What are your thoughts on Costco's car buying program?

[JEDI]

link

my father is looking to buy a new 2008 Altima. he's not the type of guy that negotiates hard for something. and will probably fall for the extended warrenty pitch, even after i tell him to turn it down

he has a costco membership. and costo has a car buying program.

i went thru the steps w/my membership # and got:
After selecting a vehicle, ask the Authorized Dealer Contact to show you the "Member-Only Price Sheet."

Anyone know how good are the prices on the "Member-Only Price Sheet"?

 

[RKS]

Originally posted by: JEDI
link

my father is looking to buy a new 2008 Altima. he's not the type of guy that negotiates hard for something. and will probably fall for the extended warrenty pitch, even after i tell him to turn it down

he has a costco membership. and costo has a car buying program.

i went thru the steps w/my membership # and got:
After selecting a vehicle, ask the Authorized Dealer Contact to show you the "Member-Only Price Sheet."

Anyone know how good are the prices on the "Member-Only Price Sheet"?

ask the Authorized Dealer Contact to show you the "Member-Only Price Sheet


edit: you'll pay lower than msrp but a little higher than invoice. If you spend some time negotiating you could probably get as good or better deal.

 

[Gibson486]

well...when i was shopping for a Mazda 3 HB, i tried it through the program (make sure they are autorized too...some dealers claim to be, but they just end up taking you as a fool and go below $300 off the sticker). Through the website, a dealer called me and said he could sell me one for 16.7K. It's to bad that I had to drive 5 hours out of the way to do it, so i never really confirmed the price. No other place came close to that price. they claimed it was auto and other dealers said that it had to be a stick version. I ended up aying 17.1k after I found a $300 rebate online.

 

[minendo]

my father is looking to buy a new 2008 Altima. he's not the type of guy that negotiates hard for something. and will probably fall for the extended warrenty pitch, even after i tell him to turn it down

I fell for the extended warranty pitch (well I didn't really fall for it, I wanted to buy it) and it paid off in the end. Extended warranties on vehicles are something I definitely consider when purchasing a vehicle whether it be used or new.

As for pricing, use edmunds.com to get an idea of what people are paying in your area. It is a great negotiating tool.

 

[JS80]

carsdirect.com?

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: minendo

my father is looking to buy a new 2008 Altima. he's not the type of guy that negotiates hard for something. and will probably fall for the extended warrenty pitch, even after i tell him to turn it down

I fell for the extended warranty pitch (well I didn't really fall for it, I wanted to buy it) and it paid off in the end. Extended warranties on vehicles are something I definitely consider when purchasing a vehicle whether it be used or new.

As for pricing, use edmunds.com to get an idea of what people are paying in your area. It is a great negotiating tool.

I do not think endmunds works that well anymore. When I was shopping, it pretty much told me that people were paying sticker price for their Mazda 3. I knew it was not right when most of the dealers took out an edmunds print out and said that this was what people were paying.

 

[minendo]

I do not think endmunds works that well anymore. When I was shopping, it pretty much told me that people were paying sticker price for their Mazda 3. I knew it was not right when most of the dealers took out an edmunds print out and said that this was what people were paying.

Really? I used edmunds.com as a negotiating point in purchasing my Mazda 6 about 3 weeks ago. I also went in with another dealer quote (slightly modified) and walked away with a brand new Mazda 6 and a smile on my face.

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: minendo

I do not think endmunds works that well anymore. When I was shopping, it pretty much told me that people were paying sticker price for their Mazda 3. I knew it was not right when most of the dealers took out an edmunds print out and said that this was what people were paying.

Really? I used edmunds.com as a negotiating point in purchasing my Mazda 6 about 3 weeks ago. I also went in with another dealer quote (slightly modified) and walked away with a brand new Mazda 6 and a smile on my face.

what do you mean by "modified"? DO you mean he sent you a quote for 17.6....but you changed it to 16.7

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: minendo

my father is looking to buy a new 2008 Altima. he's not the type of guy that negotiates hard for something. and will probably fall for the extended warrenty pitch, even after i tell him to turn it down

I fell for the extended warranty pitch (well I didn't really fall for it, I wanted to buy it) and it paid off in the end. Extended warranties on vehicles are something I definitely consider when purchasing a vehicle whether it be used or new.

As for pricing, use edmunds.com to get an idea of what people are paying in your area. It is a great negotiating tool.

yes, i use edmunds. got my 2005 mazda3i at invoice (plus some bs $150 processing charge :disgust: )

but my father's not the type to do much negotiating, nor even looking at the links i send him. (he might click on it, and glance at the pics of the car.)

he lives 5hrs away. just want to see how much savings is costco's pricing vs driving over.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

I'd just send him to take the costco deal as long as it's within reason, maybe a few hundred dollars. Otherwise, you risk too much with him wanting to buy things they throw at him.

 

[CptCrunch]

I negotiated via email for my 2006 corolla, and ended up getting a great deal 14.5k for Corolla S with auto, no other options, out the door. Went in, signed the papers, and drove away. Beat any other site out there for deals. I'd try the email game, little negotiation on your part and you can contact all of the dealers in 100 mile radius pretty quickly. And if you get a few that bite, you can start turning them against each other

After everything is said and done, make sure you always state that this is OTD, you go in, meet your internet sales manager, sign the papers and drive off, very easy.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: JS80
carsdirect.com?

I checked with them, and they had a really good price on the Altima when I was looking two years ago. Also looked into Costco, but didn't follow through with it. My father-in-law did the Costco thing though, and he was very happy with it. I ended up buying a used car, so I didn't follow through on carsdirect.com either.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: JEDI

yes, i use edmunds. got my 2005 mazda3i at invoice (plus some bs $150 processing charge :disgust: )

but my father's not the type to do much negotiating, nor even looking at the links i send him. (he might click on it, and glance at the pics of the car.)

he lives 5hrs away. just want to see how much savings is costco's pricing vs driving over.

http://www.fool.com/car/car.htm

You can do all of the "negotiation" for him with this method; he just has to walk into the dealership and pick up his car.

 

[LS21]

many credit unions also offer the same service. i havent done it myself, but ive had many other people tell me they got very good no-visit no-haggling no-hassle on new car purchases. if they know exactly what they want, they tell the CU, and the CU comes back with an offer to sign

 

[Auric]

Research the dealer cost, holdbacks, reimbursments, incentives, &c. (pay for the service if necessary). As your pa, email dealers within a reasonable radius for an itemized bid (quote). Respond by email exclusively with an offer and/or negotiate an acceptable profit inclusive of their kickbacks and being clear that even though documentation, inspection, and such dealer fees may be line items for bidness purposes, you consider them part of said profit. When done, pa can simply go in with a cashier's cheque/bank draft for the final total and thus avoid any shens.

To reiterate, invoice != dealer cost. They may be able to sell below that and still make a healthy profit, even before duping naif buyers with the fee scam. Also, such a sale is virtually effortless for them so any profit at all is like free money.

 

[Mo0o]

It's how we got our newest car. 09 Camry SE, at invoice. No haggling, just test drove the car. The only hassle was dealing with the manager and telling him we really dont want the extended warranty about 50 times.

 

[secretanchitman]

my bro got his bmw 335i coupe through costco pricing. it was a few thousand (1-2-3k or something i dont remember exactly). i do remember him paying lower than msrp though, but im not so sure if it was lower/higher than invoice.

he got it august 07..

only selected dealerships have it, so chances are that you might not have a participating dealer near you..aka you'll probably have to drive further than your local dealer.

 

[puffpio]

I use the carsdirect.com as a base price..the backup.
you can use that + the costco one as your backups

what i did is made an excel spreadsheet of all the nissan dealerships in a 50 mile radius (taken from the nissan website)
I emailed them all (or used their website to submit a request for a quote)
I wrote down all offers I got (took a couple of days), took the lowest offer and emailed all the other dealerships again and asked if they could beat it
I wrote down all those 2nd round offers (again a couple of days..faster tho cuz many dealerships wont be able to match prices)..again i took the lowest offer and emailed all the remaining dealerships asking if they could beat it

after i got down to about 3-5 dealerships, i chose the best price and went there and bought it. was pretty easy just took time. i made a new email address for it so i wouldn't get subscribed to junk email. and since its all by email they cant use pressure tactics...

i plan on buying all my future cars that way

 

[puffpio]

oh yaeh..basically i got about 2k below INVOICE on a 23k car

 

[Muadib]

Originally posted by: RKS

Originally posted by: JEDI
link

my father is looking to buy a new 2008 Altima. he's not the type of guy that negotiates hard for something. and will probably fall for the extended warrenty pitch, even after i tell him to turn it down

he has a costco membership. and costo has a car buying program.

i went thru the steps w/my membership # and got:
After selecting a vehicle, ask the Authorized Dealer Contact to show you the "Member-Only Price Sheet."

Anyone know how good are the prices on the "Member-Only Price Sheet"?

ask the Authorized Dealer Contact to show you the "Member-Only Price Sheet


edit: you'll pay lower than msrp but a little higher than invoice. If you spend some time negotiating you could probably get as good or better deal.

Yes, this!:thumbsup:

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: JS80
carsdirect.com?

I checked with them, and they had a really good price on the Altima when I was looking two years ago. Also looked into Costco, but didn't follow through with it. My father-in-law did the Costco thing though, and he was very happy with it. I ended up buying a used car, so I didn't follow through on carsdirect.com either.

carsdirect.com have limited choices.

Example

The only automatic they offer (no matter the zipcode) is:

2008 Nissan Altima 3.5 SL 4dr Sedan
3.5L V-6 270 HP engine
Xtronic 2-spd tip CVT transmission
Dual zone front & rear climate control
Heated 8-way power leather seats
9-spkr AM/FM CD stereo w/ Satellite & MP3 capability
Driver & passenger front & side seat mounted airbags w/ occpancy sensor

$27,610

that's probably a good price for the 3.5SL (top of the line Altima), but all i want is the 2.5s automatic. and they dont offer that

Originally posted by: Auric
To reiterate, invoice != dealer cost. They may be able to sell below that and still make a healthy profit, even before duping naif buyers with the fee scam. Also, such a sale is virtually effortless for them so any profit at all is like free money.

besides the holdback + fee scam, how else are they getting profit for selling at invoice?

 

[Auric]

I only referenced the doc/pdi fees scam, not holdback (it may be trickery but not really a scam). Anyhoo, with an invoice of $25000 that nets at least $500 profit. Other manufacturer to dealer incentives may add to it.

Seems puffpio used the same method and particulary noted "since its all by email they cant use pressure tactics", which is key. It essentially short circuits all the shens. In my opine, the only reason to spend any time at a dealer is to test drive. It is not even worth talking to a sales person beyond that. Discussing price is certainly a waste of time.

 

[OutHouse]

http://www.autosearch-usa.com/

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: JEDI

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: JS80
carsdirect.com?

I checked with them, and they had a really good price on the Altima when I was looking two years ago. Also looked into Costco, but didn't follow through with it. My father-in-law did the Costco thing though, and he was very happy with it. I ended up buying a used car, so I didn't follow through on carsdirect.com either.

carsdirect.com have limited choices.

Example

The only automatic they offer (no matter the zipcode) is:

2008 Nissan Altima 3.5 SL 4dr Sedan
3.5L V-6 270 HP engine
Xtronic 2-spd tip CVT transmission
Dual zone front & rear climate control
Heated 8-way power leather seats
9-spkr AM/FM CD stereo w/ Satellite & MP3 capability
Driver & passenger front & side seat mounted airbags w/ occpancy sensor

$27,610

that's probably a good price for the 3.5SL (top of the line Altima), but all i want is the 2.5s automatic. and they dont offer that

Originally posted by: Auric
To reiterate, invoice != dealer cost. They may be able to sell below that and still make a healthy profit, even before duping naif buyers with the fee scam. Also, such a sale is virtually effortless for them so any profit at all is like free money.

besides the holdback + fee scam, how else are they getting profit for selling at invoice?

Yes it does. That was a typo on the list of models page.

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: puffpio
I use the carsdirect.com as a base price..the backup.
you can use that + the costco one as your backups

what i did is made an excel spreadsheet of all the nissan dealerships in a 50 mile radius (taken from the nissan website)
I emailed them all (or used their website to submit a request for a quote)
I wrote down all offers I got (took a couple of days), took the lowest offer and emailed all the other dealerships again and asked if they could beat it
I wrote down all those 2nd round offers (again a couple of days..faster tho cuz many dealerships wont be able to match prices)..again i took the lowest offer and emailed all the remaining dealerships asking if they could beat it

after i got down to about 3-5 dealerships, i chose the best price and went there and bought it. was pretty easy just took time. i made a new email address for it so i wouldn't get subscribed to junk email. and since its all by email they cant use pressure tactics...

i plan on buying all my future cars that way

lol i like how you roll.