Anyone ever used their service? In the market for a new truck in the coming months, and I am wondering if it is worthwhile to even consider using this service, or would I be better off without it. I usually do a pretty good job of negotiating myself, so I don't want to alleviate any ability to negotiate outside of the "member pricing" that they set on USAA, so I am wondering if anyone knows the details as to how that works. Thanks in advance for your responses and invaluable knowledge.

Price is basically the Trucar average price. I think the have some type of agreement with some brands to have a lower price.

I hate negotiating, so it works for me

If you have access to supplier pricing, x-plan, etc, you will get a better deal going that route.

Last week I was looking at some cars for my mom - for several, the dealer's website was actually cheaper than the USAA price. I'd definitely shop around.

Which flavor are you browsing?

Apt/Buck for Toyota/1ags for Ford are both strong options.

It's not a bad way to start out but you can do better by researching and negotiating. Remember for some manufacturers you will get a price discount for being a USAA member.

The fact they call it a "service" is somewhat laughable. It's a guaranteed price offer, with the potential to lower your monthly payment a few dollars due to a slightly lower interest rate.

Inside baseball for those that don't know. A dealership pays USAA a fee to list said dealership as a preferred dealership (or whatever they call it). It has nothing to do with customer service at said dealership, the more you pay the higher the USAA rating. My suggestion is to check out other reviews of the dealership, negotiate price and if it's not what you want then you can use USAA.

It's also worth mentioning that we get better prices with the hookups on here than via USAA; at least I did on our toyotas.

Thanks for all of the info everyone. That was kind of what I was thinking. I'm looking to get back into a truck at some point this year and I've already reached out to 1ags, as I am primarily interested in the F150's and the GMC Sierra. I like the new GMC's but I'm not sure I'm going to be willing to pay what they want for an SLT Texas Edition. The F150 Lariat seems more reasonable and checks all of the boxes.

Gonna post another thread on this as I am not sure many will see the question, but can anyone give opinions on onstar vs Sync Connect? Love the Onstar features (primarily the basic ones - remote start, crash assist, etc. Hope Sync Connect is as advanced by the time I am ready to buy.

jumping in late as well but have always done better on my own than any USAA pricing.

I used paintrain's contact at Atkinson Toyo in Bryan for my 4Runner and got a good deal.

All other cars that I've bought have been through their internet sales department.

Once I know the vehicle I want, I email the internet sales at 3-4 dealerships asking what their best price is. Guys that say call me for it, I ignore. There's always 1-3 dealerships that will advertise a number that I can start negotiating by email / phone then.

100% of the time I've done better than USAA.

So I'm getting a new truck now, and I came across one in USAAs car search, and it's through Vroom.com, an only deal. The car isn't local (it's in Texas coincidentally), but they ship free anywhere, and give me 7 days for full refund, and they even pick it up.. so, if all that is true, no risk.

Anybody used this before? I'm going to call usaa today and confirm they back this up, and also how I negotiate exactly.

not familiar with that site 62, but I have to think if USAA is involved it would be legit.

probably worth a phone call to USAA if you're interested.

It sounds a bit like how Carvana works.

In the past, USAA doesn't let you negotiate. They have agreements with dealers/vendors and have a set price.

NICU Dad said:

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not familiar with that site 62, but I have to think if USAA is involved it would be legit.

probably worth a phone call to USAA if you're interested.

It sounds a bit like how Carvana works.

In the past, USAA doesn't let you negotiate. They have agreements with dealers/vendors and have a set price.

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So how would this vendor know I found the vehicle using USAA? It's a normal public website with vehicles for sale.

I do see, by using their service, I'll save $250, plus the 1%, so that's coming to about $1000. I guess I can feel out this seller and see if they will budget more than that off their price.. if not, I'll use the service.

not on USAA's site, but I wonder if they place that is listing the car is contacted by you or USAA?

or if USAA's website re-directs you to the vendor?

I know for USAA services like flower sales etc...the vendor has knowledge that you were redirected to them by USAA.

NICU Dad said:

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not familiar with that site 62, but I have to think if USAA is involved it would be legit.

probably worth a phone call to USAA if you're interested.

It sounds a bit like how Carvana works.

In the past, USAA doesn't let you negotiate. They have agreements with dealers/vendors and have a set price.

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Purchased our Sienna in 2014 using the USAA car buying service. It was merely a starting point. In the end I used one dealer's price for a Sienna they said they could have shipped over, and had another dealer who already had it in stock beat their price.

The dealer who jerked us around didn't get the sale. I learned that when you configure the car you want, dealers might contact you and lead you to believe they have something similar in stock even if they don't. Once you're in the door they'll use the opportunity to sell you a newer/more expensive model than the one you configured.

yep...all part of the game.

and that in-the-door game is why I never set foot in a dealership until I've already agreed upon the drive out price. Only reason to show up then is to sign paperwork and take ownership.

NICU Dad said:

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yep...all part of the game.

and that in-the-door game is why I never set foot in a dealership until I've already agreed upon the drive out price. Only reason to show up then is to sign paperwork and take ownership.

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Exactly. No need to. Test drove a car, was told $500 off MSRP max as the new models are flying off the lot. 24 hours later using internet and copying 6 dealers on one email had 6% off new car with no additional dealer fees.

I should add that it was about 5% less than True Cars price. So if USAA uses true car prices, the OP should just shop around.

I just had the easiest car buying experience ever. Found the vehicle by searching usaa's car finder thingy.

I had a very specific and focused search, so there were only a few in my results. I hit the truck I wanted and created the USAA price guarantee page or whathave you, and literally within 2 minutes a guy called from that dealership. (This was last night). I drove it today, had it in my mind I wanted to drop about $1000. (it was already a pretty dang good price, according to what carguru and usaa said, both said a few thousand under market value)

I get there, I buy the car for $1000 off (so the USAA price thing was actually higher, it only guaranteed $250 off), got the 1.9% since I used the service, and.. I'm just realizing this, I didn't even give these guys the $5k down payment that we had in the contract.. Not sure when that will pop up, surely it will.

Took me 50 minute round trip to dealer, and about 1.5 hours there, including test drive and going over the car fax report and a few small issues with the truck. A taco truck showed up right when we agreed on price, so I got some tacos and finished right when the last guy came out to have me sign. Took 5 minutes signing, then I got the keys.

I used USAA's Car buying service to price out a new Tahoe this past weekend. We ended us buying a used Suburban which showed as a "great deal". We were very happy with the purchase and 1.99% is a pretty good rate on a used vehicle (USAA qualified it for the new rate).

Disclaimer- I work at USAA bank so I'm obviously partial to our services. Take it for what it's worth.

nice looking truck...

and blue star for tacos!