Earl’s Costco Auto Buying Program Tutorial

I’m a strong advocate of the Costco auto-buying program. In full transparency and disclosure, I’m also a certified Toyota dealership for Costco. I get more questions about the Costco Auto buying program than just about anything else and that’s my reason for writing another article on the subject.

My only complaint about Costco’s program is that, in my opinion, there’s too large a burden of due diligence placed upon the Costco car buyer. I believe that a Costco member should be able to go online at www.CostcoAuto.com and get the out-the-door price of the vehicle they want and the dealership they can buy it from. Sadly, this is not often possible, and what follows is a “tutorial” of the precise steps you most follow to get the true Costco member price. 

1. Go to www.CostcoAuto.com. Click on “New Vehicles” and enter your zip code. Select the year, make and model of vehicle you want to buy. NEVER GO TO THE DEALERSHIP WITHOUT REGISTERING ONLINE. You may be deceived by a non-Costco certified salesman into believing you’re getting the Costco price.
2. Click on “Locate Dealer”.
3. Enter your name, Costco member number, and email address. Click again on “Locate Dealer”. If you’re not a Costco member, I recommend you pay the nominal annual member ship, $65, and become a member. Your savings on buying a car will exceed this cost many times.
4. You will be given the name of the dealership and the name of the sales people at that dealership that are certified Costco representatives. DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUSTANCES, DEAL WITH ANY OTHER SALES PEOPLE.
5. You will be contacted by phone and email almost immediately by the Costco representative. Verify that she or he is named on the Costco website.
6. Ask the Costco representative to email you the out-the-door Costco member price on the vehicle you have selected. Explain that this price must include all charges by the dealership except government fees…sales tax and license tag and registration. If she or he refuses, report this to Costco at 800 755-2519.
7. If you must visit the dealership to further evaluate the vehicle you’re buying, demand that you see theCostco Member-Only Price Sheet. This price sheet on the specific car you’re buying should disclose any added price for dealer installed accessories. If there are dealer installed accessories, DEMAND A CAR WITHOUT THEM. This price sheet must also disclose any added, hidden non-government fees aka “dealer fees” by many names like doc fee, electronic filing fee, tag agency fee, dealer prep fee, administrative fee and notary fee.
8. Determine your own out-the-door price by adding any of these hidden fees or dealer installed accessoriesto the “Costco Price”. Also beware of hidden fees that aren’t disclosed on the Costco Member-Only Price Sheet. These will “pop up” later in the F&I or Business Office and are unknown and unacceptable to Costco.
9. To be safe, you should shop and compare the final out-the-door price you’ve calculated with at least two other dealers.
10. If your experience with the Costco dealer was not a good one and they did try to deceive you, contact Costco at 800 755-2519. You will be asked by Costco to fill out a customer satisfaction survey after your purchase which will entitle you to service and parts discounts with that dealer.

Costco requires their certified dealers to sell Costco members cars at a LOWER PRICE THAN THEY SELL CARS TO ANY OTHER CUSTOMER. You may or may not know that most car dealers sell the same car to different buyers at vastly different prices…depending on the sophistication of the buyer, the salesman, type of advertising, and even the time of the month. A few buyers get extremely low prices which requires a certified Costco dealer to sell a Costco member the car at an even LOWER price. Car dealers don’t like to do this and come up with very clever ways to trick Costco buyers into paying more…hidden fees and dealer installed accessories are two of their favorite tricks. COSTCO MEMBERS BEWARE.