us to wait for him in front of the building and he will pull it up for me to test drive. After a while he finally pulled up to the main entrance and to my surprise it was the wrong car.. read more

Best car buying experience I've ever had! Janice W. was awesome to work with. She listened to what I wanted, wasn't pushy and handled everything fantastically! Loved the whole experience. I will go back to CarMax and Janice for my next vehicle. read more

Great selection of cars and fantastic customer service. Will definitely be buying more vehicles there in the future.

Buyer beware! I attempted to trade in my vehicle and purchase a vehicle from Carmax. They require 2 sets of keys/fobs for the vehicle being traded in. I turned in my required keys and continued with the purchase process. After purchasing the vehicle I asked them for 2 key/fobs, I was informed they were only selling the vehicle with one and that they are a "no haggle business." They also informed me that "you dont need 2 key/fobs. Most people only need one. If you would like another you will have to pay for it." Instead of paying $60 for me to have a second key/fob they let me walk off of the lot and return the vehicle I had JUST purchased from them. The general manager stated that if they were to give me 2 key/fobs that I would tell people that "I got one on them and they are a no haggle business." I tried to reason with them that I turned in all keys and I expected the same in return. The pictures on the website lead you to believe your vehicle will come with 2 keys/fobs. I would not think something as minor as a key would keep them from wanting to sell a vehicle, but then again they are a "no haggle business" and unwilling to do small things to please paying customers. When purchasing a vehicle from here keep in mind that if you would like more than one key/fob, you will have to pay out of pocket for it, regardless of how much you pay for the vehicle. Apparently taking a loss of $25k is worth their pride and second key fob. Who knows, this could be an easy way for their business to make money. Just beware. read more