Question about car buying programs such as Costco

[pinkxray]

I have a question for those who have used car buying services such as Costco and Usaa.

I have been told the price you get from them is the price you pay. I have priced out a few options through USAA car buying service and they seem to be a few hundred lower than quotes I got from the dealers. I got want to make sure that I won't have any hidden cost afterwards.

I know I will have to add tax to the vehicle I get but since they already add in regional and destination fees there shouldn't be any other surprises, right?

Thanks!

 

[msmama]

I bought through USAA though I do think it has changed since I've done it.

When I did it, I went to the dealer (who USAA had already been in contact with) and had to talk to a specific person who dealt with these kind of buying situations. They (other dealers, not the person I was supposed to talk to) still tried to sell me on the car but I told them I was having none of it.

There were no extra fees because I already had a check from USAA (I financed through them instead of through the dealership).

I will say, in my experience, since the dealership knows they're not making any extra off of you, they don't go above and beyond trying to be nice to you (I had to wait FOREVER).

That said, my ex did it more recently and had a much better experience than I did. However, I think maybe he did finance it through the dealer because he was able to get a better rate (though I'm not too sure) and I'm not sure of his fees (I think he did have them because he upgraded to some things maybe).

 

[ssawka]

I tried AAA and Costco. Costco is not very useful because it will tell you what dealer will honor the "contract" price, but will not tell you what the contract price is. AAA not only tells you the "contract" price, but it will give you the current price that different dealers in your area are willing to honor to users of the service. Sometimes this can be less than the "contract" price.

What we did was priced out the options we wanted and got the printout with the price. We then went to the dealer and started negotiating without a mention of the buying program. If the offer was more, I was ready with the printout to show, but since the offer price was comparable I did not mention the buying program.