Has anyone tried this? They also have a certified used program, too.

 

yeah i would be curious about this too, but seems costco is the last place one would go to buy a car, so im guessing not many have tried it.

 

ive read other forums where people have used the costco program. seems like it was an easy process. others have also said that if you take the costco price to the dealer some of them will beat that price.

 

So if nothing else, it could be a good negotiating tool.

 

When I tried Costco's program back in 2004 or so, it routed my inquiry to participating dealers who e-mailed or called me with prices. I thought the prices were pretty good, and it was painless.
I didn't get a car then, but leased one later for business purposes and thus did not go through the Costco program.

 

When my mom bought her car the dealership took $2,500 off of the MSRP because of the Costco thing, not sure it's really a great deal, but hey whatever floats your boat.

 

I used it with a friend last year for an Accord. We played that price against another dealer. We were able to get a slightly lower price. I think it helped us get the best deal. It was also painless and free to obtain the dealer contact from Costco.

 

I would try first getting it as low as you can. And if you cant get lower than what costco gives you, throw that at them assuming they honor costco's prices

BTW this one's better I believe, I'm not sure I never compared.

zag.com
Go over buyers and click buy a car, pick a company and its straight forward beyond that point. It gives statistics and what not also kinda cool

edit: It will also tell you if the dealers in your area are zag approved dealers, and some that arent it shows that they are highly rated or something that sometimes they will honor the zag price

 

I wouldn't trust Costco's program since they have people changing oil and tires. I don't know how their shops work, but I'd be scared to have a car certified by someone at the level of a porter. Just my opinion, not based on any facts.

 

their tire shop has nothing to do with their car buying program.

 

Oh thanks. Good to know their tire shop isn't doing the certifying.

 

It's not a bad price but you can do much better yourself.

I think the American Express program gives you a much lower price.

 

Where's Mourning Would??

 

Sams club has a similar program. Id like to check into the Amex program as well.

 

These programs are just a no negotiations purchase experience. For the most part you could get a better price by negotiating it yourself but this just makes it easy for the people who don't want to deal with getting a buch of quotes and negotiating the deal themselves. You come in and show your card and you get the price.

Not to sound sexist but they are typically used by women (and usually older ones 50+) who hate car shopping and hate negotiating. It's a way for them to get a very fair price (again maybe not the absolute best) but they don't get screwed either.

 

Go to zag.com, you can check out the amex program from there

Ive heard that sales people actually like when people do these because it gets them an easy sale. They know the person wants the car and what they want and also they have a price already agreed to pay before even coming in.

 

Everyone has an opinion and mine is very different than yours fwiw. I did get a better price but not by much. From everything I could determine our price was within spitting distance of the lowest paid in the area. There is always someone that brags they got some unrealistic price, ymmv. It's just another tool to get you moving in the right direction.

I don't have to have the lowest price ever paid, just something very reasonable.

 

I bought our 2008 Odyssey Touring after pricing it using the Costco program. Very simple process. Local Costco designated dealer had it for $500 above invoice. We went to another dealer with their price and got it for $400 over invoice. Just another negotiating tool to use.