I’m paranoid about getting scammed.
It’s almost to the point where I don’t even want to answer the phone out of fear I’ll accidentally blurt out my social security number to someone claiming to work at my bank.
When it comes to car buying, my guard goes up like I’m a schizophrenic at a CIA interrogation.
That’s why I was intrigued when I discovered an auto buying program at Costco. The company claims Costco saves members a lot of hassle and an average of $1,000 off a typical transaction price. It works like this:
Members choose the make and model they’re interested in, then Costco refers them to a local dealer who shows the customer the vehicle’s invoice price, the MSRP, and the Costco no-haggle price.
A no-haggle price with built-in savings sounds pretty good on the surface, but still my paranoia wasn’t eased by browsing Costco’s website. Digging a little deeper online, I found a lawsuit filed in January by a New Jersey woman who says the program is deceptive.
Her main accusation, according the paperwork, is:
The Costco auto program is misleading and deceptive because its “members only” price is exclusively defined in reference to the “invoice price” of authorized dealers. The Costco auto program does not control the underlying invoice price, and its participating dealers can and do manipulate that price in any number of ways.
A-ha! I knew there had to be something. Everyone knows dealers try to squeeze every ounce of cash they can out of people, so if there’s a price they’ll immediately accept, they must have a good amount of profit built in.
If you’d like to try getting a great deal another way, CarGurus can help. The article How To Negotiate a Great Deal on a Used Car can help anyone find and complete a solid deal themselves.
Would you use an online listing site to shop for a used car? Why or why not?
-tgriffith
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