Wondering if anyone has used this .com buying service. Serious about buying the wife a new SUV, and they seem to have good prices. Seems easier than sitting at the dealership for a couple of hours and getting nasty with them to get a good price (sigh....no extended warranty pleaseeeee....no alarm.....no protecto-plate.....christ!....six hours later) Did a quick search on the web and have not turned up any buyers experiences about CarsDirect.com. That seems weird since they seem to be everywhere on the web. There should be more out there. Comments on their prices, service, most of all....any experiences with them or first or second hand knowledge of them?
Before you buy her a SUV do a quick google on "SUV rollover". Those things are dangerous time bombs, most have no ESP (stability control, which is more than just traction control, as it not only prevents wheel spin eg in the wet, but also prevents and corrects both under- and oversteer through both reducing engine torque and braking individual wheels as needed), but unfortunately even if they do have ESP it still won't change the laws of physics because of the much higher center of gravity they have. Buy her a nice sports car for the money instead, used Porsche or Ferrari etc I don't like red cars, but hey, that's what a quick search came up with. $39K $42K http://www.dupontregistry.com
My brother-in-law saved thousands on a new Accord purchase by simply using dealership's web sites. Imo there's no need to deal with the above site - just go straight to the dealers in various adjoining states. These requests are generally sent straight to the fleet manager and you avoid all the price haggling crap. Actually, you can haggle a little with them as you can send back an email and say, "Hey, I've got an offer for $500 less from..." According to my brother-in-law, sometimes they will budge a little. But the prices are so good usually that you'll hardly care. He actually bought it from my state and had it "shipped" for just a few hundred dollars. Next time I guy a car, I'm definitely going that route...
Actually a few months back I did contact a dealer using their web site. Their price was over $5000 higher than Cars Direct.com and they wanted to sell me a vehicle with options I had no use for. So that would put me back into the position of haggling, sitting at the dealer, going back and forth a million times, trying to compare apples to oranges option ladden car comparisions, etc. Cars Direct seemed like a way to order just want I want and not have to spend time dicking around with the games dealers play. Just was wondering if anyone has actually used their service....
lol...not exactly what I was looking for. I view a car like one would look at a toaster. Utility value (pretty much). A Ferrari would not work out well for me...need DVD player, have two kids, yellow lab dog, ice cooler, bags of crap, visits to grandpa's house. "Honey, the Ferrari needs a new fuel pump and a tune up....they said it would be $5700!" Been there, done that. I owned a Mercedes for a few years....or rather it owned me! The care and feeding is breath taking! What a POS. Have an Acura with 180k miles and no major problems other than bolt on parts....that is more where I want to be.
Interesting. I'll have to check out the site. His stories - and he contacted many dealers - were all the opposite. They all whupped butt on the dealers in his local area - I know that. Would he have beaten that site? Don't know of course...
And I only contacted one dealer, they shot me back list price pretty much. I was just thinking CarsDirect.com sounded interesting because I could avoid the dealer "experience" all together. I have no idea how CarsDirect actually delivers the car though. Some people relish trying to beat up the dealer and spending a few hours down there, I would rather spend the time doing something else if I can get the same deal.
Well, my brother-in-law did virtually no haggling or dealing with dealers except a few short emails. But let us know if you use carsdirect and how your experience was if you think of it (and if you actually use them of course)...
I will report back...although we are planning July for buying, so it might be awhile. I was trying to do the "legwork" early on about CarsDirect to find out about them. Someone here has to had an experience with them.....I am hopeful about them reporting their experience on this thread.