Pep Boys and Caroffer.com want to pay cash for your car - is it a good deal?

Well, I was passing through the Sunday newspaper and came upon the weekly PepBoys insert. It was full of the usual - some deals on oil, car wash soap, air filters and brake pads - and then I noticed a little 2 inch square box that read' "Sell your car now for cash! Receive a cash offer online at caroffer's website and schedule your vehicle drop off at PepBoys.


Being that I have spent the last 15+ years of my life in the automotive business and have current wholesalers and retailers licenses in North Carolina, I thought it would be interesting to see how realistic their numbers would be. So I went online and entered in my car's information. The next day I got an email with their offer in it. I was appalled - it was less than 1/2 the wholesale (not retail) price of the car. If I wanted to I could easily run my car through a WHOLESALE, dealer only auction and get twice what they were offering me.

Headlight restoration made easy


This is a rip off and is bad for consumers as even used car managers at used car dealerships aren't that bad. These guys at caroffer are trying using PepBoys to try and get customers cars at half of their wholesale value. At these prices, you are far better off selling your car quickly for its wholesale value or waiting a little and getting some more. There is no reason to sell a car for 1/2 of its wholesale value, ever. In my opinion caroffer is a scam and is trying to scam or take advantage of people that are usually in financial trouble (who else would accept their offers at these prices).


To top it off, they have the balls to state that these numbers are contingent upon PepBoys checking the car in and if its condition is worse than near creme puff status that they will deduct further an mail you a check for the difference. This is just like those gold commercials we see on tv where they tell you to mail in your gold in these non insured brown envelopes, "oh we are honest and will give you more for your money then anyone else" - right, and they will sell you the Brooklyn Bridge too, if you let them. I wasn't really out to sell my car, I just wanted to see what kind of a deal they were offering and see if it was fair like CarMax is. It was not even close.

The permanent fix for cloudy and ugly headlights

In my experience I have actually told many people to take their cars to CarMax because they actually got more for their trades than most car dealers were willing to give them. I found this to be true every time (you have to be careful of what is the real trade in figure and what the car dealer is floating over from the new car's profit into your trade). CarMax really does give the true, wholesale value of your car and doesn't try to play games with you. Caroffer, wants to give you half of what you would get at CarMax. That is just ridiculous for anyone to even consider. Just rule out Caroffer and if you must sell your car fast, go to CarMax - you'll get a lot more for your car, truck or SUV. I think PepBoys should rethink their alliance with a shady business like Caroffer especially in todays internet and blogging saavy world.