APA - your experience with them?

[Phobos]

I'm thinking of getting an APA membership and using their services to get the dealer invoice on a few cars and possibly use their car buying service. Anyone have any first hand experience with them? How was their car buying prices?

many thanks for the info

mark

[chriswalsh]

We got a membership in 2000 when looking to buy an 01 Maxima or Jetta.

They gave us dealer invoice prices on each car. They also referred us to dealerships in the toronto area that would sell us each car for ~$500 over cost.

Ended up taking the printouts from APA to the Nissan dealership in London and paid $700 over dealer invoice cost (the salesman actually showed us their copy of dealer costs).

Very worth the 90$ or so paid for the membership.

Also worth noting, the London VW dealer saw the APA printout and told us to go to toronto (ie they cant match the price)

[MrDisco]

I'm thinking of getting an APA membership and using their services to get the dealer invoice on a few cars and possibly use their car buying service. Anyone have any first hand experience with them? How was their car buying prices?

a few people on this board have memberships. For ~$70 it costs you thats absolute peanuts when you're making a purchase easily over $10k. at worse the only benefit you may find is getting info on the price of vehicle and what you should set your targets at when bargaining. at best it will make your car buying purchase that much easier and could save your hours of pointless back-and-forth 'haggling'.

[evolution921]

Great experience, not only I got a good price at dealer cost + ~$700, PDI cost was ~$200 less than what the manufacturer charge, the dealer also throw in a CD/MP3 changer (~$400 value) on the day we picked up the car. Unable to get a better price at other dealers, glad I went with APA.

[BeaverLiquor]

has anyone been able to compare the invoice price from apa with carhelpcanada's "best price/very good price" from their network of dealers?

[plymouthhater]

Great experience, not only I got a good price at dealer cost + ~$700, PDI cost was ~$200 less than what the manufacturer charge, the dealer also throw in a CD/MP3 changer (~$400 value) on the day we picked up the car. Unable to get a better price at other dealers, glad I went with APA.

I have used them several times when purchasing vehicles for myself and other family members. Well worth the $65.

In one case I actually caught the salesperson lying about the cost of freight. I wish I had a camera at the time to take a picture of the look on his face when I pulled out my price info (we had already settled on the price of the vehicle).

The trick to using APA price info is to offer the dealership less than the APA's designated dealership price (which is usually around $500 above dealer cost).

[Phobos]

well I signed up and received a quote for a 2007 Mazda3 Sport with luxury package. The quote I got didn't really blow me out of the water. It was only $850 below MSRP. They charge $950 above invoice...PDI was the same $1225.

Guess it gives me something to go by when I negotiate. Wish it had a little more of an "official" look to the quote though. It's basically similar to a very simple home made spreadsheet. I was hoping for something a little more professional laying out the invoice costs etc.

I'm thinking of getting an invoice from another company to compare the two. Anyone use any other companies to get car invoices? Be nice to get something that lists everything...including all the add-ons you can get.

Also, any tips for Mazda Dealerships in the Greater Vancouver area would be appreciated.

thanks

[CompWizrd]

wish they had dealers down in southern ontario, i hate the idea of having to dicker with a dealership on prices, especially when it's going to be a 40,000+ dollar car, with lots of profit margin for them.

[BartBandy]

The APA deal can be beat. If you have the time and energy, you may save a hundred bucks or maybe two, I did, but I don't think it was worth it.

The APA price is more than fair. Bring it to the participating dealer, put down a deposit, come back a few days later, pay for the car and drive away. Painless.

Better to give the business to the participating dealer than shop his price. Gives the participating dealer less incentive to participate.

Don't expect miracles on the prices for newer cars or cars in demand. The Mazda3 still sells well, competes effectively against Civic and Corolla, and is priced well to begin with.

My parents bought a 4Runner in Toronto. That discount was over $4000 near the end of the model year.

[MrDisco]

Wish it had a little more of an "official" look to the quote though. It's basically similar to a very simple home made spreadsheet. I was hoping for something a little more professional laying out the invoice costs etc.


why? it does the job and gives you all the info you need. remember this is confidential info so you're not supposed to show it to other dealers so why does it need to be official looking?

also if their pricing doesn't blow you away, then that tells you just how much of a margin there is on the car. The 3 is a good selling model so the discounts simply wont be there. if you go on your own at least now you know what a reasonable offer is and you can perhaps look for other angles like free oil changes, discounts on rust protection, etc.


I'm thinking of getting an invoice from another company to compare the two. Anyone use any other companies to get car invoices? Be nice to get something that lists everything...including all the add-ons you can get.


carcostcanada is no different (both in terms of pricing and how 'professional' the quotes look). i think what you're looking for is like a dealer spreadsheet or invoice which has everything broken down to the penny. remember this isn't info that the APA has secretly obtained; the quotes are all pre-negotiated with select dealers, salesreps, and even 3rd party car buying services (its for this reason that Honda frowns upon its dealers with dealing with the APA). They have major options listed (i.e. engine, transmission, trim levels) but smaller items you'll probably have to talk to the dealer for pricing.

[Anessa]

well I signed up and received a quote for a 2007 Mazda3 Sport with luxury package. The quote I got didn't really blow me out of the water. It was only $850 below MSRP. They charge $950 above invoice...PDI was the same $1225.

Guess it gives me something to go by when I negotiate. Wish it had a little more of an "official" look to the quote though. It's basically similar to a very simple home made spreadsheet. I was hoping for something a little more professional laying out the invoice costs etc.

I'm thinking of getting an invoice from another company to compare the two. Anyone use any other companies to get car invoices? Be nice to get something that lists everything...including all the add-ons you can get.

Also, any tips for Mazda Dealerships in the Greater Vancouver area would be appreciated.

thanks

They're sort of a Mickey Mouse operation judging by their membership cards (computer printed and pasted onto a card) and the copy and paste spreadsheets.

[BartBandy]

What the heck are you looking for from a not-for-profit organization? Calligraphy?

[danipet]

I enrolled recently to get invoice pricing on a base 2007 Toyota Camry and 2007 Nissan Versa SL. For the Toyota they had a good pre-negotiated price which was over$1500 under the MSRP on the road price but the Versa pre-negotiated price was only $300 below the MSRP on the road price. I did much better on the Versa pricing based on the invoice pricing knowledge I got from the APA, so I say the membership was worth the $68 for me to save about $1000 off the MSRP.