Carmax does inspect the cars before them buy them, that's how they come up with a quote and that's why they guarantee you that their cars are accident-free, etc. I'm not buying that. I doubt they put each one on a lift and do a thorough inspection before listing those cars for sale. I don't think they're any better than any other dealer, but it's called haggle-free because they give you a computer-generated quote for your trade-in that's in solid print and good for a week only. Now you can take that quote to Lokey and tell them, here's what Carmax is giving me, if you beat that consider this a done deal.

Honestly $31-32K is a lot of money for an '05. I've heard of people picking up low-mileage '05's for as little as $27-28K. If they give you wholesale for your BMW, then you're getting a horrible deal. You don't have to buy from Carmax or Infiniti... If I were you, I'd search autotrader and cars.com for a used '05, call up those dealers and see what they give you for your trade-in. Be prepared to travel to Miami or Orlando.. I found a bunch well under $30K here. And please don't buy any used car without having it inspected by Infiniti or someone you trust.

If you want to sell your Civic, just put it on Autotrader. It's a lot easier than you'd think. I sold my Maxima in less than 2 days on there and the car was trashed...

 

I would never trade-in or sell a car without getting a quote on it from Carmax. Their quotes are free, take about half an hour, and there are no obligations. It's a great bargaining tool.

I've never bought a car from Carmax, but I've had prices quoted on three vehicles. Once I sold the car to them, once I used their pricing to get a better trade in from the dealer, and once their quote was significantly more than the dealer and I sold the car outright to a friend for the Carmax price.

The better the price you negotiate from a dealer, the lower the amount they want to give you for your trade-in. Most people don't pay attention to their trade-in value.

You might also want to try emailing AutoByTel to see if they can get a better price for you. When I go in to buy a car, I usually have an AutoByTel quote on the new car and a Carmax quote on the trade-in. There are other places like AutoByTel, I'm just using them as an example. I did buy a car through them though.

 

Thanks Finiti35 and jb. I am going to Carmax tomorrow to get the quotes for the heck of it. I am not going to buy anything from them though. I think I may take your suggestion Finity35 and list my Honda on Autotrader. I am guessing I can probably get 1000-1500 more for it there than from Carmax, but we'll see. (edited - just a thought, if I sell the car outright I wont be able to take advantage of the reduced taxes that I would if I were to trade the car in. Thats about $700 so I guess I should take that into account!!)

I guess if I do that, it may be a month or so before the car sells. By then the 2007's will be out I guess. But the deals probably wont be so good on 2007's? If I get a new one, I really want either LR or DG. After seeing a white one at Lokey the other day, I was not that impressed with the color. But a LR one I saw somewhere else with a black interior really wow'ed me.

Any advantages over waiting a month or so for a 2007 or would the better deal most likely be worth it to buy a 2006? The changes for 2007 were mostly just a few in the interior right? Different color gauges mostly?

Anyway, you guys are really helping me out and I do appreciate it.

 

I really don't know what the changes are going to be on the '07 coupe? All the info is out on the '07 sedan, but I thought the coupe changes won't be until 2008? At the end of the model year the advantage is that you can get the car right around invoice. The disadvantage is that the car, despite being new, is already a 1-year-old model and has depreciated accordingly. You'll have to compare what you're saving over a new model vs depreciation. This shouldn't really matter if you're leasing or planning on keeping the car for a really long time - but if you're only going to keep it a year or two, I would wait for the new model.

You are correct in that you'll be getting a tax advantage if you trade the Honda in. Here you'll have to compare the tax savings vs how much more you can get for it private party vs trade-in. As far as the color, be different and get LR, wingless if possible. I think the OEM 19's look best on that color.

 

The only problem with selling your car at carmax and not doing a trade-in is that you'd end up paying more taxes.

 

Carmax like OEM cars with all OEM parts on them. They will deduct money for aftermarket wheels. I have gotten appraised twice at Carmax but I didn't sell them my car.

I lookd at buying several cars from carmax but I found my coupe at Hillsboro Auto Mart, which is in your area. They had better prices than Carmax.

Hillsboro has several G35's on their lot.
http://www.autotrader.com/dealers/dd...=null&x=23&y=8

If you buy from them, tell them Sean Gilley sent you. I'll split the referral fee.

 

Thanks guys. I went to Carmax this morning. I am really not sure why people buys cars from them. They do seem to be overpriced by quite a bit on their cars.

They offered about average of the 3 dealers I have asked for quotes from on my trade. On my Honda, they did better, but not great by any means...pretty darned close to kbb trade in on that one.

The guy did tell me something that I guess i was not really aware of. If I were to trade my BMW in on another car, regardless of where, I dont pay sales tax on the new car for the amount they give me for the BMW, regardless of if I still owe on it. So let's say I owe $25k on my BWM, and they give me $26k, and I buy a G35 for $36k, then all I pay taxes on is $11k.

I thought it was only NET trade that came into the equation on taxes. I had estimated that in the above scenario, I would pay taxes on the $36k Infinity less $1k net trade on the BMW (or $35k taxable amount).

So I have been overestimating my monthly payments by the amount of taxes on $24k which is about $1400-$1500. I will have to take that into account as I go through this process.

I can't believe Lokey is closed today. Every other car dealer around is open, including the one in Sarasota and Tampa (they both called me earlier). If I am going to pull the trigger on this deal at all with trading both cars and buying the car instead of leasing, I am going to have to get the special interest rate (3.95% for 60 months) or I am probably not doing it at all... I think that deal ends tomorrow...

 

Correct, that's what I meant by tax savings. If you trade in your Civic as well, you'll pay next to nothing in taxes. Now, if you lived in the lovely state of California, you would get charged sales tax on the entire amount of your purchase, regardless of whether you have a trade-in (8.25% in LA...). You have to love living in Florida.

 

Ha Ha. Well I can like living in Florida for THIS reason. In so many ways this state really likes to put it to you, but in this case I guess not.

 

Well, it looks like this purchase is going to happen after all. I was on the phone with the sales manager (Bill) up there at Lokey on Monday and we could not come to a deal on a car even though the discount on his car was right (compared to invoice) because they just could not give me enough for my BMW. So we left it at that and I was done.

Bille calls me back today and apparently found a buyer for my BMW at what I wanted in trade, and discounted his car a little more to get me where I need to be.

So if all goes well tonight, I will be the owner of a IP Coupe 6MT with grey interior. It has the Premium Package and Aero, and since they got the car from a Miami dealer apparently, that dealer had added a pin stripe (which will come off poste haste) and wheel locks and 2 other things which I cant remember right now. No navigation or RAS (I did not want either of these anyway). I was thinking about going with the LR one, but just could not do that because I am so **** about my cars and the red would be a big maintenance deal not to mention the black interior which would be killer in the summer.

If I end up getting it I will post an update and maybe a photo (like you have never seen what a stock IP G35 Coupe looks like)...

But thanks again...and I will be joining the club as soon as I pay for my clear bra.

Anyone know anyone around TAMPA OR ST. PETE that does clear bras with quality work? What is the going rate?

So thanks again for helping me out

 

for clear bra lokey has just become certified to do it.
but we also have a club sponsor that travels and does it. if you check the raffle listing you might be able to win one this weekend if you come to our meet.
glad you got things worked out.

 

www.invincaman.com

3M Authorized Independent Distributor
Invinca-Shield Installers

1414 Noble Street
Longwood, FL 32750

Phone / Fax: 407.767.0966
Cell: 407.927.1900

Email alan@invincaman.com

 

Join the club BEFORE you get the clear bra so you can get the club discount... and congrats

 

Well, the deal fell though AGAIN. Yesterday, Bill had run all the numbers and wrote up the Purchase Order and faxed it to me. It included all the details of the purchase price, payoff on the lease, trade in allowance, sales tax, fees, etc...and the bottom line, and included the monthly payment. I looked it over and agreed to the deal and signed the PO and faxed it back to Bill. I was supposed to take delivery last night. So I got off work a little early, took all my stuff off of and out of my BMW and drove up there in a blinding rain storm. Everything was going fine and I submitted the credit application etc... and was expecting to take delivery. The car was sitting in the showroom all ready to go.

Then the finance manager comes out and explains to me that Bill had written up the deal wrong and that apparently you cannot use the amount of the trade in value on a leased vehicle toward the taxes on a vehicle puchased through a regular (non lease) transaction. So, in my deal, that made a difference of about $2,200 (all in additional sales taxes) which I was not prepared for and was not in the deal I had signed, so I had to walk.

That sounds wrong on some level though, because when they call for a payoff on my lease, does that not include the remaining sales tax on the remaining value of the car?? If so, it would seem that I would be paying tax twice. I thought that a lease payoff value included the remaining dpreciation charges and taxes on the lease period + the residual, + the sales tax on the residual + the lease termination fee. If not, and if I just purchased the vehicle early off the lease for my personal use (not to trade), then I would not be paying taxers on the remaining value of the car...right?

This just is not adding up to me. I was thinking that maybe Lokey was trying to pull out of the deal that Bill had made...or getting me to cough up another $2200... But probably they were telling me the truth. If anyone can explain this thing with sales tax on a leased vehicle to me PLEASE do...

So it looks like I'm driving a BMW for another 18 months... Not feeling the love for Lokey right now, but trying to keep an open mind...either way, I wish they had never called me and got my hopes up...I guess it wasnt meant to be... but I am so disspointed in that I was all ready to take delivery and really excited and then had it dissolve at the last second...

 

These $2200 will pay itself off once you drive the G for a few months...it's worth it.