I am a big Costco fan but have never used the car buying plan.
Anybody have any experiences/thoughts on using the plan (new car)?
After picking a dealer by zip code, can one or does it make sense to also check other nearby zips?
BTW, we are looking at a forester Subaru - any thoughts on it or which of the several upgrades of this model?
As always, we appreciate the feedback. TY
I used the Costco program back in 2006 when I bought my Toyota Tacoma. I don’t remember anything negative about it.
I have a friend who swears by it. He says you may be able to do slightly better if you want to play games and pit one dealer against another, go back and forth endlessly, etc, etc. If you want an easy excellent price Costco is great.
Depends on what dealer you are assigned. There’s a common no haggle dealership in my area that I dislike so I wouldn’t be happy if the Costco Auto Program assigned me that dealership
Clark had a segment on car buying and Costco customers on a recent podcast. A dealer told him that they really want Costco buyers because they “tend to be people with higher income, better credit overall, that they know a deal’s a deal and they’re quick.”
See the whole transcript here:
thanks for input from all
I have tried to use the Costco vehicle purchase service twice in the Nashville area. Both times they responded that there were no participating dealers in our area.
Same here around ATL. No Honda, Lexus, or Acura even though there are dealerships all around the city and suburbs. They couldn’t find any of those dealerships to work with. Please… FCOL ///
It may not be that Costco could not find any dealers to work with, rather that the dealers don’t want to work with Costco.
It is not unlike the problem with companys and Walmart (according to the book The Walmart Effect). A rep from the lawn mower company saw that they could sell a lot of lawn mowers if they sold through Walmart, but they would only make a reduced profit because the price charged would be limited.
The dealerships may have felt that they could bump their prices up and make more money without Costco limiting their business practices.
Tried the Costco Car buying program for a 2024 Subaru. Another dealer beat the Costco car price dealer by $900. It is better to shop other dealers especially if your dealer range is up to 100 mile distance.
Thank you for everyone’s input