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Old 04-15-2015, 08:21 AM
 
Location: Raleigh, NC
19,360 posts, read 27,567,150 times
Reputation: 35932

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Actually, I think you brought this on yourself. Why didn't you just continue with the dealer than was in the USAA program? We've done that several tines for leases and purchases and had zero haggling or problems (in phoenix and in Raleigh).

In fact, our last purchase was thru USAA. The best deal on the exact model and color we wanted was with a dealer two hours away, near the closest large military base. We did an online app for financing and They delivered the car to our home, where we signed the papers for 100% financing. Deposit of $250 on a credit card.

Plan on doing the same when the lease on the other vehicle is up in August. Hopefully, they'll take the current leased vehicle back to the dealership without us even having to set foot in those places! Oh wait, we'll have to test drive the new models from a couple of manufacturers. Darn!

PS. Husband was a sales manager in several dealerships years ago, then owned his own business training car salesman. He REFUSES to deal with any part of this except the test drive. Even that requires me nagging and dragging him to the dealership!
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Old 04-15-2015, 01:23 PM
 
Location: Leaving, California
480 posts, read 840,196 times
Reputation: 738
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jkgourmet View Post
Actually, I think you brought this on yourself. Why didn't you just continue with the dealer than was in the USAA program? We've done that several tines for leases and purchases and had zero haggling or problems (in phoenix and in Raleigh).
Brought it on myself? Sure, it would have been simpler to just use the program rather than shopping further, but I don't think it's unreasonable to ask dealers to be ethical. Even while I expect them to take whatever advantage I allow them to take, it doesn't make it my fault that they played it.

In the past, we've had zero problems with USAA's program (or Costco's for that matter), but it's a shame if the only way you can make a car dealer behave ethically is to use programmed pricing.

For what it's worth, I think that's the core problem here. I'd love it if the auto industry would police itself to avoid these practices.
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Old 04-15-2015, 03:33 PM
 
2,799 posts, read 3,146,497 times
Reputation: 2691
Quote:
Originally Posted by WriterDude View Post
Brought it on myself? Sure, it would have been simpler to just use the program rather than shopping further, but I don't think it's unreasonable to ask dealers to be ethical. Even while I expect them to take whatever advantage I allow them to take, it doesn't make it my fault that they played it.

In the past, we've had zero problems with USAA's program (or Costco's for that matter), but it's a shame if the only way you can make a car dealer behave ethically is to use programmed pricing.

For what it's worth, I think that's the core problem here. I'd love it if the auto industry would police itself to avoid these practices.
How much better do you think the USAA program is compared to Costco or Consumer Reports? -Thanks.
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Old 04-15-2015, 04:00 PM
 
Location: Leaving, California
480 posts, read 840,196 times
Reputation: 738
Quote:
Originally Posted by Potential_Landlord View Post
How much better do you think the USAA program is compared to Costco or Consumer Reports? -Thanks.
I haven't used Consumer Reports (other than to do car research), but USAA (USAA is just using the TrueCar program) seems somewhat more effective than Costco on price. (Just as a ballpark, I'd say it was 15-20% more savings.)

In other words, if Costco is saving $3,000 on a particular car, the USAA/TrueCar program would save $3,450.
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Old 04-15-2015, 05:15 PM
 
2,799 posts, read 3,146,497 times
Reputation: 2691
Quote:
Originally Posted by WriterDude View Post
I haven't used Consumer Reports (other than to do car research), but USAA (USAA is just using the TrueCar program) seems somewhat more effective than Costco on price. (Just as a ballpark, I'd say it was 15-20% more savings.)

In other words, if Costco is saving $3,000 on a particular car, the USAA/TrueCar program would save $3,450.
Thanks!
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Old 04-15-2015, 05:50 PM
 
9,189 posts, read 16,536,937 times
Reputation: 11290
You should always be able to do better than any preset program. Use those as a guideline but there's still room left with those.
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Old 04-15-2015, 05:58 PM
 
2,799 posts, read 3,146,497 times
Reputation: 2691
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Originally Posted by DetroitN8V View Post
You should always be able to do better than any preset program. Use those as a guideline but there's still room left with those.
Maybe for the negotiators among us, but not me.
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Old 04-15-2015, 09:54 PM
 
Location: Phoenix, AZ
3,515 posts, read 3,658,719 times
Reputation: 6403
Quote:
Originally Posted by DetroitN8V View Post
You should always be able to do better than any preset program. Use those as a guideline but there's still room left with those.


To an extent, but sometimes people get downright silly when it comes to the price that they are looking to pay. I have a friend that is a general manager at a car dealership in town and he's always amazed at how people seem to assume that there's a tremendous profit margin on new vehicles and how often he's got folks coming in and making ridiculously low offers on vehicles and then throwing a fit when the dealership tells them "thanks but no thanks." Or people who expect the dealership to take a $3,000 or $4,000 loss on a vehicle because "I'll be happy to be a reference and recommend others to you."


That or people who come in with vehicles that they purchased a couple years ago, are incredibly upside down on and get angry when they hear what their monthly payment on a new vehicle is going to come out to be, upset because they were expecting to get the full value of their vehicle even though the bank still owns far more of it than they do.


From everything I've heard, most dealerships are moving to a more straightforward sales model, with the internet and all the information that people have access to, the better dealerships aren't giving people the run-around the way they used to and in some cases, the salespeople are working solely on salary and not commission.


It always pays to do your homework and if you're someone who wants to iron out the details before you even get to the dealership, go through the internet department, if they are reticent to send you details about pricing, the exact model or give you a firm quote without you actually coming into the dealership, 86 them and move on to someone more straightforward and honest.
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Old 04-16-2015, 09:52 AM
 
Location: Raleigh, NC
19,360 posts, read 27,567,150 times
Reputation: 35932
Quote:
Originally Posted by WriterDude View Post
I haven't used Consumer Reports (other than to do car research), but USAA (USAA is just using the TrueCar program) seems somewhat more effective than Costco on price. (Just as a ballpark, I'd say it was 15-20% more savings.)

In other words, if Costco is saving $3,000 on a particular car, the USAA/TrueCar program would save $3,450.
I'd totally agree with that, but we found the savings from USAA's program to be better in Raleigh, NC than we did in Phoenix, AZ.

Might be because there's a really big military base about 2 hours from Raleigh (Fort Bragg in Fayetteville). I'm unaware of anything in AZ that comes close to that in size.

They delivered the vehicle directly to our home.
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Old 04-16-2015, 09:57 AM
 
Location: Raleigh, NC
19,360 posts, read 27,567,150 times
Reputation: 35932
Quote:
Originally Posted by Juram View Post
To an extent, but sometimes people get downright silly when it comes to the price that they are looking to pay. I have a friend that is a general manager at a car dealership in town and he's always amazed at how people seem to assume that there's a tremendous profit margin on new vehicles and how often he's got folks coming in and making ridiculously low offers on vehicles and then throwing a fit when the dealership tellsthem "thanks but no thanks." Or people who expect the dealership to take a $3,000 or $4,000 loss on a vehicle because "I'll be happy to be a reference and recommend others to you."


That or people who come in with vehicles that they purchased a couple years ago, are incredibly upside down on and get angry when they hear what their monthly payment on a new vehicle is going to come out to be, upset because they were expecting to get the full value of their vehicle even though the bank still owns far more of it than they do.


From everything I've heard, most dealerships are moving to a more straightforward sales model, with the internet and all the information that people have access to, the better dealerships aren't giving people the run-around the way they used to and in some cases, the salespeople are working solely on salary and not commission.


It always pays to do your homework and if you're someone who wants to iron out the details before you even get to the dealership, go through the internet department, if they are reticent to send you details about pricing, the exact model or give you a firm quote without you actually coming into the dealership, 86 them and move on to someone more straightforward and honest.
1000% per cent accurate. Pre- internet car sale techniques have no reality to the current industry.
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