COSTCO AUTO PROGRAM: DOES IT REALLY SAVE YOU MONEY ON YOUR CAR? 2021 The Homework Guy Kevin Hunter

[Music] car-buying program by costco is it the way to go or is it just so so if you didn't know here's the down-low hi I'm Kevin hunter everybody wants to know about the Costco auto program is it any good today you're gonna find out of course I'll share my take on it before I'm done here but I also called Costco directly to give them an opportunity to tell their own story I recorded the call and that's coming up in just a moment if this is your first time here you might consider subscribing to the channel and if you have a specific question you'd like a direct answer on you can either tag me in the comment section below or send me an email to info at the homework guide com I also do free car contract reviews to just black out any personal information and send me a copy I'll be happy to tell you what you can fix or should change in your car deal let's discuss the Costco out a program Costco probably wasn't the first place that came to mind when you were thinking about buying a new car or used car and yet it's been running for more than 25 years in more than two point three million Costco members purchased cars through this program in just the last five years the casco auto program is touted by Costco as a smooth seamless car buying experience but there are many others making the same claim have you heard of brokering are negotiating services like auto buyers club USA a Sam's Club car saver at Walmart the auto buying programs like Triple A AARP Amway American Express and Liberty Mutual just to name a few all of them claiming to have smoking hot deals what does Costco say their program is the Costco auto program says members get low prearranged Costco member pricing all available in national manufacturing cent event and selected dealerships nationwide trained authorized dealer contacts to serve you smooth seamless buying experience for Costco members you can research a vehicle locate a dealer view the Costco member price sheet and save and the website claims to have many research tools including up to three side-by-side vehicle comparisons you can buy a car at Costco through the Costco auto program and get a pre-arranged price one they sometimes refer to as the rock bottom on your vehicle a Costco authorized dealer has at least one Costco trained sales person on staff and he or she should understand the exact details of the program sometimes there's only one person in the dealership who has attended the program so you might have to wait until that person is available what types of vehicles does it cover both new and used vehicles motorcycles power sports and RVs and they say you can save 15% on parts service and accessories at participating automotive and motorcycle service centers now as I mentioned earlier I spoke directly with Costco's out of program helpdesk and recorded the conversation for your benefit it was edited to make the best use of your time hi Scott this is Kevin I just wanted to be clear cuz it said on the intro before we got connected that you record the phone call you don't have any problem with me recording on my end as well I noticed on the about us page there's a sneak peek behind the scenes so could you tell me a little bit about what costco has done to help make this a more friendly experience there may be some additional price if you if you're gonna have you know the warranties you're gonna have some optional packages installed or something like that but what we established with those dealerships and we're working directly with dealerships those dealerships set have a set price that they offer to Costco members so we have a published document that they can provide to the members and when they come out there as far as a member goes they go in it's not a well but can you come down to this can you go to there it's designed as a no angle experience so there is an established price not every dealership in our network offers all of the vehicles they sell through the program but for the ones they do what we're doing is we're matching up members with a dealership in their area that has that set price and then on the back end of it we have a whole team at the Costco auto program that does comparison shopping to make sure that the prices that those dealers prearranged with the program are as good as we can get them to be the last statistic I heard was that about 94% of the time those prices are as good or better than you can get through any other buying program so let me ask you when you have these participating dealerships and I understand that there's several thousand of them around the United States how does the dealership become a participating dealer in the costco program sometimes our field reps go out and reach out to dealerships in areas that may be underrepresented by dealers they'll reach out to dealers in the area to see if they want to participate otherwise we get queries from dealerships who are interested in participating if they come in here to the call center for example we pass those on to the field agents to reach out to them and it sounds like primarily what Costco is doing is negotiating as you mentioned a no haggle price and a lot of people that's one of the things that they're very disgusted about and the car buying process is the back and forth and they feel very intimidated about that do you have any conversations with the dealerships their steps either in with accessories and/or finance I happen to know from personal experience that's one of the key areas where customers rearranged and that's also documented in the paperwork as far as the financing goes we don't get involved in that but if there are maybe special offers that are available if you finance through the manufacturer for example the you're still eligible to take advantage of those in addition to the Costco pricing is it fair to say that the consumer still needs to do their homework their due diligence on the dealership and on the car they're looking for etc so that when they come out the other end they've been treated fairly by the dealer because our base around we don't want to refer you out to a dealership that turns out not to have pricing on the vehicle you'll ultimately want to purchase so if it's still early in the process I usually I can create a couple referrals for a couple of different vehicles but you know it goes if you have an idea at least model that you're looking for maybe even the trim level you you might look for you're absolutely not locked down in any way it's a zero obligation program but if you have a pretty good idea of what type of car you're looking for what model you're looking for that's the best way for us to match you up with a dealer that's already got that career engine pricing on that so if I was looking for a specific car do I just essentially go to this website and then select the car that I'm looking for and Costco matches me up with the dealer okay one of the things that talks about in the outline is the training the dealer representative gets inside the dealer where would I find out what that training program actually is that part I'm not too sure about that's not that's not something we we handle here usually that's the those field representatives that I mentioned when there when they go out to the dealer they're gonna meet with the folks who are going to be our authorized contacts at the dealership and explain to them how the program works what the members expect when they come out there how they should be treating the members as well I know that you mentioned before a lot of times folks are very unsure about the dealership they're dealing with at the trained authorized contact they're dealing with anybody that is on that list of authorized contacts at the dealership we've at least put them through our training they have expectations we have expectations for how the experience is going to go for the members in addition we also have a team here at the castle auto program I remember advocate group their job is when a member has a concern about a dealership they can step in speak to the dealership speak to the member find out what's going on and if there is something going on wrong make sure that there are a few things I want to make sure that you caught in the phone conversation with Scott I thought overall he did a great job representing what the program is here's a few of the highlights Casco helps with pricing it's called no haggle and the prices they present to you are not negotiable I've reviewed examples of the price sheets and I'd say they're basically fair market prices their price is that for you in the dealer should be a good deal Costco says prices are as good as we can get them to be which Scott explained ninety-four percent of the time are as good or better than other buying programs he's referring to all the other buying programs that I mentioned earlier my take on this the casco price will be better than what half of the car buyers in the market will negotiate on their own but something else that is true is that some of you savvy car buyers out there won't need the help at all and you'll come home with an even better price if you consider yourself a seasoned car buyer you might just skip all of this Costco also doesn't help you with things like extended warranties service plans and a bunch of other products dealers like to stuff in your car contracts in fact Costco does not get involved in anything to do if finance and this is the office which produces a significant part of dealership profits word to the wise you have to have your homework done before you start this process dealers also pick and choose what cars they have in the costco program so don't go to a dealership assuming every car they have is included the dealer will give you a cost sheet when you get there how did you list participate they either contact Costco or Costco contacts them what Scott didn't say is that the dealer must agree to pay Costco $300 per car expect to see that cost itemized on your car contract dealer rep training response I'm not so surprised by how insure Scott was of what is actually done most dealers actually suck at training their staff and I'd expect that Costco is just as weak at training as the dealers themselves if you have a complaint you can always contact the Costco member advocate group my summary you should know what you're looking for before you start Costco helps with pricing dealer may be less likely to give you trouble with Costco as the armchair quarterback but don't assume anything you still need to do all your homework or you're going to get hosts and watch out for the Sharks and finance that is always a major concern any time you're at a car dealership most of you leave a huge wad of cash on the table in that office and Costco doesn't do anything to stop them from pushing a whole menu of stuff on you I want to conclude with the disclaimer you'll find at the bottom of the Costco auto website it reads Costco and its affiliates do not sell vehicles or negotiate individual transactions a participation fee has been paid by the participating dealer all new vehicles arranged for sale are subject to availability and a price pre-arranged with the participating franchise dealer certain vehicles may be excluded from the program actual savings may vary based on vehicle purchased dealer and location all information and vehicle data available on this website has been provided by reputable third parties Costco auto program Costco Wholesale affinity Development Group and its subsidiaries make no implied guarantees or warranties to this data for what it's worth the website also said it's run by a third party not by Costco I guess even Costco knows to keep car dealerships a safe distance away although that said I do think many of you would do better on the price of your car if you can that are using Costco to help you you'll just have to keep your eyes open for everything else in my last video I mentioned our new shirt is that the best you can do well a lot of people liked it so we produced it in t-shirts hoodies sweatshirts and tank tops I'd love to see pics of you out shopping and wearing that message on your chest if you appreciated the video today consider giving us a thumbs up and leave a comment below share the video on social media with her friends and for those of you who want to say thanks for the tip you guys are awesome by the way I'll leave the PayPal link in the description box below I've already helped millions of car buyers with videos and now we're offering free contract reviews and even doing car lot contests with buyers who didn't know it was their lucky day and also helping a few lucky people with some downpayment assistance on their next car I'll be back soon with your next big concern on my next video about car shopping I do hope to see you in your city in the days ahead thanks everyone for coming back it's time now for me to get back to my kiddos I'm Kevin hunter until next time stay safe everyone [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Kevin Hunter The Homework Guy

Views: 387,353

Rating: 4.9380322 out of 5

Keywords: Car prices, Car prices set record highs, used car dealerships near me, car loan calculator, Auto sales, Used cars, Car, Cars, Car dealers, Automotive news, Car news, Automotive, Vehicle tax, Vehicle fees by state, Auto Shop, Car parts, Auto market, car dealer finance office, rebates for new cars, car loan scam, dealer rip offs, market watch out for this financing scam, what to do when a dealer lied to you, illegal things car dealers do, what to do if a dealership rips you off

Id: mn-JT9aEVDs

Length: 14min 39sec (879 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 04 2020