Anyone use TrueCar's program with dealers?

[JTsyo]

Looking into a Explorer XLT 4WD and my dealer has the X-plan price as about $37K. Truecar gave me a contact and price from a nearby dealer for $34K. Will the dealer actually sell at the price or is it just a lure? I guess there's one way to find out but don't want to waste an hour if this is just a salesmanship ploy.

 

[SearchMaster]

Truecar seems to be high, I wouldn't think $34K is out of line. Can you call them and get them to email a hard quote to you?

 

[JTsyo]

Truecar seems to be high, I wouldn't think $34K is out of line. Can you call them and get them to email a hard quote to you?

Truecar gives you a certificate for the price from that dealer. I'm going to try to take it in tomorrow and let's see what they say.

 

[JTsyo]

Went to the dealer, they'll give me the price + $500 to get the car from another dealer. The process was pretty painless and the deal good. Thumbs up for truecar.

 

[sze5003]

I thought the true car value was average prices. I use it through my employee benefits and discount section so they may be showing me the price with the discount already built in. But whatever it prints out is what the dealer should honor assuming it finds a dealer with that price it showed you.

 

[boomerang]

Maybe it's early and I'm a little fuzzy yet. JTsyo, you bought a new vehicle below the employee price? That's what Ford X-plan prices are right, employee discounted price? Or is it supplier price?

I ask because I get employee price for GM cars and I have from time to time suspected that I am paying more for a vehicle than others could get it for. It's nice not having to dicker, but if I'm paying thousands more...

 

[sze5003]

Maybe it's early and I'm a little fuzzy yet. JTsyo, you bought a new vehicle below the employee price? That's what Ford X-plan prices are right, employee discounted price? Or is it supplier price?

I ask because I get employee price for GM cars and I have from time to time suspected that I am paying more for a vehicle than others could get it for. It's nice not having to dicker, but if I'm paying thousands more...

Does gm have different sections? My company has that program for Nissan. I qualify for part D. So its 2.7% off invoice price but they add a 2.5% dealer BS delivery fee plus a 600 dollar Dealer fee. The vpp program is selling the car at invoice plus all fees and taxes out the door. I've found better prices online listed though so I think its worth it if the car you want has to be ordered.

 

[boomerang]

Does gm have different sections? My company has that program for Nissan. I qualify for part D. So its 2.7% off invoice price but they add a 2.5% dealer BS delivery fee plus a 600 dollar Dealer fee. The vpp program is selling the car at invoice plus all fees and taxes out the door. I've found better prices online listed though so I think its worth it if the car you want has to be ordered.

We can't order, we must buy off the lot. There are no tiers for us. It's one fixed price. They do have the employee discount and the supplier discount though which is less. They're tacking on whatever fee(s) they can get away with plus trying to sell me a bunch of bullshit protection this and that stuff which is really absurd because we lease all of our cars.

All I know is that the dealers seem to be very happy to be making the sale which has me wondering if I'm truly getting the best deal. When I lease the financing is through Ally which used to be GMAC so I'm wondering if I approached the deal as a non-employee if a red flag would pop up somewhere and I'd get a 'talking to'. Only one way to find out I guess.

 

[Uppsala9496]

Haven't used the GM employee/supplier discount in about a decade. What I do recall is that dealers are happy because while they may not sell for as much as they could, they do get a rebate from GM for the sale.
So it is a simple, profitable sale for them. What they may lose in out the door cost, they make up in rebating from GM.

 

[xBiffx]

Maybe it's early and I'm a little fuzzy yet. JTsyo, you bought a new vehicle below the employee price? That's what Ford X-plan prices are right, employee discounted price? Or is it supplier price?

I ask because I get employee price for GM cars and I have from time to time suspected that I am paying more for a vehicle than others could get it for. It's nice not having to dicker, but if I'm paying thousands more...

I am fairly certain that X-plan is not employee pricing. That is A-plan. X-plan if for partners and such. Basically a corporate discount. I can get X-plan from Ford where I work and its in the agriculture industry. When I looked into it, dealer incentives and current promotions were a much better way to go than X-plan when I bought my F-150 two years ago.

 

[JTsyo]

I am fairly certain that X-plan is not employee pricing. That is A-plan. X-plan if for partners and such. Basically a corporate discount. I can get X-plan from Ford where I work and its in the agriculture industry. When I looked into it, dealer incentives and current promotions were a much better way to go than X-plan when I bought my F-150 two years ago.

yea this is right. When I bought my first Ford with employee's discount it was the A-Z plan. The next one I bought through the Costco program which would have been X-plan. The Truecar price was well below the X-plan but just this dealer had it that low. Add in the $750 loyalty rebate and it's looking like a very good deal.

 

[sze5003]

We can't order, we must buy off the lot. There are no tiers for us. It's one fixed price. They do have the employee discount and the supplier discount though which is less. They're tacking on whatever fee(s) they can get away with plus trying to sell me a bunch of bullshit protection this and that stuff which is really absurd because we lease all of our cars.

All I know is that the dealers seem to be very happy to be making the sale which has me wondering if I'm truly getting the best deal. When I lease the financing is through Ally which used to be GMAC so I'm wondering if I approached the deal as a non-employee if a red flag would pop up somewhere and I'd get a 'talking to'. Only one way to find out I guess.

They are because after all the fees they add back in, they only sell it to you for about $150 off invoice price. They get the money back from the company. I've found better prices searching the dealer's online inventory, for example for a 2015 altima S, I found it for $19,300 vs using Vpp and paying about 21k + taxes and other fees.

I could probably negotiate that 19k as a out the door price.

 

[boomerang]

I am fairly certain that X-plan is not employee pricing. That is A-plan. X-plan if for partners and such. Basically a corporate discount. I can get X-plan from Ford where I work and its in the agriculture industry. When I looked into it, dealer incentives and current promotions were a much better way to go than X-plan when I bought my F-150 two years ago.

Ah yes, I remember now. A-plan is for Ford employee's. I had never heard of X-plan. GM just calls them employee pricing and supplier pricing. Hell, they actually advertise 'employee pricing for all' around here. Not all the time but several times a year they do. That factored into my wondering. I can only guess GM OK's it to help reduce inventory.

 

[SearchMaster]

They are because after all the fees they add back in, they only sell it to you for about $150 off invoice price. They get the money back from the company. I've found better prices searching the dealer's online inventory, for example for a 2015 altima S, I found it for $19,300 vs using Vpp and paying about 21k + taxes and other fees.

I could probably negotiate that 19k as a out the door price.

This is true....my sister works for Nissan and when I looked a few years ago, her pricing was worse than I could have done myself. The only Ford I have experience with is my Focus ST, and from reading forums most people have done better on their own than those who got X or A plan.

 

[uclabachelor]

Looking into a Explorer XLT 4WD and my dealer has the X-plan price as about $37K. Truecar gave me a contact and price from a nearby dealer for $34K. Will the dealer actually sell at the price or is it just a lure? I guess there's one way to find out but don't want to waste an hour if this is just a salesmanship ploy.

I've used Truecar many times to purchase cars for myself and friends/family. I use their price as a base price to negotiate from... dealers have to pay Truecar a fixed amount so I just email dealers directly and ask them to beat the Truecar price. Some dealers complain and don't want to deal with it, others say they'll match the price, and once in a while you get one that will beat it by a few hundred to a thousand bucks.

The secret is if you see a deal that's too good to be true, chances are that the dealer who submitted that price has a one off car that they're trying to get rid of and hence the good price.

 

[Raizinman]

I've used the Truecar and Costco car buying programs. Both will give you a price to shoot for, but not the lowest price. Pretty much a non-haggle price that the dealer will be happy with. I've been to dealers that have told me that they will beat the Truecar and the Coscto prices. So the bottom line is, just use the Truecar and Costco prices as a guide. You can do better.

 

[soulcougher73]

Im picking up a Honda Accord Hybird tomorrow that i used Truecar on. Well was USAA actually, but they go through truecar for their certificate. Truecars certified price was $28,821. Honda was at $26,491 and .9% financing for 60 months. Couldnt pass that up. Must being trying to move hybrids right now or something.

 

[sze5003]

Im picking up a Honda Accord Hybird tomorrow that i used Truecar on. Well was USAA actually, but they go through truecar for their certificate. Truecars certified price was $28,821. Honda was at $26,491 and .9% financing for 60 months. Couldnt pass that up. Must being trying to move hybrids right now or something.

Is this a lease? Most 0% financing offers I see are for leases. If I could lease a car I'd get something very nice but I drive way too much to work and back plus additional mileage. That percentage would mean you need a credit score of close to 800+ most of the time.

 

[Demo24]

I use truecar primarily to find the invoice and work from there. Also know if you belong to Costco they have a car buying program that is typically a good bit under invoice. Easy way to get under invoice without having to haggle.

I belong to the scca so I can get a VW (possibility Mazda but haven't checked those details yet), for $500 under invoice no haggle. I'm using that on a car I've ordered since I won't have much bargaining power on it (rare model built to my specs, would sell easily if I wasn't primary on it). Sadly unregulated dealer fees in my state mean I basically lose my discount, but better than MSRP!

FYI, to anyone looking at VW scca is ~$80 a year, so joining can pay off if you want a quick and easy deal. Also know that several negotiate the car down to under invoice and then use this certificate to get another 500 knocked off because that money is refunded by VW to the dealer, so they don't lose anything. I had originally done this with a couple cars to get $1k under invoice, but supply problems meant I lost 4 cars and ultimately settled on ordering exactly what I wanted.

 

[soulcougher73]

Is this a lease? Most 0% financing offers I see are for leases. If I could lease a car I'd get something very nice but I drive way too much to work and back plus additional mileage. That percentage would mean you need a credit score of close to 800+ most of the time.

I got the 0.9% with a 734 credit score. Between that and the price it seems a no brainer on my end.

 

[sze5003]

I got the 0.9% with a 734 credit score. Between that and the price it seems a no brainer on my end.

Last I checked I had a 749 so I'm going to look around for these low apr deals. I just can't lease and if you are not leasing the Apr is usually higher.

 

[Subyman]

I messed around with true car when I was going to buy my truck. Ended up getting it cheaper by doing a normal haggle and discounts. I think true car may be for people that get stressed with the haggling process and want a quick, decent deal. Truck buying is always weird though. You may as well take ~$8-10k off the sticker.

 

[Dice144]

I messed around with true car when I was going to buy my truck. Ended up getting it cheaper by doing a normal haggle and discounts. I think true car may be for people that get stressed with the haggling process and want a quick, decent deal. Truck buying is always weird though. You may as well take ~$8-10k off the sticker.

Wow really that much off of a truck? I have been looking at getting a GMC Canyon but the sticker price scares me!

 

[Subyman]

Wow really that much off of a truck? I have been looking at getting a GMC Canyon but the sticker price scares me!

Don't know about the Canyon, it just came out. I got $8k off the GMC Sierra I purchased about 6 months ago. Sticker was ~44K, ended up paying $36k + TTL. No truck ever goes for sticker. GM and Ram are usually the best about coming way down. Ford seems to like to stay high in my area.

Check out Laura GMC's website. They show about how much you can expect to pay. Looks like they are giving ~4K off Canyons right now. Some Sierras are dirt cheap though. I used their prices to haggle locally.

http://www.laurabuickgmc.com/HomePage

 

[Dice144]

Thank you