Auto retailer CarMax gets rolling on SC auction site with $3.5M land deal (2024)

National automobile retailer CarMax is moving ahead with plans to build a vehicle auction center in Moncks Corner with the $3.5 million purchase of land along U.S. Highway 17A.

The Richmond, Va.-based company bought 21.6 acres near the Cypress Ridge subdivision on Feb. 29, according to Berkeley County property records. The auction center is part of $450 million in capital spending CarMax plans for the current fiscal year, which started March 1.

The project would include two buildings — one for sales, the other for vehicle maintenance and minor repairs — totaling 43,861 square feet, as well as a parking lot and vehicle-staging area, according to plans submitted to the county.

Auctions would be held once or twice a week, with a mix of roughly 230 in-person and online bidders vying for an average of 700 vehicles at each sale.

A CarMax spokesperson declined to provide any further details, such as when construction will begin and how soon it expects to start operations.

“We’ve identified this location as a potential good fit for our current growth plan,” the spokesperson said in a statement, adding “we will provide updates when available.”

Residents of the nearby neighborhood had expressed concerns about noise from the project during a Berkeley County Planning Commission meeting last year, but a CarMax spokesman said a study shows noise from its operations won’t be noticeable to those living in the more than 330 homes and townhomes near the site. He added that lighting on the site will be facing downward and inward so there won’t be light pollution spilling over into the neighborhood. A right-turn lane will also be added at the pro-ject’s entrance off Highway 17A to alleviate traffic backups.

CarMax said the auctions will only be open to licensed vehicle dealers and all maintenance and repairs will be done in an indoor facility with the bay doors closed.

Berkeley County Council approved a rezoning for the project in October.

Vehicles sold at the company’s wholesale auctions average about 10 years old with more than 100,000 miles, according to CarMax filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. They are primarily vehicles that don’t meet CarMax standards for sale at a retail outlet.

The company said it sold more than $4 billion worth of vehicles at auction during the first three quarters of its current fiscal year, a period that ended Nov. 30. That is a decrease of 19.3 percent from the same period a year earlier. Profit from the segment was down 4.4 percent to $427.3 million.

Across all operations, CarMax revenue totaled $20.9 billion during the first nine months of the fiscal year with profit of $2.1 billion, down 12.7 percent and 2.8 percent year-over-year, respectively. CarMax has 248 used-car sales locations nationwide with four in South Carolina, including one on Savannah Highway in West Ashley.