Car buying services like Costco will get you a reasonably good deal with minimal effort. You have to keep in mind you are not getting the BEST deal because its a pre-negotiated price and might not include all available rebates etc. It also includes a nice profit for Costco and the dealership.
You will likely get a better price yourself. However, it takes a lot of effort to get the best price. However, if you are posting on a forum like this you should be able to do the online legwork to get an excellent deal.
Here is how I've in general received the best deal
- Narrow down my research to 2/3 cars
- Research automaker website for current offers
- Research edmunds.com for current rebates & incentives (because automaker sites dont list everything available to you. Dealerships will pocket it themselves if you dont know about it)
- Email 10-15 dealerships to get the best offers on the cars you'd like. Make sure you list EXACTLY what you are looking for and what rebates you qualify for. My experience here shows me that only 10 dealerships will respond, and then only about 5 will give you real offers. This is how I eliminate who I do not want to do business with. If a dealership will not put their price in writting there is something fishy going on. Do not provide them with your phone number until you found the dealership you want to work with.
- Collect all their offers and determine what you would like to offer (I usually offer 10% less than my lowest offer)
- Email your offer to all the dealerships that responded.
- Go buy from the dealership
However, as you can see it takes a lot more effort than just going through the car buying service. On the Cadillac I just bought I saved myself probably $3000 doing it my way.
