I dig CarMax because I can drive deeply depreciated unicorns at a decent price and be protected from repair risk because they sell a great MaxCare warranty on everything on the lot. But they sure suck at routine processes sometimes. Found this 2015 Mercedes S65 coupe in California. New it was $235,000 and four years later it’s selling for $79,000. But it was on its way to Albuquerque before I could strike. Fortunately that buyer backed out and I put the car on hold. Called my sales rep who agreed to get it off hold and let me pay to transfer to Dulles. But while on hold for me Albuquerque blew it and accepted a transfer to Fredericksburg, VA (ironically not far from me). Neither Dulles, Albuquerque, nor Fredericksburg dealers would reverse what they all admitted was a mistake so I engaged corporate in Richmond. Best they can do us offer me a free transfer from anywhere in the country because the S65 is sold. Bastards. I’m so tempted to find the crappiest $5,995 car I can from the most expensive, distant dealer (Spokane) and have it transferred to Dulles. Ugh.
Blogging my nationwide hunt for affordable CarMax enthusiast cars. Automotive Unicorns.
This does suck for you. But.. you mentioned you’d be selling the 911 when you buy a S65, and I’m not quite ready to replace the wife’s car with a 911, so this gives me some more time. Speaking of which, when it’s time to sell the 911, I’m very interested.
Thanks. My original plan was to sell the 911 with 10,000 miles of warranty and at least a year left for the next owner. Right now there’s 20,000 miles (I only did warranty to 75,000 odometer miles) and three years left. Plenty of time!
Spokane, where I am, is not the farthest, it is 300 miles closer to the Dulles area than are the CarMax locations near Seattle. Where do you think Spokane is, near Seattle? While at University in Washington DC, when mentioning Spokane, most gave a looked mysterious look, which is fine – really – we are a region that has zero earthquakes, zero hurricanes, zero tornados, some fire danger out in the boonies, a virtually unlimited water supply and moderate amounts of rain (most of summer is rain-free) – and still not TOO many Californians moving in! Electricity is as cheap as it gets (Grand Coulee Dam less than 100 miles away), and even Idaho’s close by in case there’s enough incentive to get away from the rogue Democrats in Olympia.
Lol. No, I know where Spokane is – have driven through it several times on cross country drives to Portland. But shipping wise it appears to be a spoke off of other lines and consequently costs a little more to ship here than Seattle – which we both know is farther away from me. I’d love to know more about how CarMax operates transfers – I know they are dependent on subcontractors – but the whole process of aggregating movements and hub/spoke fascinates me. Btw the most fascinating part of driving across Washington from Seattle through Yakima to Hood River was that I had NO idea about the high desert. Thought everything up there was wet and green. Boy was I wrong.