Bad Carmax Experience
 

FYI for anyone looking for a Cayman S in the DC area:

I bought a 2006 CS from Carmax in Sterling, Virginia on Saturday and ended up returning it under their 5-day return policy yesterday. When cleaning it yesterday afternoon, I noticed overspray on the seal around the passenger window. That raised an eyebrow so I started looking around a bit more and found bad paintwork in a couple of places on the door and (get this) the protective film in front of the rear wheel well had been painted over.

So that's at least two body panels that had been resprayed. I was furious, so I took the car back to Carmax and returned it. The guy dealing with my return mentioned that the car had been repainted at their shop, but didn't divulge what damage they were trying to cover up. Needless to say, this was all way too much for me so I gave them the car back and had them do a refund. Thank God I found the evidence of the damage in time to do the return. :grrr:

In case they try to sell this car again, please note that it's a silver '06 Cayman S with PASM and Sport Chrono, with the following VIN:

WP0AB298X6U780447

The Carfax and Autocheck reports came back clean, by the way. I've learned a lesson - NEVER buy a car without a full PPI. The next car I buy, I will insist on this. I should have done so in this case and nearly paid the price for it.

Caveat emptor.

It's possible that they are technically complying with the law, but maybe you should let the BBB or AG's office know about this.

Several years ago I bought a CPO Mercedes C32 from Euromotorcars Bethesda. Clean carfax. No PPI. The guy in the radio commercials seems so earnest and mature, why would I worry? When I traded it in to Infiniti in 2009, they showed me that the front of the car had been significantly repaired, including an entirely new hood. Good repairs, but clearly repairs. Trust nobody.

Sorry for the bad experience. We've had a couple good buying experiences with Carmax for vanilla daily drivers but buyer beware always.

I've asked in the past and I think they won't permit a 3rd party PPI but they allow you the 5 days to return it so I guess if you drove it straight to the shop you'd have time, but it would cost you time and hassle too.

The best way is to buy from people you know - you may pay a little more to buy a car from Chad Morrison at Porsche of Tysons, but they are too tied in with everyone and PCA to treat you badly. Plus he is a great guy in his own right.

Thanks for the replies. I spoke to a salesman at Tysons once, and got a bad feeling about it. Kind of a "slimy salesman" feeling. I have no idea what his name was, though.

Chad just came over from Porsche of Arlington - super guy. You should call him.

Skip the sales guy-focus on the car. Guy tells you they painted some you ask where and why. Take you time and you run the show. You deal on your time and you ask your questions.

I agree, Chad is a good guy and good person to run Porsche service. He likes Porsche cars and Porsche owners, street and track

I was going to PPI a carmax 996 but they told me to purchase it and bring it back w/in 5 days if there was a problem. Liuckily I found a better car which flew through the PPI. I'd likely stay away from Carmax unless it was for some plain-vanilla product.

Their stuff is all priced at the very top end of the price range anyhow. Unless they have the *exact* model/color/options that you're searching for, low mileage, and pristine condition, I wouldn't buy from them.

Agreed.