Positive: Costco has recommended RV dealers?

[SailorSam20500]

We got a mailing from our current RV dealer (Westland Camping Center) who we like.

Their message said that they were the "recommended towable RV dealer" in our area. I didn't know that Costco had recommended RV dealers! The ad went on to say that they had specific pricing options for Costco members...

Has anyone else gone thru Costco to buy an RV???

[bikendan]

Never heard of this.

[Beachbourbon]

Never heard of this x2

[rjshiflet]

Looks legit...


https://www.costcoauto.com/rv/

[Tapex]

Very interesting....

[formerFR]

their basically just paying for an 'advertisement' thru Costco, and provide a slight discount to Costco members who buy thru them... it's just advertising - it doesn't make them a 'better' dealer than others, or even cheaper.

[TeachTexas]

The Costco program is operated by Affinity Auto Program, it is not Costco. It is offered by many organizations as a member perk under different names. My credit union offers the same program. They get a fee from Affinity for each member that buys through the service.

[aceinspp]

Have not heard of it here and our Costco does not advertise it. Later RHD

[KEN9XL]

Thank you for the information. I have never seen this advertised in any of their brochures or fliers.

Just out of curiosity, I must check out this site at https://www.costcoauto.com/rv/

[pgandw]

Originally Posted by formerFR

their basically just paying for an 'advertisement' thru Costco, and provide a slight discount to Costco members who buy thru them... it's just advertising - it doesn't make them a 'better' dealer than others, or even cheaper.

If it's an official Costco program (looks like it's not), dealers/contractors go through a multi-year vetting process to be able to sell direct to Costco members.

Given the build quality of most RVs, I would be very surprised to see Costco sponsor an RV sales program. The quality and warranty issues would take away from the Costco brand.

In our area, home improvement contractors selling through Costco are vetted and have to show a consistent highly-rated customer experience over several years. We've had central air, wood floors, and now carpeting installed through Costco contractors and have been highly satisfied. The mandatory discounts in the program bring a higher quality for HD/Lowe's prices.

just our experiences
Fred W

[leftyneil]

If Costco recommends Camping World, RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN!

[Waukesharvr]

Its the same site we used to get a discount when we bought our tow vehicle a couple of years ago, they offered a pretty good discount but we also had a relative that works for that particular auto company and were able to use their family discount which ended up close to but less than the discount through Costco. So Costco was competitive. As a test the dealer tried to use both but it got kicked out - darn.

[UT_Grandpa]

I bought a car this year through the Costco Auto program. Easiest buy I have ever made. One price, no dickering, a couple hundred given back for parts/service purchases at the dealer. Prices and final cost was below other dealers in town with their "best price".

Good follow-up from the dealer and Costco.

Costco offers buying programs for ATVs, snowmobiles, motorcycles, and RV's. It costs nothing to try it out.

[Delco Bobby]

No guarantee you will get a better price than what you can negotiate yourself. If you don’t like the sales process it could help buyers from paying too much.

I used the service to buy a truck last spring. The particular dealer only had a few trucks in stock and nothing suitable for me. Just wanted a nice half ton, nothing special. Salesman offered to find what I wanted but I was not going to commit without driving the truck. Little follow up and unreturned calls and email. So much for “vetting.’’

I sold Chevys in the 70’s. When I was fairly new when a guy came in with one of those buyer deals. There were at least a dozen outfits offering these deals as incentive to join clubs or such. I asked my manager the procedure. He told me to proceed as I normally would. NO DIFFERENCE.

BTW, bought my truck theusual way and with a little bit of negotiating I did better than the COSTCO deal.

One good perk for COSTCO is that they were offering a significant credit to use in the COSTCO store if you bought a vehicle through their program. That was enticing.

[JMC7310]

Wonder if the Costco easy return policy works here? Walk in,show them your card at the service counter and toss them the keys. "The observation camera is a bit fuzzy,I want to return this". LOL!

[bigrez]

So i tried to use the Costco program to purchase our 2018 FR 2906ws. We had done a ton of research and this was the make and model we wanted.

Contacted Costco and spoke with them. They took our info and said we'd get a list of the three closest dealers that sell that unit. (Know that in many areas, dealers have exclusive rights to sell certain brands/models.) Costco said when we get there and find one we like, we'll get a no-haggle Costco price sheet. Sounds good to me.

So for the one we wanted, the closest SoCal dealer was about 90 min away. Contacted them and said we're with the Costco program and the specific TT we wanted. Set up an appt to go see it for the following week.

We arrived but the guy we were dealing with was off that day so we had to work with someone else. He began showing us several "similar" models. I had to stop him and say we're only interested in the one. Finally got to see it and it was perfect. Chatted a bit about it and then went in to see the numbers.

Initial price they quoted was a little less than msrp. I reminded them I'm with the costco program and asked to see the Costco price sheet. He grabbed another blank worksheet and scratched some numbers on it. That's the costco price sheet? He said their system was down but these are the right numbers. I didn't think so.

Thre price was ridiculous and i was about to leave when he said if we don't go through the costco program he could do a little better. He knocked another $2,500 off the price. I said thanks and walked away.

I kept the option/price list and found the exact one elsewhere, about 700 miles away, for over $11,000 less that this place's lowest price, even after the cost of travel. That's the one we bought.

I contacted costco about this and they said the costco price should be the lowest price and what that dealer did want right. 7 months later and that dealer is still being recommended by the costco program.

Had the trailer a little over a year now and only minor issues so far, all but one corrected quickly under warranty by a local dealer.