re: Myth about paying cash for cars

quote:

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Hell, look at CarMax. People will knowingly pay a premium on a used car just so they don't have to deal with the sales process.

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Yep. I mentioned it way earlier in this thread yesterday. We have bought 4 of our last 7 from CarMax. Shortly after moving to Birmingham, like a year or two, we replaced both of our college cars. Drove them both for a long time, like 6-7 years. They were reliable, had gone through some inspections at CarMax, and we financed them cheaply through a credit union.

When it came time to replace those, the first place we went was to CarMax, mainly because within 30 minutes they could give us a cash offer on selling the vehicle to them regardless if we traded in or bought something from them. That just gave me a good idea on what to sell them for. I ended up selling both of them personally, and bought my wife a Highlander from CarMax, and paid cash to a private party for my Jeep with what I made off of selling the two vehicles myself.

We ended up trading the Highlander in for a Van a year later at CarMax. I don't like the pressure. It is unwarranted these days. Give me a price, then we'll look at your financing, and if I know I can do better at the Credit Union I will do that within a few days and bring CarMax a check for what it costs, if not, I will just pay the cheap financing they offered. I think it was like 1%. Yeah I might be paying a small premium but I've never had issues with a used car buying from them. Buying new is never going to be an option for me. Way too much of a depreciation hit in the first couple of years.