Members of this national organization can take advantage of the AAA car buying program through certified dealers, some of which also offer additional discounts. Membership is required to use the car buying program, and depending on which regional club you belong to, there may be a fee to use the program. AAA members who bought a new car from a certified dealer in 2021 saved an average of $1,707.
Aarp Auto Buying Program
AAA will negotiate member pricing for you, and with the tedious work of haggling out of the equation, you can contact the dealer to take the car for a test drive or have it delivered to your driveway to test or purchase. Keep in mind that certified dealers set their own pricing, even with the AAA auto buying program.
AAA also offers a variety of other auto-related benefits that AARP does not, such as discounted insurance, auto loans and an auto buying program. AARP's auto club does have an affiliation with auto insurance through the Hartford and Allstate insurance companies, and has some vehicle repair benefits, but does not have as many vehicular-related benefits as does AAA.
I used the Costco car buying program. I was given a dollar amount for the car and trim level I chose on the Costco car buying website. It stated that I would get that price or a better deal from the dealership However, when I went to the BMW dealership, I did not get a price from them. I test drove a vehicle and was not ready to buy because I wanted to look at different vehicles from other manufacturers before I made a decision. So, I never found out what they would sell the car to me and they did not have a car with the specs that I wanted and could not find it in the whole US.
I found the car I liked at a local Kalamazoo, MI dealership and called the Costco auto program number and registered. I got a call from the Costco authorized dealer in Elkhart, Indiana some sixty miles away in another state! So much for their membership buyer program, it was absolutely worthless! I would have traveled to a neighboring city with a dealership, but not sixty miles. Their program is an insult to members who pay a premium to obtain their membership.
Do your own negotiating. I used the costco auto program to set up two dealer visits in search of a mid size sedan with an MSRP of $26,100. The first dealer gave me a $1,200 discount off the MSRP, which I thought was a joke. The second dealer gave me a $2,600 discount off the MSRP, which I thought was OK.
Then, I went to a third dealer on my own (not in the costco auto program) for the same car/same options. I did let the salesman know that I had been shopping though the costco program and their first offer was very close to the $2,600 off. After about 90 minutes of back and forth negotiations, I bought the car at $5,000 off the MSRP. And, they added 5 years of free oil changes.
Do your homework and play their game. They really, really want you to buy their car. Use their motivation against them and to your advantage. And, let them know you are willing to go to another dealer to see their offer.
@ernesto read my previous comment about the Lexus. The Costco program is useless for luxury brands. I happened to have a good experience with it buying a toyota, but most of the comments in here, suggests the program being pretty lame, and nothing more than a referral program without any real substance to it.
The program has benefits that many people think make it well worth the extra steps. If you are someone who wants a no-hassle, easy car-buying experience, the program could be a great option for you. Many of the trappings of the dealership experience are stripped away and you only have to focus on getting the car you want and driving away happy.
When you shop for a car at a dealership, you will also most likely have to deal with things like high-pressure sales techniques and haggling. If you are someone who does not like these kinds of tactics, the auto buying program may be the right choice for you. Costco does all the negotiations for prices before the cars are listed and the price that you are offered is the price you are going to pay.
The low-pressure nature of buying a car through the auto program also opens you up to options you might not otherwise consider. Since the inventory is held by authorized dealer contacts, you can scale down your search to cars that are available in your area. This lets you choose from cars that you might not have known would be a good fit and go give them a test drive at your convenience.
Where the auto program shines, though, is in its quality control. Most vehicles sold through the program go through inspections and repairs that can help you feel confident that you are getting a high-quality vehicle. Many of the participating dealers also offer select pre-owned and factory-certified cars, many of which will still have the factory warranty or an extended warranty offered by the automaker.
Costco also takes all of these things into account when they are working on the pricing for the vehicles. This lets you take advantage of these incentives without having to fight for them at the dealership. Because of this, the buying process with the auto program is much more convenient while still saving you money.
For the most part, the auto program is for people who want the least amount of haggling and are not comfortable with the traditional car-buying experience at a dealership. If you feel like you are good at working out a deal, you may be able to get a lower price on your own and may even get more for your money in the long run.
If you are not interested in purchasing your car through the program but still like the idea of buying your car online, there are other options available to you. As innovations and changes happen in the auto dealing industry, there are going to be some companies that offer better deals and better services than others. Knowing which companies you can use to get similar services to the Costco Auto Program can help you choose one that fits your needs and budget.
Your car is likely to be one of your largest investments, which is why it's often best to use a car-buying service in order to become a more informed buyer and to make the normally painful experience of buying a new vehicle more automated, efficient, and low-pressure.
Similar to being a AAA member, you can check out the many car buying services that are available on the associated website. Members can price a new or used car and connect with a local dealer to get discount pricing upfront. If you do go ahead and end up purchasing a vehicle through their program it is recommended that you report this purchase on their website. By doing so will get you a free online driving course and up to $2,000 in post-sale benefits. Visit: AARP Auto Buying
Most credit unions offer some form of car buying services for their members. Some credit unions even offer additional savings if an auto loan is taken out after using the service. The biggest benefit of going to credit unions is that financing is most likely going to be better as well.
Good afternoon and how're you doin? My name is Grantland Rice and I'm avolunteer with AARP, Dallas Area regional office and on behalf of DCCCD and AARP,I'm here to present to you a presentation on fraud that deals specifically withveterans, military and family. Fraud within a veteran community has become an issueas of late because people understand and know that veterans have a tendency to lookout for one another and they care for each other. So there's a lot of things goingon in the world today where people are out there to basically take advantage ofveterans. So what I plan to do is just to give you a brief overview of some of theissues and problems and things that are going on in the veteran community just to,hopefully, help make you aware so that you will know what to expect and what tolook for. A lot of you may say, well, why is AARP interested in veterans and fraud?Well, AARP has over 4 million members that are current or former military. They'vealso found that through surveys, more veterans have lost more money,. 16% to scamsthan non-veterans, which are 8%, during the past five years. Also, AARP has a FraudWatch Network, survey, excuse me, a fraud watch network that does both veterans andnon-veterans. We collect data from basically around the continental US. A lot of itis driven by input from members, non-members who report and things of that nature.So without further ado, I'm just going to go ahead and get on into it and go fromthere. Okay. Today we're gonna talk about scams that target veterans, how toprotect yourself, and also maybe at the end have a little discussion which may bekind of hard to do in a virtual environment. Next slide, please. So, what are someof the ways veterans are targeted? Ok. Just look at it like this here. I'm prettysure there are some of you out there who knows somebody who had been targeted forscam or fraud or have been involved in it yourself and actually been targetedyourself. And so the number is astronomical. If you put ten people in a roomtogether, and if I ask this question, you might be surprised at the number of handsthat would get raised and they either were victims of fraud or scam or know someonewho was targeted. Next slide, please. So what are the top scams that we face beinga veteran? Please understand, I'm a victim, myself. Some of our top scams creditcard scams, which 75% of veterans surveyed, and this was from the survey that AARPdid in 2017, along with the postal service. So 75% of veterans say the main issuesare credit card scams. Also tech support scams, which is at 74% Travel scams,charity scams and credit repair scams. Why go after the veteran population? Becausethere's a lot of people feel and believe that Veterans and Military, they thinkthat we have deep pockets, which we really do not. Next slide, please. So. Some ofour top scams that they've seen is when they are contacting asking you to donatemoney to support your fellow veterans or take advantage of say, like a littleknown.government program for military that could result in lots of cash, or dothings say like get a free back brace, arm brace, knee brace, neck brace. Orthey'll say, to improve your terms like your VA loan or purchasing cremationservices. Just to expand on that a little bit, then, donate money to support yourfellow veterans is a big one because they know veterans are a pretty tight-knitcommunity and we're always willing to try to help one another. They may come upwith some scheme, some scam say, Hey, you know, this venture needs help or we havethis program, this program, and you donate this, this and this, this is what we cando, where the money never goes to a veteran. It actually goes into the pockets ofthe scammer. And little-known government programs and the military that couldresult in lots of cash. That's where they all say, You may see ads on TV, saying,Well, if you're a military and you send us this information or wire us this money,we guarantee you we can do XYZ, we can get you to a 100%. We can do all these greatthings for you that you do not know about. How to get a free back brace, arm braceor knee brace. You've probably seen those on some of the Medicare for commercialshere. They guarantee you that they can get you this at no cost to you, but ofcourse they want you to wire them some money or give them some type of information.Improve the terms and your VA loan. You'll see those running and the only ones whocan really improve the terms of your VA loan is between you and the lender who youhave your loan through. And another big one is purchasing of cremation services ata discount. It will say, yeah, we'll give you this discount because you've been aninfantryman and this and that and the other. Please don't get this confused. Thereare funeral homes out there that do cremation services, That will give youdiscounts if you're a veteran. But that's totally dependent upon them. But ifsomebody is trying to contact you, sending you something in the mail and callingyou offering you this service, the chance is nine out of ten it's probably notlegit. Okay. So what are some of the tactics that scammers use, I mean, withtechnology comes more opportunity, more accessibility to scam people. So of course,one of the biggest ones is the cell phones now, where they'll use your cell phonecalling you. Constantly trying to solicit money from you or things of that nature,or also email scams and pfishing. where they'll send you emails trying to make theemail address look as good as it can close to like a dot gov, or something from theVA, something legitimate, hoping that you'll open it, thinking it's from alegitimate agency and provide the information. So when you're doing these things,you just need to be aware. The good thing I can say about the phone scams now isthat a lot of cell phone companies out there have built-in these new blockingtechniques where, at least on my phone, it automatically recognizes this calls as ascam and it will automatically boot them to a scam folder that is already set upfor me. The next slide, please. The other one, robo calls, we get them all the timeevery day. 48 billion robo calls received in the US in 2018 alone. And nearly halfhave been scam calls. Now are all robo calls bad? No, because some doctors offices,various businesses and stuff will use robo calls to remind you of appointments andthings of this nature. But like as far as now with the phone that I have, I canonly speak for my phone, certain robo calls will come in it will automaticallyalert me and say, possible scam. And I just have a little Block sign that I hit. Itwill shut it off and I get them no more. But you have to be very, very aware that,yes, robo calls are out there. They exist and they will continue to come at you asveterans for lack of a-- on the simple reason that you may get more money out ofyour pocket. Next slide, please. The other one you have is a benefit buyout. Thisis where they offer you cash up front in iexchange for your future disability orpension payments. Basically, what AARP says is consider these carefully. You'retypically gonna get a fraction, a whole lot less of the value of your money thanwhat your benefits of worth. In other words, saying you're, you get benefits at $25thousand. Just use that as a number. They'll say, well okay, well we can get youthis and this, but we can get you $35 thousand, but we want you to basically signover all your benefits to us. Well, when you end up doing that, you'll figure itout that what you're giving them is a whole lot more, way more than what they'regiving you. Not only that, doing something like this, if an effect you down theroad as far as Medicare, Medicaid, and other types of benefits that you may beeligible for. If you have a concern, are worried about it. There's a number rightthere you can call, it's 800 827 1000 or you can go to benefits.va.gov /pension.And there you can find and get all the information you need in relation to this.Basically when it comes down to your pension, somebody out there is offering tohelp you do it. And if it's not the VA, just tell them, Thank you. But no, thankyou. Try the website and call the 800 number. And the next slide is another one,the investment pension. That's where shady investors want to overhaul yourinvestment holdings to claim additional government benefits. Okay, you can also goonline to www.benefits.va.gov/benefits, to get credible information. Companies outthere who are trying to take your money, they're going to do anything andeverything they can to get your money out of your hands. So like I said earlier,they're gonna make their websites, they're gonna make their presentations. They'regoing to make everything seem like it is so legitimate and up and up, that it isthrough the VA or whatever governmental agency it is, when it really isn't. Okay.And according to the federal trade commission, basically what these guys do, theyconvince you to transfer their assets to a trust or invest in insurance products sothey can qualify for aid and attendance. Most veterans out there who know, who havebeen in the system, who know anything about the VA, knows that in order to get aidand attendance, you have to apply for it through the VA. There are certain steps,certain procedures. Certain things that you have to meet to even be able to qualifyfor aid and attendance. So outside agencies saying they can help you, some may belegitimate, but the best part and the easiest way to do it, is just going to the VAitself. And that way you can avoid a whole lot of deceitful practices. Next slide,please. The fake government programs. You can see this all the time. A little-knowngovernment program for veterans that can result in big cash. Don't believe it. Findout about it. Once again, there'sthe website benefits.va.gov/benefits and all of the VA, these websites, they'repacked with a lot of information, quite a bit of information. And they will tellyou, yes, no, whatever the case may be, you know There you may run into somefriends or some individuals who may have went through one of these programs andsay, well, it worked for me and this and that and the other. I'm not saying that itdidn't, but to be on the safe side, stick with the VA and go through them forbasically anything you'd get on the Veterans. And next slide, please. The VeteransChoice Program this year has been changed. Now is called a Veterans CommunityProgram. And what it is is just a program where if the VA cannot provide you healthcare in a timely manner or you live in a rural area or your so many miles away fromthe VA, it gets you setup to where you can receive your health care providerthtough a contract that they have with the VA. What if we had paid for it? Therewould be people who will call who would say they are representatives, and they'reauthorized to sign you up in the Veterans Choice Program and things of that nature.NO, they're not! The only ones who are authorized to get you into this program arewith the VA. And you have the phone number there, 866-606-8198. There's also, youcan go online to Veterans Choice Program or just type in VA Veterans ChoiceProgram. And it will come up. Click on it and it will lay out a criteria for you.But as far as somebody calling you saying that they can get you into this program,no, because more than likely they're going to ask you for some type of monetarydonation. And next slide, please. Charging for records. Okay. Basically, this iswhere scammers attempt to charge for access to your DD 214 or whatever forms. Well,we pretty much know as veterans that DD 214, you can go on to the VA. You canactually go into the VA, have them order it for you, get it mailed to you. Or, andyou can also go online at the website there in a NASDVA.us /links.aspx and you canrequest a copy of a DD 214 and they will mail it to you for free. You should neverhave to pay for your DD 214. I tell people from past experience, also when you geta copy, excuse me, of your DD 214, take it down to your county tax, county taxoffice assessor's office. And you can actually have it logged in, stored, and theywill keep a legitimate copy on file in case, if you misplace it, you can always gothere and get another copy. It may cost you a little fee but at least you stillhave access to it. But if anybody's trying to charge you to get your medicalrecords and military personnel records, any type of record for the military. Andthey said they can do it, but it's going to cost you, you need to leave them alonebecause, no, that is not true. You have access to that information and it is free.And next slide, please. The GI Bill. They use, of course, deceptive marketingtactics that get you to attend expensive for-profit schools. You can use a tool tolocate or determine your benefits. And if you've seen the website there, I will notgo all the way in to it and you can also go to vba.va.gov. If you'r