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Smart Shopper CarsDirect.com experiences
753 messages, Last post on Jun 09, 2009 at 1:18 PM
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Replying to: jag17 (Mar 17, 2007 9:20 pm) I live in No. California and discovered that I could save over a grand by buying in L.A. Since I travel there several times a year to visit friends and family, it's actually almost a convenience to buy the car there. With the first purchase, buying in LA was actually suggested by the CD rep as a way to bring the price down. But with the more recent purchase, the dealer told me that they'd have to have a local address before they could sell me a car; apparently the dealers got fed up with "geographic shoppers" like me. It still wasn't a problem because I gave them my friend's address and they still allowed me to register the car at my home address. The 2000 delivery was amazing. Sales rep picked us up at the airport and drove us to the dealership. He gave us a great overview of the car on the way and then made it clear that if we didn't want the car for ANY REASON, we could walk out the door because he was going to get his commission from CD regardless whether we changed our mind or not. The 2005 purchase involved more of the typical dealer-like shenanigans. "Gosh, sorry, but I can't find your car without a nav system." I pushed back, hard. "OK, we'll give you the nav system at dealer cost." I agreed but then, "Oops, the car we found has a dealer-installed walnut trim package and it'll be an extra $500." I pushed back, real hard this time. After a supposed talk with the manager, "OK, OK, we'll eat the cost of that." The day before we picked up the car, "Hey...good news! We just found another car WITHOUT that walnut trim you didn't want so you'll get the car just the way you wanted it!" I suspect that some of the variations between the dealer experience may well have been what you'd find anyway between Lexus (consumer-friendly) and Jaguar (typical dealer slimeballs). I reported my dissatisfaction on the bait-and-switch tactics to CD following my purchase. Hope this helps provide another perspective on CD. Bob |
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Replying to: Car_man (Nov 29, 2001 10:19 am)
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Replying to: habramowski (Jun 14, 2007 8:40 am) |
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Replying to: habramowski (Jun 14, 2007 8:40 am) We do re-start discussions once the number of posts reaches an unwieldy number, but just over 700 posts in 8 years? Nah. Readers are welcome to start perusing posts at whatever point suits them. |
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Replying to: ezshift5 (May 13, 2007 8:30 am) 7 years ago I bought one through CarOrder.com, same concept. The difference is CD is making money while CarOrder threw in $$$ per transaction. Just a data point.
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Replying to: tmxl (Jul 10, 2007 12:50 pm)
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Replying to: nortsr1 (Jul 11, 2007 5:19 am) I was disappointed. Clearly she didn't send anything back to me and didn't want to. Besides, what prevented them from calling me directly? Overall, not a pleasant experience. I won't be going back to them anytime soon. However, this story DOES have a happy ending. I got a great deal from a local Honda dealer who matched the CD's 'target price' and more! |
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Replying to: marynator (May 02, 2007 8:39 am) Women have to really be strong when it comes to dealerships; this is why I'd just as soon not deal with them. They truly think you're stupid and dare you to get mad at them. Evil. Anyway, thanks for the detail on your purchase, you bought a good brand of car that's not likely to give you any trouble soon. I'm adding this to the information bank of alternatives to traditional car purchasing. Frankly, I'd use bank or credit union financing over anything the Internet or the dealer had to offer. I'd like a service like that where I could say, I've got the cashier's check ready to fill in, get me my car. Seems like a lot of potential problems stem from things that aren't related to buying the car, such as servicing the car and financing the car. But I think financing should be done before the search even begins, just like for a house. |
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Replying to: marynator (May 02, 2007 8:39 am) |
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First place I go is carsdirect to get a reference on a price. I also check invoice very closely including any rebates. But I have not used it yet. Since I seem to be able to beat the prices on toyotas localy by about 500-750 bucks less then CD. Remember CD marks up the prices and some dealers just want to unload more cars at lower prices. But CD is great reference. One thing, I haven't read the agreement at CD but I am assuming that when you have the car delivered to the dealership they charge the dealer fee which is usually about $600.00 on top of the price you deal with. Or does CD include all fees in their price? Also if you go pick up the car and it has a scratch or something cosmetic how do you get that repaired/replaced etc. Does the dealer deal with it? |
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