How much did you pay for your Taco through Costco Auto?

Hi all,

I’m trying to figure out the best way for me to buy my 2020.

I live in Hawaii on the Big Island with only one Toyota dealership on Island that adds $1500 to the MSRP on all cars because of ‘Market adjusted value’. On top of that there are no Toyota rebates or cash deals because it’s a Toyota Pacific dealership and not a Toyota USA dealership.

I can get the Costco deal but over here it is a flat rate of $1500 over invoice. I’ve possibly heard that mainland dealers are more like $1000 under invoice and you get Toyota rebate and cash deals.

It costs $1500 to ship a car over here from the mainland.

Let me know what sort of deals you have got from dealers and what the Costco price was/is...

Cheers!

 

Sounds like a no brainer. If you can wait the month or so for the barge, and want to save 2 grand after expenses, find the cheapest Tacoma in the entire United States and ship-er. Insure it and get whatever damage fixed before you sign off.

Source: Bought a 2009 Jetta TDi from Pennsylvania, shipped it to Washington, flew down from Alaska and drove it back up... In 3 days.... In January...

Fck all those "market adjusted values". Drove it over 3 years and only sold for ~3k loss.


Bonus, you get to play the game with all the Toyota US regions. Different options/colors available as well as different rebates, ect.
Pick 2 dealers in each state, as well as some random ones from threads on here from satisfied customers and make a throwaway new email and start sending emails...

Source: Guy who emailed ~60 of the closest dealers and ~10 in random states in locations I wouldn't mind a vacation to fly and pickup the truck at lol. That buying strategy legit works if your organized enough. That 8 hours I spent juggling dealers saved me $2k over what my nearest 10 dealers could offer.

Last edit: forgot you actually wanted the Costco program. I tried it, got nowhere. Gave my local dealer two chances actually. Email through strategy as well as contacted through Costco auto. Took too long to even respond (end of next day), by then I already had 3k off the best they could do.

Ironically, ended up with my truck that was an across state lines dealer trade from a dealer about 30 miles away from me. Still had the local places' window oil change sticker haha. Oh well, got it with 21 miles on the clock. (my reluctance to get one with more than 3 miles had them knock a final $200 off lol).

 

I would try buy private party.

Or come to Oahu, buy your truck and then ship it to BI for like $400 through young brothers

 

Just like you mentioned we were quoted $1000 under invoice with the Costco dealer (another closer dealer actually slightly beat that so we went with them over the Costco dealer) this was in 2016 and not Hawaii obviously.

 

My 2019 a month ago was 1300 under invoice and I got another 750 off. I'm in San Diego.

 

My experience with costco auto was not all that appealing - was easy to find better prices myself. I think they offer this for folks that want some discount and no work.

 

Yep, Servco offer deals which works out to be near the same as the Costco deal here. Looking at it, I might only save $500-$1000 if I buy from Mainland. not sure if all the time and hassle is worth it...

 

There is another small perk using the Costco program. Once you make your purchase, you call the Costco rep, and give them some info from the transaction, and they send you a coupon good for 50% off a purchase from the dealer good for up to $200.00. I used mine to order seat covers, but you could also use it for service or whatever you like. In addition to that, every purchase at the dealer is 15% off just from being a Costco member.

Another poster stated that there are better deals to be had besides Costco. I was thinking this myself. I decided to have a pleasurable experience rather than going that route. The dealer near me does not have a great reputation and I really just didn't want the headache. I ended up getting mine for just under sticker OTD. I'm sure other people in other areas are able to do better.

 

What would I do? Purchase a Tacoma in CA for $5-7k under msrp and have it shipped to Hawaii.

 

$5-7 under! I imagine that price wouldn't be happening on new 2020's

 

This is an old thread, I know, but perhaps my post will encourage someone to try the Costco Auto route to save thousands on a new Tacoma like I did!

I researched dealers in various states and haggled with them to try to find the lowest price possible on a 2019 Tacoma DCLB TRD off-road. I had the best success when I got Costco Auto involved. This was my first time using the program and it was rather straightforward. I specced out the exact truck with options that I wanted on the Costco Auto website, and added a zipcode for an area where I would like to purchase. The next day I had a dealer call me with the Costco pricing (total cost of the vehicle) which Costco pre-negotiates with Costco approved dealerships. The price varies per region, so I tried a few different states to find the lowest price. Once I found the lowest price, I actually used the Costco pricing that I was quoted at one dealership to negotiate with other dealerships that did not participate in the Costco Auto program. I even tried negotiating with my local dealer in Montana, but they would not budge on the price, so I told them I was going out of state to buy my Taco and I "may" go back to them for routine maintenance.

Anyway, I wound up getting my Tacoma with an MSRP of $42,228 for $36,679 plus a $37.20 filing fee and some other add ons I paid for, and some OEM rubber floor mats thrown in for free. I do not recall what the invoice price is/was. Below is the dealer spec sheet (window sticker pricing) and the dealer's Costco Pricing (price I actually paid). Oh, and the $1,000 manufacturer rebate was in addition to the Costco Discount. This price was more than $3,000 less than my local dealer's price. So my wife and I booked a flight to Denver, CO ($100 each), bought the truck, spent one night in a hotel (less than $200), and then drove back to MT the next day ($$$ for a couple tanks of gas). Additionally, I paid the maximum amount allowed by the dealer by way of credit card (2% cash back on $5,000), so there is another $100 saved. ...paid off the card before interest accrued.

As an added bonus of being a Montana resident, we do not pay sales tax! So no taxes paid on this truck, even though I bought it out of state, because it was being registered in Montana. I know some states like Pennsylvania have a 6% sales tax which would have been $2,200.

DEALER SPEC SHEET:


DEALER'S COSTCO PRICE (WHAT I ACTUALLY PAID):

 

Got mine on the last day of May; MSRP was 44K and they gave me 11% off (not including TTL). For reference I'm in MD.

 

Thats really good. I got a quote from Heritage in Owings Mills for a TRD OR that was about 4% off MSRP through the costco program.

 

I went to Darcars in Silver Spring..although I did work with Heritage in Catonsville alot, but Costco came out on top price-wise.

 

I went through the Costco process for an offer and used that as the starting point to play dealers against each other. Lots of screenshots back and forth and they knew they had to play ball at least once since it was a real offer from Costco. I paid 10% under list for a special order* truck.
*we know that they aren't actually ordered but allocated and you get first dibs, yada yada yada. I got everyhing I wanted, nothing I didn't and my salesman and dealer were great. I regret nothing.

 

Check out freeman Toyota in Santa Rosa. They have the lowest asking prices in the state of California.