I've found a car on Craigs and the seller has FINALLY responded to my e-mails. Using the Edmunds.com appraisal (without having seen the car "in the flesh") it seems to be decently priced. Having just moved back to this area, and not having a lot of folks I can trust to look over this car, could it be appraised, so to speak, by CarMax? What will they do if the car (or ANY car) is taken to them for an appraisal? I guess what I'm getting at is do they just eyeball the car or do they put it on a lift?
This car is an Integra, and now that I think about it, the Acura dealer is very close to the local CarMax....would they do a decent mechanical appraisal for free/low fee?
I think most dealerships will give the car a "once over" for about a 1 to 1.5 hours labor time fee.
I went to CarMax three weeks ago to get my WRX appraised. They offered $4000.
I drove it to a small local lot with a "We Buy Cars" sign. They offered $7500.
I understand that the two places operate in opposite corners of the universe, but there's a lot of wiggle room there. You need to understand where they're coming from before you put a ton of faith in what they tell you.
I wouldn't rely on them to do a prepurchase inspection for you. In my experience, they will take about a half hour or so to check out a car. They are looking for obvious damage and repair issues.
The offer they make is typically a wholesale or trade-in value and not necessarily what the car is worth. Their sweet spot is low mileage, fairly late model cars. The higher mileage, older stuff they might just sell at auction rather than retail it. Therefore, their offer may be lower for that type of car in order to make a profit.
My experience is that if you have a car they like they will offer top trade-in or even slightly more. Often more than a new car dealer will give you on a trade-in and with a lot less hassle. But if you want retail, then you'll have to sell it yourself.
They never even asked if I had replaced the clutch or timing belt.
Our shop would do a pre-purchase inspection for $168 and it was very comprehensive. Of course its a bit hard to know if the timing belt was replaced, and we can't tell if they changed the oil regularly. We basically thoroughly examined the car and noted every single thing "wrong" with it, but it couldn't tell you what was "right" with it.
Oh... and about the carmax thing:
If you can imagine the worst, most insulting, lowball trade-in value you would get offered from a new car dealer... cut it in half. That's what Carmax would think its worth.
