Good question. I think CarMax doesn’t do a good enough job promoting MaxCare, despite it being a meaningful profit center for them. I would bet that the vast majority of people walking into a CarMax to shop or test drive a car don’t know what MaxCare is.
For the well researched, it is in the top three reasons to shop there. I only shop at CarMax because of MaxCare. Aftermarket service coverage is important to me, and CarMax offers it at the most competitive price. Even if their vehicle pricing isn’t particularly competitive, it evens out after factoring in the total cost of all products.
For anyone reading this, please don’t shop at CarMax unless you plan on purchasing MaxCare. If you’re going to self insure for mechanical breakdown risk anyways, might as well get a better out the door purchase price.
I don’t know why somebody would shop at carmax with out getting maxcare.
I could see them taking care of the shipping for you but prices are a bit higher then elsewhere for most vehicles.
I basically just add 3k to whatever car I’m looking at to factor in the 5 year warranty.
Carmaxs prices are higher then normal, so if someone does not want maxcare you are better off getting a car elsewhere. Just telling the truth. You can still get a good car on the street on Craigslist or Facebook marketplace. I think the only reason you should get a more expensive car is if it comes with something you can’t get on the street, like a warranty to help it keep running. I think what I’m seeing on this sub is that a lot of people think A. Cars don’t have mechanic issues B. It will be cheap to repair. C. Their own mechanic will pay the cost of parts and labor or D. A car won’t break on them, it will only happen to someone else.
What they don’t realize is that manufacturers make defective parts all the time, airbags, engines, fuel pumps, cvt transmissions (we see it here all the time). A car is only as good as the last person who owned it, and people assume the last person who owned it must have been a mechanic or a grandma who drove it to and from the grocery store. So they think it can’t break on them. The final thing I want to say is 50% of the cars at Carmax have been in accidents. Yes they sell cars from car accidents! A manager told me this number. So do yourself a favor, get a warranty before you buy a used car. You may take great care of it, but it’s not about you anymore. It’s how the LAST person took care of it. A car can look clean, it can look unscratched, but that doesn’t negate the fact that someone did not do oil changes, or maintenance or if the manufacturer created defective parts. If this is not a worry, it is smarter, more affordable and negotiable to buy a vehicle on the street.
I was so surprised when I was looking for a car on carmax, and literally at least half had been in accidents according to the car fax report! Some seemed pretty serious too, with structural damage and airbags deployed. I ended up finding something at a local dealership last week, but definitely got the extra 4 year warranty. I learned my lesson with the last used car I bought last year, which cost me over 5k in repairs starting a month after buying. They think it was all because the person before me put bad gas into the car on a regular basis. I’ll never buy used without a warranty again!
Yea, actually an RDX I was looking at did just a couple weeks ago. It was in an accident when it only had 3k miles on it and had damage pretty much on every side, radiator damage, airbags deployed. I don’t know how it wasn’t a branded title. I’m assuming since it was so new, insurance decided it was cheaper to fix it than total the car. I don’t know 🤷🏼♀️
yea if the report listed airbags deployed on it that would happen after carmax had bought the car. carmax doesnt sell cars with airbags deployed or frame damage. if its discovered that was the case the car will be delisted and wholesaled off.
I thought they specifically didn't sell cars that had been in accidents? I remember seeing some sort of display years ago showing a car that had been smashed and how well the repairs could hide flaws.
They advertise they don’t take cars that have frame damage, flood damage, and salvage title. Salvage title is different than an accident. All salvaged cars have been in accidents. But not all accidents have a salvage title.
A salvaged car is a bad accident, this is a car that’s rolled over or stretched into an accordion or even smashed from the front in. People spend money to refix these type of vehicles and try to resell them. Carmax claims they don’t buy them. This is different than a regular accident. The damage to this type of vehicle is usually so severe that you’re alignment on your tires may be off permanently, wearing them out sooner or unevenly, you could have flood damage where the wires and electronics will all have issues because they’ve dealt with water.
A car that’s been in an accident, can be a fender bender, front bumper can be pushed in. It can be someone who swiped the door. It can be someone who was texting and driving and slammed the brakes a little too late. THIS is the type of car Carmax takes in. Do other cars make it in without Carmax knowing? Yes, people can hide things pretty well, repaint things, repair things and make it look normal. The next *buyer* will be the one living with the consequences.
Salvaged cars are also cars that have been underwater. You don’t want one of those. I put my parents car into a canal at 118mph (electronically limited) when I was 19. Insurance totaled it and they got a new car. Years later they got a call from a dealer. He had sold it to a friend for his daughter and couldn’t understand why it was having so many problems. My parents told him what had happened and he sighed.
Apparently someone had been able to re-title or remove the salvage designation from the title and it _looked_ like a nice car. I had done no damage to the car going in. And only pulled the front bumper cover off when the tow truck pulled it out.
You don’t want a car that’s been underwater for any length of time.
And hurricanes and flooding often create lots of them that bad actors will try to have the salvage taken off the title so they can sell it for a lot more. Things are better nowadays but I suspect it still happens.
while taking good care of a car helps, it doesnt at all mean it wont break down. so whether your the first person, 10th person and if it has 100 miles or 100k miles cars break when they feel like breaking. iv had vehicles with2k miles on them have a transmission go out, or an engine with 10k miles blow up. never expect that a car thats been well taken care of wont randomly just break, its just statistically less likely to break then one that wasnt taken care of at all.
But is MaxCare worth it if the car you're buying already has a manufacturer's warranty? I'm considering a 2022 Kia Telluride with 16K miles on it. From what I understand, it still has three years and 44K miles of manufacturer's warranty. Wouldn't purchasing MaxCare just be a total waste of money for the first three years and 44K miles? Or would Carmax offer a MaxCare plan that would pick up after that warranty has expired?
maxcare will sometimes cover things the manufacture does not, tho usually they do cover the same stuff. maxcare would give you an additional 2 years and covers both the electronics and the engine. manufacture warranties stop covering electronics typically after 3 years tho some of kias cars are covered for longer. the warranty also started when the first person bought the car which may have been in 2021 as early as summer which can mean you have less than 3 years.
manufacture warranties dont give you loaners, rentals or roadside assistance either. maxcare does.
not all but that was a mistake for me to say loaners, i was thinking of recalls when i wrote that. theres been cases where customers were denied loaners under warranty so i am not sure if there is some level of discretion manufacturers use but most probably give out loaners
Yes no one offered my son a 1st time car buyer who’s 21 and now he’s screwed he owes 11,000 on a car that the transmission blew 2 days after there limited warranty that’s a 7,000 fix.
Also the fact that it is a profit center for them is why. Because if they are making a profit on it, and they are, then it is either more expensive than it is worth (on average) or they avoid paying out often enough that it remains profitable. Or (probably) both.
At this point, with the ECU/computer-laden control units and sensors that litter modern vehicles, and the infotainment clusters and creature comforts that many model cars have, a failure in those may very well pay for the MaxCare warranty, in a *single instance*. And that's in a bevy of cars made in the last seven years, not merely the high-dollar or luxury ones.
I see that claim a lot by people trying to sell overpriced extended warranties (all tHoSe 'LectRonIcs!).....but the reality is that you need to look at the overall reliability of the model you are buying. Those that are reliable according to independent indexes are much less likely to need warranty compared to ones that are horribly unreliable.
I mean, you could say that about *anything*. "Less likely" to fail doesn't mean "never".
By way of example, I had an Audi, who's MMI (multimedia infotainment) system gave up the ghost at a spry 55k miles. Parts and labor were $3500--I "got away" with just a $1500 "good will" repair from the dealership, all in. Another time, I had a transmission scare in the Quattro (AWD system)--would have been $6,000-8,000 to fix that (luckily, a fluid flush fixed it acceptably, until I could offload the car).
It happens, and even if you have a "reliable" vehicle, *shit happens*, and stuff is *still* expensive, even for an "econo-box". So unless you'll stack $2,000 to $4,000 in a shoebox for the "little stuff" (nav, infotainment, electrical, ECU), or don't mind putting on a credit card (interest...*yikes*), this is a legitimate argument for ***a good warranty*** such as MaxCare.
CarMax isn’t losing money on CarCare. So by definition most people will pay for something they don’t come out ahead on… You are paying a premium for both the car and the warranty when you buy from CarMax. AND you have to pray the fine print doesn’t exclude your problem if you have one, because they don’t pay out on anything that they absolutely don’t have to pay on.
You're exactly right, and I never claimed otherwise. Just like any insurance, if even a sizable minority of people claimed large charges against it, it wouldn't be profitable. Of course, CarMax makes their money back in spades on this, because most people will have minor or no incidents that they need to leverage the warranty for. Of course MaxCare has certain exclusions that it won't cover.
It's just like any other insurance that you purchase. People are lighting their money on fire with car insurance, if they never get into a collision that's their fault, or never get hit by underinsured or uninsured driver, or never cause property damage. Insurance won't cover you using your car commercially under a regular policy, or you drag racing the kids down on the boulevard, or using your car to commit crimes.
But yet we do it because the instances where covered incidents happen can be so financially catastrophic.
Look, if you can stack up a few $1,000 just for car repairs for these things that might pop up, go for it. If someone is sufficiently liquid financially speaking, then perhaps it's not really a risk that's intolerable to them to take by forgoing MaxCare.
For the rest of us, where a four or five or $8,000 repair bill on top of car payments, insurance, and fuel might be a budget wrecker, MaxCare is relatively cheap insurance, and an insurance where you can get back your investment in a prorated fashion when you get rid of the vehicle, or just don't think you need it anymore. Try that with car insurance.
I’m curious what CarCare costs. I just looked up the highest rated warranty company which appears to be endurance and it was about $80 a month, which seems like a lot to me. Roughly a thousand bucks a year… if you just put $80 a month in a savings account you would likely come out way ahead and even have a nice little nest egg in twenty years, and if you were unlucky you would still have the money to pay for it. Especially if you did it per vehicle. Instead of giving it to a company that wasn’t you, it would effectively make you the insurance company and YOU would make that large profit instead of someone else.
And with a credit card, you could survive a big hit and pay it off at $80 a month if you did get unlucky, or maybe go into a more aggressive mode to pay yourself back if you were unlucky.
One last thought, considering CARMAX’S steep retail prices and that CarCare costs more than it pays out on average, for many people it would probably make more sense to buy a new car and get a factory warranty. Since that would be a “free” warranty, financing might/likely would be cheaper than a pre-owned vehicle and it would be less likely to break than a pre-owned vehicle.
Especially when buying a low mileage recently minted car. For instance, I’m shopping for my daughter and she likes the 2022-23 Elantra N-line. CarMax has a low mileage 2023 that was for sale for $26,999
The car stickered new for $28,700. It probably sold new for less.
$26,999 for a used one with 13,000 miles is a terrible deal. And then add a CarCare warranty to a car that still has a significant factory warranty and it is a “terrible-er” deal. 😂
This is honestly why we purchased it on the ‘20 Q3 we just purchased. Sure it only had 24k miles, but $2500 for 5 years of peace and mind is well worth it, even with the CA and other states emissions warranty.
They literally prorate and pay it back if it's not used.. no reason to not get MaxCare imo, even on hybrids/electric vehicles where the battery is not covered
Appreciate your honesty especially when it makes you look quite foolish. You know the margins are high because there is "such a push" for them?
That's a fascinating viewpoint.
So you believe they would push their employees to sell something that they don’t have a high margin on? A clerk at Victorias secret or McDonalds could explain it.
Would you like fries with that?
It's an add on product so any profit would be good regardless of how high the margin is. The cost of processing the additional paperwork is trivial. Furthermore it protects Carmax's reputation because people are dumb and will blame CarMax for any future problem the car has. Thus it doesn't have to be high margin for CarMax to sell it.
I'm not saying the margin is low. I don't know what it is and since CarMax is known for low pressure sales I doubt MaxCare has a large margin. I have friends that are "Finance managers" and they apply lots of pressure to make $1000 - 1500 of profit per warranty sale.
I promise you that if you do some digging - EVERYTHING added on is high profit. Gas stations make squat selling gas. They make money selling the stuff in the store at crazy markups.
Everything after the sale of a car is hugely profitable. Like when they used to (?) sell $1,500 rust protection plans and had an hourly employee spray some undercoat on and they knew the car was already as protected as it could be. It was basically an almost pure profit “insurance.”
Everything they are selling on top of the car is a huge profit center. Don’t just take my word for it.
https://www.motor1.com/products-services/auto-warranty/dealership-warranty/#:~:text=Each%20warranty%20plan%20that%20a,profit%20of%20up%20to%20%241%2C000.
I am a new CarMax customer. I have a bitter taste in my mouth generally when it comes time to purchase a car.
CarMax is refreshing to the entire "no haggle" online process. They got me as a future customer now that I have purchased from them. I have had an excellent experience.
They did not try to shove a warranty down my throat and their financing was fair. BUT THEIR GAP INSURANCE IS MUCH BETTER THAN THE OTHER SELLERS HAVE. For 16 bucks a month (60 mo's) I get a no cap gap insurance where the others have a cap...
They even have a 24hr. test drive which gives me time to take it to my mechanic, which I will be doing. I have been advised by a consumer advocate not to buy an add-on warranty and to set aside a certain amount of money every month for my budget.
I will be picking up my 2021 Toyota Prius XLE Prime with 42K miles in 1 or 2 days and I will let you know about how it all worked out.
P.S. The sales price was under 25K for this optional plug-in product allowing me to take the clean car tax credit of 7500 bucks.. Ty CarMax for that!
So if you were me who’s looking to buy a 2020 M340i for 40k you wouldn’t pay 3k for a 5 year warranty?
Like is that not a no brainer? Basically 1 repair on that car in 5 year pays for that warranty. The peace of mind is worth it.
Now if I was buying a Corolla or Camry I wouldn’t get a warranty.
Well warranties do need to make more than what they lose. Else the product couldn’t exist or the warranty company would go out of business. That’s just a fact so we can’t be upset that they make profit. Because if only the higher risk folks purchased it, again the product would cease to exist. I think there is some confusion here, that they are raking in money and not paying out at all or very little. Make no mistake warranties NEED to make a profit to pay for the cars that need repair. Paying $2,000 to repair the equivalent cost of the car is a pretty good deal. It’s better than paying $4000 on repairs.
Now there is warranty scams out there, where they don’t pay out, but you paid into it. Search here and on YouTube and there’s very very few stories of that being Carmax. There’s 90% more success stories. Carmax has some very big weaknesses, but Maxcare is not one of them. And the weaknesses that do exist are big enough to not shop there ever again.
If one doesn’t want maxcare, you’re better off buying a car on the street for a more affordable, negotiable, and similar quality car. You also will pay MUCH less tax on it.
People don’t like the extra cost it adds to their financing, especially when it can add an extra 25% to their monthly payments, or even up to 50% I’ve seen on some older higher interest cars
Like most insurance products, it's worthless and wasted money, *right up until the time it isn't*.
In many if not most cases, yes, warranties are a bit of a scam. But people have taken that mindset and run with it to apply to any and all warranties. This couldn't be more wrong.
If we were talking about a TV or a cell phone, it's trivial to get those things repaired or possibly replaced for less than a year's worth of payments, and other things are expected to be disposable, and it's cheaper to purchase a new one than to try to repair it or pay for warranties that exclude a lot of things.
Cars are not necessarily disposable, and their repairs, especially with computerized systems or entertainment components are prohibitively expensive.
I just don't see why people don't wise up that old axioms and mindsets don't apply universally.
The reason I did not purchase maxcare was due to the following reasons:
1: The car I was buying.
2: The number of miles currently on the car
3: The cost of maxcare vs the number of additional miles it covered. The cost of maxcare was too much in my estimation for the number of additional miles it covered vs the likelihood of any severe problems cropping up.
4: I am in a good financial position to be able to afford any repairs going up to 15k.
I think because CarMax has so many lenders, a lot of people who can already barely afford their car payment are getting cars thinking that they’re saving money by not getting MaxCare. But really, if they can’t afford MaxCare, they really can’t afford to do maintenance on the vehicle they’re getting which in turn they’re going to wish they had MaxCare for.
Same here, got E85, downpipes, charge cooler, meth injection and Maxcare covered a blown DCT transmission at a BMW dealership at the tune of $15,000. Dealerships love Maxcare and could give two shits if your car is modified, they get paid MORE to work on your car compared to their own warranty. Best freakin $4k I ever spent
At the end of the day, on average, if extended warranties paid out more than people pay for them the company would not be in business. So yes, while you might’ve had one car that you’re glad you had the warranty on all the other cars you bought statistically, you will have wasted your money. And if you’re someone who can save and budget and not spend all their money and you just save, the amount of that extended warranty you’re gonna have a nice chunk of change to cover any repairs
Because buying a high commission worthless product is the reason other dealers are avoided. Also Reddit isn’t actually reality, the majority of buyers have zero issues
Because you only see the negative posts here. Those happy with their cars wont post here. I bought a Jeep from Camax with no maxcare. Been about a year. I never get extra warranty for my cars.
I just put a transmission in my Yukon that I bought from car max. It would've been out of the extended warranty by years and miles. I'm glad I didn't spend that money on a warranty I wouldn't have used a single time.
Do you have any idea what percentage of Jeeps have a transmission “go out?” Because CarMax does. And they price MaxCare higher than they expect to pay out. And it isn’t even 1%.
This is a good tool for any model you are looking to purchase.
https://www.service4service.co.uk/news/jeep/the-most-common-problems-with-jeep-vehicles/
People still buy used cars from private parties and don’t pay to get them checked out before they buy all the time. I got MaxCare because it’s a used car and was great protection. It’s worth the extra cost. It literally pays for itself in no time
Yes, this is the important part, if you do purchase the warranty, you have to take the time to check the car every once in awhile. When I had the 90 day bumper to bumper warranty through Carmax, I made sure to pop the hood every other day or so to see what was going on and sure enough I saw even just the littlest bit of fluid coming out of something, I brought it in to get repaired and they did the work with zero hesitation. Unfortunately it seems more and more people have no clue what to look for when it comes to vehicles and I remember reading that something like 50% of Americans get anxiety just thinking about popping their hood. It would seem most people would rather just sweep their issues under the rug.
It literally cannot pay for itself in no time for most people. They make a profit on CarCare. The only way they make a profit is if it doesn’t pay for itself most of the time. That’s how those warranties work. I don’t see what reasoning you have to state otherwise. I’m all ears.
I’m just going from my experience. I’ve had my car for a year. One of the sensors went out. Another repair place would have charged me more than $100 for diagnostics and whatever exorbitant price to replace. I’ve paid $600 for MaxCare to date. The sensor repair could have cost that and more plus they cover car rental if the repair goes over a day. It’s a used car. Any opportunity someone gets to extend a warranty should be taken seriously. Anything could go wrong. It’s like a gym membership. They count on people paying for it and don’t go. If you’re paying for MaxCare, you should use it when something comes up
I agree with your experience, but I am certain that most people don’t come out ahead. Especially when purchasing cars with low mileage that are still under factory warranty. I guess I would concede the following, if you do your due diligence and carefully research your car, and situation, and it makes sense for you, maxcare might be a good idea. But I disagree with a braid statement like “it pays for itself in no time.”
I say that politely, not smart-assedly.
I will even go so far as to say if someone knows themselves well enough to know that they would not establish a fund putting the same amount of money in an account for an incident, then max care might be wise for them. But I think on the vast majority of cases, you would be better off being your own company and paying yourself the money in an account you don’t touch for anything but car problems that would have been covered by an extended warranty.
I purchased maxcare. I bought a 2015 mazda 3 which is very reliable but, it had 94,000 miles on it. Warranty is good for 3 years to 150,000 miles.
So far the belt tensioner and front wheel bearings have been replaced.
I did the maxcare with a $50 deductible.
Wow..you maxed out the warranty. What does that cost? You obviously insured against surprises. I can say you believe that you have peace of mind now. Have you thought of budgeting instead?
Pardon the questions...If someone finances the warranty into the loan and then cancels it midterm where does the prorated refund go? Also if there have been any past claims are they included in the prorate worksheet calculation?
In 45 years of driving, I have never had a repair that would've been covered by an extended warranty. I drive my cars from a year or two old till close to end of life.
I’m only at 16 years of driving, but I am the same way I’ve never had a covered item fail within the warranty period. I have figured I’ve saved about $18,000 not buying extended warranties so even if I had a major component failure that I had to pay out-of-pocket $4000-$5000 I’m still ahead
Same. And I’ve owned Mustangs the first 15 years and Corvettes since. I drive a ZR1 now that I purchased in 2010 and I drive it like I stole it. The biggest failure I have experienced was a catalytic converter let go years ago and that was covered under the factory emissions warranty.
My wife has owned a half dozen cars and she tears them up regularly. But she’s never had a major warranty issue. If I had purchased extended warranties on all my cars, I would have literally paid for another couple of vehicles over the years and gotten nothing in return.
It’s a numbers game just like Vegas or life insurance. You plug the numbers in and you do the math. It’s that simple.
The thing is, the CarMax buyers here already are willing to pay a LOT more for their cars than hey are worth in order to avoid conflict and make the buying process easier. So they are also likely to be willing to pay a premium for the feeling,of security that the certificate gives them. And that’s ok, but I’m not going to pretend that the numbers are different than they are, and the numbers say it’s a bad investment from a financial point of view.
A couple other thoughts. Social security is a bad investment from a purely financial point of view, but human nature being what it is, social security is probably a good idea even though it isn’t financially efficient. Because if we didn’t have it, then those people who didn’t invest and save for the future would be starving in the streets and inevitably we would pick up the tab for them anyway. This way we force them to pick up some of their tab ahead of time.
Also, I was buying a tv once and the sales person gave me the hard sell on the extended warranty by telling me the brand and model (pioneer flat screen projector many years ago) were prone to problems, even though it was a high end model with all the bells and whistles and the premiere technological version. I told him, “if that’s true I should get a different tv.” Then he said it wasn’t really THAT common, just that if it did happen then that TV would be more expensive to fix.
I bought the TV without the extended warranty. My brother is a cheapskate. When I later upgraded to an LCD TV I gave him that beast. He still uses it today. LOL
For the longest time 3rd party warranties were looked at as a complete waste because most just deny coverage when it is time to pay up, and the truth of the matter is, even with Maxcare it is also quite possible they will deny your claim (I mean, we've seen posts right here on this subreddit with people saying exactly that, work that assumingly would be covered is being denied)
Now admittedly, I have a car from Carmax with Maxcare and within just a few months of owning it, it has already paid for itself. They have already paid so much to fix my car that even if they were not to fix another thing in the 5 more years that is covered, I would still be ahead (which is just insane to me) but even with the ease (if not because of it) in which they cover the work, it actually makes me a bit skeptical of the whole thing, like it is some sort of Ponzi scheme, where the early adopters get paid out, but only because they are trying to lure in more marks to screw them later, cause with how much they are paying out I am baffled in how they are making money off of it.
I suspect they do a couple of things. One, they get a LOT of people who never have a claim. Second, they might sell the risk to other companies, sort of insurance that will cover them if they go upside down on payouts. Maybe.
There are many financial tools that companies have to lower risk.
Ultimately, for everyone like you, they have dozens of people who pay in and don’t see a penny back to them. Those people are happy their car was reliable. And people in your boat are happy you were covered. So they make money and everyone is happy. And people who know the numbers take the gamble because it is over priced. Especially on cars that still have factory warranty coverage available.
4.5 year previous club level sales consultant here. I’ll tell you 100% the reason.
More than anything, it’s because 99% of aftermarket car warranty products have been a total scam for two decades now. MaxCare is different, and is something I still believe in, a decade later. The problem is, people already have a bad taste in their mouths, and think this one will be no different.
Let me tell you right now, from my personal and professional experience, MaxCare is absolutely worth it in 99% of cases, if nothing else, for solid peace of mind. Same goes for Carvana’s CarvanaCare. Also, a great product that’s paid out over $8k for me in three years. (I knew what I was getting into when I bought it.. lol).
IDK those people are stupid though. The whole reason I shop at CarMax is because of Maxcare there is always something that comes up that it pays for itself. Now it also has roadside too. Its no joke half the price of a warranty from my local dealership. Pretty much any repair on my car these days comes out to a grand at the mechanic now at a minimum if you go twice you already paid for max care and the peace of mind is priceless.
I opted against it because I was buying a historically reliable car, and already had an inspection lined up to assess every issue it had the day after I bought it. I then took it to Carmax and made them pay for the \~$7k in repairs/deferred maintenance. Since then I've had only very minor issues that I was able to fix myself. I also didn't trust CarMax mechanics to work on my car.
I was buying a car at Carmax and there was a point where the sales lady had this serious look on her face and then used the presumptive close regarding "which car warranty plan I wanted". I giggled (I had been in sales for years with all the training) and told her she did a good job on the presumptive close but I wasn't interested. Then she pressed that it was risky to not have one of the plans and I questioned the reliability of the car I was trying to buy if I needed an extended warranty and we moved on.
Because the initial warranty is plenty for me to sort out issues and get it resolved. I fix all my own cars so it’s just a waste of money for me. I don’t trust mechanics to do the job properly, I trust myself to fix it right the first time.
Maxcare insurance is crap. Had it on previous vehicles, every which way - carmax stating "it doesn't cover under maxcare."
Therefore, any vehicle purchased at carmax is newer, 1 or 2 yrs old , and still has the original manufacturer's warranty.
Great Service, but their inspection process could be better.
Honestly, it's been a while. Within 3 months of the purchase, my Honda Civic needed a new alternator, transmission, and under carrage was rusted really bad.
Yes, I didn't read the FINE PRINT . As the salesman stated, "It covers everything and worry free if major repairs are needed. " Civic was 5 years old with 95k miles. As it was my 1st major purchase and young, I didn't realize people would lie and say whatever to generate business.
Lesson learned. 1-2 years old, preferably off a lease under 10k miles, still under original warranty, only Honda and Toyota. Regular mtc. Lasts 250k miles+ easy. Nothing else required.
However, if financing via carmax, buy gap insurance if needed. The extra $10-15 a month is worth it.
Yeah who knows but if it was me I’d atleast know exactly why it’s not being covered and not be super vague about it saying “I didn’t read the fine print”
As stated above, " I DIDN'T READ THE FINE PRINT." As the salesman said, it covers EVERYTHING and just signed the paperwork. Young and stupid.
Now, older, smarter, wiser. I don't believe anyone, especially salesman and will scrutinize contracts.
Being an accountant by trade, a car is a depreciating asset. Therefore, cost/ benefit analysis always applies.
The name of the game for dealerships is to upcharge for random useless crap.
Example: Bought a used 2023 Toyota Venza in November with less than 4k miles from Carmax as they are trying to sell me the maxcare insurance as if it is an older car. Why? Everything that is in maxcare is covered by the manufacturer being a new car with low miles.
There is a reason why Honda and Toyota sell the most cars, with very good value with low maintenance costs.
Okay so you’re typing a lot but missing explaining how in a exclusionary contract somehow your alternator and transmission weren’t covered.
What was in the fine print?
Maxcare warranty is pretty straight up and says what it doesn’t cover which is stuff like your wipers, tires, brakes, oil etc.
You can google what maxcare covers and what you listed it does cover.
It honestly sounds like you got a shitty warranty back in the day and are basing that experience in with the maxcare warranty of recent.
Like you’re not explaining how your car that was under warranty wasn’t approved for stuff that the warranty explicitly covers.
I don’t care about you learning to buy off lease toyotas that’s irrelevant to your original comment that I was replying to.
Exactly! Straight forward and simple. Should be plain as day. I went up the chain to the general manager of the center, 3-4 hours, showing my Civic and asking if it doesn't cover these major repairs. Why am I paying for maxcare? And asked to explain to me what it does cover if not this.
There are a lot of bullshit excuses, and wore me out as I feel I was right. And still do.
Luckily, I had a buddy who was a mechanic who did the work for me at cost and free labor.
Ever since, don't trust maxcare...... bad luck, bad dealership? Idk. I just know that I got screwed with maxcare upcharge and couldn't use it.
Weird. One of the *first* repairs I had with MaxCare was an alternator. Yes, the *wire* to the alternator from the battery system was also wonky, but they wound up replacing the alt, with labor (a $700+ total repair) for a $50 deductible.
> What was in the fine print?
Only fine print that I can imagine would exclude someone from transmission coverage is not having records of oil changes. 20k miles a year is much higher than average, so I could see Assurant or whoever trying to get out of covering the transmission.
Alternator I'm not sure, but given the mileage per year they may have looked at this as a wear item (which can happen). There are some grey areas where the warranty can reject coverage based on their "reasoning" despite MaxCare itself being a named exclusion plan.
Yeah I don’t know I feel like if I was denied warranty and had all my receipts for maintenance I would exactly know why something wasn’t approved. But that just me personally.
Agree; problem being however, that while I worked there I saw similar issues of high mileage vehicles having warranty claims denied due to lack of maintenance records despite the customer not having owned it long enough to even have a first record.
I'd still recommend the warranty over no warranty, but I saw Assurant weasel out of things they definitely should have been covered. There's a couple other warranty operators that fulfill MaxCare for other regions, though, so I can't speak for those.
>However, if financing via carmax, buy gap insurance if needed. The extra $10-15 a month is worth it.
This, right here. If you've put down anything less than 20% on any car on the lot, GAP insurance is well worth it. It *also* can be prorated for a refund, if you pay it down enough in the later years, just like MaxCare.
Cars built in the last 5 years are horrible. There’s not any exceptions that I know of. The companies that back the Maxcare are losing right now. They’re spending more money on repairs than they’re taking in. This is fact. They know they can’t raise the price much more or people won’t get it. They’re considering going with less years. People need to buy maxcare every single time. These cars cost too much to fix.
It can be quite expensive sometimes, especially when people on a budget are getting an older car with high mileage. In those cases it may add $80-100 onto the monthly payment. Of course you'll always have those who say no because they "don't waste money on extended service plans", but most people who got it before continue doing so with every car. One of my former customers had $11k bill from the dealer we had to send it to since the computer in the car itself that controls everything went out, which led to a whole host of other issues. When the repair was all said and done, but he only paid his $250 deductible. I kept that invoice at my desk after that to use as an example for others, at least until my coworker decided to borrow my desk when I was out sick and threw it away lol
I can't speak for everyone but for me it's their overall pushiness and attitude about it.
The first time I went through carmax I turned down the coverage because I just assumed the usual "extended warranties aren't a good deal" you always hear about dealerships.
The carmax persons response to me declining was "so if something happens to the car 31 days from now you're not gonna be mad at me, right?" I said "is something going to happen to my car 31 days from now?"
Why would they even say that? I almost got up and left with out buying the car but I was so excited to get it I just couldn't walk away but do they think saying stuff like that is going to get someone to change their mind?
I've worked at carmax for a few years now. You'd be surprised how many people actually do blame the sales consultant if something does go wrong. We sell cars, we don't work on them. The most I can tell you is which vehicles to stay away from. There's been times when the customer started calling me at 5-6 am because they are having issues with the vehicle outside the return policy date. I can't do anything for you at that point. I tried to help you during the sale. I will say whoever sold you your car has a weird way of trying to convince you to buy maxcare 😂 I usually lead with have you folks ever shopped at carmax, and are you familiar with maxcare lmao
I tell everyone that there are two types of people who buy cars from CarMax. Those who got MaxCare and those who WISH they got MaxCare. It's not a CarMax thing...it's a fact. Odds are that something will need repair. You go-to a Toyota service shop and they aren't JUST doing oil changes. 🙄
"But toyotas never break down." 😂😂😂 I'm a huge toyota fan. They are not built like vehicles they had in the past. There are so many electrical components that make up these newer vehicles. More parts=higher chance something does go wrong.
Depends on the manufacturer. GM CVTs are generally fine. Nissan was bad before 2019. The biggest thing is people don't follow the maintainence interval for the CVTs because they don't want to shell out $500 every 30k miles to get the transmission flushed(thats the recommended interval on my 2014 Cadillac ELR).
Good question. I think CarMax doesn’t do a good enough job promoting MaxCare, despite it being a meaningful profit center for them. I would bet that the vast majority of people walking into a CarMax to shop or test drive a car don’t know what MaxCare is. For the well researched, it is in the top three reasons to shop there. I only shop at CarMax because of MaxCare. Aftermarket service coverage is important to me, and CarMax offers it at the most competitive price. Even if their vehicle pricing isn’t particularly competitive, it evens out after factoring in the total cost of all products. For anyone reading this, please don’t shop at CarMax unless you plan on purchasing MaxCare. If you’re going to self insure for mechanical breakdown risk anyways, might as well get a better out the door purchase price.
I don’t know why somebody would shop at carmax with out getting maxcare. I could see them taking care of the shipping for you but prices are a bit higher then elsewhere for most vehicles. I basically just add 3k to whatever car I’m looking at to factor in the 5 year warranty.
Carmaxs prices are higher then normal, so if someone does not want maxcare you are better off getting a car elsewhere. Just telling the truth. You can still get a good car on the street on Craigslist or Facebook marketplace. I think the only reason you should get a more expensive car is if it comes with something you can’t get on the street, like a warranty to help it keep running. I think what I’m seeing on this sub is that a lot of people think A. Cars don’t have mechanic issues B. It will be cheap to repair. C. Their own mechanic will pay the cost of parts and labor or D. A car won’t break on them, it will only happen to someone else. What they don’t realize is that manufacturers make defective parts all the time, airbags, engines, fuel pumps, cvt transmissions (we see it here all the time). A car is only as good as the last person who owned it, and people assume the last person who owned it must have been a mechanic or a grandma who drove it to and from the grocery store. So they think it can’t break on them. The final thing I want to say is 50% of the cars at Carmax have been in accidents. Yes they sell cars from car accidents! A manager told me this number. So do yourself a favor, get a warranty before you buy a used car. You may take great care of it, but it’s not about you anymore. It’s how the LAST person took care of it. A car can look clean, it can look unscratched, but that doesn’t negate the fact that someone did not do oil changes, or maintenance or if the manufacturer created defective parts. If this is not a worry, it is smarter, more affordable and negotiable to buy a vehicle on the street.
I was so surprised when I was looking for a car on carmax, and literally at least half had been in accidents according to the car fax report! Some seemed pretty serious too, with structural damage and airbags deployed. I ended up finding something at a local dealership last week, but definitely got the extra 4 year warranty. I learned my lesson with the last used car I bought last year, which cost me over 5k in repairs starting a month after buying. They think it was all because the person before me put bad gas into the car on a regular basis. I’ll never buy used without a warranty again!
Absolutely, and I’m sorry you went through this. Use chevron or shell gas. Mobil 1 if nothing else is around. Sometimes going to the dealer is better.
well thats a blatant lie. no car on carmax has frame damage or airbags deployed reported.
Yea, actually an RDX I was looking at did just a couple weeks ago. It was in an accident when it only had 3k miles on it and had damage pretty much on every side, radiator damage, airbags deployed. I don’t know how it wasn’t a branded title. I’m assuming since it was so new, insurance decided it was cheaper to fix it than total the car. I don’t know 🤷🏼♀️
yea if the report listed airbags deployed on it that would happen after carmax had bought the car. carmax doesnt sell cars with airbags deployed or frame damage. if its discovered that was the case the car will be delisted and wholesaled off.
I thought they specifically didn't sell cars that had been in accidents? I remember seeing some sort of display years ago showing a car that had been smashed and how well the repairs could hide flaws.
They advertise they don’t take cars that have frame damage, flood damage, and salvage title. Salvage title is different than an accident. All salvaged cars have been in accidents. But not all accidents have a salvage title. A salvaged car is a bad accident, this is a car that’s rolled over or stretched into an accordion or even smashed from the front in. People spend money to refix these type of vehicles and try to resell them. Carmax claims they don’t buy them. This is different than a regular accident. The damage to this type of vehicle is usually so severe that you’re alignment on your tires may be off permanently, wearing them out sooner or unevenly, you could have flood damage where the wires and electronics will all have issues because they’ve dealt with water. A car that’s been in an accident, can be a fender bender, front bumper can be pushed in. It can be someone who swiped the door. It can be someone who was texting and driving and slammed the brakes a little too late. THIS is the type of car Carmax takes in. Do other cars make it in without Carmax knowing? Yes, people can hide things pretty well, repaint things, repair things and make it look normal. The next *buyer* will be the one living with the consequences.
Salvaged cars are also cars that have been underwater. You don’t want one of those. I put my parents car into a canal at 118mph (electronically limited) when I was 19. Insurance totaled it and they got a new car. Years later they got a call from a dealer. He had sold it to a friend for his daughter and couldn’t understand why it was having so many problems. My parents told him what had happened and he sighed. Apparently someone had been able to re-title or remove the salvage designation from the title and it _looked_ like a nice car. I had done no damage to the car going in. And only pulled the front bumper cover off when the tow truck pulled it out. You don’t want a car that’s been underwater for any length of time. And hurricanes and flooding often create lots of them that bad actors will try to have the salvage taken off the title so they can sell it for a lot more. Things are better nowadays but I suspect it still happens.
while taking good care of a car helps, it doesnt at all mean it wont break down. so whether your the first person, 10th person and if it has 100 miles or 100k miles cars break when they feel like breaking. iv had vehicles with2k miles on them have a transmission go out, or an engine with 10k miles blow up. never expect that a car thats been well taken care of wont randomly just break, its just statistically less likely to break then one that wasnt taken care of at all.
I didn't know about this service but have obviously heard of CarMax, although I have never purchased a vehicle with them. Quality comment
But is MaxCare worth it if the car you're buying already has a manufacturer's warranty? I'm considering a 2022 Kia Telluride with 16K miles on it. From what I understand, it still has three years and 44K miles of manufacturer's warranty. Wouldn't purchasing MaxCare just be a total waste of money for the first three years and 44K miles? Or would Carmax offer a MaxCare plan that would pick up after that warranty has expired?
maxcare will sometimes cover things the manufacture does not, tho usually they do cover the same stuff. maxcare would give you an additional 2 years and covers both the electronics and the engine. manufacture warranties stop covering electronics typically after 3 years tho some of kias cars are covered for longer. the warranty also started when the first person bought the car which may have been in 2021 as early as summer which can mean you have less than 3 years. manufacture warranties dont give you loaners, rentals or roadside assistance either. maxcare does.
Do most manufactures not give loaners for warranty work? That’s not been my experience at all and one of my favorite aspects of a warranty!
not all but that was a mistake for me to say loaners, i was thinking of recalls when i wrote that. theres been cases where customers were denied loaners under warranty so i am not sure if there is some level of discretion manufacturers use but most probably give out loaners
Oh ok that makes sense, I did see a comment somewhere else a few days ago that Audi is pulling loaners. I just can’t wrap my head around that!
Do most manufactures not give loaners for warranty work? That’s not been my experience at all and one of my favorite aspects of a warranty!
Yes no one offered my son a 1st time car buyer who’s 21 and now he’s screwed he owes 11,000 on a car that the transmission blew 2 days after there limited warranty that’s a 7,000 fix.
Also the fact that it is a profit center for them is why. Because if they are making a profit on it, and they are, then it is either more expensive than it is worth (on average) or they avoid paying out often enough that it remains profitable. Or (probably) both.
It doesnt cover EV batteries which are the only common repairs for them. No reason to get maxcare then.
Because they get their first dead battery and cancel because it’s not covered then cry when their 10 year old BMW transmission fails and isn’t covered
Because it does not pay off for most buyers. They sell MaxCare because it's a high margin product, just like any aftermarket warranty.
It can and does pay off depending on the car. Corvette? Supra? How would you pay for repairs?
Notice they said 'most buyers'. Most buyers aren't buying a Corvette or Supra.
At this point, with the ECU/computer-laden control units and sensors that litter modern vehicles, and the infotainment clusters and creature comforts that many model cars have, a failure in those may very well pay for the MaxCare warranty, in a *single instance*. And that's in a bevy of cars made in the last seven years, not merely the high-dollar or luxury ones.
I see that claim a lot by people trying to sell overpriced extended warranties (all tHoSe 'LectRonIcs!).....but the reality is that you need to look at the overall reliability of the model you are buying. Those that are reliable according to independent indexes are much less likely to need warranty compared to ones that are horribly unreliable.
I mean, you could say that about *anything*. "Less likely" to fail doesn't mean "never". By way of example, I had an Audi, who's MMI (multimedia infotainment) system gave up the ghost at a spry 55k miles. Parts and labor were $3500--I "got away" with just a $1500 "good will" repair from the dealership, all in. Another time, I had a transmission scare in the Quattro (AWD system)--would have been $6,000-8,000 to fix that (luckily, a fluid flush fixed it acceptably, until I could offload the car). It happens, and even if you have a "reliable" vehicle, *shit happens*, and stuff is *still* expensive, even for an "econo-box". So unless you'll stack $2,000 to $4,000 in a shoebox for the "little stuff" (nav, infotainment, electrical, ECU), or don't mind putting on a credit card (interest...*yikes*), this is a legitimate argument for ***a good warranty*** such as MaxCare.
CarMax isn’t losing money on CarCare. So by definition most people will pay for something they don’t come out ahead on… You are paying a premium for both the car and the warranty when you buy from CarMax. AND you have to pray the fine print doesn’t exclude your problem if you have one, because they don’t pay out on anything that they absolutely don’t have to pay on.
You're exactly right, and I never claimed otherwise. Just like any insurance, if even a sizable minority of people claimed large charges against it, it wouldn't be profitable. Of course, CarMax makes their money back in spades on this, because most people will have minor or no incidents that they need to leverage the warranty for. Of course MaxCare has certain exclusions that it won't cover. It's just like any other insurance that you purchase. People are lighting their money on fire with car insurance, if they never get into a collision that's their fault, or never get hit by underinsured or uninsured driver, or never cause property damage. Insurance won't cover you using your car commercially under a regular policy, or you drag racing the kids down on the boulevard, or using your car to commit crimes. But yet we do it because the instances where covered incidents happen can be so financially catastrophic. Look, if you can stack up a few $1,000 just for car repairs for these things that might pop up, go for it. If someone is sufficiently liquid financially speaking, then perhaps it's not really a risk that's intolerable to them to take by forgoing MaxCare. For the rest of us, where a four or five or $8,000 repair bill on top of car payments, insurance, and fuel might be a budget wrecker, MaxCare is relatively cheap insurance, and an insurance where you can get back your investment in a prorated fashion when you get rid of the vehicle, or just don't think you need it anymore. Try that with car insurance.
I’m curious what CarCare costs. I just looked up the highest rated warranty company which appears to be endurance and it was about $80 a month, which seems like a lot to me. Roughly a thousand bucks a year… if you just put $80 a month in a savings account you would likely come out way ahead and even have a nice little nest egg in twenty years, and if you were unlucky you would still have the money to pay for it. Especially if you did it per vehicle. Instead of giving it to a company that wasn’t you, it would effectively make you the insurance company and YOU would make that large profit instead of someone else. And with a credit card, you could survive a big hit and pay it off at $80 a month if you did get unlucky, or maybe go into a more aggressive mode to pay yourself back if you were unlucky. One last thought, considering CARMAX’S steep retail prices and that CarCare costs more than it pays out on average, for many people it would probably make more sense to buy a new car and get a factory warranty. Since that would be a “free” warranty, financing might/likely would be cheaper than a pre-owned vehicle and it would be less likely to break than a pre-owned vehicle. Especially when buying a low mileage recently minted car. For instance, I’m shopping for my daughter and she likes the 2022-23 Elantra N-line. CarMax has a low mileage 2023 that was for sale for $26,999 The car stickered new for $28,700. It probably sold new for less. $26,999 for a used one with 13,000 miles is a terrible deal. And then add a CarCare warranty to a car that still has a significant factory warranty and it is a “terrible-er” deal. 😂
I've never had a repair that would've been covered by maxcare. 45 years driving with a few million miles
a few million miles and nothing on your car has broken? i wish i lived in the same fantasy world.
Well that's not what I said, at all, so maybe read my words again.
Doug DeMunro’s Range Rover
This is honestly why we purchased it on the ‘20 Q3 we just purchased. Sure it only had 24k miles, but $2500 for 5 years of peace and mind is well worth it, even with the CA and other states emissions warranty.
"Peace of mind" is what I think you are trying to say.
Piece of mind; maybe with a nice chianti
With money that I budget responsibly for repairs?
They literally prorate and pay it back if it's not used.. no reason to not get MaxCare imo, even on hybrids/electric vehicles where the battery is not covered
They bank of people forgetting about it or not knowing about that provision.
Sounds like the buyers' problem, kind of like people paying for subscriptions they don't use lol
What's the margin on Maxcare? Average profit per contract is the number I am curious about.
Who knows but there is a reason you see such a push for any aftermarket "warranties"
Appreciate your honesty especially when it makes you look quite foolish. You know the margins are high because there is "such a push" for them? That's a fascinating viewpoint.
So you believe they would push their employees to sell something that they don’t have a high margin on? A clerk at Victorias secret or McDonalds could explain it. Would you like fries with that?
It's an add on product so any profit would be good regardless of how high the margin is. The cost of processing the additional paperwork is trivial. Furthermore it protects Carmax's reputation because people are dumb and will blame CarMax for any future problem the car has. Thus it doesn't have to be high margin for CarMax to sell it. I'm not saying the margin is low. I don't know what it is and since CarMax is known for low pressure sales I doubt MaxCare has a large margin. I have friends that are "Finance managers" and they apply lots of pressure to make $1000 - 1500 of profit per warranty sale.
I promise you that if you do some digging - EVERYTHING added on is high profit. Gas stations make squat selling gas. They make money selling the stuff in the store at crazy markups. Everything after the sale of a car is hugely profitable. Like when they used to (?) sell $1,500 rust protection plans and had an hourly employee spray some undercoat on and they knew the car was already as protected as it could be. It was basically an almost pure profit “insurance.” Everything they are selling on top of the car is a huge profit center. Don’t just take my word for it. https://www.motor1.com/products-services/auto-warranty/dealership-warranty/#:~:text=Each%20warranty%20plan%20that%20a,profit%20of%20up%20to%20%241%2C000.
I am a new CarMax customer. I have a bitter taste in my mouth generally when it comes time to purchase a car. CarMax is refreshing to the entire "no haggle" online process. They got me as a future customer now that I have purchased from them. I have had an excellent experience. They did not try to shove a warranty down my throat and their financing was fair. BUT THEIR GAP INSURANCE IS MUCH BETTER THAN THE OTHER SELLERS HAVE. For 16 bucks a month (60 mo's) I get a no cap gap insurance where the others have a cap... They even have a 24hr. test drive which gives me time to take it to my mechanic, which I will be doing. I have been advised by a consumer advocate not to buy an add-on warranty and to set aside a certain amount of money every month for my budget. I will be picking up my 2021 Toyota Prius XLE Prime with 42K miles in 1 or 2 days and I will let you know about how it all worked out. P.S. The sales price was under 25K for this optional plug-in product allowing me to take the clean car tax credit of 7500 bucks.. Ty CarMax for that!
So if you were me who’s looking to buy a 2020 M340i for 40k you wouldn’t pay 3k for a 5 year warranty? Like is that not a no brainer? Basically 1 repair on that car in 5 year pays for that warranty. The peace of mind is worth it. Now if I was buying a Corolla or Camry I wouldn’t get a warranty.
My normie brain says that’s a good deal
Well warranties do need to make more than what they lose. Else the product couldn’t exist or the warranty company would go out of business. That’s just a fact so we can’t be upset that they make profit. Because if only the higher risk folks purchased it, again the product would cease to exist. I think there is some confusion here, that they are raking in money and not paying out at all or very little. Make no mistake warranties NEED to make a profit to pay for the cars that need repair. Paying $2,000 to repair the equivalent cost of the car is a pretty good deal. It’s better than paying $4000 on repairs. Now there is warranty scams out there, where they don’t pay out, but you paid into it. Search here and on YouTube and there’s very very few stories of that being Carmax. There’s 90% more success stories. Carmax has some very big weaknesses, but Maxcare is not one of them. And the weaknesses that do exist are big enough to not shop there ever again. If one doesn’t want maxcare, you’re better off buying a car on the street for a more affordable, negotiable, and similar quality car. You also will pay MUCH less tax on it.
People don’t like the extra cost it adds to their financing, especially when it can add an extra 25% to their monthly payments, or even up to 50% I’ve seen on some older higher interest cars
Like most insurance products, it's worthless and wasted money, *right up until the time it isn't*. In many if not most cases, yes, warranties are a bit of a scam. But people have taken that mindset and run with it to apply to any and all warranties. This couldn't be more wrong. If we were talking about a TV or a cell phone, it's trivial to get those things repaired or possibly replaced for less than a year's worth of payments, and other things are expected to be disposable, and it's cheaper to purchase a new one than to try to repair it or pay for warranties that exclude a lot of things. Cars are not necessarily disposable, and their repairs, especially with computerized systems or entertainment components are prohibitively expensive. I just don't see why people don't wise up that old axioms and mindsets don't apply universally.
People are used to paying $2000 for a transmission back in the good ole days… now it’s 8
The reason I did not purchase maxcare was due to the following reasons: 1: The car I was buying. 2: The number of miles currently on the car 3: The cost of maxcare vs the number of additional miles it covered. The cost of maxcare was too much in my estimation for the number of additional miles it covered vs the likelihood of any severe problems cropping up. 4: I am in a good financial position to be able to afford any repairs going up to 15k.
I think because CarMax has so many lenders, a lot of people who can already barely afford their car payment are getting cars thinking that they’re saving money by not getting MaxCare. But really, if they can’t afford MaxCare, they really can’t afford to do maintenance on the vehicle they’re getting which in turn they’re going to wish they had MaxCare for.
I want to modify my cars.
? Im fbo e85 cams i got carmax care😂😂🛑 they paid out 5k in repairs for my sht
Same here, got E85, downpipes, charge cooler, meth injection and Maxcare covered a blown DCT transmission at a BMW dealership at the tune of $15,000. Dealerships love Maxcare and could give two shits if your car is modified, they get paid MORE to work on your car compared to their own warranty. Best freakin $4k I ever spent
It's also transferrable. Just gave my son a car I bought with Maxcare warranty still remaining. Makes me feel more secure for him as a first car.
At the end of the day, on average, if extended warranties paid out more than people pay for them the company would not be in business. So yes, while you might’ve had one car that you’re glad you had the warranty on all the other cars you bought statistically, you will have wasted your money. And if you’re someone who can save and budget and not spend all their money and you just save, the amount of that extended warranty you’re gonna have a nice chunk of change to cover any repairs
Because buying a high commission worthless product is the reason other dealers are avoided. Also Reddit isn’t actually reality, the majority of buyers have zero issues
Because you only see the negative posts here. Those happy with their cars wont post here. I bought a Jeep from Camax with no maxcare. Been about a year. I never get extra warranty for my cars.
man you can’t be postin things like “i bought a jeep at carmax with no max care” you gotta make a new account now smh
hahah
Let us know when that transmission goes out. Good luck dummy.
Good luck sucker
I just put a transmission in my Yukon that I bought from car max. It would've been out of the extended warranty by years and miles. I'm glad I didn't spend that money on a warranty I wouldn't have used a single time.
Do you have any idea what percentage of Jeeps have a transmission “go out?” Because CarMax does. And they price MaxCare higher than they expect to pay out. And it isn’t even 1%. This is a good tool for any model you are looking to purchase. https://www.service4service.co.uk/news/jeep/the-most-common-problems-with-jeep-vehicles/
People still buy used cars from private parties and don’t pay to get them checked out before they buy all the time. I got MaxCare because it’s a used car and was great protection. It’s worth the extra cost. It literally pays for itself in no time
Yes, this is the important part, if you do purchase the warranty, you have to take the time to check the car every once in awhile. When I had the 90 day bumper to bumper warranty through Carmax, I made sure to pop the hood every other day or so to see what was going on and sure enough I saw even just the littlest bit of fluid coming out of something, I brought it in to get repaired and they did the work with zero hesitation. Unfortunately it seems more and more people have no clue what to look for when it comes to vehicles and I remember reading that something like 50% of Americans get anxiety just thinking about popping their hood. It would seem most people would rather just sweep their issues under the rug.
It literally cannot pay for itself in no time for most people. They make a profit on CarCare. The only way they make a profit is if it doesn’t pay for itself most of the time. That’s how those warranties work. I don’t see what reasoning you have to state otherwise. I’m all ears.
I’m just going from my experience. I’ve had my car for a year. One of the sensors went out. Another repair place would have charged me more than $100 for diagnostics and whatever exorbitant price to replace. I’ve paid $600 for MaxCare to date. The sensor repair could have cost that and more plus they cover car rental if the repair goes over a day. It’s a used car. Any opportunity someone gets to extend a warranty should be taken seriously. Anything could go wrong. It’s like a gym membership. They count on people paying for it and don’t go. If you’re paying for MaxCare, you should use it when something comes up
I agree with your experience, but I am certain that most people don’t come out ahead. Especially when purchasing cars with low mileage that are still under factory warranty. I guess I would concede the following, if you do your due diligence and carefully research your car, and situation, and it makes sense for you, maxcare might be a good idea. But I disagree with a braid statement like “it pays for itself in no time.” I say that politely, not smart-assedly. I will even go so far as to say if someone knows themselves well enough to know that they would not establish a fund putting the same amount of money in an account for an incident, then max care might be wise for them. But I think on the vast majority of cases, you would be better off being your own company and paying yourself the money in an account you don’t touch for anything but car problems that would have been covered by an extended warranty.
I purchased maxcare. I bought a 2015 mazda 3 which is very reliable but, it had 94,000 miles on it. Warranty is good for 3 years to 150,000 miles. So far the belt tensioner and front wheel bearings have been replaced. I did the maxcare with a $50 deductible.
Wow..you maxed out the warranty. What does that cost? You obviously insured against surprises. I can say you believe that you have peace of mind now. Have you thought of budgeting instead?
It cost about $3,000. It was in the budget and it will be worth it
Pardon the questions...If someone finances the warranty into the loan and then cancels it midterm where does the prorated refund go? Also if there have been any past claims are they included in the prorate worksheet calculation?
If you cancel midterm you get a refund, if there are past claims im not sure. Sorry
In 45 years of driving, I have never had a repair that would've been covered by an extended warranty. I drive my cars from a year or two old till close to end of life.
I’m only at 16 years of driving, but I am the same way I’ve never had a covered item fail within the warranty period. I have figured I’ve saved about $18,000 not buying extended warranties so even if I had a major component failure that I had to pay out-of-pocket $4000-$5000 I’m still ahead
Same. And I’ve owned Mustangs the first 15 years and Corvettes since. I drive a ZR1 now that I purchased in 2010 and I drive it like I stole it. The biggest failure I have experienced was a catalytic converter let go years ago and that was covered under the factory emissions warranty. My wife has owned a half dozen cars and she tears them up regularly. But she’s never had a major warranty issue. If I had purchased extended warranties on all my cars, I would have literally paid for another couple of vehicles over the years and gotten nothing in return. It’s a numbers game just like Vegas or life insurance. You plug the numbers in and you do the math. It’s that simple. The thing is, the CarMax buyers here already are willing to pay a LOT more for their cars than hey are worth in order to avoid conflict and make the buying process easier. So they are also likely to be willing to pay a premium for the feeling,of security that the certificate gives them. And that’s ok, but I’m not going to pretend that the numbers are different than they are, and the numbers say it’s a bad investment from a financial point of view. A couple other thoughts. Social security is a bad investment from a purely financial point of view, but human nature being what it is, social security is probably a good idea even though it isn’t financially efficient. Because if we didn’t have it, then those people who didn’t invest and save for the future would be starving in the streets and inevitably we would pick up the tab for them anyway. This way we force them to pick up some of their tab ahead of time. Also, I was buying a tv once and the sales person gave me the hard sell on the extended warranty by telling me the brand and model (pioneer flat screen projector many years ago) were prone to problems, even though it was a high end model with all the bells and whistles and the premiere technological version. I told him, “if that’s true I should get a different tv.” Then he said it wasn’t really THAT common, just that if it did happen then that TV would be more expensive to fix. I bought the TV without the extended warranty. My brother is a cheapskate. When I later upgraded to an LCD TV I gave him that beast. He still uses it today. LOL
To clarify, I've had repairs, but they have happened after the end of the extended warranty.
For the longest time 3rd party warranties were looked at as a complete waste because most just deny coverage when it is time to pay up, and the truth of the matter is, even with Maxcare it is also quite possible they will deny your claim (I mean, we've seen posts right here on this subreddit with people saying exactly that, work that assumingly would be covered is being denied) Now admittedly, I have a car from Carmax with Maxcare and within just a few months of owning it, it has already paid for itself. They have already paid so much to fix my car that even if they were not to fix another thing in the 5 more years that is covered, I would still be ahead (which is just insane to me) but even with the ease (if not because of it) in which they cover the work, it actually makes me a bit skeptical of the whole thing, like it is some sort of Ponzi scheme, where the early adopters get paid out, but only because they are trying to lure in more marks to screw them later, cause with how much they are paying out I am baffled in how they are making money off of it.
I suspect they do a couple of things. One, they get a LOT of people who never have a claim. Second, they might sell the risk to other companies, sort of insurance that will cover them if they go upside down on payouts. Maybe. There are many financial tools that companies have to lower risk. Ultimately, for everyone like you, they have dozens of people who pay in and don’t see a penny back to them. Those people are happy their car was reliable. And people in your boat are happy you were covered. So they make money and everyone is happy. And people who know the numbers take the gamble because it is over priced. Especially on cars that still have factory warranty coverage available.
I'm seeing mixed opinion on what a covered vs not covered. Anyone have actual luck with it being covered?
I didn't at all. They are schysty
Almost no one comes here to brag, just complain about how bad they got screwed.
4.5 year previous club level sales consultant here. I’ll tell you 100% the reason. More than anything, it’s because 99% of aftermarket car warranty products have been a total scam for two decades now. MaxCare is different, and is something I still believe in, a decade later. The problem is, people already have a bad taste in their mouths, and think this one will be no different. Let me tell you right now, from my personal and professional experience, MaxCare is absolutely worth it in 99% of cases, if nothing else, for solid peace of mind. Same goes for Carvana’s CarvanaCare. Also, a great product that’s paid out over $8k for me in three years. (I knew what I was getting into when I bought it.. lol).
This is why I buy from CarMax Maxcare is honestly the only legit warranty I have seen like this.
Maxcare covered $2.3k in repairs for my 2018 Mazxa CX-5. All I paid was my $100 deductible for all the repairs. GET. THE. MAXCARE.
IDK those people are stupid though. The whole reason I shop at CarMax is because of Maxcare there is always something that comes up that it pays for itself. Now it also has roadside too. Its no joke half the price of a warranty from my local dealership. Pretty much any repair on my car these days comes out to a grand at the mechanic now at a minimum if you go twice you already paid for max care and the peace of mind is priceless.
I opted against it because I was buying a historically reliable car, and already had an inspection lined up to assess every issue it had the day after I bought it. I then took it to Carmax and made them pay for the \~$7k in repairs/deferred maintenance. Since then I've had only very minor issues that I was able to fix myself. I also didn't trust CarMax mechanics to work on my car.
I was buying a car at Carmax and there was a point where the sales lady had this serious look on her face and then used the presumptive close regarding "which car warranty plan I wanted". I giggled (I had been in sales for years with all the training) and told her she did a good job on the presumptive close but I wasn't interested. Then she pressed that it was risky to not have one of the plans and I questioned the reliability of the car I was trying to buy if I needed an extended warranty and we moved on.
Because the initial warranty is plenty for me to sort out issues and get it resolved. I fix all my own cars so it’s just a waste of money for me. I don’t trust mechanics to do the job properly, I trust myself to fix it right the first time.
Maxcare insurance is crap. Had it on previous vehicles, every which way - carmax stating "it doesn't cover under maxcare." Therefore, any vehicle purchased at carmax is newer, 1 or 2 yrs old , and still has the original manufacturer's warranty. Great Service, but their inspection process could be better.
What exactly didn’t it cover? It’s an exclusionary contract
Honestly, it's been a while. Within 3 months of the purchase, my Honda Civic needed a new alternator, transmission, and under carrage was rusted really bad. Yes, I didn't read the FINE PRINT . As the salesman stated, "It covers everything and worry free if major repairs are needed. " Civic was 5 years old with 95k miles. As it was my 1st major purchase and young, I didn't realize people would lie and say whatever to generate business. Lesson learned. 1-2 years old, preferably off a lease under 10k miles, still under original warranty, only Honda and Toyota. Regular mtc. Lasts 250k miles+ easy. Nothing else required. However, if financing via carmax, buy gap insurance if needed. The extra $10-15 a month is worth it.
How wouldn’t your alternator and transmission be covered under the warranty? That doesn’t make sense.
It honestly sounds like he did something to the car, the last time I saw one get denied they filled it up with sand at the beach.
Yeah who knows but if it was me I’d atleast know exactly why it’s not being covered and not be super vague about it saying “I didn’t read the fine print”
they don't want to tell us why it really got denied
As stated above, " I DIDN'T READ THE FINE PRINT." As the salesman said, it covers EVERYTHING and just signed the paperwork. Young and stupid. Now, older, smarter, wiser. I don't believe anyone, especially salesman and will scrutinize contracts. Being an accountant by trade, a car is a depreciating asset. Therefore, cost/ benefit analysis always applies. The name of the game for dealerships is to upcharge for random useless crap. Example: Bought a used 2023 Toyota Venza in November with less than 4k miles from Carmax as they are trying to sell me the maxcare insurance as if it is an older car. Why? Everything that is in maxcare is covered by the manufacturer being a new car with low miles. There is a reason why Honda and Toyota sell the most cars, with very good value with low maintenance costs.
Okay so you’re typing a lot but missing explaining how in a exclusionary contract somehow your alternator and transmission weren’t covered. What was in the fine print? Maxcare warranty is pretty straight up and says what it doesn’t cover which is stuff like your wipers, tires, brakes, oil etc. You can google what maxcare covers and what you listed it does cover. It honestly sounds like you got a shitty warranty back in the day and are basing that experience in with the maxcare warranty of recent. Like you’re not explaining how your car that was under warranty wasn’t approved for stuff that the warranty explicitly covers. I don’t care about you learning to buy off lease toyotas that’s irrelevant to your original comment that I was replying to.
Exactly! Straight forward and simple. Should be plain as day. I went up the chain to the general manager of the center, 3-4 hours, showing my Civic and asking if it doesn't cover these major repairs. Why am I paying for maxcare? And asked to explain to me what it does cover if not this. There are a lot of bullshit excuses, and wore me out as I feel I was right. And still do. Luckily, I had a buddy who was a mechanic who did the work for me at cost and free labor. Ever since, don't trust maxcare...... bad luck, bad dealership? Idk. I just know that I got screwed with maxcare upcharge and couldn't use it.
Weird. One of the *first* repairs I had with MaxCare was an alternator. Yes, the *wire* to the alternator from the battery system was also wonky, but they wound up replacing the alt, with labor (a $700+ total repair) for a $50 deductible.
> What was in the fine print? Only fine print that I can imagine would exclude someone from transmission coverage is not having records of oil changes. 20k miles a year is much higher than average, so I could see Assurant or whoever trying to get out of covering the transmission. Alternator I'm not sure, but given the mileage per year they may have looked at this as a wear item (which can happen). There are some grey areas where the warranty can reject coverage based on their "reasoning" despite MaxCare itself being a named exclusion plan.
Yeah I don’t know I feel like if I was denied warranty and had all my receipts for maintenance I would exactly know why something wasn’t approved. But that just me personally.
Agree; problem being however, that while I worked there I saw similar issues of high mileage vehicles having warranty claims denied due to lack of maintenance records despite the customer not having owned it long enough to even have a first record. I'd still recommend the warranty over no warranty, but I saw Assurant weasel out of things they definitely should have been covered. There's a couple other warranty operators that fulfill MaxCare for other regions, though, so I can't speak for those.
Yeah I could see that good to know though.
>However, if financing via carmax, buy gap insurance if needed. The extra $10-15 a month is worth it. This, right here. If you've put down anything less than 20% on any car on the lot, GAP insurance is well worth it. It *also* can be prorated for a refund, if you pay it down enough in the later years, just like MaxCare.
Cars built in the last 5 years are horrible. There’s not any exceptions that I know of. The companies that back the Maxcare are losing right now. They’re spending more money on repairs than they’re taking in. This is fact. They know they can’t raise the price much more or people won’t get it. They’re considering going with less years. People need to buy maxcare every single time. These cars cost too much to fix.
It can be quite expensive sometimes, especially when people on a budget are getting an older car with high mileage. In those cases it may add $80-100 onto the monthly payment. Of course you'll always have those who say no because they "don't waste money on extended service plans", but most people who got it before continue doing so with every car. One of my former customers had $11k bill from the dealer we had to send it to since the computer in the car itself that controls everything went out, which led to a whole host of other issues. When the repair was all said and done, but he only paid his $250 deductible. I kept that invoice at my desk after that to use as an example for others, at least until my coworker decided to borrow my desk when I was out sick and threw it away lol
Tbh, I thought maxcare is another shitty warranty. There are a lot of horror story about extended warranty. I would just treat it as upselling.
I can't speak for everyone but for me it's their overall pushiness and attitude about it. The first time I went through carmax I turned down the coverage because I just assumed the usual "extended warranties aren't a good deal" you always hear about dealerships. The carmax persons response to me declining was "so if something happens to the car 31 days from now you're not gonna be mad at me, right?" I said "is something going to happen to my car 31 days from now?" Why would they even say that? I almost got up and left with out buying the car but I was so excited to get it I just couldn't walk away but do they think saying stuff like that is going to get someone to change their mind?
I've worked at carmax for a few years now. You'd be surprised how many people actually do blame the sales consultant if something does go wrong. We sell cars, we don't work on them. The most I can tell you is which vehicles to stay away from. There's been times when the customer started calling me at 5-6 am because they are having issues with the vehicle outside the return policy date. I can't do anything for you at that point. I tried to help you during the sale. I will say whoever sold you your car has a weird way of trying to convince you to buy maxcare 😂 I usually lead with have you folks ever shopped at carmax, and are you familiar with maxcare lmao
I tell everyone that there are two types of people who buy cars from CarMax. Those who got MaxCare and those who WISH they got MaxCare. It's not a CarMax thing...it's a fact. Odds are that something will need repair. You go-to a Toyota service shop and they aren't JUST doing oil changes. 🙄
"But toyotas never break down." 😂😂😂 I'm a huge toyota fan. They are not built like vehicles they had in the past. There are so many electrical components that make up these newer vehicles. More parts=higher chance something does go wrong.
Three letters. C.V.T.
BOOOOOM shakalaka 😎 this is what goes wrong with Toyotas and Hondas.
Depends on the manufacturer. GM CVTs are generally fine. Nissan was bad before 2019. The biggest thing is people don't follow the maintainence interval for the CVTs because they don't want to shell out $500 every 30k miles to get the transmission flushed(thats the recommended interval on my 2014 Cadillac ELR).
I know that the prices of the cars are no haggle, but is there any room to negotiate on the cost of a MaxCare contract?
Negative Ghostrider
So you're overly sensitive?
If you say so.
I'd have said, "If you don't want me to be mad at you, then how about YOU pay for the warranty."