[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by platinum60

The doc fee at Phillips Toyota is $899.

LOL. The doc fee at Mullinax Ford is zero. So, what is Phillips Toyota doing with the $899?

[midiwiz]

Originally Posted by MikeVillages

Buying a car in Florida.
Please share your advice, experience, the good and bad of buying a new car in Florida.

having been in the state since 2006 we have a few rules -

never buy around here
never buy in orlando
never buy in daytona area
do look in Wesley Chapel/Tampa area
never bother with Ft Lauderdale/Miami area ever.
only deal with actual brand dealers
ALWAYS examine critically only CarFax on cars no other vehicle history.
ALWAYS be ready to walk away from anything.
CPO is the goal, otherwise still within adding extra warranty coverage
never let the F&I guy run the deal.

[MikeVillages]

Originally Posted by platinum60

The doc fee at Phillips Toyota is $899.

Thank you. Greatly appreciate others post the doc fees, which dealership, and approximate date.

[larcha]

Originally Posted by RON S

If you buying a Ford, I know a very good Manager in Sanford. He is really good.
I buy a lot from him and most of the time depending on the car or truck i get invoice or right around there, with not BS fee's

Can you share the name, dealership, etc?

[Bonanza]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

What does Costco do for you? I tried to use the service, but I cannot see that they do anything that is helpful. The people I talked to did not even work for Costco.

Something must have gone wrong with your Costco experience. We recently purchased my new Toyota Highlander through Costco. You are correct . . . you do not speak with Costco personnel regarding their buying program; we did it online. You speak directly with the dealership they recommend you go to, and that is the dealership you must use. I was confused at first, but when I got the hang of how it worked, it was easy. In our case, a local dealer was not recommended, and I'm guessing that was because they do not participate in Costco's program. We went to Courtesy Toyota in Brandon.

The bottom line is that we saved $3,800 by using Costco's program. Not a bad deal for an hour's worth of driving. The plus was our salesman. He was the only car salesman I have ever used in my entire life that I liked! If you want any more details, PM me and I will be happy to respond.

[BettyInFL]

Originally Posted by MikeVillages

Buying a car in Florida.
Please share your advice, experience, the good and bad of buying a new car in Florida.

We recently (during June) purchased a car from Carvana. We were charged $1,000 to have car delivered from Sarasota to Orlando, where we had to drive there to pick up.

KEYS - MAKE SURE you get TWO AUTHENTIC KEYS! Not a 'cloned' version. Since they cloned our second key, our car gets confused and just shuts down (NO KEY DETECTED error) if hubby and I are both carrying our keys. Carvana won't provide a REAL key. Figured out after this cloned key problem that is the CURE for several issues (Like driver 1 and driver 2 features. Since it is cloned, the car can't tell who is who).

Rolled back Odometer. Our 27,000 mile car has 50,000 mile tires which are totally worn. wear and tear in the interior shows up AFTER the 7 days return period. Whatever they used to fill the scratches in the leather show up a couple of weeks later.

We did take to Ford to have things checked out. Carvana initial coverage w
on't cover keys, the super worn out Window Buttons and other issues.

[BrianL99]

At least once a month this thread shows up, with the same folks posting their convoluted process, for saving a few bucks when they buy an automobile ...

These are the same folks who insist on buying a Golf Cart from The Villages and are willing to pay 30%-40% premium for a cart.

I guess $500 saved on an automobile is worth a few hours time, but it's a different story with golf carts for some reaso?

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by BrianL99

At least once a month this thread shows up, with the same folks posting their convoluted process, for saving a few bucks when they buy an automobile ...

These are the same folks who insist on buying a Golf Cart from The Villages and are willing to pay 30%-40% premium for a cart.

I guess $500 saved on an automobile is worth a few hours time, but it's a different story with golf carts for some reaso?

Dealers wouldn't waste their time for $500. My estimate for the price difference between an uniformed buyer and an informed buyer is about $3,000 to $4,000. If you walk into a dealership having done no independent research, that is how much extra you will pay for a typical vehicle.

[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by Bonanza

Something must have gone wrong with your Costco experience. We recently purchased my new Toyota Highlander through Costco. You are correct . . . you do not speak with Costco personnel regarding their buying program; we did it online. You speak directly with the dealership they recommend you go to, and that is the dealership you must use. I was confused at first, but when I got the hang of how it worked, it was easy. In our case, a local dealer was not recommended, and I'm guessing that was because they do not participate in Costco's program. We went to Courtesy Toyota in Brandon.

The bottom line is that we saved $3,800 by using Costco's program. Not a bad deal for an hour's worth of driving. The plus was our salesman. He was the only car salesman I have ever used in my entire life that I liked! If you want any more details, PM me and I will be happy to respond.

Had a similar experience using Sams buying program to buy a Camry. Within about 10 minutes got 4-5 phone calls. Asked for the out the door price and Courtesy beat everyone by about 3000.

Made an appt to buy the car the following weekend.

A Toyota deal in Ocala called a few days later. His price was about 2500 less. Told him not interested unless he got me best price. His suggestion was to go to their dealership walk their lot and might see something at his higher price I liked better.

Asked him if he thought a nearby village lost their idiot and was he looking for him. Conversation soon ended.

[VApeople]

Originally Posted by platinum60

The doc fee at Phillips Toyota is $899.

Six years ago we bought a new Toyota at Phillips. Using the info we found at Edmunds.com, we computed the OTD price that we were willing to pay and they accepted our price.

[Rumplasch]

We shopped ALL the local dealerships for a new car, and decided on a Hyundai Tucson Limited. After six negotiated prices at Jenkins, we decided to go to Holler Hyundai in Winter Park. A salesman (who are paid a salary) showed us the car we wanted and explained everything about it, but the salesman does not give you a price. Another pleasant representative sat down asked some questions about the trade-in vehicle (lease), went outside examined the vehicle. After a few minutes he returned, with the trade-in price (pay-off price of the lease), and the cost of the new vehicle. Lower than Jenkins, and no negotiations or bickering.

[VillagesDude]

Save yourself the time and aggravation calling dealers and trying to negotiate the best price. Call Tomi Mikula at Delivrd He will negotiate for you and will get you a great OTD price. He is not a broker and negotiates for clients about 250 cars a month. Search for Delivrd (that’s the correct spelling of his business) on YouTube to watch his videos. He charges a flat fee of a thousand dollars for his services but it’s well worth it in saving you time and aggravation. I hate car dealerships and the shenanigans they play especially in the finance office. With Delivrd the deal is complete and you spend less than 30 minutes at the dealership simply signing the papers.

[USOTR]

I recently went through the the new car buying process. We owned a 2015 Toyota and wanted to trade for a new one. I did a search via Toyota online and they had 4 dealers reach out to me with offers of the vehicle I wanted. The least wanted 4k over and the highest was 12k over MSRP. The one wanting 12k over had installed $800 worth of running boards, and some other BS paint protection stuff, but again it was 12k over MSRP.

So I purchased a Tesla. No dealerships to charge over MSRP, no high pressure salesman, no pressuring you to purchase options. Just purchase online, and arrange pickup at a service center.

You can test drive one at any service center, and you can schedule an appointment online. While at a service center a technician will be glad to loan you a lap top and show you how to order at Tesla, if you need assistance. If your taking deliver out of stock, the system will locate the Tesla for you and reserve it for your delivery. All you have to do is drive there to pick it up.

Now with 6k miles, my first service is coming up next week. The great part is they are coming to my house to preform the tire rotation and check the vehicle out.

If you have more questions, come to the Villages Tesla group meeting

[J1ceasar]

To say that several car dealers are old fashioned is beyond and belief.

You pretty much refused to do so and I won't use your dealership if you don't. A lot of them hide the true price by adding on ridiculous fees like $1,200 profit incentive for $600 for electronic registration when we all know it's much less than that. Just expect when you walk into the dealer that you going to be charged at least $2,000 more than the price in the newspaper or the ad.. there are still very few ethical dealers that I have found

Originally Posted by Bassdeer

Doing it now, sold my truck in Texas and looking to downsize here. Looking for a used Toyota Tacoma or Nissan Frontier, pretty much tell the dealer to send me a OTD (out the door) price then offer them 1 or 2k less, should be picking one up this week, be using CarGurus to do my search.

[J1ceasar]

A heck of a lot of us have worked very hard for our money and yes $500 is well worth being convoluted. That's at least three cups of coffee at Starbucks!

Originally Posted by BrianL99

At least once a month this thread shows up, with the same folks posting their convoluted process, for saving a few bucks when they buy an automobile ...

These are the same folks who insist on buying a Golf Cart from The Villages and are willing to pay 30%-40% premium for a cart.

I guess $500 saved on an automobile is worth a few hours time, but it's a different story with golf carts for some reaso?