🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Jun23.215830.1@euler.claremont.edu> dhosek@euler.claremont.edu writes:

>In article <2gql2ca.mzimmers@netcom.com>, mzimmers@netcom.com (Michael Zimmers) writes:

>> This is a repost necessitated by some net.vandal who cancelled
>> the original post this weekend.

>Or perhaps someone who felt that it looked too much like an ad...

There must have been quite a few posts looking like ads last Sunday.
There was a long list of victims.

I guess to avoid any further innuendo such as this, I ought to make
the obligatory disclaimer that "I have no pecuniary interest in Car
Bargains or Consumer Checkbook other than I want them to still be 
around when I make my next purchase."  Nuff said?

>> I want to pass along what has simply *got* to be the best way to buy
>> a new car/truck.  It's run by a not-for-profit group known as Consumers'
>> Checkbook, and it's called Car Bargains.  Here's how it works:
>> 
>> 1. Call them at 800 475 7283 and give them the make and model of the
>>    car you're interested in.  At this time you'll also need to square
>>    away a payment of $96 to them (this can be done via credit card).

>They're charging you 96 bucks for this service? Doesn't sound so
>great to me.

Open your mind up a bit.  They got me a bid for $700 less than the
best deal I could strike with a leasing broker or a fleet manager.

>> 2. Within ten working days, they'll furnish you with bids for a markup
>>    commitment from at least five local dealers (in my case they got 11).
>>    These bids include the charges for destination, advertising allowance,
>>    document fees, and surcharges for getting a car from another lot, or
>>    ordering one from the factory.  Near as I can see, there are no
>>    variables left for them to juke you with.

>Two weeks, an awful long time to wait. 

In my case it was actually six working days.  If you've planned ahead
and aren't desperate for a new car (which is the wrong position to be
in to drive a bargain) an extra week or two isn't a big deal.

>Let me offer an alternative way which is probably better: Check
>with you local AAA, membership warehouse, credit union, etc. to
>see if they have a program where you can deal with fleet managers
>(Auto Club of So Cal and Pace Membership Warehouse both offer the
>service). If you aren't a member of the appropriate group,
>joining is likely to be less than $96 and will carry other
>benefits (e.g., emergency road service, the priviledge to buy
>salsa by the gallon). If you don't have access to an org which
>can give you a referral, don't sweat it... I doubt that any fleet
>manager would turn away your business.

I don't see how this approach is "better".  You have no basis for
knowing whether you can come within $100 of CB's price acting on 
your own.  I, on the other hand, have concrete evidence that CB 
saved me over $600.

>Before you get the referral slips, find out what kind of car you
>want. Read Consumer Reports or whatever other sources of
>information you can get a hold of. Stop by the appropriate
>dealership(s) and get the glossy brochure. This is useful if only
>to give you some idea of what the options and colors are. Decide
>what you want from this, but be flexible. (E.g., I wanted a
>silver Miata with ABS. There was none to be had so I settled for
>white.)

This might be avoidable via CB.  In order to keep my post size down,
I omitted a detail that the bids include the dealer's charge to get
a model with the desired color and options from another dealer, and
the charge to order from the factory.  In the case of the dealer
whom I selected, both services were offered at no additional charge.

>You'll contact the dealership yourself and talk to the fleet
>manager. Tell him or her (a little under half of the fleet
>managers I talked to were female... a much better fraction than
>you'll see walking the floor) what you want and they'll be able
>to give you prices over the phone (some may want you to come in
>for the price, although generally it's more likely they don't
>want to deal with you in person until you're ready to commit to a
>purchase). The price quotes I got were the invoice price plus
>markup plus taxes etc. Thus it was easy to tell who had the best
>price since I knew exactly what the markup was. And yes, options
>are at invoice price.

The edge that CB gives you is that they *inform* the dealer that
they are participating in a competitive bid process.  This would
seem to give the dealers a bit more incentive to become reasonable.

>End result: I paid four or five hundred (I forget which) over
>invoice on a 92 Miata in February. Is it possible to do better?

So you paid about the same markup on a $14,000 car that my friend using
CB paid on a $25,000 car.  I wish we had more data points, but my
suspicion is that that $96 more than pays for itself in most cases.
I flat-out *know* it did in my case.

>Yes. I could probably have cut that down to 300 over talking to
>the sleaze on the floor and the manager, but it was worth a
>couple hundred bucks to me just to avoid dealing with them.

Amen.

Another thing I liked about CB was the on-paper comparison of nearly
a dozen Mazda dealers.  I found who was the more competitive (turned
out to be those further from the Bay Area), who were the more
stubborn (Almaden Mazda did a no-bid) and who were the jerks (Glen
Rieken of Oak Tree Mazda in SJ told CB to "go to hell".  I've met
him and he's a real jerk.)

Anyway, there appear to be two ways here to buy a car.  I can't say
that using CB is better than going to a fleet dealer directly, but 
it sure was in my case.  Perhaps anyone using the service will be
kind enough to volunteer their data point as well?
-- 
Michael Zimmers                                    |  Home:  408 996 1984
SoftHelp                                           |  Work:  408 996 1965
Software Solutions for Open Systems                |  Data:  408 996 1974