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I've sold an old car through them and dad has bought a car or two. I'm fond of the process.

If you are looking for absolute lowest price possible, you can do better negotiating, finding competing dealers, going in with Edmunds printouts, and that sort of thing, but for very little increase over the bottom you are likely to find, you can be done much faster. They will try to pad their bottom line selling add on services and features to your car - better stereo, warrantees, paint, that sort of thing. They aren't aggressive about it and in some cases you might even want to buy the add ons.

Overall 4 out of 5 stars on my experiences, with the one caveat that last time I thought about selling a used car I visited them and they were uncompetitive by a good margin. In other cases I'd received Edmunds TMV or higher right off the bat.

EDIT: This is about CarMax

Right now, there are a ton of factory incentives on automotive loans you aren't likely to beat at a bank. In times of robust sales, the opposite is true. I got 2.9% on a new Audi, and they were running certified used at .9% for 60 months.

Confirm no penalty for pre payment and if you are worried about it confirm terms for late payment. You can get killed paying one of these things late under some versions I've had.

I've only browsed at CarMax, but my best guess is that they're reliable and competitively priced when it comes to late model used cars. That doesn't mean they're the lowest priced, but what they are really selling is a wider selection and a national reputation. If the reputation goes south, so does their business model. You won't get the best possible deal but you'll avoid getting screwed. (Which is not, of course, the same as being happy with whatever it is you end up buying.)

I never, never, never take dealer financing on a new car. I always get a line of credit first and, after deciding on the car I want, discuss nothing but bottom line price with the dealer. (And shop them between one another via e-mail. Ah, vengeance is sweet!)

Price and financing are simply a see-saw from the dealer's point of view. If you really get him down to his lowest cash price, he won't give you the 'special financing rate.' If you lock in that rate first, you've also locked in a higher price.

That said, there's nothing really wrong with dealer financing if you don't have a bank or credit union that will give you a fair rate. Mind you, though, that your credit union / bank rate will almost certainly be higher than that "special dealer rate" because they don't care (up to a point) what you pay for whatever it is you buy. It's up to you, therefore, to weedle the dealer into the lowest possible price.