Internet pricing bs?
08-11-12, 01:25 PM
#31
Driver School Candidate
Costco Has Earned My Trust
I, too, suspect that the person posting an accusation that Costco extorts kickbacks from car dealers has some kind of grudge at play. I've been a Costco member for years and it is simply the finest retailer with whom I have ever done business. Its merchandise quality is high, its prices are terrific and its return policy is the best I have ever found. If you are ever unhappy with anything you buy there, with the exception of electronics, you can return the item at any time for a full refund. No receipt is required and there are no restocking fees. Electronics such as televisions and computers have a shorter return window but even that is longer than most retailers provide. Furthermore, Costco doubles the manufacturers' warranties on those items. Costo is not only a good retailer it is a fine employer too. The company pays average wages of more than $16 an hour, which is well above the retail norm. A few years ago, Costco decided against making its employees pay for price increases in their group health insurance coverage and instead absorbed the increases itself. Not surprisingly, Costco has low employee turnover and visibily high employee morale. I also admire the company for steadfastly refusing to let Wall Street number crunchers pressure it into marking up its goods more 15% above what it pays for them. To me, that is another example of how the company looks out for its members. Because of all of this, Costco has earned my trust and loyalty and I did not hesitate to use its car buying service when I recently bought a new RX 350. The price I got was excellent and in line with what my research showed was well within the "target" range for a "fair" price. Indeed, Costco's price beat another car-buying service that I checked with as part of a sensible comparison. I don't know how Costco got the price that it did but it worked great for me. And I am sure that the large and very successful Lexus dealer to whom Costco sent me be would not be on the Costco list if it was being extorted. The reckless charge of greedy kickbacks is woefully inconsistent with my own experiences and observations as a Costco member. If the person who posted the slanderous kickback charge does not have a bone to pick with Costco, perhaps he was simply misinformed by a lying car salesmen. It's not like that's a rare breed, you know.
08-11-12, 02:31 PM
#32
Earned
You hit the nail on the head with that expression. When I was in the car business I did pretty well because I focused on trying to 'earn' my customers business. After that, I pretty much had them or at least a shot when it was trade in time again. Repeat business was really good. Costco practices the same philosophy, just yesterday they replaced a camera (Nikon D7000) I had ordered in June and last weekend I bumped it and the LCD on the top cracked in the inside. It wasn't a hard bump and many of my Nikons have been through much more with no issues. I called them and told them what happened. W/o tapping my card again, they sent me a new one no questions asked and I'm sending the 1st one back. Who else would do that for you ???
I, too, suspect that the person posting an accusation that Costco extorts kickbacks from car dealers has some kind of grudge at play. I've been a Costco member for years and it is simply the finest retailer with whom I have ever done business. Its merchandise quality is high, its prices are terrific and its return policy is the best I have ever found. If you are ever unhappy with anything you buy there, with the exception of electronics, you can return the item at any time for a full refund. No receipt is required and there are no restocking fees. Electronics such as televisions and computers have a shorter return window but even that is longer than most retailers provide. Furthermore, Costco doubles the manufacturers' warranties on those items. Costo is not only a good retailer it is a fine employer too. The company pays average wages of more than $16 an hour, which is well above the retail norm. A few years ago, Costco decided against making its employees pay for price increases in their group health insurance coverage and instead absorbed the increases itself. Not surprisingly, Costco has low employee turnover and visibily high employee morale. I also admire the company for steadfastly refusing to let Wall Street number crunchers pressure it into marking up its goods more 15% above what it pays for them. To me, that is another example of how the company looks out for its members. Because of all of this, Costco has earned my trust and loyalty and I did not hesitate to use its car buying service when I recently bought a new RX 350. The price I got was excellent and in line with what my research showed was well within the "target" range for a "fair" price. Indeed, Costco's price beat another car-buying service that I checked with as part of a sensible comparison. I don't know how Costco got the price that it did but it worked great for me. And I am sure that the large and very successful Lexus dealer to whom Costco sent me be would not be on the Costco list if it was being extorted. The reckless charge of greedy kickbacks is woefully inconsistent with my own experiences and observations as a Costco member. If the person who posted the slanderous kickback charge does not have a bone to pick with Costco, perhaps he was simply misinformed by a lying car salesmen. It's not like that's a rare breed, you know.
08-11-12, 02:36 PM
#33
Lexus Test Driver
. However, to confirm that the dealer's offer was fair, I took my trade-in to a local Carmax and got an offer from them. It was close enough to what the dealer was offering to convince me that the dealer's price was fair. Had there been a huge difference, I would have sold the car to Carmax and then bought the Lexus at the Costco price with no trade-in.
i can only speak for my experience with Carmax in South California
the qoute they give is the LOWEST.
it's 2,000 lower than the KBB value for a car they rated FAIR.
i will never sell my car to CARMAX.
if you don't want the hassle of selling the car yourself, you're better off trading it with the dealer.
08-11-12, 03:37 PM
#34
There isn't really a standard on a trade in. When I got rid of my 03 RX300, I tried to trade it. I didn't like the figure and went up the street and around the corner to CARMAX. They offered almost $2700 more, more than enough to cancel the tax benefit of trading it. So I sold it to them and my dealer came down and picked me up 
. But a different city and they wanted it really bad so ..... Just never know 
. But a different city and they wanted it really bad so ..... Just never know Carmax is the worst place to trade in any vehicle.
i can only speak for my experience with Carmax in South California
the qoute they give is the LOWEST.
it's 2,000 lower than the KBB value for a car they rated FAIR.
i will never sell my car to CARMAX.
if you don't want the hassle of selling the car yourself, you're better off trading it with the dealer.
i can only speak for my experience with Carmax in South California
the qoute they give is the LOWEST.
it's 2,000 lower than the KBB value for a car they rated FAIR.
i will never sell my car to CARMAX.
if you don't want the hassle of selling the car yourself, you're better off trading it with the dealer.
08-11-12, 04:12 PM
#35
You hit the nail on the head with that expression. When I was in the car business I did pretty well because I focused on trying to 'earn' my customers business. After that, I pretty much had them or at least a shot when it was trade in time again. Repeat business was really good. Costco practices the same philosophy, just yesterday they replaced a camera (Nikon D7000) I had ordered in June and last weekend I bumped it and the LCD on the top cracked in the inside. It wasn't a hard bump and many of my Nikons have been through much more with no issues. I called them and told them what happened. W/o tapping my card again, they sent me a new one no questions asked and I'm sending the 1st one back. Who else would do that for you ???
Last edited by dctex99; 08-11-12 at 04:22 PM. Reason: Thought Lexus people were smarter than this?????
08-12-12, 06:47 AM
#36
Driver School Candidate
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Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: IL
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I am the OP and none of the Lexus dealers will go discount more than $500 off their internet price. I got a brand new 2012 MDX w/ Tech instead for $39.5k before TTL.
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