2021 Chevy Blazer RS here in Miami, FL. Had a 36-month lease ending this November, car has 11,600 miles on it, so I figured I’d have some equity. Shopped around a couple of weeks ago and CarMax’s offer of $38k was by far the highest compared to all others ($31k-$34k range). Of course, GM Financial doesnt allow 3rd party buyouts. I knew it would take some time to buyout myself ($35k all-in) and get the title, but the CarMax offer was so good I figured I’d roll the dice and re-submit the appraisal once my title cleared. Figured even if I took a $1k hit, I’d be happy with $2k in equity. That $38k offer expired on 2/23. Yesterday (3/6), my title was cleared and I resubmitted, same mileage and all. New offer: $35k. Unbelievable.
Anyone else have a similar experience? Hate to have to accept that this is just another case of being screwed over by GM Financial’s policies…
rfitz, quick question. How long did it take you to get title from GM Financial after paying them off? We are about to come off lease and I got an offer from CarMax for $5K over my buyout for a Traverse.
CarMax seems to honor quotes for 7 days. My gut tells me it could take weeks for GM Financial to clear the account and issue title in my name (live in NJ if that matters).
EDIT: Whoops, seems I can kind of estimate it… your deal expired on the 23rd, so assuming a week or so, it took you almost three weeks to get title, correct?
I didn’t finance the buyout. I was simply going to write a check and purchase the Traverse at lease end.
CarMax seems to be claiming they can’t buy car then from me without clear title in my name and GM Financial doesn’t allow direct sales to non GM dealers.
Apologize if I am missing something obvious you are pointing out.
I walked into my local GM dealer with a cashier’s check for the buyout on Friday night (2/17). My electronic title cleared yesterday (3/6) so a bit over 2 weeks. Not as bad as I expected especially considering Monday 2/20 was a holiday. Florida is an E-Title state, so CarMax is able to buy it off you as soon as electronic title is clear (which in my case did happen faster than the physical title).
Writing a check means waiting for the title. Carmax won’t transact without it.
Vs. financing a car, in which case Carmax won’t expect you to have the title. They will transact with the lender for payoff, title, etc and you’ll have no need for a physical title.
Don’t overshare a long story about how it was a lease and you just paid it off etc etc. Walk in like the millions of people selling financed cars, who walk in without a physical title and walk away with an equity check.
I wish it was this easy. Every time a dealer buys a car they run a CVR title report to make sure everything is good especially if they don’t have the title in hand. If the new title isn’t issued by then, it will still shows GMFS as the owner and CarMax won’t buy the car.
Don’t overshare a long story about how it was a lease and you just paid it off etc etc. Walk in like the millions of people selling financed cars, who walk in without a physical title and walk away with an equity check.
People with lease vs people with financing/lien have different registrations