06/09/2020
This is my Carmax story…
We purchased our 2017 Chrysler Pacifica back in April 2018 from our local Carmax store in Morrow, Georgia. When we were going through the buying process the salesperson with whom we dealt with sold us on their Maxcare warranty. We weren't interested in the beginning, but eventually we decided to go with the warranty.
Fast forward to March 2020…
Our van has been great with no issues until the check engine light came on. Grabbed my code reader to see what was going on and it was a P301. I thought no big deal it is probably a bad spark plug or coil pack. So I called Carmax since I purchased their Maxcare warranty. I was thinking to myself maybe this will save me a few bucks.
On March 13, 2020 I spoke with the service department at the same Carmax store where I purchased my vehicle and they informed me that they would not be able to get to my vehicle for 2-3 weeks, but not to worry they could set me up an appointment with one of their Carmax certified service centers. So the gentleman with whom I spoke with set me up with an appointment for March 18, 2020 at Alpha Automotive in McDonough, Georgia.
On March 16th I received a call from Alpha Automotive saying that I could bring my van in early as they had availability to start work sooner. I thought that sounded great, I had no idea the whirlwind in which I was about to enter.
When I spoke with Alpha Automotive on the 16th the gentleman on the phone had asked what was going on with my vehicle and I told him that the van was driving great and if the check engine light had not come on I would not have even think that there is a problem. I then informed him what the code on our van was and told him, hopefully this is a spark plug issue and can get it back quickly. He said that it could be that or it could be that the ENGINE NEEDS TO BE REPLACED. Just to be clear this was told to me before the van had left our garage at our home.
With that said the guy was extremely nice and professional and I took our family's van in the following day March 17, 2020.
The next 24 days are spent at Alpha Automotive….
By the end of the first week Alpha Automotive had seemingly confirmed that yes the engine needs to be replaced. I was honestly surprised because the van was running great and I just felt that there would be some pretty major signs before an engine would need replacement.
At this point I get to start learning how the Carmax Maxcare warranty process works. I am informed that Fidelity (the company that Carmax uses for some of their warranties) will send an inspector out to shop to confirm diagnosis of problem before paying out claim. No problem I would want to confirm a diagnosis too before I spent that kind of money too.
The gentleman at Alpha assured me that they deal with this process all of the time and would work to get this taken care in a timely manner. Well the first inspector comes out and denies the claim. Stated that Alpha needed to show them the point of failure….
This is where it gets really interesting. To diagnose the problem Alpha needed to me to authorize $2800 in teardown cost. To which I hesitated and called back to the service department at Carmax to get more information on this process. The gentleman at Carmax said that this was a normal part of the process. That I would authorize the teardown and once the problem was found the warranty would cover the cost.
So I called back to Alpha Automotive and I authorized teardown to get to the root of the problem so that they could get the engine replaced. Well to make this long part of the story short, Alpha Automotive had the fidelity inspector out 3 times and the claim was denied 3 times. So basically Alpha Automotive pulled my van out of garage and stopped work on it April 1, 2020. Basically at this point I was stuck Alpha Automotive offered to drive my van over to Chronic Dealer in Griffin, Georgia to get a second opinion to which I told him we need to get Carmax involved in this process because I was in no way authorizing anymore money because I was already out on limb for close to $3k. He understood and frankly he was nice throughout the process.
I call the next section The Lost Days…
I was in a situation that was not comfortable at all. I could not just go and get my van from Alpha Automotive because there was a $3k bill for diagnosis and I wasn't willing to pay that because what I was being told from Fidelity (Carmax warranty company) is that Alpha Automotive was not doing any of the tests required to get the engine covered. So I felt I shouldn't have to pay for work if they warranty company was saying they weren't doing the work.
At this point I had the joyless experience of calling Carmax corporate to try and get some assistance with this process. I spoke with Eric at Carmax and told him the story and he got me in touch with RepairPals the company that Carmax uses as a go between to their Authorized shops.
I spoke with Kathleen with RepairPals and after many conversations with RepairPals and Carmax I was able to get RepairPals to get involved with the shop and they paid the $2800 to Alpha Automotive and worked out to get our Van over to Chronic Chrysler in Griffin, Georgia. I was relieved that I didn't have to spend our hard earned money. I was told that Alpha would drive my van over to the Chrysler dealer and 8 days go by and my van doesn't move from the parking lot at Alpha.
At this point I am on the phone daily with Carmax corporate trying to find out what the hold up was. I offered At this point I am under the impression that our Van was going to Chronic in Griffin to get repaired. Well on April 9, 2020 24 days after taking our van to Alpha Automotive I drop by to see our van being loaded onto a tow truck. I didn't yet understand why it was being towed since I was told on two occasions that someone was going to drive our Van to the Chrysler dealer. I would get an answer to that question not long after the Van arrived at Chronic. Chronic after receiving the van could not get the van to start. Our van stayed at chronic until April 24th and chronic was very clear on the phone and in person that they were never going to fix our van. They took it in to basically rubber stamp the diagnosis made by Alpha Automotive. They did nothing to my van and I spent ever day that Carmax corporate was open trying to make a plan to get our van back to us.
It has been 38 days….
I am having daily calls with Carmax to try and get my van back fixed. I am truly at my wits end because the van has been sitting at the Chronic dealer for 14 days and they were not even attempting to fix the van. So my daily conversation included me trying to understand why my van was sitting at a Chrysler dealer that didn't want to work on my van and was not going to work on my van. So finally Carmax set up to get my van towed to another Chrysler Dealer this time in Atlanta. So our van got transferred over Landmark Chrysler in Atlanta on April 23rd (day38). The video to the right was filmed on April 16th. I have been calling and I understand but by this point it was clear that Carmax couldn't help and honestly I think they thought if they just put me on hold long enough that I would go away. During this day I was on hold for over an hour at which point I went and grabbed my wife's phone and called while I am still holding and got through to another Carmax analyst who told me that their call center was not busy at all then I asked why I was on hold for over an hour on my personal phone then I was put on a brief hold on wife's phone and magically my call was picked up. This situation has been a disaster from the beginning.
Landmark Atlanta Days
Landmark Atlanta has my vehicle for 12 days and on day 50 they tell me to come and get my van. I asked what was wrong with it and well basically they tell me nothing is wrong with it. They said they performed all of the test required and it passed them all with flying colors. I asked about the check engine light and they informed me that the check engine light was never on while the van was in their possession. I told them that the 2 previous shops both recommended engine replacement and they were saying nothing was wrong… They didn't seem concerned and told me my van was good to go… Well you guessed it after 50 days of our van being in 3 different shops NOTHING was repaired on the van. I called Carmax corporate and spoke with my Analyst Eric and told them that was not going to work because they just cleared the code from the computer and the code will return once I start driving again. He assured me that wouldn't happen. So I reluctantly drove my pregnant wife and 3 kids to Atlanta to get our van. The van makes it home. Then we didn't drive the van for a few days, but have no fear the first time we drove it after getting it back home we drove 1 hour down to Peachtree City. At this point we have not even driven the van 100 miles and the check engine light comes back on. I know shocking.
So now we are at day 66
After the check engine light came back on we took our van straight back to the Carmax where it was purchased and we put it in their service department.
They have had the van since May 13th and they have found a cracked spark plug. They changed the spark plugs but then the van didn't run well. Now they informed me that the engine will need to be broken down to find failure point.
May 25th, 2020 Day 69!
I drove by my local Carmax to get some items out of our van. So I could move them over to my car for family vacation. Called before I went to confirm that I would be able to go back into the shop to get items out of the van's stow and go. They said that wouldn't be a problem.
They were correct it was not a problem because my van isn't even being worked on. It is just sitting out in the Carmax parking lot. Went inside frustrated and Service rep informed that its going to be a while before they get to our van. Went over to speak to store manager and "he wasn't available". Carmax is just a company full of disappointment.
June 8, 2020 Day 83
My van still sits at Carmax Southlake in Morrow, Georgia. They told me last that my van was going to be a while as there are still customers cars who have been waiting longer than mine. If you are on the fence whether you should buy the Maxcare warranty from Carmax I hope my story will convince you otherwise.
If you made it this far then congrats and thank you for sticking through. Carmax has lost me as a customer and I don't think for one second that they even care. I just told Eric my Carmax analyst at the corporate office that I would make it my life's mission to let as many people know how Carmax treats their customers after they make the sale. I will keep this page up to date as I get more information. Below are my notes I have taken during phone conversations with Carmax, RepairPals, Alpha Automotive, Chronic Chrysler in Griffin, and Landmark Atlanta.
