Tesla Trade in to Carmax Quotes

Drive as far and as fast as possible away from CarMax.

Carmax don't know what a P85D is, they valued me like a P85.

I got very good pricing from them for P85s though, not sure how they fare nowadays, I got my great price late last year. (More than what I paid for a Tesla CPO),

Tesla S1 said:

Yikes. why?(HocketyThug) Just trying to get max value so do not have to deal with private sale. If they are willing to offer more than Tesla, that's what I am trying to find out.

Spentan: Thanks

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They offered exactly the same amount as Tesla did (for my trade-in Prius Plug-In), to the penny. Many thousands below what I sold it for privately.

Carmax is a ripoff. Over the years I have taken two ICE cars and a Leaf in. Every time they lowballed it by thousands of dollars. In the case of the Leaf, I took it up the street on the same day to the dealer after wasting my time at Carmax and they paid over $2000 more. The dealer!

I also brought my Tesla to a local Carmax. The appraiser had told me as soon as they get one, they auction the Tesla to local dealerships locally. The car HAS to be sold in 7 days, because Carmax salesmen/women are not trained to sell them and the mechanics are not trained to work on Teslas. The quote they gave me was quite laughable.

Itching for a P85 or P85+ now

goodbyebmw said:

I also brought my Tesla to a local Carmax. The appraiser had told me as soon as they get one, they auction the Tesla to local dealerships locally. The car HAS to be sold in 7 days, because Carmax salesmen/women are not trained to sell them and the mechanics are not trained to work on Teslas. The quote they gave me was quite laughable.

Itching for a P85 or P85+ now

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Seems unusual. So the local dealerships they're selling to have salesmen/women and mechanics trained to work on Teslas? Sounds more like an excuse to provide a low-ball offer than legitimate reasoning.

Over the years I've sold many cars to Carmax but the last one, Infiniti Q50, another similar company, Texas Direct, beat them by $3K.

Some really strange comments here...every time I have taken a car to CarMax they have offered more than it is worth by online valuation tools. I use them to increase trade in offers on cars regularly.

EvilNuff said:

Some really strange comments here...every time I have taken a car to CarMax they have offered more than it is worth by online valuation tools. I use them to increase trade in offers on cars regularly.

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What I think we are seeing is gross overgeneralizations. Depending on the time of year, the geographic area, and the type/options of the car, CarMax can either be horrible, great, or ok on valuations of a vehicle. When I got my SUV quoted in Miami (October), it was abysmal. When I got the convertible quoted (again October, but a different year), it was for the same price I purchased the car from the dealer. Sadly, this last one I didn't take b/c I was busy and moving to NC. Two weeks later, the same convertible (again, October) in Charlotte got quoted by CarMax up here for 10% less. Later, CarMax gave a great quote on a compact car we had.

That said, I think it is pretty safe to say that CarMax won't get you as good a valuation as you could get selling private party, but it may still give you a worthwhile valuation compared to your time and hassle of selling the yourself.

Old data at this point, but carmax offered me $10k less than what I sold my 2013 P85+ to a wholesaler for. I have received fair offers from them in the past. I think the other posts are correct in that they don't know how to sell them so they immediately send it to auction. Therefore, they low ball, and may not be familiar with all the Model S variants.

Tesla S1 said:

Good info. What I am really trying to find out is what was offer from Tesla trade in VERSUS CarMax trade in.
NEXT. If I get an offer from CarMax, have 7 days. IF I decide to keep Tesla, CAN I TAKE BACK to CARMAX 4 months from now and try to get an OFFER again or will they deny me?

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You most certainly can take a car back to CarMax after the 7 days are up. They will just reappraise and maybe give you a different number. I traded in a MB E350 a few years ago and got the same price a month after the initial appraisal.

I have no problem with CarMax. Of course you could make more selling it on your own but it's a decent option for people looking to avoid the hassle. Sometimes the offer is too low, sometimes it's pretty competitive. I've had local dealers give me a trade in offer on ICE cars and then tell me to take it to CarMax because they can pay me more...

When I got my 85D (yea!) I was getting rid of a Lexus LS460. Edmunds online tools said the car was worth about 29k - 30k for private party. Tesla offered me 25k. CarMax offered me 25k. Beepi.com offered me 27k.
If I ever sell a used car again, I will go with Beepi.com. I loved the experience and hate the idea of dealing with strangers to sell my car. I noticed Beepi.com has a few Teslas for sale.