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Costco or USAA discount

M

Mide

Golden Member
For those who don't know, USAA has a service of having them call car dealers for you to find a new car at a cheaper price. Costco also has a similar service where the have contracts with certain dealers to get a "Costco price" on a car. Usually it's close to invoice from what I heard.

I have 2 questions:

1) Has anyone actually utilized either one of these services and what was the ballpark price you got on your car.

2) How does or will it even apply to cars high in demand such as the Mini Cooper, Toyota Prius, or Honda Fit?
 
In my experience, the Costco price is whatever the internet sales department price typically is. It can be a reasonable price, but won't always be close to invoice depending on the car.

High demand cars may not net you much of a discount, even through the "Costco" program.
 
At a local mercedes dealer, the costco price was $500 off sticker. The non-costco/internet price was MSRP on the car, cuz it was a new model and selling quite well.
 
also check carsdirect and it wouldn't hurt to get a price quote from dealers around too.
Is mini in high demand right now?
 
I didn't read that you were looking at a MINI when I replied originally.

If you are seriously interested in a MINI, I would suggest getting on North American Motoring and/or contacting Classic MINI in OH & Morristown MINI in NJ.

They usually seem to have the best deals around.
 
Ah yes, carsdirect will be a good source too. <Ravana> I'm not particularly shopping around for a Mini. A friend of mine purchased one a year ago and it was still in high demand then. I was just referencing it as an example. Thanks for that heads up though.
 
I purchased my Mazda 3 using the Costco program working with an Internet Sales Manager. Very pleasant experience. I knew at the time that getting close to invoice on the 3s was a good deal and the Costco deal was $300 over invoice. I also had a $500 rebate I got off ebay for $30. I didn't have to do any haggling, and the car I wanted was actually on a boat from Japan. Got the car for $200 under invoice after the rebate and I was very happy.

I had previously went to a local dealer who didn't have an internet sales man and they were horrible. The guy I dealt with wouldn't budge under MSRP and when I laughed and walked out, he didn't even try and stop me. The funny part was that I was ordering a car, yet he never even asked me about pricing. He just went into a computer and hit a few buttons, then said: "alright, your car is on it's way". I was like, wait a second, what about pricing? "Oh well it is about 21k (2k higher than MSRP)." Assholes.
 
I have USAA for homeowners, auto, motorcycle and life insurance. I also used them to finance my wife's car and my motorcycle, their rates are excellent so I'd definitely give them a shot on the new car purchase.

Why not try both out and see which one gets you the best price?
 
Costco won't make too much of a difference on a Prius because there are waiting lists of people who are willing to pay over MSRP.
 
Originally posted by: BrianH1
Costco won't make too much of a difference on a Prius because there are waiting lists of people who are willing to pay over MSRP.
Click to expand...

A friend of mine just bought a Prius under invoice. With the economy right now it should be easier to get good deals on cars.

When I bought my Mazda 6s in 2004, I used FightingChance. I don't know if their strategy would still be effective today, but it worked for me back then. The key was that dealers sometimes are willing to sell a car for no profit or even at a loss to meet certain goal or sales quota at the end of the month. I faxed to all the dealers within 150mi and luckily there was one who was willing to sell one to me for $800 under invoice. I ended up getting the car for about the invoice price OTD after the factory $1000 rebate and $500 royalty rebate.
 
we bought a 2007 Nissan Quest SE in August 06...they just hit the streets..we got via Costco pricing of $100 over invoice (at the time this what costco price was )
 
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