On Tue, 11 Nov 1997 12:41:44 -0500 (EST), you wrote:
> So how exactly do you get in contact with the fleet depts in your area,
> might go that way on the next vehicle I buy.
We just ordered our Dak 4x2 CC through the local Costco dealer's fleet
department. =20
We originally put in a request to AutoVantage on the net. We got back
an e-mail telling us who the local AutoVantage dealer was, who the
fleet department contacts were, and stating that the AutoVantage price
through that dealer on a 4x2 CC was $200 over invoice.
Since we did not like the AutoVantage dealer (rude sales people,
etc.), we made an appointment with the Costco dealer. We went down
the next morning, gave him a list of exactly what we wanted. He told
me their price would be $500 over invoice. I showed him the request
we had sent to AutoVantage, and the e-mail we had received in return,
and asked if he could match that. He said yes. We got a printout of
what the invoice *should* be, asked him what a LoJack would cost us,
gave him a check for $100, and were out the door in about 20 minutes.
It could not have been any less painful.
We have also purchased a car through a Costco dealer fleet department.
That was a bit more painful, since we had a trade in, but overall went
quite smoothly. The Costco price on that auto was significantly below
the quote we had gotten through AutoVantage. They ended up giving us
within $5 of the KBB trade-in value on the car, after we started to
walk out when their first offer was totally inadequate. We were *not*
pleased with their approach to selling add-ons, like LoJack, and will
not be buying such things from them. I'm seriously considering having
the Dodge dealer handle the LoJack on the car as well.
If you have a trade in, be sure you know what KBB says its worth.
Also have it thoroughly cleaned (inside & out) and properly waxed.
I'm convinced it made a significant difference in what we got for
ours.
AAA and Sam's Club also have similar programs.
Note that AutoVantage selects a dealer from the phone number you
provide, and will quote a price via e-mail. If you can arrange to
make multiple requests, from phone numbers a significant distance
apart, and with different e-mail addresses, you may find that their
prices vary a bit.
Costco also selects dealers based on the area you're in. We got
brochures from 3 different stores, all listing different dealers. If
we had visited several, I suspect their prices would have varied as
well. We picked the auto dealer we did because my wife was very
impressed with their parts department's response to a query. We
picked the truck dealer we did because of good experiences my wife's
boss had with them on two prior purchases.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
John
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