Is it worth it to buy through Costco?

i wasted my time thru costco, only to get my deal on my own by constantly checking several dealers inventory...costco deal was supposed to be $1000 over invoice and dealer they sent me to said, sure come on in, only to find out they wouldnt sell it to me at that price since the demand was so high, good luck finding what u want

 

As you've already noted, the experience seems to vary.

-- lefat's Costco dealer didn't honor his deal.

-- But within the past 2 weeks, a NYC area PriusChatter's Costco dealer did honor his deal of $100 above invoice (which is a terrific price in the current market).

To me, it can't hurt too much to try Costco, even if it means you have to sign up and pay for Costco membership.

 

I just bought my Prius two days ago and used Costco which got me $500 off MSRP. I don't know where you are, but here in Oregon the dealers are only selling at or above MSRP. Dealers who used to sell Prii through the Costco program are starting to exclude the Prius so I feel fortunate to have found a dealer that was still participating. Check your local dealers and if they seem to only be selling at or above MSRP I would definitely try to go through Costco. These days I think most dealers will laugh if you start haggling with the Consumer Reports Bottom Line Price. May The Force be with you! :laser:

 

My car pool person, sweet john, got his best deal at costco after shopping around for 4 or 5 months here in o.c. CA.

 

Costco ended up saving me a bunch of money...but not because of Costco...because of a new general manager at the dealership.

3 Years ago I tried to buy a Prius..selected exactly what I wanted and ordered it...with a deposit. 6 Months later the car arrived and the dealer at that time said "We don't have to honor that price now" and wanted me to pay MSRP + market adjustment. I walked away from the deal and was so ticked it took me till now to buy another. But at that time Costco offered to pay me $500 if I bought the car from that dealer or another. It was nice of them..I think it was really the dealer that time.

This time I again went through Costco ..looking for a different dealer...and that same one came up and they got my contact info. One hour later the sales guy called. I told him of my prior issue and he assured me that it would not happen again. I went to the dealer and it did...again. I called Costco to complain and their member advocate called my a week later saying the Prius was removed from the program and sorry but they can not help with that one. The deal with the dealer was at MSRP so I put another deposit down and was ready to go. I got a call from the survey company about my Toyota experience..and I told the truth. The general manager of sales then called me and said "Sorry, please let me fix it" and honored the Costco price....350 over invoice. I took delivery yesterday and am thrilled...a beautiful silver package 6....and they threw in the floor mats and rear bumper guard, Toyoguard - the window etching, fabric/leather/paint treatments/ towing for 36K, and 2 oil changes. AND....I was to pick it up on Wednesday but when I got there they didn't have the Sirius installed and they gave me a free beautiful Camry to drive overnight while they did finish the Prius.

So Costco did help me and I understand the issue was with dealers wanting not to discount this very popular wonderful car.


That said....I LOVE Costco...great place to shop...funny the Toyota dealer and Costco share a parking lot

 

Peter,

I've had my '08 for just a couple of weeks and I got it through Costco at the $1,000 over invoice. This is the second car I've bought through Costco and haven't had a problem yet.

Now I will say that I was somewhat shocked to find that the Prius was part of the Costco auto program (I'd checked a couple of years ago and found that it was excluded.)

The only thing that I can say, is that it never hurts to ask. Get in touch with the dealer and see what they come up with. If they try an modify the deal, you always have the option of backing out and complaining to Costco.

 

AAA in the Carolinas (and maybe elsewhere) has a car buying service. None of the dealers were discounting (back in December-January, even *before* gas prices really started peaking) but I was able to save around $1000 by going through AAA. The car was sold by a dealer in Charlotte, but AAA drove it 200+ miles and delivered it to me at my home in Durham.

 

I went thru Costco--I was already a member.

Prii were scarce in the (metro Detroit) area, because it was model changeover, so they gave me $200 off just as a "courtesy" plus I got the $50 voucher for filling out the survey afterwards. I didn't expect much of a discount going in--I wasn't even sure there would be a discount!

Since I ended up with a 2008 and not a 2007, (for the same price) I guess I came out OK.

I may have gotten a better price going to a bunch of dealers, but I needed to get it before the end of September to qualify for the tax rebate.

I was satisfied with the deal. I am more than satisfied with my Prius--especially since today in the metro Detroit area, some gas stations are at 4.09/gallon! I'm sure glad my engine shuts off when I'm not using it!


Donna

 

I bought the exact same car as you (08 package 2) in boston 2 weeks ago for $73 over invoice. I had to go to 3 dealerships (and talked on the phone with 6 others) to find one willing to come to that price....costco may get you a great price (i didnt look here, im not part of costco), but in the end I think the best deals are gotten by those who do research, call A LOT of dealers, and attempt to get dealers to fight over you. (in my case, I was willing to put a deposit down over the phone that instant if a place would give me the price I wanted, if they said no, I said thanks and let them know I would be calling competitors. One called back and said 'we'll match your price if you buy right now on the phone', and I did...I was serious about buying right then over the phone. Its an easy sale for them, and it was the end of the month, so that always helps. The other dealerships I was negotiating with still call me offering $800 over invoice or $1200 over invoice, and they all sound so shocked when I say 'no thanks, found a place to give it to me for my $73 over invoice').

This is just my opinion, but I think starting at dealer MSRP and starting to apply discounts to get a price down is the wrong way to go, as it starts with the high price and gives the dealer control over the 'discounts' (and in the end, lots of people get the same discounts, whether for you its $1000 for costco discount and the next guy its $400 of package savings and $400 new grad discount etc). I like starting at invoice and having the dealer try to push me upwards, as then I have the control. But the Prius is super popular right now, so it can be hard to find a dealer even willing to play that game...I may have just gotten lucky.

 

Don't waste your time going through Costco for a Prius. Other cars you
would save, but because of the price of gas the dealers aren't willing to give a discount.

Here's a better idea. Pick out three dealers close to you and do your deal through e-mail, you will save a lot of time and you won't have to get harassed like we did trying to deal at the dealership. Make sure that
they have the car you want and that they aren't trying to switch you
to a different color or package. We just bought our Prius April 8, 2008.

We bought a Package 5 because everytime we thought we had a package 2, they would sell it or try to switch colors on us and some dealers would
just lie and say they had the car, but they didn't.

I wouldn't be to concerned about saving a lot of money as you will
like the car when you get it. We really like our Prius. We have some
friends who bought a Prius about 9 months ago and were successful
in using the Consumer Report Price as a negotiating tool. In my experience this is not viable today because of the gas prices and the Dealers know
that you can't get a better car that uses less gas.

One other thing I want to make you aware of is the Warranty. Even
though you may make a good deal which may save you a few hundred
dollars, the dealership will try to sell you a 1500 dollar warranty. Because
we don't buy a new car that often, we did buy the warranty and I do think it is something we will use. You will have to decide that yourself. I
just wanted to let you know about it.

Good Negotiating
Peanut

 

Quick note, you can buy the extended warranty up until your car reaches 3 years, 36k miles (whichever is first), so you DONT need to buy the warranty when you buy the car. I mention this because I know you can buy the warranty later for cheaper than what the dealer will offer...I think there is an offer through priuschat to get the warranty for $950.

 

That's quite a bit of assuming ... that a given dealer will have exactly the same options AND exactly the same color. The odds are likely less that 15% of that ever happening.

Fact of the matter, if you read any of several posts above yours, there are many here on PC who are already pleased with the discount that costco got them, because many dealers in many states do honor 'fleet' pricing that costco obtains ... tho not always. So it can't hurt to check, right? That said, the OP hasn't responded ... nor does their avatar indicate where they're at.

 

Exactly!!! :attention:

 

The same thing happened to me when I first went thru Costco. Costco will only give you the name of one dealer at a time. What I did, and you should, too, is call the Costco Auto Buying Program phone number. Tell them that the dealer you contacted doesn't have the car you want, ask them for the name of another Costco dealer and try them. I managed to get them to give me all the cities in my state that they had dealers in, then it was simply a matter of doing a Google search to find the Toyota dealer in that city. I called them directly to find out if they actually had the car I wanted ON THEIR LOT. I found one that did and put a deposit on it by phone with my credit card and drove down and got it the next day. I had sold my car the day before and really needed to get in a new one quick. Don't know if it's different where you are, but here it's at the point now where you can't play the dealers off each other. Persistence will pay off!

 

i bet you didnt

 

I think you should at least try it out and see what Costco can do for you. It does not hurt to try all your options to get the best price.

I used a program very similiar to Costco through my Federal employees union, called Vehicle Advantage, it works the same way as the Costco program.

My agent contacted 6-8 dealers in my area negotiated the best price and then contacted me 3 days later with the dealers info that was willing to give the best price.

I ended up getting a Package 2 08 Prius for about $800 something under MSRP. I thought that was pretty decent at the time.

When I first signed up for the program, the agent told me that the hybrids were not really getting much discounts because they were in such high demand, and he could not promise that he would be able to get much under MSRP, but he would try.

So, seeing that he got me $800 under MSRP, I was very happy with that..

 

I am in central NJ and got the same model 2008 Package#2 with floor mats near end of March. I did try the costco auto program but as some others have mentioned it only gave me a dealer contact. The initial price the dealer offered me was not that good($23000). But I finally got it down to $21700 (below invoice) thru old fashioned haggling. Being armed with some information about best prices, obtained from this and other sites, helped. The bottomline is, I guess, if you are already a costco member ho harm in trying. But don't depend just on that.

 

Like LEFAT1, it was a waste of time. The trade-in was over $5,000.00 difference from the dealer I purchased from.. The COSTCO aspect of the deal was fine, if I had no trade. They offered me $12,100.00 for a 2005 Sienna XLE Limited with every option, 23,200 miles, non smoker, excellent vehicle and the tried to pull the old school approach in selling me a Prius.