Costco Pricing Experiences?

When you folks have you used Costco pricing historically how has it worked? Do they sell you at invoice or give you xxx amount etc..?

thank you!

 

I order my groceries online and they are delivered

 

Haha! I’m guess you mean, the Costco auto purchase plan. It’s
-$500. You can definitely get a better price. I spent the $50 to buy the Fighting Chance stuff for the year I was buying, and knowing the “cost” of the truck and every option, I was able to negotiate down to employee cost. Which is well below sticker.

https://fightingchance.com/

 

Just go to the dealer and ask for the invoice and request that amount. That’s how I’ve always done it never had an issue. I think Costco is above invoice by a certain amount if I remember correctly.

 

My experience is that Costco pricing is good if you did not plan on negotiating with the dealer, or just don't want to deal with the haggling, i.e. they will give you a price below MSRP, which is better than what you would get just walking into the dealer and signing the papers - but who does that anyway.
I have always been able to negotiate a better deal than what Costco, Sam's or BJ's clubs could offer. Typically I would get a final negotiated price below invoice, but I would say if you get a deal at invoice you are doing good, and the dealer still makes money, because they actually get incentives from the manufacturer that is not included in the invoice price.

The benefit is that the Costco deal is easy. When I start negotiating with dealers it take up days of my time, just to save that extra $100 or so.

 

Worked well when we bought my wife her 2020 Honda Pilot Touring.

 

I don’t think dealers would show you their true invoice prices lol.

 

$500 below invoice?

 

They will show you their invoice if you ask, but there are incentives that the dealer gets - discounts for volume sales, monthly target hits, manufacturer rebates etc. that indirectly affects the invoice price but you won't see that.

 

Probably $500 below MSRP ??

EDIT: Per post below the $500 might be off Invoice, which would make it a good deal.

 

They will show the invoice they make all their money on the back end. Used to sell cars back in the day out of high school. Invoice prices minus rebates is the best you will get unless you get last years model and it’s the last one they are trying to sell. Or go in at the end of the year last day they will sell cheaper to meet the quota.

 

Depends on the vehicle. Dealers have a costco rate which is invoice minus a given amount, and that amount increases for more common and high velocity vehicles.

I believe when I did my 2021 Tundra it was -$500 off invoice. There were some other cars with much larger discounts on the Costco sheet, but it is invoice minus a fixed amount.

You may be able to push them for another hundred or two off if you really want, but the advantage is just having a "no-haggle" type price. It's not the worlds best deal, but it's a very good deal, and reduces a lot of the hassle. Especially in the world where inventory is pretty hard to find/come by, and dealers are listing cars that won't be delivered for 4-8 weeks just to have a website presence, a set deal is a good bargain for some people.

 

Attempted to use the Costco car buying program and my credit union program when purchasing my 2021 Limited Tundra Crewmax TRD Offroad. Also considered the 1794... No joy, every toyota dealer in Socal I spoke with said the same thing the 2021 Tundras were not on the list...

 

I used costco's auto program to purchase my AG Trd Pro in May 2020. At the time it didn't seem to do much (i think it was around -$500 msrp) but in hindsight I am actually happy I got it for that seeing now all these market adjustments in California. They actually told me that TRD Pros should have never been part of the costco program but since I showed up to the dealer (after making an appointment, mid covid shutdown) and was serious they said they'd "honor" it. Must've been an extremely slow few months at the dealer.

 

bought 2 cars with them. roughly $500 below invoice ! not msrp, invoice. no BS, in n out quick. my time is precious. also first time back in 2007, they gave me a $500 gift card on top of it.

 

~$500 below invoice, that’s my understanding. Many on here have posted it. Could be, below invoice.

But either way, MSRP includes a lot of dealer bloat. If you know the true “cost“ to the dealer, you can, if the truck you want has been on the lot awhile, get the truck for that “cost” which is what employees pay— it’s voodoo economics but happens because dealers’ sticker reflects why they make off the buyer.

They also get paid per vehicle sold, by Toyota. And if a truck stays on the lot longer than a certain time span, the dealer has to pay Toyota every month it’s not sold... so to sell a vehicle as that timeframe is drawing to a close, dealers will consider forgoing all profit on the buyer side, and take what they get from Toyota. This works best with high volume dealers because Toyota pays them more per vehicle for high volume sales.

Edit: as mentioned by someone else, this may not be as easy these pandemic times, because inventory is low— but if you found a truck that’s been on the lot awhile, the dealer needs to sell it to not have to start paying Toyota.

 

Got mine through Costco and it was a screaming deal. It was the previous years model. I want to say they wanted 42,000 and I got it for 37,100. No negotiating no BS. Just showed up, signed the papers and drove off.

 

+1 Endorsement on Fighting Chance. They provide good tips for the price. COVID may have changed things abit but I think you'll find the information useful.

The car buying programs generally aren't the best deal, depending on the vehicle they save you up to $2K or slightly more off of MSRP.

Best thing you can do is send emails to all the internet sales managers within 50 miles (or further if you can travel) and ping them for a quote on your desired spec. List the Trim, color, and addons you desire in a precanned message. Request that you wish to be contacted via email only. Some sites have a general inquiry form and some will allow you to reach the ISM directly. If you are flexible on some of the items like color you'll get the best deal. Take the lowest offer and shop it around for other shops to beat. Some will ask to view the quote to counteroffer. Make sure you scrub the vin and any identifying info from the quote (tel #s etc) and send them that. I've pushed back and told them they'll have to take my word for it if they want to do business.

If you have a trade in bring this into the deal after you receive a committed quote. I would check with Carvana and VROOM to see what they will offer you, preCOVID they were offering about $1500 to $2000 below private sale pricing. Its a very low hassle way of selling your car if you initially evaluate the your car properly. Either way the offers you receive establish a floor for your trade in, but the best option is to enter a private sale.

Timing matters too. Use the "End of" rule. Best times are the end of the month, quarter and year. The more "end of" you stack the more incentives they get for meeting quotas. Generally dealers get bonuses for meeting numbers. -10% off of standard MSRP is a good deal, -12% or more is a great deal.

The real fight is in financing where they try to make their money back. Don't accept made up fees. If its taxable its made up. Also go in with a preapproved loan, unless the finance rep gets you a better interest rate go with you loan. Insurance products and other addons are the last stretch, you can always get extended warranties later (someone listed a great dealer to purchase these from in a thread, POC was Jennifer ?). These products are generally overpriced and can be double of what their actual value is.

Good luck and hope this helps.

 

You can do better on your own. I went to 2 dealers and the 2nd one had much better pricing.

 

Same here. I just used the Costco program and after the dealing was complete, I got an additional $500 off for a very minor mistake on the Costco sales rep's part. I wasn't expecting it. The dealer also depends on the customer feedback to Costco after the deal. Just for participating in the experience survey, I receive a coupon for 50% off any parts/service for the registered vehicle. Since all of my had to haves came with the vehicle, I am still wondering what I will buy.

We've been a member of Costco going several decades and never used this service or thought of it until I read about it on this forum. I am good with vehicles for a while, but I would definitely use this service again.

 

Costco pricing can be different at every single dealership.

When a dealer signs up for Costco pricing and leads you pick out the pricing with the Costco Auto Program rep. It is in accordance to the vehicles invoice and it does have to be set in stone per model and it’s packaging so a dealer can have different Costco pricing depending on whether it is a SR5, limited, etc.

So to sum it up whether it is good or bad pricing can change at each dealership.

 

The Costco pricing is kind of BS.

They just put your name on a list they send to dealers with info for the car you want, and the dealership gives a small "discount" because you're a Costco member.

You can negotiate the same or a better price without the benefit.

 

I bought mine through Costco, it was previous model year and I got a pretty good deal overall. As some have mentioned it depends on the model, I saw the pricing sheet and some are great deals, others just a couple hundred bucks. I also got 20% off accessories (not sure if they always do this) through the Costco program which allowed me to get exhaust, skid plates, and cold air for a nice price. Other problem was in my area (North San Diego), I had to go to my non-preferred dealership because it doesn't work everywhere.

 

Who provides the pricing sheet to you?

 

The dealer showed it to me, it has all of the different models with prices. I don't think they are supposed to share but he didn't seem to be worried about it.

 

... but if you can’t find a dealer to show you, or if you want to know what the dealers shows you what they pay Toyota, fighting chance.

 

Okay, so don't kill me.... I used Costco program to buy my 2500HD 6 weeks ago. Believe it on not, the 2500HD market is very much like the Toyota market. No dealer had 2021 in yet, next to zero inventory. In the 2500HD LT trim level, there were only about 6 trucks to be had within 300 miles in the right colors and packages. I talked to all of these dealers and they would not budge but $1k off price and the $2,500 of factory incentives. These trucks are already sold or earmarked for somebody when they come in. More expensive trims are easier to come by.

Just for the heck of it, I decided to try Costco. They seem to have a strong alliance with GM in general though. Costco members got another $1k off. I built the truck online. MSRP of my truck was roughly $56k and they are showing invoice of $51,900 I believe if I remember correctly.

They found a truck for me but it was 240 miles away south of Nashville. Truck was not even showing online for sale or anything. 15 minutes later the dealer Sales Manager was sending me pics. Truck still had all the wrap on it and fresh off trailer. They had to do the initial setup but I drove over from Knoxville that night. They stayed open 1 hour after close to accommodate me. In and out in 15 minutes. Absolutely zero fluff or anything. Hands down one of the easiest things I did.

Price was as follows;

Truck MSRP $55,880

Factory rebate of $1,500 for all star package, $1,000 for truck month accessories on truck, $1,000 for Costco member = $3,500 rebates not shown on sticker.

Now I am at $52,380.
Costco/dealer discount of $4,380.

All in I paid $48k even plus TTL.

Beat dealer experience ever had. Put them in touch with my credit union earlier in the day and took all of 10 minutes with them.

Did not haggle one single but. They were right in line with the posted invoice. They flashed me the price and I said I will take it right now.....

 

There is not a dealer this side of the continent that is going to show any potential buyer their true invoice price. I promise not even salesman will know. Only probably the sales manager and CFO, CEO, Controller, Owner, etc.... will know true invoice price.

 

Exactly. That list would be another sales tool.

 

I think they have a pretty good idea though. You can order a title history from your dol and it will have the dealer invoice and includes their holdback amount (dealer incentive)... at least in WA state and it is free here.