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Comments
Here's where it gets interesting. CD's 6.99 % financing couldn't apply to me because their bank doesn't operate in MA. So CD worked with the dealer to boost the total price up to $16,892, but my price stays the same at $16,702.
That is, CarsD paid the dealer $1229 and I get 2.9 % financing on the amount of $16702 that I'm financing.
I think it sounds great. What's the catch?
But hey, keep us posted. I am very interested in this new way of E-commerce. If they are selling well, I might consider investing in them. (Have they gone public?)
Call carsdirect and find out if they help you to do trade-ins. If not, lock in the price, and take the 98 to the dealership and see how much the dealer is willing to give you for a trade. They will probably low-ball, so you might have to haggle hard. If you finally arrive at a reasonable trade-in, then close the deal. If not, call carsdirect and cancel it.
This is just one possibility that i can think of off the top of my head.
- The Merg
Only bad thing about the deal? Having to venture into the car dealer at all, if just for about an hour total. Creepy financing guy, suspect paperwork ("Oops, you're right. We did seem to make a mistake about the odometer reading on your trade in."), just an oily place. Hopefully e-commerce will eliminate these guys once and for all.
I'd be interested to hear what others think.
I picked up the car today.
Carsdirect contributed $694
I got a $20,395 MSRP car for $16,296+ $300 tax+$95 processing fee.(includes -$2000 rebate). The dealer was offering $100 over invoice last week, why didn't carsdirect haggle harder?
Some how this doesn't add up. :-)
How much longer are they going to subsidize deals?
So you wonder, how can anyone run a money-losing business ?
On the surface, it seems these companies are giving money away on each car purchase.
But noone is sure how the contract is structured between these internet companies and their affiliated car dealers.
I speculate that maybe the dealers and the internet companies share the "holdback" or "advertising fee" or "finance reserve".
If my speculation has any truth, the internet companies are not losing as much money as people thought.
To make up for the loss, the internet companies also offer services such as financing, and later on, auto insurance and warranty etc.
Ultimately, if the consumers benefit via lower prices, then it sounds like a win-win combination.
-Bryan
Thanks for all the great info here about CD, the postings have given me info about what to look for and ask about (fees, taxes, financing options). I was expecting to take my time for the purchase of a 2nd vehicle, but the deal from CD may be foolish to pass on. I'll relay my experience as it plays out.
I've had my Accord Coupe V6 for almost 3 weeks. I paid more than I wanted to, but I needed a car and was tired of haggling. Thanks to CarsDirect I saved $489.00.
Michelle never contacted me. Although throughout our very short dealing she did get snappy a couple of times, I'm just glad I got the car. I called her yesterday and during our brief conversation, she was quite pleasant.
I asked if I had to report the money to the IRS, she said no. The money was given to me; end of deal. She did ask that I tell my family and friends about carsdirect.com. I'll be more than happy to, I replied. In fact, I have already told several people.
I only wish I had acted up on this sooner. I was very skeptical. So, for all of you out there who are skeptical too, ....Don't think about it another second.
SATOVBIS:
I went to pick up my car personally; I drove about 77 miles each way. I did it for my own peace of mind. But carsdirect.com doesn't mention any delivery fees. You better check with them again. Don't trust anything the dealership tells you.
My situation was different. I had just returned the vehicle I had been leasing, and was actually driving a rental car. This is why getting the car in less than 24 hours was crucial for me. CarsDirect.com was AWESOME!!!
I'M GLAD I DIDN'T HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE CAR.
According to a CD employee, CD is currently in the stage of trying to get connections with dealers for them to work with in the future. Their initial capital investment is allowing them to pay out all this money. At the current time, they are not working to make a profit. CD will hopefully start a finance department to offer loans to its customers.
No my thoughts...
Right before CD starts up its finance wing, it will IPO. It will then use the cash influx from the IPO to support the initial loans it will be making for customers. Since, CD will hopefully have worked with dealers of all types, all across the country, it should be easy for them to work out deals and locate cars for the customers. Then, CD will make money from the loans it is making.
IMHO,
The Merg
Anyway, once I was convinced I had a secure connection, I submitted the order. More as things unfold.
************
Thank you for your interest in CarsDirect.com. We appreciate your feedback to help us make the best car buying experience possible.
Please see the following explanation from our web team:
Why doesn't the applications appear to be in SSL?
The application pages are contained in a frameset. This frameset is the same for the configurator and the application process. This frameset does not enter SSL mode so it will not display the closed lock in Netscape or the https: url in the location window.
How can we be sure the application is in SSL mode?
After submitting the personal application the user enter into SSL mode. Some browsers will give an alert message telling the user they are entering
SSL mode. If you open that frame in another window you will see the locked lock in Netscape and the url with https.
I believe the new version of the site up as of this morning shows this as secure by the more traditional means.
Should you have any further questions please feel free to reply.
Thank You,
Serko Ashikian, Advisor
*******
This was my comment...
Your web site requires me to enter a credit card number on an unsecure web page. I wanted to send in a purchase request, but I won't do it on an unsecure connection.Thanks,
- The Merg
I am the proud owner of a 99.5 Pathfinder LE 4x4 and have to give kudos to Carsdirect for making this the best car buying experience I've ever had!
First off, let me state that I live in Eugene, OR. There is only one Nissan dealer in the area. Eugene is a mountainous region and therefore has a strong demand for 4x4 models. My loaded 99.5 LE 4x4 with leather/sunroof/limited slip had an MSRP of just over $35000, but the dealer added an ADDITIONAL $2000 markup citing regional demand. So the asking price was $37000 and some change. I talked to several salespeople who flat-out lied about the markup and pointed out that the $2500 dealer incentive doesn't automatically go to the consumer like a rebate does. After talking for a few minutes, I got frustrated with their attitude and decided I would drive 2 hours to Portland to buy my truck where there would be a little more competition.....
Then I found Carsdirect.com! I'd read the various messages posted on this site, and like most others thought that there was no way in the world a company would do what carsdirect.com does. It just didn't make any financial sense to me.
Carsdirect quoted me a price of $28847, which was 8k less than the local dealers asking price and 6k less than MSRP. I paid the $250 carsdirect "deposit", (which was never even charged to my card BTW) and within 2 hours got a call from a CD rep. He found a car at a local dealership....guess what....it was the SAME car at the SAME dealership that were unwilling to heavily negotiate. The CD rep was able to talk them down to 30k. That was still more than $1100 higher than the Carsdirect quote, so Carsdirect OVERNIGHTED A CHECK for $1153 to my dealer! No one at the dealership could believe it. The whole place was abuzz. I placed my order at 8:00 am and had my car after work, and spent about 45 minutes at the dealer signing paperwork. How easy is that!
Basically, carsdirect paid me $1153 for using their web site for 20 minutes AND eliminated every bit of the unpleasentness inherent to car-buying. How do they do it? There is ZERO opportunity for profit. If I didn't have the car in my driveway, I wouldn't believe it!
Kevin
web site last Tuesday. They had a hard time
finding a truck for me, and then the perfect truck
rolled off the semi at a local dealer this week. I
emailed my rep at carsdirect and told him about
it....yesterday he called me to get a little more
info on the truck and then he called the dealer.
The dealer called me and said, "come pick it up!"
I got the truck for invoice + 2.9%. That includes
the $500 they took off my bill because it took them
nine days instead of seven. When I got into the
truck to drive it home, I glanced down at the
odometer. The total mileage was....4. Life is
good......
Chris
Protege LX-auto order. CD.com. has found one in a dealer located about 40 miles away from my place and I plan to go there soon. So, I just wonder if I could still test drive that car at first before settling. Has anyone ever had the same experience?
Call me a "too-cautious" person; however, I just
can't 100% trust before I test drive. Many thanks for any advice! --April
You can test drive any car before u sign the dotted line.
If u dont sign it's not your car. They will let u drive it, for sure!!!
with traction control, and cassette. Total price
thru CarsDirect...$19,300. I am very pleased.
CarsDirect had the exact car I wanted in less than
a day. This after two local dealers told me they
could not find the exact car with the options and
color I wanted in the entire West coast!!!
After applying online, I received a phone call
from CarsDirect in the morning. He called me back
three times that day to confirm everything.
It was a good experience, especially since I
didn't have to jump through hoops with car dealers.
Red
RMillander@aol.com
As far as I can tell it's that carsdirect guarantees a delivery date and carorder dosn't. Are there any recent carorder customers out there?
Any thoughts from anyone on the similarities and differences?
My original CarsDirect order was submitted 7/6, and I still do not have my car. It took over 3 weeks before a human contacted me (other than to collect a deposit), and during that time no one was looking for the car. Once she began the search she found the car for me in two days -- or so she thought. They (CD and the dealer) asked me to sign and fax back a car order contract. I said ok and asked them to fax me the car invoice so I could double check. Good thing I did! The options on the car she found did not match what I asked for! I was within 5 minutes of signing the final car order papers at the time. Close call! After much discussion in which they (unsuccessfully) tried to convince me to take the car anyway, they agreed to start the search over. Then believe it or not the same thing happened AGAIN! Another car, but still not a match to what I asked for! By this time, 3+ weeks past original order, the model I wanted had become extremely scarce and they could not find another. Then early this month a local dealer I also had on the search called -- he found the car! It was in another dealer's lot and he arranged a trade for it. After double checking the invoice (!) I told him about working through CD and he was fine with that. He and CD worked out the price and then told me. Price was good, I agreed and asked about the $500 guarantee. CarsDirect said they would NOT honor the $500 discount for being late because my original order was before that policy "Officially" went into effect. I still wanted the car anyway so I put down a deposit on the car and signed the purchase contract with the local dealer. That evening the trading dealer sold the car to someone else! (They KNEW I had money down on it -- and they HAD agreed to the trade.) At this point, SEVEN WEEKS after my original order, CarsDirect has given up on trying to find me the car I wanted. So now I have yet another refundable deposit down with CarsDirect's area dealer to hold a 2000, but I have no actual price and no idea what the financing will be since I missed out on the special 1999 model year deals.
So the moral of the story is: (1) Double check the paperwork on everything. (2) Don't believe the deal until the car really is sitting in your driveway. (3) If you want something that is scarce, be aware that if you wait for CarsDirect you may miss out.
I hate to be an ingrate (since Carsdirect subsidized my deal with a local dealer), but if I were starting from scratch I would forget these car-buying services altogether. Instead, I would personally send a separate e-mail to every dealer within reasonable driving distance, with an exact description of the desired equipment and price to be paid for the car. If you're able to contact enough dealers, this is the most efficient way to locate the car you want, and you will certainly hear back from one or more that are willing to negotiate an acceptable price.
I wouldn't hesitant to use them, they saved me 2k.
Had waited for about 2.5 weeks for the car I want.
The process was not exactly difficult but be careful when the car u want is not easy to find in your area. They gave me a car that did not have the options I wanted initially. Luckily I asked about it before committing to the deal. I then asked them to find the exact car that I want (which they did eventually), but it took some time.
The good thing is that they sent a check of over $700 to the dealer so that they can sell me the car at the agreed price.
- The Merg
I've just checked CD's price on 1999 Lexus
ES300. Their price is 5% over invoice. This
doesn't look like a good price. I've heard that
they quote at invoice price.
CarOrder prices 1999 Lexus ES300 at invoice
price. The only problem is they only have black
color.
Shao