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I also would like to hear the other side of this story....something isnt adding up. I'm not saying you car isnt defective but something is missing here.
$19,873 on a V6 which is after a $1000 rebate offer 17,777 for the V4. I am very new to the online internet car researching area and I was wondering if anyone could help me do better then this?
Your help would be greatly appreciated
By the way, its not a "V4." Just an inline 4-cylinder.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
...called the 20th...coupe in my garage the 24th......
..they beat hell out of the local folk, coming in close to 1.3k under invoice.....
..dealer jammed me unmercifully for EW...online availability just kills that option...........
...I started to feel low when the salesgal said "We're not making very much on this deal................" After the EW session, I felt even lower (knowing I could get the same product online for about 1/2 what the Honda dealer wanted).
Internet = great tool.....now if I can just figure out the clutch...................
all the best, ez
:P
Today we purchased a 2006 Toyota Sienna CE, w/factory mats and speed-control options. The purchase-price quoted by CarsDirect, seemed too good to be true, and I was waiting for the "catch" all the way to signing-paperwork. This is my first experience with web-enabled vehicle purchase. The car is parked in our driveway - and I'm _still_ waiting for the catch.
Verbose details follow. I hope this level of detail is in the spirit of this forum and thread. Apologies if not.
MY EXPERIENCE with CarsDirect (your results may vary)...
(Dec 25, 06) Contacted cars-direct via web, and heard-back from a Cars-Direct contact-person ("CD") soon after.
(Dec 28, 06) Procrastinated for a couple of days until CD called again when I was home. He gave me a number (which I didn't fully appreciate) - I told him I wasn't ready to commit because I'd done little/no homework. He seemed a bit annoyed (in a restrained way) and said, since I wasn't ready, he'd cancel this purchase - but that I was welcome to contact them again when I was ready. After hanging-up, I thought screw-it, his number looked pretty good (based on available "Invoice") and I needed to go through with this _before_ wife's car broke again. So I emailed him that I was ready to commit. Received instructions (by phone & email) how to log-in and accept web-based "agreement". NOTE: BEFORE agreeing, I attempted to get a quick "reality-check" from "carquotein60seconds.com" - no joy: was informed that a local-dealer would be contacted on my behalf, then presented with an impossibly low "quote". A local dealer did reply, see THE DEALER (below.)
The CarsDirect agreement-page was vague regarding how long they had to locate the car and how long I was obligated by the "agreement", but it did say they "expected" to locate a vehicle by Dec 30th.
(Dec 29) CD called to say where the vehicle was and the purchase procedure.
(Dec 30) Drove with spouse to the dealer and contacted a specific sales-person ("SP") who was to handle purchase. He brought us to our car to check-out/test-drive. Then back to his desk to provide personal info. for paperwork. We weren't financing, but they wanted enough income-info. to trust a personal check for a few days (until money is moved into the account.) Then on to the the Finance Person ("FP".)
THE FINANCE PERSON: I wish I'd taken delivery at home. (didn't realize that option was available/cheap.) FP was really good, she had a cogent argument for every reason I had for not spending money on extra stuff, and in the end I agreed to two Security options, including "Lojack". I managed to stay firm on not opting for the 70K/7yr extended warranty - though THAT probably WAS a deal. Anyway, beside the security stuff, the numbers presented by FP were exactly what CD initially quoted.
After signing, SP gave us an obligatory tour to describe why it would make sense to have our vehicle serviced THERE (and I may, but it's a drive...) Then we drove home (in Two cars.)
CD seemed very professional (knowledgable, responsive, etc.) We called about four times during the process, he only picked-up once, but phoned-back otherwise.
THE DEALER we purchased from was about 36 miles from our house, though several others were much closer. As it happens, we received a quote from the fleet-manager (handling web-sales) of the nearest dealer - @ $800 more than CarsDirect.
I haven't read enough posts to know whether my experience is typical. Based on info from the dealer and [later] Google, it looks like a Mr. Penske runs CarsDirect AND a ton of dealerships. I was lucky to live "close" to one of those dealers. Based on _my_ experience, I would encourage anybody purchasing a vehicle to do a bit of homework, then contact CarsDirect.
Cheers.
Just curious what kind of vehicle is taking so long.
Also, did you try working with any dealers prior to going through carsdirect? If so, was carsdirect quoting you a significantly better price than the dealers?
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
Terry.
Or- is that the price of the car, and they call it 'target price' as the vehicle they find might have slightly different options for which they need to compensate for (which is reasonable)
I'd rather take the CD price to my dealer and let them know that if they can match it, I'll buy it directly through them, rather than going through a middle man.
A few years later I tried to purchase a luxury model through CD. They pledged to help me get the price listed for the car but subsequently tried to jack me out of an extra $5k through one of their dealers. Turns out for luxury name brands and rare cars in a regional market CD cannot deliver the goods like they promise--but they pretend to promise it anyway. Basically, high volume vehicles such as Camrys and Accords are easier to purchase but not Infiniti, Lexus, Acura, etc.
Now I am trying to buy another vehicle and it's CD price is listed as a "Target Price." Read their gobbledygook on what this means--basically they can't gurantee the price quote. However, it also means they will not provide a broker to work with you. They do route you to a dealer they consider a partner and who will meet the price quote, but invariably when you reach out to these folks they fall back on their old sales tricks ("that car is not available," "we need to factor dealer costs, internet costs," "my manager said I can't do that price after all," blahblahblah). Basically, a "target price" quoted by CD is an amount you can more reliably obtain through Edmunds, Kelley Blue Book, or by researching the vehicle's invoice price. CarsDirect only provides you with the price to lure you into their dealership arrangements.
In summary, if you're looking for a family sedan or another common model, carsdirect can get it for you at price quoted, but it will be a sloppy process and you may slip through the cracks, then they will still try to sell you a bunch of stuff you don't need. Try to purchase a less popular seller, or conversely, a luxury or high demand vehicle of the moment, and you will only create aggravation for yourself. Me personally, I dont see much value in dealing with carsdirect anymore.
Also note, a few years ago CD had to settle a class action suit alleging they were secretly listening to customer conversations without notifying the customer. So if you have to use this service, be paranoid.
And, similiarly, you cannot be obligated to buy for more than the stated price.
tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper
After some trepidation, I decided to use carsdirect.com to buy a new 07 Honda Pilot (LX front wheel drive). The local dealership was full of smarmy salesmen who had just gotten to my last nerve (for instance, instead of taking my word as final, they started calling my husband! as if my decision was not firm enough- ARGH. And one of them actually quoted me a price that included an "11% sales tax" - what??? do they think I'm so stupid that I don't know that the state sales tax is 7.75%?)
Anyway, I'd been window-shopping here at Edmunds for months, waiting for a low APR or some kind of special on the Pilot. I checked carsdirect and was flabbergasted by the price that showed up ($23,134 vs. Edmunds TMV of $26,000ish for my Southern California zip code). I immediately decided to give carsdirect a try- they clearly had access to knowledge about a short term special pricing on Honda trucks and SUVs that no one else had - including Edmunds).
So I started the process at 11 pm on Thursday night. The next morning, I received an email and a phone call from my carsdirect liaison. He confirmed the model, trim, and color, and price that I wanted. He called back within an hour to say that he'd found the exact car from a dealership about 120 miles away. A few emails and phone calls later (to take car of tasks like copies of insurance, licenses, registrations, odometer readings on my trade-in, etc), he told me that my Pilot would be shipped to me (for FREE!) on a specific day and time.
Then the weekend hit - I admit I was worried. The entire process was utterly surreal. I had done nothing more than email an "I agree" to Carsdirect. I had not written a check nor made any kind of deposit. Was my car really going to show up? My carsdirect person did not work on the weekend so I could not call him and confirm that a car was on the way. Meanwhile, I knew the special pricing was going to expire on the following Monday. If it all fell through, I was going to have to return to the dealership to get a Pilot.
But Monday rolled around and I was able to confirm my purchase with my carsdirect person. Also, the dealership that was actually selling me the car (via carsdirect) called to try to sell me an extended warranty. That was when I really knew that I had actually purchased a vehicle!
Tuesday, the delivery day, arrived- and so did my Pilot! Right on time. It was shiny from being recently detailed, full of gas, and had all of three miles on it. The driver unloaded my Pilot and loaded my 12-year-old Civic (with 140,000 miles and a big dent in the side- did I mention that I got exactly what I wanted out of that trade-in?). The driver, an amiable retired car mechanic who was outsourced by the dealership, walked me through the paperwork. 45 minutes later, he left. That was that.
I won't be going to a dealership again if I have the option of buying a car online. This was EASY. And I saved almost $3K. The price never changed from what I initially saw at the carsdirect website. There were NO extra fees or brokers' costs. Carsdirect found me the financing I wanted at the rate that I expected. They also took care of my trade-in.
There were just three things I'd advise a consumer to watch out for:
1) the carsdirect salesperson is not a car expert. S/he is merely the broker. Don't expect the zeal and/or knowledge of a dealership salesperson from a carsdirect person. For me, this was welcome.
2) The carsdirect salesperson is working with a checklist of items - get her/him to give you this list upfront. Several times, I'd complete a "step" only to be told something like, "and now we need you to email copies of yours and your husband's licenses and insurance cards to us." Well, that can be difficult if my 6-month-old is crying and my husband is at work. It would have been much easier if I'd known to have those things ready ahead of time.
3) Be very clear about your down payment and your financing terms. My carsdirect person didn't ask me how much I wanted to put down or how long I wanted my loan term to be. I got the feeling that he assumed I'd be putting down nothing and okay with a 60-month loan. Luckily, I had read online reviews that strongly advised others to be proactive about this very issue. So I did say exactly how much I wanted to put down and then I said what I wanted my loan term to be.
Other than that, I'd recommend carsdirect to anyone. I should close by saying that I did take the carsdirect low price to two other local dealerships. They came within $600 bucks of it. But then they wanted to hassle me about my trade-in. In general, they fed me sob stories about commissions and all that... who has the time for all that excessive emotional labor???? Not me. But, just in case carsdirect did fall through, I wanted to have a back-up plan. So I had the dealerships email me their quotes. That made me feel a lot better over that long weekend when I was unable to talk to my carsdirect person.
Mary
My initial e-mail was quickly acknowledged the next day. I then faxed my driver's license/proof of insurance/$500 deposit to CD.
A few days later, a brand new AV6 6M was mine. Like Mary, I found the dealer was sort of a pain. For example $2800 (ultimately modified to $1800)..........for a HondaCare Extended Warranty. No way.
Much later I went online and for about $585 Hondacura.com sent me an EW (6y80k) from upstate New York.
CD is OK in my book.
...cheers....
..ez..
I live in No. California and discovered that I could save over a grand by buying in L.A. Since I travel there several times a year to visit friends and family, it's actually almost a convenience to buy the car there. With the first purchase, buying in LA was actually suggested by the CD rep as a way to bring the price down. But with the more recent purchase, the dealer told me that they'd have to have a local address before they could sell me a car; apparently the dealers got fed up with "geographic shoppers" like me. It still wasn't a problem because I gave them my friend's address and they still allowed me to register the car at my home address.
The 2000 delivery was amazing. Sales rep picked us up at the airport and drove us to the dealership. He gave us a great overview of the car on the way and then made it clear that if we didn't want the car for ANY REASON, we could walk out the door because he was going to get his commission from CD regardless whether we changed our mind or not.
The 2005 purchase involved more of the typical dealer-like shenanigans. "Gosh, sorry, but I can't find your car without a nav system." I pushed back, hard. "OK, we'll give you the nav system at dealer cost." I agreed but then, "Oops, the car we found has a dealer-installed walnut trim package and it'll be an extra $500." I pushed back, real hard this time. After a supposed talk with the manager, "OK, OK, we'll eat the cost of that." The day before we picked up the car, "Hey...good news! We just found another car WITHOUT that walnut trim you didn't want so you'll get the car just the way you wanted it!"
I suspect that some of the variations between the dealer experience may well have been what you'd find anyway between Lexus (consumer-friendly) and Jaguar (typical dealer slimeballs). I reported my dissatisfaction on the bait-and-switch tactics to CD following my purchase.
Hope this helps provide another perspective on CD.
Bob
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
We do re-start discussions once the number of posts reaches an unwieldy number, but just over 700 posts in 8 years? Nah. Readers are welcome to start perusing posts at whatever point suits them.
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Share your vehicle reviews
7 years ago I bought one through CarOrder.com, same concept. The difference is CD is making money while CarOrder threw in $$$ per transaction.
Just a data point.
I was disappointed. Clearly she didn't send anything back to me and didn't want to. Besides, what prevented them from calling me directly?
Overall, not a pleasant experience. I won't be going back to them anytime soon.
However, this story DOES have a happy ending. I got a great deal from a local Honda dealer who matched the CD's 'target price' and more!
Women have to really be strong when it comes to dealerships; this is why I'd just as soon not deal with them. They truly think you're stupid and dare you to get mad at them. Evil. Anyway, thanks for the detail on your purchase, you bought a good brand of car that's not likely to give you any trouble soon. I'm adding this to the information bank of alternatives to traditional car purchasing.
Frankly, I'd use bank or credit union financing over anything the Internet or the dealer had to offer. I'd like a service like that where I could say, I've got the cashier's check ready to fill in, get me my car. Seems like a lot of potential problems stem from things that aren't related to buying the car, such as servicing the car and financing the car. But I think financing should be done before the search even begins, just like for a house.
But I have not used it yet. Since I seem to be able to beat the prices on toyotas localy by about 500-750 bucks less then CD. Remember CD marks up the prices and some dealers just want to unload more cars at lower prices. But CD is great reference.
One thing, I haven't read the agreement at CD but I am assuming that when you have the car delivered to the dealership they charge the dealer fee which is usually about $600.00 on top of the price you deal with. Or does CD include all fees in their price?
Also if you go pick up the car and it has a scratch or something cosmetic how do you get that repaired/replaced etc. Does the dealer deal with it?
Is the target price just pie in the sky or can they really get your car for that price? In this case the price was $700 less than what CD said was invoice.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
How's that? Carsdirect have a $2,000 doc. fee?
I bought a new car thru CarsDirect last October. After having done all my research, I definitely saw that the CarsDirect price that came up for the make and features I wanted was at exactly the price my research had found was a "fair" price for the car. The dealer gave me the reasons they couldn't match the prices I had seen online, which I respected and understood.
Though I was apprehensive about going thru CarsDirect, the process was as smooth and painless as I could ask for. The CarsDirect rep found my car 20 minutes after I talked to him! There were no fees requested whatsoever throughout the whole process. I did agree to use their financing -- they found a loan at exactly the same rate I had already been pre-approved for -- since I figured since they found the car for me, I would give them the business since I know that's one of their revenue streams as well. (I was a little taken aback when he also tried to sell me an extended warranty at the 11th hour, but it was easy to decline -- since it was all by email, no real pressure.) The dealer even drove the car nearly 70 miles to my house, at no fee, and I signed the paperwork in 15 minutes.
I suspect one's experience depends on the popularity and availability of the car. I would suggest you definitely do your research and make sure that the CarsDirect price matches what you're willing to pay, rather than solely depend on CarsDirect. Even though I say I would use CarsDirect, I would still do the same amount of research and test drive. By the time I went to CarsDirect, I knew exactly the car and featuresI wanted, so it was very straightforward for me.
My car cost about $20,000 before taxes, which was $4500 below MSRP and $3000 below what the dealer was willing to sell it for.
I suggest a potential buyer use CarsDirect as a source of information and then go to the dealer and negotiate the price of the vehicle at least several hundred dollars less than the price presented by CarsDirect. If one dealer won't deal just go to the next. Perserverence will be worth a few dollars. In the worst case, all one need do is locate the dealer who works with CarsDirect. Without question, that dealer will sell the car for less than the CarsDirect price.
Really, the only reason a person should even consider using a service like CarsDirect is if one is uncomfortable dealing with a sales person. But really, why bother with CarsDirect as a person can almost always find a relative or friend who can act as a broker. It is always easier to negotiate when the negotiator is not the one paying.
My questions are these: has anyone used this service?, has anyone bought a car through this service? did you really remain anonymous during the procedure?, did you get the best price using this service?, did you use the reverse auction?, what is the reverse auction?, was the reverse auction worth the fee in the amount that you saved on the car?
I tried the Costco buying service to see how they compared on price. They were $100 more than USAA and the Costco dealer found the car I wanted. So I bought it from them.