Anybody use Costco Auto Program in the Houston area? (Dallas: sales, buying)

[Whyrallnamestaken]

On the Costco website you can choose a vehicle but you can't see a price until you locate and contact a participating Costco dealer through the website. The website shows you the MSRP price and the "Invoice" price.

I don't want to contact a dealer and have them pester me if the savings is not very great.

I want to know how close to the "invoice" price is the offer?

Are most Houston area dealerships participating in the Costco Auto program?

[PedroMartinez]

I like this question.

[txdemo]

I've wondered the same thing.

[haudi]

Get a throwaway Gmail account and a Google voice number when dealing with dealerships. Go nuts.

[kickingprop]

I got a quote while I was in the Acura dealer for a new TLX using a vehicle discount program through my employer. In passing the sales guy asked me if I was a costco member to which I said yes. He then brought the lady who does the costco pricing, and the cost on the exact same vehicle was about $2k less than the already discounted price through the employer program...

I wasn't quite ready to purchase (as my Honda still has some life left in it) but I will most likely be shopping the Costco prices versus the discounts through my employer when I do purchase late this year/early next year.

When you actually request a quote through Costco, they will call you, I just didn't answer, they left a message, and didn't call back to pester me. (I requested quotes for a few different vehicles after my experience at the Acura dealership.)

[Failed Engineer]

I've bought a car through the program and it sent my info to a dealership in Dallas as none of the Houston area dealerships had agreements with Costco. They communicated only through email and I don't think I specified that from the Costco website. To an extent I like new car negotiations so I negotiated best deals with all 4 Houston dealerships for my car which were quite good compared to those discussed in the Edmunds forms, and the Costco program clobbered them. I asked all the Houston dealers to match and they all said absolutely no way.

I was reticent to drive up to Dallas for the car, thinking that it was for sure a bait and switch, but it could not have possibly gone smoother. They had the exact car we agreed upon (which they had to trade for with another dealership), the exact OTD price, and I was out of there in about an hour. I did do the deal on 12/31 so that may have had something to do with it, but I was very pleased with the program.

To answer the original question, I never received a call from the dealership, only emails. Although this will be YMMV, because each dealership will handle it's Costco referrals differently, even if there are guidelines to follow to remain in Costco's good graces.

[sonic0boom]

Something to keep in mind is that many places that offer these car buying programs actually contract with a third party for the service. I mention this because i've used the programs offered by AAA, Costco, and American Express, and i believe a couple use the same company for the service.

Particular to the Costco program, we purchased a Volvo about 6 years ago using it. At the time in addition to the program, there was an extra $500 off from Volvo and a $500 Costco giftcard. The offers we received from Volvo were all under invoice, so we did not have any issues with the offer. We test drove the car and walked out. Easy peasy.

Last year, we used the AmEx program to purchase a Honda Odyssey. All the offers we received from the program were under invoice but some better than others and included some accessories like mud flaps and storage liners. With 20+ vehicles to choose from at the dealer, all we had to do what pick the color, sign, and walk out.

About 2 months ago, i used the program again looking for a VW. Again, i got plenty of offers, all competitive, and under invoice. But then i decided i wanted a different VW model. Instead of re-submitting the car buying program form, i was already dealing with the internet sales departments of all these dealers, so i just emailed them to ask for offers on the model and trim i was looking for. I knew what i wanted, so there was no need to ever go in any where and talk to a salesperson. In fact, i was looking for a specific color in a manual transmission and had to go to Austin to get it (I did get some extremely good offers in Houston for colors i didn't want). All my negotiation was over text and email. I was out of the dealership in about 45 minutes. Great experience.

Regarding getting a bunch of emails, i don't know what service you have, but mine has the ability to click a button to unsubscribe and block all further emails from a sender. Or as someone said, get a throwaway email.

In short, yes, i do recommend these programs. Remember that you are not beholden to any of these offers. There's nothing to stop you from showing up and negotiating.

[fnh]

We used the Costco pricing program just last week. DH signed in at Costco.com and filled out the form indicating the vehicle and options we were looking for (fully loaded Subaru Crosstrek) and the information was sent to local participating dealers (in this case Gillman Subaru North). Within an hour DH received an email from the dealership indicating a price discount of $3600. DH scheduled a meeting (via email) for the following morning to purchase but then, to his chagrin, I hit the pause button. DH emailed the salesperson to cancel and we received exactly one follow up email asking "What can we do to change your mind?". So, no ongoing harassment afterward at least from this dealership.

We will use the Costco program when we do eventually buy. We've been eyeing this vehicle for a while so DH felt the price discount was worth it. We have some time as the Crosstrek is intended for our current 8th grader, lol.

[Whyrallnamestaken]

There are three different makes of car I am considering. I will go ahead and get a quote on one of them through Costco and see what the price is.

Seems like some of these car buying services are advertising no haggle. But, if the discount is not great, then I don't care to use these kinds of services.

I happened upon a website that shows the percentage difference between the MSRP and the "invoice" has gotten smaller each year making it look like the dealerships are not making as much money, therefore not much room to negotiate. That is why I type "invoice" in quotes. Depending on the vehicle, anywhere from 15.2% (years ago) difference to 2 to 3% difference in recent years. For instance, a vehicle that I am considering, with around 15% difference according to the chart would be about $7,000. Plenty of room to negotiate. So $2,000 off MSRP would sound great if you didn't know that the invoice price is actually not correct.

Getting the dealership to take off $3,500 to $4,000 off the price might take some work.

[mikeyyc]

I think like anything, knowledge is power. The more informed you are as a buyer, the easier it is to make a decision. As other posters have mentioned, you're not beholden to Costco or a dealer if you get an offer, so absolute worst case is that you have more knowledge about pricing.


I'd love to try it, but I tend to buy lightly used and let someone else take the depreciation hit.