Re: Not Toad Choice - Car Buying Services Reply #25 – April 25, 2018, 11:36:09 am Quote from: HiLola - April 20, 2018, 11:31:00 amUSAA has a car buying service if you want to go that route and are a member:I used USAA car buying service back in 06 to find and negotiate the price on an 06 Forester XT manual tranny and was surprised how easy it was. It was a free service and there was no pressure to finance thru them or upsell any other services. I knew what I wanted and gave the guy the make, model, options, color, and search radius and he came back a week or so later with a car in the SF Bay area.I don't recall there being anything more than an email from USAA documenting the agreed price so the dealer was not holding the car for me. I do recall showing up at the dealer with a broken right wrist and them being surprised I didn't want to drive the car before purchase - it had a manual tranny so DW drove it home. They agreed to the USAA negotiated price but did try to upsell the usual fabric/paint/undercoating protection, extended warranty, etc. items while car was being "prepped" for delivery. I was able to get out of there with the car I wanted at USAA negotiated price after an hour or two.Previously I used the Fighting Chance service/method way back in 2000 to fax fleet managers what I wanted and receive offers via fax. Bought an 00 truck on Dec 31 2000 which was one of the recommended dates to get the "best" deal. Back then I think it was $10 or so and you'd get access to info on the Fighting Chance web site. Looks like he has a book now and it costs a bit more.I used the same method for the last new vehicle I bought back on Jan 1 09 (an 08 truck) but emailed instead of faxed the internet and/or fleet managers and got a sweet deal out of a Healdsburg, CA dealership a few hours away from Sacramento. That was the easiest car buying experience yet from a dealership but a lot of dealerships were going under at the time so that could have played into it.I'd try the USAA car buying service again if I was not having much luck finding the car and deal I wanted but so far have only used them once.Enjoy the hunt!Rich 1 Likes
Re: Not Toad Choice Reply #26 – April 25, 2018, 07:48:15 pm I've been a USAA member since about 1969, early in my 5 years in the USAF. I've been consistently satisfied with their service and their product range has increased dramatically over the years. We do anything related to finances through USAA, from credit cards to mortgages to investments to insurance. I have my mother's finances there too and our son is also a member, which makes intra-family business easy.I think USAA's greatest strength for the RVer is that they are almost entirely an online or telephone operation. I believe they have only two branches of their bank, in San Antonio and Las Vegas. We do everything online or on the phone. Because of the remote nature of their business model they do that sort of thing very well. It's at the core of their business as opposed to something added on by a traditional brick and mortar institution. They are almost always available, not quite everything 24 hours but close. And I rarely encounter an employee who doesn't know how to help me or get me to the person who can. If you have a problem wherever you are and can reach them by phone they will help you solve it. I believe they do a first rate job of training, probably a by product of their association with the military, which is all about training.Going in the opposite direction, they don't insure RVs or motorcycles here in Nevada but do have a direct relationship with Progressive for whom they are essentially agents. USAA told me Progressive can serve RVers better here, so they connect you with them. This may not be true in other states.I'm often asked about ATMs. We don't really use those much anymore, getting cash when we need it with our debit card at stores. But when traveling we do sometimes use ATMs. Any ATM, because USAA reimburses us the ATM fee up to a monthly limit that we never reach. That's just one example of how their business model differs from other's because of the remote nature of their operation.Having said all that I would note that USAA has become a very large institution. I haven't really noticed adverse effects of that but it may affect their rates and claims. I don't consider them the cheapest and could probably find slightly better deals on individual products elsewhere. But I don't think I could find a single financial institution that does everything I need so well. And I'm not willing to trade the simplicity of having everything centralized for slightly better deals on this or that here and there. And I've come to trust them, something that I'd probably have trouble with elsewhere.USAA is a member owned cooperative. If you like doing business with a for profit corporation that puts itself first (Wells Fargo comes to mind) go elsewhere. But if you like dealing with people who in some sense work for you USAA is one of those places.Lastly, don't assume you can't join USAA because you weren't in the military. They have many ways to accommodate you. Not everyone, but a lot of people. My mother is a member due to my father's service in WWII. Our son is a member due to my time in the USAF. So don't assume, call them. 2 Likes
Topic: Not Toad Choice (Read 622 times)
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Topic: Not Toad Choice (Read 622 times)
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