[Paravane]

tl;dr: My impatience both screwed me over and helped me out majorly.

So first post here and as of right now I don't technically have a Camaro...
So out of my lack of car I'm poking around the internet and wanted to tell a story.



I was assisting my SIL to buy a car. She knows nothing about cars or what she really wanted. I'm the "car guy" of the family so this duty falls upon me. I decided to go to Carmax. I figured they got a little of everything so it'd be alright.

Well we ended up picking her something out and while waiting on the business side to get everything sorted, I decided I was bored enough to see if a salesmen would let me test drive a 2021 2SS they had on the lot. I've always kinda wanted a Camaro but have never had the ability to afford one plus I test drove a 2012(I think) and I just plane didn't fit in it. (6' 4" 320lbs) So I gave up on that dream.

I joked with him that "I probably won't even fit so this will be a short drive." I adjust the seat all the way down and all the way back. Sit down and can't reach the pedals... "****... I fit." So he pulls it around and stages it, gives me the test route, and I set off. I have 20 minutes by myself in this $48k sports car.

OMG... That was the most fun 20 minutes I've ever had. I did the route at least 5 times. Each time I got a better time. Then I had them appraise my 4Runner thinking they'd come back with either exactly what I owe on it or less... They came back at $10k more than I paid for it... "Oh **** I can afford this... And it'll be a lower payment than my 4Runner." Talked to the misses and all she heard was "It'll be cheaper." and she was sold.

I did not end up getting that 2021 2SS. I wanted a manual SS. So I got to looking and found a 2018 Manual SS with only 16k miles in Austin (3.5 hour drive from me) and I was going to setup to have it shipped up. This is through Carmax as the salesmen I worked with originally for my SIL earned my respect. (This tidbit is important.)

That night I got too excited and woke up early and convinced my wife to go with me to Austin that morning at 7am and just buy the car and drive it home. This is New Years day mind you. (We're boring people otherwise both out cold after 12:30am. I don't even really drink.)

We get to Austin and I test drive the car and love it. DEFINITELY better in a manual. I fall in love with it and decide to buy it. We go in to get financing sorted and half way through a manager walks up and informs us the bank that owns my 4Runner is closed because it's New Years day and they can't actually buy my trade in... We tried to work something out. But the manager was basically stern on, come back tomorrow or have it shipped. I drove 3 and a half hours. I'm leaving in a damn Camaro... I call up my salesmen in the DFW area and he gave me a plan that would work out.

We ended up buying the Camaro with "no trade in" and a ridiculous payment with the intention of return/repurchasing it in the DFW area the next day. The salesmen who helped with my SIL's car made it sound like this is a simple process and it happens all the time. (**** were we all wrong.)

We go into the Carmax on Monday and return the car and bring the 4Runner to sort out the trade in. They had trouble returning it since it was a different Carmax and their system is unified but also very separate. We ended up returning the car via fax to the Austin store. Now the car has to be "transferred" to the one we're working with. This ended up taking a couple days. So I had to go back to my 4Runner till this was fixed. Finally the title and everything was FedEx'd and all was ready to trade in and repurchase. On Thursday I finally had my car. AND I ****ING LOVED IT. Fastest car I've ever driven was a Kia Stinger I helped another friend buy. And this just blew that thing out of the water. Handled great. I felt like a jet fighter pilot in this thing.

Well this all came to an abrupt end on the Monday the following week... I drove into the office (I wfh but occasionally do have to go in physically.) And the building I work at is glass. Since NO ONE really works there I parked right up front and notice my lights reflecting back in the glass. The bottom drivers side DRL is a different color than the other 3 lights. I get to looking at it and notice it buzzing loudly while the car is off and there's a slightly misaligned panel... "Oh no... my excitement had me overlook the body work... Eh the previous owner might've bumped a pole or something and a shitty shop put in an aftermarket cheap light."

I call up Carmax, tell em whats up. And they profusely apologize and ask me to bring it in for servicing and they'll replace the light with OEM and make sure that panel gets realigned. No cost to me other than my time. Cool. My servicing time was set to drop off Tuesday night. They'll fix it up Wednesday and I'll pick it up Wednesday evening. Cool. Easy peazy.

Welp... They called me Wednesday and informed me the entire inside of the bumper on that side is destroyed. The support structures were never repaired correctly and at any time that bumper could've came off and caused an accident.

They inform me that they can fix it 100% oem and it'll be like it never happened BUT they said they'd understand if I'd like to return the car and that they would do whatever they could to make this right. I decide to take em up on that.

I spoke with the Sales manager, the general manager and the service manager. And they've come up with the idea of me to find a similar specc-ed Camaro in their system, nationwide mind you, and they'll eat the shipping cost. All I have to do is pick one and wait for it. Mind you this is a different Carmax store than the one who sold it.

Well I got to looking and found a 2019 Camaro SS Manual with the 1LE package. It was slightly more expensive being a newer body style and having more features but I decided I'd be fine paying a little extra. I didn't really like the color I got originally anyway but when you go your life buying used you learn to just get whatever color. Plus I've done some research and a common complaint on Camaros (GM Complaint in general...) is the paint is thin so I was gonna have it wrapped the color I wanted anyway. This ones already a blue I like so I'm basically breaking even on this one being an extra $3k.

As of right now I'm just waiting on the new one to arrive. I think I'm going to like this one more anyway. And I'll overall be happier. I know they would've fixed things right. But I'd always know that it was damaged and it'd bug me. Plus when I was getting my stuff out of the car I noticed the hood didn't quite line up the same on both sides... So the whole front end was kinda warped. I mentioned this to the service manager and she was like "Yeah... We can't resell this. It's going to auction. You made the right choice."

I have a massive amount of respect for Carmax after this. They have bent over backwards to make sure I was taken care of. The first part where I couldn't trade in my 4Runner was due to my own impatience. But the damage was on them and in both situations they really busted their ass to fix everything.

Yes this was a pain in the ass and they shouldn't have sold the original Camaro. But they could've very easily repaired that unseen damage, said nothing to me, and just let me go on my way. And in a few years when I went to trade it in get dinged on value. Which has happened to me on WAY too many vehicles in my life.

I never expect perfection but I expect people to own up to their mistakes.

Thanks for reading.

[Jofu]

Dang! Patience, my man

Hope the newer one comes up perfect! Where is that one coming from, then?

Geoff

[Paravane]

Originally Posted by Jofu

Dang! Patience, my man

Hope the newer one comes up perfect! Where is that one coming from, then?

Geoff

Tulsa Oklahoma.

[arpad_m]

Amazing story, Paravane, and what a grand entrance to the forums

You'll love the 1LE, it'll crank the experience up one notch compared to the other Camaros you drove. Make sure you drive carefully on those tires in inclement weather though (I'd put some fresh PS4S on, but it's just me).

[SteveV]

Good story. OP, please be sure to post some pics of the new ride when you finally get it.

[MaxRock]

Nice adventure!

I bought a couple cars from CarMax, including a 2013 corvette. When I put my vette on a lift it looked liked someone drove it off road and scraped the frame up and some other incidental damage that was repaired. No accident report.

I have been finding new cars can be cheaper than buying used in this market, and when trading them in I am actually turning a profit.

[Paravane]

Originally Posted by MaxRock

Nice adventure!

I bought a couple cars from CarMax, including a 2013 corvette. When I put my vette on a lift it looked liked someone drove it off road and scraped the frame up and some other incidental damage that was repaired. No accident report.

I have been finding new cars can be cheaper than buying used in this market, and when trading them in I am actually turning a profit.

If this one ends up being crap I'll probably look and see if I can find new. I'm just worried if I do find one the dealer is going to mark it up like crazy.

[TXCSSU]

It's nice that Carmax really helped you out. That blue that you bought is a real head turner. I can't help but wonder how they let that one Camaro get past them. I'm guessing some appraiser may have been fired. I sent my information to Carmax about my SS Sedan, and they offered me a bit lower than I was looking for, but it's nice to see that they at least back up their little inflated prices with good customer service.

[MaxRock]

Originally Posted by Paravane

If this one ends up being crap I'll probably look and see if I can find new. I'm just worried if I do find one the dealer is going to mark it up like crazy.

It just takes time and the ability to walk away from the deal.

I just started looking 2 weeks before xmas, hoping to find a 2021 LT1 that a dealership wanted to get rid of.

I used the Camaro build website to search for Camaros on the ground and called those dealers within 300 miles of me.

I called and most had dealer mark up or around 2-3k of dealer add ons like nitrogen in tires, paint and fabric protectant. Stuff I didn't want.

I really wanted the A10 since my last performance car was a GT350. Also wanted Recaro seats and duel exhaust.

My 8th dealership had a 2002 1SS, with all I wanted, but also sunroof and another 3K Chevy add ons. The big difference is they were all on the build sheet.

I worked the deal for 3 days and finally closed last week.

MSRP -1K rebate and $499 dealer fee, which for Florida is super low.

I didn't want all the options on it, but I do really like them and it looks fantastic imo.

[Paravane]

Originally Posted by TXCSSU

It's nice that Carmax really helped you out. That blue that you bought is a real head turner. I can't help but wonder how they let that one Camaro get past them. I'm guessing some appraiser may have been fired. I sent my information to Carmax about my SS Sedan, and they offered me a bit lower than I was looking for, but it's nice to see that they at least back up their little inflated prices with good customer service.

Yeah idk. Kinda annoying. But I haven't bought the blue one yet. It's just on the way.

[Paravane]

Originally Posted by MaxRock

It just takes time and the ability to walk away from the deal.

I just started looking 2 weeks before xmas, hoping to find a 2021 LT1 that a dealership wanted to get rid of.

I used the Camaro build website to search for Camaros on the ground and called those dealers within 300 miles of me.

I called and most had dealer mark up or around 2-3k of dealer add ons like nitrogen in tires, paint and fabric protectant. Stuff I didn't want.

I really wanted the A10 since my last performance car was a GT350. Also wanted Recaro seats and duel exhaust.

My 8th dealership had a 2002 1SS, with all I wanted, but also sunroof and another 3K Chevy add ons. The big difference is they were all on the build sheet.

I worked the deal for 3 days and finally closed last week.

MSRP -1K rebate and $499 dealer fee, which for Florida is super low.

I didn't want all the options on it, but I do really like them and it looks fantastic imo.

Maybe I should take you with me.

[Camarokid1996]

Sounds like you need to take a chill pill and take a look at what you're actually purchasing. You're lucky Carmax did the right thing and gave you the option to return the car. If I were you, I'd inspect this 2019 like it was my job. Being a 1LE with those miles, I'm sure there are quite a few rock chips if theres no ppf. And with the car market the way it is and the fact that it's being sold at Carmax, you're going to be overpaying. Best of luck

[Paravane]

Originally Posted by Camarokid1996

Sounds like you need to take a chill pill and take a look at what you're actually purchasing. You're lucky Carmax did the right thing and gave you the option to return the car. If I were you, I'd inspect this 2019 like it was my job. Being a 1LE with those miles, I'm sure there are quite a few rock chips if theres no ppf. And with the car market the way it is and the fact that it's being sold at Carmax, you're going to be overpaying. Best of luck

Well an SS 1LE package new before dealer markup is 46k-49k (depending on options) from what I've been seeing. And this one is significantly less than that. I'm not too concerned about chips in the paint. As long as everything else is structurally sound and not damaged due to hitting a pole or something I'm good with it. This would still be under GM warranty until 36k miles. Then 60k miles on the drivetrain.

I do plan on looking this one over more thoroughly as I've learned my lesson. As for why it got sold to Carmax is simple. They offer the most on trade in. And if you get another car through them like I'm doing. They also give you a sizeable chunk towards TTL on top of the already high trade in value. If I do decide to take the money and go to another dealer I'm losing out on about $3k in TTL credit.

Though I appreciate your concern. I did note in the OP that I jumped the gun and got too excited and it bit me in the ass.

It also doesn't matter what I buy. I'll be overpaying. Markets ****ed yo...