If Carmax offered you 2k then the car you were trading in was not something they were interested in, so they probably offered you what they could get at auction

If Carmax offered you 2k then the car you were trading in was not something they were interested in, so they probably offered you what they could get at auction for it. There are certain things for which you don’t want to use carmax. Also, did you sell it private party for $7k or was that at another dealership? I’ve bought and sold a decent number of cars over be years and carmax has routinely offered the best price I could get from any other dealership, but it depends on the specifics. I may trade in my heavily modified Jeep Wrangler next and that’s not something I would bother with carmax for. They don’t generally sell modified 4x4 rigs, so they’re likely to flip it at auction and therefore make a lowball offer. So I’m going to go to a dealership that specializes in what I’m selling.