The used car super-store CarMax seems unpredictable in its pricing. Often, after an appraisal for one of our long term cars, we leave scratching our heads or muttering angrily. This time, we hit the CarMax jackpot. Maybe they were just in a good mood because they offered us $25,000 for the 2010 GMC Terrain. It was so good we just had to take it.
Here are a few numbers to put things into perspective. The MSRP for the Terrain was $32,140 when we bought it a little more than a year and 21,608 miles ago. We actually paid $31,133 for it since it was relatively new then and still commanding a high price. Turns out that the price we got from CarMax was almost the same as the clean TMV private party price: $25,408. So it dropped $5,725 or 18 percent over the first year of ownership.
When CarMax offers strong money for used cars, it sure makes the resale process easy. They give you a quote which is good for one week. If you want to try for more, you can throw it up on Craigslist for a few days and a few thousand over the CarMax price. If it doesn't sell, cash out at CarMax.
lostboyz says:
10:49 AM, 01/24/11
nice parking job, and not a bad price on the car.
throwback says:
11:12 AM, 01/24/11
Good price. These cars are still in short supply. My guess is they sell it within a week for 28K.
sodaguy says:
11:21 AM, 01/24/11
Phil, what's the reason that IL keeps some of their purchased vehicles much longer than others? Do you have a remarketing dept that tells you the ideal time to retire a car from the fleet or are cars kept until reader interest slows and/or you have a new car to take its place? I ask because I'm a little surprised that the Terrain is already being while the Traverse, A4, Fusion Hybrid and GTI remain.
1487 says:
11:29 AM, 01/24/11
impressive resale value- one less advantage for the stalwarts of the class like CR-V and RAV4.
pontiaksolsice says:
11:58 AM, 01/24/11
And so marks the end of what I consider to be an impressive vehicle. I think it would be worthwhile to pick up a V6 version after a few years and a few changes are made to the vehicle.
tmanz says:
12:28 PM, 01/24/11
throwbacks guess is probably right on the mark.
I've been shopping for one of these for months now and the used ones aren't really cheap enough to justify not going new.
This one is at about 2 years worth of mileage gone and just under $6,000 off on your trade in price. That only makes it $3,000 a year and that is at the trade in price. Figure they put it on the market for 28 or 29 and you are down to about $1500 off for each year in mileage. At that point unless the extra $3-$4 is a budget breaker I'd rather be ahead on miles 9 years from now rather than have saved a few bucks at the start.
adavis2493 says:
01:21 PM, 01/24/11
I believe the reason because they offered you so much for it, is because they only have 5 Terrain's nationwide, the nearest being in Houston, Texas.
bodyblue says:
03:39 PM, 01/24/11
"mpressive resale value- one less advantage for the stalwarts of the class like CR-V and RAV4"
More likely just a bad CarMax buyer.
stovt001 says:
04:08 PM, 01/24/11
Hope GM is paying attention and taking note of how production numbers reasonable for retail make owners happier. GM didn't overproduce, the Terrain didn't flood rental lots, and now the relative constraint in supply is making them attractive. Plus, that high used price means they are more attractive new since used isn't as good of a deal. GM and owners both win.
firstwagon says:
04:37 PM, 01/24/11
That is an impressive resale.
Weird they are so popular there and non existent here.
1487 says:
09:08 AM, 01/25/11
stov1:
well one reason for the higher resale is lack of cash rebates. You dont see big cash back offers on most of GM's products any more. They focus on financing deals for the most part. Only older models like Lucerne or the pickups are available with huge cash rebates.
sodaguy says:
01:26 PM, 02/ 9/11
http://www.carmax.com/enus/view-car/default.html?AVi=1&id=7102445&N=4294966797+4294962252&D=90&zip=95831&pD=0&pI=0&pT=400&pC=200&pB=0&No=0&Ep=homepage:homepage%20Make&Rp=R&PP=20&sV=List&CD=14+240+190+398+9&Q=1f6a1758-ca7d-40c4-b7c9-b07cc47f415f
Carmax has it listed for $27,998-- a 3k profit.