The CarMax Unicorn Blog – Three Year Anniversary and Thank You!

This August is the three year anniversary of launching this CarMax Unicorn blog, my passion for deeply depreciated, high-end cars matched with the MaxCare extended warranty to protect against astronomical repairs, a passion that turned into this hobby.  Costs me very little to do, and I make even less on it (like zero).   I want to give a special shout out to the 120+ readers (so far) who have signed up to follow and get email updates on blog posts.  I am grateful for your interest and your comments.  Back when there were less than a hundred I thought I’d send a nice note or gift to whoever logged on as number 100, and thought I had plenty of time to plan for that, only to learn this month we blew through 100 to over 120.  Waylaid by procrastination. My Christmas gift cards to readers last winter didn’t go so well so maybe that’s a blessing.WordPress stats tell me there are far more than 120 readers, though.  I did 22 posts in the four months after launch in 2017 and had 1,100 visitors.  Hit second gear in 2018 with 75 cars covered and over 10,000 visitors.  Double-clutched into third in 2019 with 83 posts and almost 17,000 visitors.  Hit some Covid-19 curves in 2020 with only 42 cars to date and still over 11.000 visitors so far.  Since March of 2020 many dealerships shuttered due to the pandemic and CarMax inventory dropped to all time lows in the upper 20,000 range – far fewer unicorns to write about.  May have had the flu funk myself (tested negative twice so far) but the CarMax inventory is recovering rapidly – 38,000 cars earlier this week and over 46,000 as of 8/21/20 – and so is my enthusiasm for blogging.  Stay tuned for a cheap supercharged Jaguar, a reasonable Mercedes ML63 AMG, and yet another 1 of 249 low mileage Mercury Marquis.I’ve made a few virtual friends here and had a couple of live in person coffee meets.  Scott, Hans, Mick – appreciate your support.  Always fun.  I’ve enjoyed corresponding directly with about a dozen readers who have actually bought cars I’ve written about or similar unicorns based on my scavenger strategy.  I always ask that readers tell me if their experience differs from mine – that as a seller CarMax can be as squirrelly and devious as some private owners, but when push comes to shove they have ALWAYS honored the warranty and fixed my car at no charge.  So far so good.  A special shout out to reader Mustafa, a young man who must have a half dozen or more CarMax unicorns (including an Audi W12!) and unselfishly points out specialty cars that end up on CarMax lots.And I absolutely have to give another endorsement to David Fesz’s “Unique Cars For Sale 2.0” Facebook page – when I find a particularly unusual car David allows me to link this blog to his page and my stats skyrocket.  Check it out.  I also owe my sons Chris and Alex for their support – Chris gently provided technical help on the web page (I think he told me publishing car photos as PDF’s made me look sketchy and suspicious).  Alex offered me encouragement and a Mr. Rogers’ quote about his sketching – “I’m not very good at it, but it doesn’t matter. It’s the fun of doing it that’s important. No matter how good anybody says it is, it feels good to have made something.”

Since I started this nlog in 2017 I sold Guenther, the 2004 Mercedes S55 AMG and my first unicorn, and picked up Etta, a 2008 Porsche 911 in January 2018.  A year later I splurged and picked up a 2010 Mercedes S600 V-12 as my business car.  Putting my money where my mouth is.  My plan remains to sell these with at least a year and 10,000 miles left on the transferable MaxCare warranty – could be as early as this fall for the Porsche. The S600 has 3 1/2 years and 60,000 miles left on the warranty so may be enjoying that longer. CarMax generally offers European cars up to 10 years old, and domestic and Japanese/Korean cars up to 12 years old.  Sad that some models I once blogged about are already falling by the wayside.  Not seeing any more V-8 powered Audi S4’s.  This should be the last year for V-10 Audi S6’s or BMW M5/M6’s.  But pleased that newcomers like the BMW M850 and the C8 Corvettes are showing up.  Would love to see a Hellcat, Acura NSX, or Nissan GTR.  Unlikely, but CarMax carried Teslas briefly so who knows?  I will let you know if they do.  

Just for fun, here are the top 10 posts visited over the past three years.  Some are surprising.

SEPTEMBER 22, 2019 – 1 of 2,500 – 2008 Buick LaCrosse Super. $11,599 Sleeper. https://thecarmaxunicornblog.com/2019/09/22/1-of-2500-2008-buick-lacrosse-super-11599-sleeper/

MARCH 5, 2018 – 1 of 248 – 2011 Grand Marquis LS. https://thecarmaxunicornblog.com/2018/03/05/1-of-248-2011-grand-marquis-ls/

MAY 24, 2020 – Yet Another 1 of 248 – 2011 Mercury Grand Marquis With Ultra Low Mileage* https://thecarmaxunicornblog.com/2020/05/24/yet-another-1-of-248-2011-mercury-grand-marquis-with-ultra-low-mileage/

JUNE 16, 2020 – Quick Hit – Exclusive (and Cheap) Jaguar XJ Supersport – When Normal Supercharging Isn’t Super Enough. https://thecarmaxunicornblog.com/2020/06/16/quick-hit-exclusive-and-cheap-jaguar-xj-supersport-when-normal-supercharging-isnt-super-enough/

DECEMBER 31, 2017 – Five Obscure Unicorns for $10-$24k……. or Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder? https://thecarmaxunicornblog.com/2017/12/31/five-obscure-unicorns-for-10-24k-or-beauty-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder/

FEBRUARY 10, 2018 – Cheap V12 Executive Race Car – 2007 S600.  https://thecarmaxunicornblog.com/2018/02/10/cheap-v12-executive-race-car-2007-s600/

OCTOBER 5, 2019 – 1 of 48 and The Only One For Sale – Final Year 2010 Hummer H3t Alpha – $31,998. https://thecarmaxunicornblog.com/2019/10/05/1-of-48-and-the-only-one-for-sale-final-year-2010-hummer-h3t-alpha-31998/

APRIL 10, 2020 – 2015 BMW 760 Li V-12 Reduced to $44,998 (and CarMax Covid-19 Impact). https://thecarmaxunicornblog.com/2020/04/10/2015-bmw-760-li-v-12-reduced-to-44998-and-carmax-covid-19-impact/

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019 – 175mph/Sub-4 0-60 mph Family Wagon for Fast Vacations: 2012 Mercedes E63 AMG. https://thecarmaxunicornblog.com/2019/09/18/175mph-sub-4-0-60-mph-family-wagon-for-fast-vacations-2012-mercedes-e63-amg/

DECEMBER 10, 2019 – Quick Hit – Hot Hardly Driven 2010 Porsche 911. https://thecarmaxunicornblog.com/2019/12/10/quick-hit-hot-hardly-driven-2010-porsche-911/ 

 

And also just for fun, here are the three most rare/limited production CarMax unicorns in the past three years.

MARCH 25, 2020 – Quick Hit – 1 of 20! Jag Wag. Sportbrake. 2018 Jaguar XF S First Edition. https://thecarmaxunicornblog.com/2020/03/25/quick-hit-1-of-20-jag-wag-sportbrake-2018-jaguar-xf-s-first-edition/

AUGUST 24, 2019 – 1 of 23 in the US! 2011 Lexus GS460 $21,998.  https://thecarmaxunicornblog.com/2019/08/24/1-of-23-in-the-us-2011-lexus-gs460-21998/

SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 – 1 of 25 in US: 2015 Range Rover Autobiography – $110,000 Less Than New! https://thecarmaxunicornblog.com/2019/09/27/1-of-25-in-us-2015-range-rover-autobiography-110000-less-than-new/

 

As always, I’m winging it here and welcome suggestions, comments, or advice on bow to make this blog informative and entertaining.  Thanks again for reading and I’m looking forward to jumping back in with more cars shortly – Chuck.