is carsdirect.com a good way to buy a car?

I used them as a guide and I still got my truck below there price and Consumer Reports price at a local dealership. Personally I will rather deal with a person but not pay more than CarDirect price.

-- Team EuroMeko

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Is carsdirect.com any better or worse than autobytel.com?

Andrew

When I bought my car through carsdirect.com in 2001, I had a great experience. There were absolutely no hidden fees besides what you would normally have at a dealership (sales tax, vehicle destination fee, etc.)

The way they work is that they are just a broker for dealerships. So if you decide to purchase a car, they direct you to a local dealership. You will then go to the dealership, inspect the car, and take it for a test drive. If everything checks out, then you sign the paperwork and pay the dealership. I assume the dealership will give carsdirect a commission fee afterwards.

So you're actually buying from the dealership, it's just that the "negotiation" took place online. For sure, you should not pay more than what carsdirect quotes. I got my Civic under invoice through carsdirect when the dealership was marking them up $5000 above MSRP!

"Zoltrix" wrote in news:Tktob.25839$ snipped-for-privacy@twister.nyc.rr.com:

I purchased my 2002 Honda Accord through Carsdirect. It was hassle free and the price paid was below the MSRP. As others in this thread have stated, you may do better by using Carsdirect price as a negotiation tool with the dealers. OTOH if you want to avoid going from one dealership to another and hate negotiating with salesmen, then Carsdirect is an excellent choice.

Once you place an order with CD, the agent will attempt to buy your car from the nearest dealership to you. After you agree to the price and other legal matters by e-mail, you will be given the name of the person at the dealership who will act as a proxy for CD. He will present you with all the papers that you need to sign, take your deposit (check or CC) and then give you the keys, manauls, etc.

The only thing to be cautious with Carsdirect is to make sure that the sales person does not talk you into buying an after market product (such as Lo-Jack) that you don't want. If you change your mind later, getting a refund from these guys takes a while.

Good luck.

I got the quote from CarsDirect for Honda CRV EX 03 and it came out more than TMV from Edmund and I told me them but they said that's it. I took the TMV price from Edmund to local dealer and got better price close to Edmund's price.

Carsdirect: $21,910 Edmund: ~$21,600 Local Dealers: $21,800 + free 9 times oil changed + lifetime inspection free

• road hazard for tires free.

well, the thing is, they say, at the bottom, price excludes taxes, titles and other customary fees.

When pressed, they said the "other" fees may include documentation fee (????! -> total BS) to gather all docs, etc.. 100-300usd.. when i told them to go take a hike, they said "its negotiable." OK.

So, I'm prob. going to buy a car this weekend, thru CD but ppl have to watch out for fees like that..

in my zipcode (Brooklyn, NYC), their price is 300 below invoice and 100 below edmunds TMV, which is not a PRICE anyway, its a mere average of those who have submitted.

About ten years ago, the State of IL put a $40 cap on doc fees and stated that it must be negotiable. They later raised the cap to allow for inflation I guess. Kind of like passing a law to limit the amount a pickpocket can take out of your wallet. The part about being negotiable is even more goofy. Everything relating to money is negotiable. You could even negotiate that the dealer pay some or all of the sales tax.

interesting...

in a way its better to buy a Saturn. Price will be the same everywhere. who invented this nonsense anyway?

I don't know.. But we were very successful with our Murano.. Local dealer didn't want to deal or get us the car we wanted. Quick trip to carsdirect.com, price was about invoice and in the week between picking the car up and telling them we wanted it, they dropped the price $100. The final result was a far better deal than I could get locally. Only downside was the 100 mile drive to go pick it up. But it was the car we wanted, and no mornic salespeople to play games with. It was too easy..

No hidden fees, no gotchas, nothing.

__________________ Note: To reply, replace the word 'spam' embedded in return address with 'mail'. N38.6 W121.4

"no moronic salespeople to play games with"

Universal City Nissan. Even after speaking with the internet/fleet Manager Manny on the phone many times and we agreed on $18,600 for an 03 Nissan Frontier Crew Cab, when I got there with my check book I was still made to sit down to start haggling down from $26,995 - lol.

But yes, moronic is the correct word to use.

-- Team EuroMeko

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Oh and you don't want me to start about Damien at Douglas Nissan of Orange. A true con artist, he represented himself as the fleet/internet Manager when he was just a moronic salesmoron with absolutely no authority to make a fleet deal.

-- Team EuroMeko

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Translation: price will be overpriced everywhere. With Saturn you pay

13% over invoice. Almost anyone could negotiate this for almost any car (typical markup is like 15-18%). And for an undesirable car like a Saturn, right now, you could easily get it for invoice.

For top posting, you mean?

Well, obviously, don't buy from Carsdirect if the price is higher than you can get at a dealership. Their prices (relative to invoice, Edmund, etc.) vary on each vehicle. Sometimes, they'll be higher than local dealership, sometimes lower.

The point I'm trying to make here is that if carsdirect has a lower price, you should always buy from them. There is no advantage from buying from a local dealership for the sake of "dealing with a real person" or "convenience of service", because you are still buying from a local dealership. So you could still get the 9 oil changes, lifetime inspections, and road hazard for tires if you bought from carsdirect (if it had business association with your local dealership).

Local dealerships have the same "documentation fee" to jack up their profits. This is well-documented in Consumer Reports tips on negotiating car purchases. The bottom line here is, there is no difference between buying through carsdirect and the local dealership. By the way, I was not charged a documentation fee when I got my car in 2001 (can't guarantee they won't add one now though).

Oh, God. He changed his return address, now I'll have to update my dizzy filter.

Dean,

I agree with you but sometimes Cardirect may send you some places further or did not have the free stuff. The reason I asked Cardirect for the quote since my cousin got the good deal from them. Only thing I don't like about this is Cardirect told me I need to select the

2nd color since the Honda CRV was "hot" but actual at that time I knew it wasn't. I also got a letter from Vice President to state that the reason I cancel the order from them due to the timing and I wrote back to him and said it was not the reason. I did not receive any response back. Anyway, do you think it is OK to have the "recall"/warranty service at any dealers or should I go back to my dealer?

inspections,

Sorry...