CarMax vs Carvana vs a local buyer
what actually differs in Columbus

We are going to say something unhelpful to our own business first: get the CarMax number and get the Carvana number. Both are free, both are written, and both take minutes. A seller holding three written offers is in a strictly better position than a seller holding one, and that is true even when one of the three is ours.

This is not an argument that the national buyers pay badly. Sometimes they pay extremely well. It is a look at what actually differs between them and a local buying center, because those differences decide which one suits your particular car and your particular week.

This is the root difference, and everything else follows from it.

Carvana prices algorithmically from your VIN, your answers to a short questionnaire, and its own national inventory position. Nobody looks at the car before the number appears. That is what makes it instant, and it is also what makes it an estimate rather than an appraisal — the car gets checked when Carvana picks it up.

CarMax works the same way online, then confirms the car when you bring it to the store. Some vehicles they ask to see in person before they will commit. You can also skip the online step and get an in-store appraisal.

A local buying center appraises the car physically and prices it against what comparable vehicles are selling for in central Ohio specifically. Slower than instant. More accurate on anything that deviates from average.

The practical consequence: the more ordinary your car, the better the algorithm does. A three-year-old crossover with average mileage and a clean history is exactly what a model prices well. A truck with a particular configuration, a car with an unusually clean underbody, a documented enthusiast vehicle — those are where a model reverts to the average and a physical appraisal does not.

The number on the screen is not always the number at handoff, and the reason is not necessarily bad faith. If a figure was produced without anybody seeing the car, then the inspection is where reality gets applied. Undisclosed damage, a warning light, worn or mismatched tires and a mileage difference are the usual causes.

Where it goes wrong is when the revision arrives after you have cleared your afternoon and mentally sold the car. You are allowed to refuse a reduced offer and keep the car — but at that point most people do not.

The question worth asking any buyer, national or local, is simple: was this number produced by somebody who has seen the car? If the answer is no, treat it as an estimate. If the answer is yes, ask them to walk you through what they found. Anyone who can explain how they reached a figure is far less likely to move it.

Our own position is the whole reason the business is shaped the way it is: the number we give you is the number we pay. If we cannot judge a car from what you send us, we say so and bring you in before we promise anything.

CarMax holds its offer for seven days. So does Carvana, with an added limit on how many miles you can put on the car before handoff. Ours is seven days as well.

That matching window is useful: it means you can collect all three numbers in the same week and choose with every one of them in front of you, rather than being rushed into the first. Whatever you are given, keep it in writing and note the date — you will need the date if you want us to beat it.

If your payoff is smaller than the offer, all three handle it the same way: they pay the lender directly and pay you the difference.

If your payoff is larger than the offer — you are upside-down — you cover the gap with any of them. Carvana asks for it before handoff. CarMax will let you roll it into a CarMax loan if you are buying from them, which feels painless today and makes the next loan bigger.

We buy the car either way. You see the exact difference between our offer and your payoff in writing before you commit to anything, so nobody discovers a shortfall at the desk. If the gap is more than you can manage this month, we will tell you plainly and you walk away having lost nothing. The detail is on the negative equity page.

In Ohio this is not a footnote. Your signature on the title has to be notarized in person — witnessed, not just signed — so wherever you sell, somebody has to get you in front of a notary. Ask any buyer how that happens before the day of the sale.

When it happens on site, a sale completes in one visit. When it does not, you are making a second trip, and the money usually waits for it.

We notarize here, prepare the bill of sale here, and file the BMV paperwork ourselves. If there is a lien we contact the lender directly and send you written confirmation once it clears. What Ohio requires from a seller covers the rest, including the mistakes that void a title outright.

Carvana tends to suit late-model, average-mileage, unremarkable cars with a clean history — exactly what an algorithm prices well — and sellers who would rather never leave the driveway.

CarMax tends to suit sellers who are also buying, because the trade, the payoff and the new loan happen in one place.

A local buyer tends to suit trucks and specific configurations, older cars with service records, anything with an unusually clean underbody for Ohio, cars with a loan larger than their value, and anyone who wants the number set by a person who has seen the car.

We are about half a mile from the CarMax on Sawmill Road, and that is not an accident.

It means collecting a second number costs you one extra stop rather than an afternoon. Get their figure, bring it down the road, and let two buyers compete for the same car in the same hour.

If you already hold a written offer from CarMax, Carvana or a dealer trade-in dated within the last seven days, bring it. We beat it or hand you $250. Terms apply.

The strategy that consistently works is not picking a favorite. It is running them in order.

Start with the instant online quotes, because they cost you nothing but a VIN and five minutes, and they give you a floor. Then get one physical appraisal, because that is the only number produced by somebody who has actually looked at your car — and on anything above average, it is where the money hides. Then let the highest written offer do your arguing for you.

The seller who does badly is almost never the one who chose the wrong company. It is the one who got a single number and accepted it. For the questions that come before this decision, start with selling your car in Columbus, or weigh a private sale against a dealer.