X-Plan Pricing vs Costco Program Pricing

[garymkrieg]

Has anyone compared these two programs?

 

 

[Leoman]

We just used compared the two on a 2014 Fusion Energi and the Costco price was better, but you have to take from dealer stock - no trades. The X price allowed the dealer to get the vehicle but it was about $1,000 more. Of course it depends on the model and the year so it's worth comparing. The held true 3 years ago with the purchase of a Focus. Either way it was pretty easy.

[keith705]

Ford's plan pricing is set by Ford and the price is guaranteed to be the same for the same vehicle regardless of the dealership.

 

Costco is an advertising medium for dealerships with no official third party regulations so the pricing is set by the participating dealer, not by Costco. You have no guarantee of paying the advertised price, additional fees may be added and the dealer has no requirement to give you that price for trades or factory orders. If you do some shopping around you will often find the Costco member price is the same price quoted through a variety of sources, especially in more competitive markets. Treat it like a negotiation tool with the old, "can you beat this price?" approach. You can take it to any dealer, regardless of their participation in Costco's program, and likely get the same result.

 

Think of it from a "peace of mind" vs. "negotiation" standpoint. X-Plan pricing through Ford will get you a good price with very little to worry about, however it is possible to negotiate a price lower than X-Plan pricing and it will just cost you time and effort. You'll have to place your own value on what that is worth to you to decide if it's a better deal in the end.

[mwr]

Think of it from a "peace of mind" vs. "negotiation" standpoint. X-Plan pricing through Ford will get you a good price with very little to worry about, however it is possible to negotiate a price lower than X-Plan pricing and it will just cost you time and effort. You'll have to place your own value on what that is worth to you to decide if it's a better deal in the end.

Any experience in how much difference there is between the two prices?

[keith705]

Any experience in how much difference there is between the two prices?

 

That's going to depend on a lot of things but in most cases the difference will probably be less than $500 (usually more like $1-200) unless you find a dealer that is blowing out old inventory.

[acdii]

You can do better with True Car pricing, and forget all the haggling. Unless you know you can get invoice pricing from the dealer, the Truecar site has the best pricing I have seen.

[BiXLL]

You can do better with True Car pricing, and forget all the haggling. Unless you know you can get invoice pricing from the dealer, the Truecar site has the best pricing I have seen.

True Car is better pricing then X Plan? I qualify for X Plan and thought that would be the best way for me to go???

[TonyHzNV]

You can do better with True Car pricing, and forget all the haggling. Unless you know you can get invoice pricing from the dealer, the Truecar site has the best pricing I have seen.

 

I actually took a True Car pricing printout for a 2015 HyTi equipped EXACTLY the same as one on the lot and asked my salesman to look up the invoice for that particular car, and invoice was right at $1000 more. He told me "True car is pretty good. I can't beat that." I believe that. The True Car printout had 3 different dealers on it (with distance from my home) with each of their prices, so it was pretty easy to know which dealer was which. On the printout they're just listed as dealer 1, 2 & 3.

[acdii]

I used it a lot the past two years researching the best prices, especially when I wrecked the Flex and had to replace it. With it I was able to determine the best price on the MKT, and was able to find one that was actually below that price out of state. I think the pricing on it is fairly accurate and take a lot of the guess work out of buying a car.

[GrySql]

Using True Car I made the mistake of going one step too far in the True Car online procedures when looking for a Flex and my info was sent to three local Dealers.

Man, I was jumped on by about 10 different salespeople, calls and email, and had to get them to back down.

Then I had the Dealer's Internet Sales Managers email me to ask why I'd done that and wasted everyone's time.

 

Be careful how much info you provide when you're searching.

[acdii]

Agreed, did the same thing myself on a car I really didn't want, was just looking on pricing. I still get email from them.