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Smart Shopper CarsDirect.com experiences
753 messages, Last post on Jun 09, 2009 at 1:18 PM
You are in the Smart Shopper Forum. Your Hosts are kirstie_h & tidester
| Ok, so for several years I have used CarsDirect.com to window shop. Two days ago I went ahead and got my financing arranged and decided to car shop. I went through CD to find an Accord V6 sedan with navigation. Within 5 minutes of submitting my information online I received a phone call from the CD rep. He was very friendly and not overly pushy but of course he wanted to sell me the extras like GAP insurance, and even wanted to try to do my financing. After working with him for about 20 minutes he was able to find the car I wanted at a dealership 15 miles from my house. I went to the dealership that afternoon and first met with their fleet/internet sales guy, then the finance guy to sign the paperwork and say no to a bunch of extras. After about 25 minutes at the dealership I drove home in my new car. The only gripe I have is with the dealership not CD. The dealership spent no time showing me the basics of the navi or the car. My CD experience was great and I am happy with the price they got me. The car was 26812, 29583 with the tax, tag and other fees. | |
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Is the 'target price' listed on their web site the actual price that you'll be paying? Or is it some overly low price to get you to start the buying process through CD, which then gets inflated once they hear back from dealers. Or- is that the price of the car, and they call it 'target price' as the vehicle they find might have slightly different options for which they need to compensate for (which is reasonable) I'd rather take the CD price to my dealer and let them know that if they can match it, I'll buy it directly through them, rather than going through a middle man.
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| I belong to both clubs. Would like to try their car purchasing progam for the 1st time. Any recommendation or advice? | |
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Replying to: morey000 (Aug 11, 2006 7:58 am) |
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Has anyone has an experience leasing through CarsDirect? I'm looking to lease a 2007 Dodge Charger SXT AWD and want to know what to expect. 
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Replying to: tbone08 (Oct 12, 2006 6:21 am) |
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I'm a newbie and often use Internet when shopping for a car. Have had some mixed if not negative experiences with CarsDirect in the past and would like readers to know my perspective, especially as various readers ask about this service. I bought a Honda through CD a few years ago and the purchase experience was quite smooth, fair price, and we managed to avoid the hassle of the dealership. However, CD did not initialy respond to our requests for working with one of their brokers until I called their corporate office directly and asked them why they did not want my business; then I got some attention about buying a car through them. Afterward, I had to endure repeated sales pitches for GAP insurance and other services that one does not need. A few years later I tried to purchase a luxury model through CD. They pledged to help me get the price listed for the car but subsequently tried to jack me out of an extra $5k through one of their dealers. Turns out for luxury name brands and rare cars in a regional market CD cannot deliver the goods like they promise--but they pretend to promise it anyway. Basically, high volume vehicles such as Camrys and Accords are easier to purchase but not Infiniti, Lexus, Acura, etc. Now I am trying to buy another vehicle and it's CD price is listed as a "Target Price." Read their gobbledygook on what this means--basically they can't gurantee the price quote. However, it also means they will not provide a broker to work with you. They do route you to a dealer they consider a partner and who will meet the price quote, but invariably when you reach out to these folks they fall back on their old sales tricks ("that car is not available," "we need to factor dealer costs, internet costs," "my manager said I can't do that price after all," blahblahblah). Basically, a "target price" quoted by CD is an amount you can more reliably obtain through Edmunds, Kelley Blue Book, or by researching the vehicle's invoice price. CarsDirect only provides you with the price to lure you into their dealership arrangements. In summary, if you're looking for a family sedan or another common model, carsdirect can get it for you at price quoted, but it will be a sloppy process and you may slip through the cracks, then they will still try to sell you a bunch of stuff you don't need. Try to purchase a less popular seller, or conversely, a luxury or high demand vehicle of the moment, and you will only create aggravation for yourself. Me personally, I dont see much value in dealing with carsdirect anymore. Also note, a few years ago CD had to settle a class action suit alleging they were secretly listening to customer conversations without notifying the customer. So if you have to use this service, be paranoid.
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Replying to: jag17 (Mar 17, 2007 9:20 pm) And, similiarly, you cannot be obligated to buy for more than the stated price. tidester, host SUVs and Smart Shopper |
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Hi forum - I wanted to post my experience for others since I had read many reviews here when doing my research. After some trepidation, I decided to use carsdirect.com to buy a new 07 Honda Pilot (LX front wheel drive). The local dealership was full of smarmy salesmen who had just gotten to my last nerve (for instance, instead of taking my word as final, they started calling my husband! as if my decision was not firm enough- ARGH. And one of them actually quoted me a price that included an "11% sales tax" - what??? do they think I'm so stupid that I don't know that the state sales tax is 7.75%?) Anyway, I'd been window-shopping here at Edmunds for months, waiting for a low APR or some kind of special on the Pilot. I checked carsdirect and was flabbergasted by the price that showed up ($23,134 vs. Edmunds TMV of $26,000ish for my Southern California zip code). I immediately decided to give carsdirect a try- they clearly had access to knowledge about a short term special pricing on Honda trucks and SUVs that no one else had - including Edmunds). So I started the process at 11 pm on Thursday night. The next morning, I received an email and a phone call from my carsdirect liaison. He confirmed the model, trim, and color, and price that I wanted. He called back within an hour to say that he'd found the exact car from a dealership about 120 miles away. A few emails and phone calls later (to take car of tasks like copies of insurance, licenses, registrations, odometer readings on my trade-in, etc), he told me that my Pilot would be shipped to me (for FREE!) on a specific day and time. Then the weekend hit - I admit I was worried. The entire process was utterly surreal. I had done nothing more than email an "I agree" to Carsdirect. I had not written a check nor made any kind of deposit. Was my car really going to show up? My carsdirect person did not work on the weekend so I could not call him and confirm that a car was on the way. Meanwhile, I knew the special pricing was going to expire on the following Monday. If it all fell through, I was going to have to return to the dealership to get a Pilot. But Monday rolled around and I was able to confirm my purchase with my carsdirect person. Also, the dealership that was actually selling me the car (via carsdirect) called to try to sell me an extended warranty. That was when I really knew that I had actually purchased a vehicle! Tuesday, the delivery day, arrived- and so did my Pilot! Right on time. It was shiny from being recently detailed, full of gas, and had all of three miles on it. The driver unloaded my Pilot and loaded my 12-year-old Civic (with 140,000 miles and a big dent in the side- did I mention that I got exactly what I wanted out of that trade-in?). The driver, an amiable retired car mechanic who was outsourced by the dealership, walked me through the paperwork. 45 minutes later, he left. That was that. I won't be going to a dealership again if I have the option of buying a car online. This was EASY. And I saved almost $3K. The price never changed from what I initially saw at the carsdirect website. There were NO extra fees or brokers' costs. Carsdirect found me the financing I wanted at the rate that I expected. They also took care of my trade-in. There were just three things I'd advise a consumer to watch out for: 1) the carsdirect salesperson is not a car expert. S/he is merely the broker. Don't expect the zeal and/or knowledge of a dealership salesperson from a carsdirect person. For me, this was welcome. 2) The carsdirect salesperson is working with a checklist of items - get her/him to give you this list upfront. Several times, I'd complete a "step" only to be told something like, "and now we need you to email copies of yours and your husband's licenses and insurance cards to us." Well, that can be difficult if my 6-month-old is crying and my husband is at work. It would have been much easier if I'd known to have those things ready ahead of time. 3) Be very clear about your down payment and your financing terms. My carsdirect person didn't ask me how much I wanted to put down or how long I wanted my loan term to be. I got the feeling that he assumed I'd be putting down nothing and okay with a 60-month loan. Luckily, I had read online reviews that strongly advised others to be proactive about this very issue. So I did say exactly how much I wanted to put down and then I said what I wanted my loan term to be. Other than that, I'd recommend carsdirect to anyone. I should close by saying that I did take the carsdirect low price to two other local dealerships. They came within $600 bucks of it. But then they wanted to hassle me about my trade-in. In general, they fed me sob stories about commissions and all that... who has the time for all that excessive emotional labor???? Not me. But, just in case carsdirect did fall through, I wanted to have a back-up plan. So I had the dealerships email me their quotes. That made me feel a lot better over that long weekend when I was unable to talk to my carsdirect person. Mary
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Replying to: marynator (May 02, 2007 8:39 am) My initial e-mail was quickly acknowledged the next day. I then faxed my driver's license/proof of insurance/$500 deposit to CD. A few days later, a brand new AV6 6M was mine. Like Mary, I found the dealer was sort of a pain. For example $2800 (ultimately modified to $1800)..........for a HondaCare Extended Warranty. No way. Much later I went online and for about $585 Hondacura.com sent me an EW (6y80k) from upstate New York. CD is OK in my book. ...cheers.... ..ez..
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