Even my local dealer said he "couldn't touch" carsdirect.com's price
Written: Aug 13 '01 (Updated Nov 29 '01)
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The Bottom Line
CarsDirect.com can get you the car you want at a very good price, with no hassle (or haggle). Snubbing your local dealer can result in poor local service, however.
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Purchasing my 2001 Passat through CarsDirect.com saved me about $1000 over my local dealer. It was easy and painless.
I had narrowed down my choices (through test drives at local dealerships) to the Accord and the Passat. Research on carsdirect.com and Consumers Reports led me to select the Passat. The local Volkswagen dealership, however, told me that they would not be able to get the color choice I wanted (Fresco Green) this late in the model year as that had been the most popular colour.
Web Site
The carsdirect.com web site is very comprehensive and easy to use. It is easy to compare different models by scanning across a checklist of features. I noticed a few inaccuracies (i.e. the Homelink feature does not come with the advertised visor extension) but in general it was very well done. Building your car and selecting the features is easy. The whole way along, an updated price is given at the top of the window, so you know exactly how much what you're building is costing. The site seems to be updated daily with factory-to-dealer incentives, availability of certain models, etc.
The only criticism I have in terms of building the car is that it is sometimes not obvious what features are standard with what packages. It is necessary to dig through the complete feature list - it would be nice to just have a summary of the key packages/features included with each trim line.
The Process
After you have selected the options and color you want, your "order" is placed. The online site can not guarantee availability in the color you have selected. Although carsdirect.com asks for a credit card to "secure" the order (more likely to weed out non-serious shoppers), no charge is made against it (except in certain states, where it might be charged but will be refunded if you don't go ahead with the purchase). The 'order' is not a commitment to buy.
Next, a real person emails you to say they're looking for the car (for me this happened within a day). If memory serves, I also got a phone call to confirm my very picky color selection. The sales rep was very friendly and told me he'd start searching their dealer network. I wished him good luck, given how picky I was being. He told me he'd get back to me the next day.
He called me back with the good news that he'd found a dealership about an hour away from where I live with what I was looking for. It was a nicer trim then I was looking for (GLX vs GLS) - however, the price he'd managed to get for me was barely higher then the cost of a GLS. (I guess the incentives being offered were stronger for the GLX than the GLS). It was about $1000 under invoice.
I told him to send me the info on the car. He told me if I wanted to go ahead, to respond to the email in a particular way that would be outlined in the email, to signal my interest.
I got this email shortly after, with all the info spelled out, and a breakdown of the price including all licensing fees, etc. I confirmed.
The sales rep from CarsDirect then set me up with a sales rep from the dealership. I called the dealer, and set up a time to pick it up.
When we got to the dealer, the salesman informed us that we still had "right of refusal" if we didn't like it - so I'm not even sure if that "confirmation email" had any legal binding. Apart from a scratch in the leather (that the dealer pointed out, and had already ordered a replacement part for), it was as advertised. The paperwork had already all been done, so we paid, and we were out the door quickly. (carsdirect.com does offer financing, by the way) The salesman didn't even try to sell us an extended warranty! (carsdirect.com did however - it was an aftermarket warranty that wasn't impressive).
The Competition
During our hunt, we also tried autobytel.com. The big advantage of carsdirect over autobytel and all it's competitors is that it tells you the price upfront - right on the website. With all other online auto brokers, you have to be called by a dealer who tells you the price. Autobytel.com was easy to use, but I didn't like that I didn't know the price till the dealer called me.
Conclusion
We were very happy with our carsdirect.com experience. It was no hassle (and no haggle) and netted us a good price. In fact, when I called up my local dealer as a last-minute check that I was getting a good price, he told me "I can't touch that price - they're taking a loss on that car, I don't know why they're trying to unload it. If it doesn't work out, call me". The dealer we actually purchased from explained to me how the "volume buying" (50 cars per month for this dealer) carsdirect does enables a better price, but I didn't really understand it, or care. :)
Thanks for reading. Good luck in your car purchase! Feel free to email me if you have any questions.
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About the Author
Member: Ian Sewell
Location: Santa Rosa
Reviews written: 57
Trusted by: 17 members
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