Hi,
Anyone purchased a vehicle through Costco's auto program? Disappointing that they won't tell you the expected savings until you've signed up -- which, of course, tips your hand to the dealer.
One friendly salesman inferred that pricing was "$X over invoice" for *their* vehicles; of course X probably varies with make/model.
I'm wondering if its not better to just wait until the dealers are "hungry"...
"Invoice" isn't what the dealers actually pay for the car.
I used a webby thing to buy my wife's Honda Fit. I logged in the request and multiple dealers emailed me offers. I bought one from a dealer in Berkeley. At the time I ordered it, we'd actually never been inside a Fit. She loves it.
-- John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc picosecond timing laser drivers and controllers jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com http://www.highlandtechnology.com
Of course not! There are "dealer incentives" that the manufacturer passes on to the dealers to "move metal". For folks who finance (through the dealership), there are "kickbacks" from the lenders.
I.e., getting a vehicle for *below* invoice is very possible (depends on the vehicle, demand, time of month/year, etc.). So, I'd not be keen on "settling" for $X ABOVE invoice -- and forfeiting any bargaining power simply because I went through Costco!
[Of course, you know Costco gets somethign out of this, as well!]We tend to have a single dealership for each make, here. The "next nearest market" typically being an hour or two away. Not keen on driving 100-200mi just for "competition".
It is what they pay for the car but it doesn't include incentives, advertising allowances or interest assistance (so called "hold-back"), which is often three months interest. Dealers will sometimes sell "below invoice" but they still pick up the other goodies. They're not losing money. ;-)
My PPoE and CPoE have deals with most of the manufacturers (called the "X-Plan" - The "A-Plan" is for their employees and "B-Plan" is for dealer's employees). The "X-Plan" deal is basically invoice and the manufacturer pays the dealer for prep and actually pays their salesperson. Worked out good for my last two vehicles. My F150 was
There are both dealer incentives and buyer incentives. The buyer
*always* gets the buyer incentives. Dealer incentives are, of course, up to the dealer but you can usually get those too. As you say, he wants to move the metal.
Something from the dealer, usually. Dealers will often park cars at Costco (or at least they used to).
They don't have to know that. the less a dealer knows about you, the better off you are. The local guy will get the service money anyway. We had one dealer that wouldn't service cars not bought there, though. What a PITA!
Costco Auto Program is fraught with difficulties.
(1) My daughter purchased through it and got this deal. Same price or better for the car as other programs like AutoLand and the one through her credit union. BUT ... the Costco program gave her all accessories at dealer cost. The other programs give her prices much much more than dealer cost for accessories. The other programs would not deal. This was for a Toyota RAV4.
(2) My friend used the Costco program to get into the "fleet" dealer sales person for a Camry SE. He was given a very good price but hesitated to buy and as he was about to leave the salesman offered him a better price than the Costco deal. He left but later called the salesman back and suggested what he wanted to pay, less than the Costco price. They came to an agreement so my friend went in to purchase. When about to sign the papers, the manager said that the price was too low and was adding $100 to the price. My friend started to walk out and as he opened the door to leave the manager relented and my friend got the price he and the salesman agreed on.
(3) I tried to purchase a Lexus through Costco program but NO dealer would work with me as they were not able to find any stock anywhere in country and would have to special order it. Two dealers would NOT deal. The factory said it could not help as it did not get into dealer / customer relations. So Lexus lost out! So did I !!! I was willing to put some money down even though one of the dealers said it policy was to not accept a down. Probably because they did not want to do an special orders. What really bothered me was that Lexus keeps advertising safety and it was safety equipment I wanted. This stuff is on their web pages as real not imagined options. "No options for you" ... but I know where to get soup.
Costco had no clout!!!
I bought a Nissan once through one of those programs with UBS, the only time I've ever bought a new car. When I went to the dealership with my "chit", they tried to sell me all the add on crap that was popular at the time. They even tried to tell me I couldn't buy the car without it as much of it was already on the car. Total BS because they didn't have the car on the lot yet!
A friend did the same thing, but he said he wasn't going to use UBS and they immediately reverted back to car salesman mode. It's all pretty much BS. They are going to make as much money as they can and won't ever sell a car at a significantly reduced profit because they can always find another buyer who doesn't know the ropes.
-- Rick
Ford tried that as a company policy decades ago and the Feds called BS on them. I'm pretty sure your dealer is breaking a rule there. Try talking to the district manager. Which car maker?
-- Rick
Doesn't help you if you have a dead car with a blown head gasket. Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth (though that's redundant with "blown head gasket").
Like I said, it's in the dealer's interest to service all. Warranty money spends just as well as customer's. I know a Lincoln dealer who would go out of his way to take money from the Ford garage. ...and does. ;-)
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