The $577 Million Car Loan and Other Fascinating CarMax “Analytics”

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The total cars on the lot around noon, November 18th 2017.  The numbers fluctuated by hundreds between the beginning and completion of this blog, rendering all my calculations estimates.

The CarMax nationwide inventory jumped from just over 40,000 cars in the summer of 2017 to over 73,000 today.  That’s the highest it’s been since I started tracking CarMax unicorns a year ago and it got me pondering on all things cosmic CarMax.  For example, that 33,000 plus-up in stock equals a staggering $577 million* investment in cars in just a few months.  I’m thinking like you and me, CarMax didn’t pay cash and owed somebody a helluva lot of money.  You think they get dealer financing? I’m thinking CarMax needs to move some cars and hoping there are more unicorns and lower prices!

*The average CarMax vehicle sells for $19,677 with a gross profit of $2,178, indicating a rough guess each car costing CarMax $17,489.  See “CarMax Reports Second Quarter Results, September 22, 2017″.

So I decided to do my own homemade “analytics” and dive deeper on what makes up an inventory of 73,000 cars.  CarMax knows what they’re doing, and I suspect their inventory largely reflects what America wants in a car.  So here’s what I learned. Continue reading “The $577 Million Car Loan and Other Fascinating CarMax “Analytics””

Fooled Me Twice….500 Mile Journey to See a Jaguar That Won’t Start…and I Hate.

RaleighWith every car I don’t buy I get smarter on this whole process.  Or maybe dumber.  Eventually I’m going to score a Porsche for the price of a Pinto, or I’ll give up and buy a minivan.  Writing from a hotel room north of Raleigh, where I went to see this 2011 Jaguar XK. Not an XKR, but at $26,998 and only 34,000 miles I thought it might be the bucket list Jaguar for me without spending too much.  I had set aside my pursuit of the Mercedes S600 (for now), thinking I can always buy a big sedan, but my knees and back are suggesting time is short for a sports car.

 

IMG_5988 (1)I thought the Jaguar looked vaguely familiar, a lot like the one I saw briefly in Baltimore last summer and was aghast at the pock-marked front fascia and more than a few touch up paint blemishes on the driver side.  It was an XK that looked like it was half-way through puberty.  But I never made an appointment to see it in Baltimore, just stopped by and eye-balled it, and couldn’t find the original ad.  So I asked the young sales rep in Raleigh if this could be the same car.  He sent me photos, and sure enough, the front end was clean and I hatched a plan to go see it. Continue reading “Fooled Me Twice….500 Mile Journey to See a Jaguar That Won’t Start…and I Hate.”