CarMax Invites Customers to 'Do Donuts'

by Jason R. Sakurai

Published: April 12th, 2021

CarMax has invited customers to ‘do donuts’ during their test drives, a promotion with Dunkin’ Donuts. For shoppers who take part in CarMax’s 24-hour test drives today through May 16th, they’ll receive a $10 Dunkin’ Donuts gift card.

What encouragement does the general public need to do donuts in CarMax vehicles? The vision of drivers fueled on sugar and caffeine hot lapping used cars is laughable but entirely possible.

“At CarMax, we believe the car-buying experience should be as enjoyable as possible,” said Sarah Lane, vice president, marketing at CarMax. “We want customers to experience a day in their life with their new ride. Since America Runs on Dunkin’, we know that includes a trip through the Dunkin’ drive-thru for their favorite order. Collaborating with Dunkin’ on “Doin’ Donuts” makes CarMax’s 24-Hour Test Drive experience that much sweeter.”

CarMax customers also receive a checklist of ideas of what to do with the vehicle for 24 hours. This includes taking your dog for a drive, packing the trunk to ensure things fit, and going through a drive-through to see if you have enough cupholders. No word on whether they ding you for pet hair, grass, or sprinkles found in the car upon its return from the test drive. Apparently, this was Dunkin’ Donuts’ thinking, too.

“You never know if a car is right for you until you’ve taken it through a Dunkin’ drive-thru,” said Dunkin’s Melanie Rabino. “Making sure your vehicle’s cup holders perform perfectly is the perfect test.”

The other type of donuts, the unsanctioned kind, were not mentioned by either CarMax nor Dunkin’. This promotion marks the second time in recent weeks where CarMax has amped up its media presence.

[Images: CarMax]

#Advertising #CarMax #DoDonuts #Dunkin'Donuts #EatWhileYouDrive #Marketing #Promotions #UsedCars

Jason R. Sakurai

With a father who owned a dealership, I literally grew up in the business. After college, I worked for GM, Nissan and Mazda, writing articles for automotive enthusiast magazines as a side gig. I discovered you could make a living selling ad space at Four Wheeler magazine, before I moved on to selling TV for the National Hot Rod Association. After that, I started Roadhouse, a marketing, advertising and PR firm dedicated to the automotive, outdoor/apparel, and entertainment industries. Through the years, I continued writing, shooting, and editing. It keep things interesting.

More by Jason R. Sakurai

Comments

Join the conversation

3 of 8 comments

Inside Looking Out on Apr 12, 2021

"I found more relevant news at random this morning: https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2021/04/biden-planning-to-pour-100-billion-worth-of-rebates-onto-evs/#comment-10002676" Bidon is too cheap. I challenge him - make it trillion -now we are talking. We will beat China in no time.

Like Reply
APaGttH on Apr 12, 2021

I sure hope in the small print that test driving a Mustang is exempt from the offer...

Like Reply
- Garrett on Apr 13, 2021
  
  You misspelled AMG!
  
  Like

Recent Comments

Tassos Under incompetent, affirmative action hire Mary Barra, GM has been shooting itself in the foot on a daily basis.Whether the Malibu cancellation has been one of these shootings is NOT obvious at all.GM should be run as a PROFITABLE BUSINESS and NOT as an outfit that satisfies everybody and his mother in law's pet preferences.IF the Malibu was UNPROFITABLE, it SHOULD be canceled.More generally, if its SEGMENT is Unprofitable, and HALF the makers cancel their midsize sedans, not only will it lead to the SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST ones, but the survivors will obviously be more profitable if the LOSERS were kept being produced and the SMALL PIE of midsize sedans would yield slim pickings for every participant.SO NO, I APPROVE of the demise of the unprofitable Malibu, and hope Nissan does the same to the Altima, Hyundai with the SOnata, Mazda with the Mazda 6, and as many others as it takes to make the REMAINING players, like the Excellent, sporty Accord and the Bulletproof Reliable, cheap to maintain CAMRY, more profitable and affordable.
GregLocock Car companies can only really sell cars that people who are new car buyers will pay a profitable price for. As it turns out fewer and fewer new car buyers want sedans. Large sedans can be nice to drive, certainly, but the number of new car buyers (the only ones that matter in this discussion) are prepared to sacrifice steering and handling for more obvious things like passenger and cargo space, or even some attempt at off roading. We know US new car buyers don't really care about handling because they fell for FWD in large cars.
Slavuta Why is everybody sweating? Like sedans? - go buy one. Better - 2. Let CRV/RAV rust on the dealer lot. I have 3 sedans on the driveway. My neighbor - 2. Neighbors on each of our other side - 8 SUVs.
Theflyersfan With sedans, especially, I wonder how many of those sales are to rental fleets. With the exception of the Civic and Accord, there are still rows of sedans mixed in with the RAV4s at every airport rental lot. I doubt the breakdown in sales is publicly published, so who knows... GM isn't out of the sedan business - Cadillac exists and I can't believe I'm typing this but they are actually decent - and I think they are making a huge mistake, especially if there's an extended oil price hike (cough...Iran...cough) and people want smaller and hybrids. But if one is only tied to the quarterly shareholder reports and not trends and the big picture, bad decisions like this get made.
Wjtinfwb Not proud of what Stellantis is rolling out?