{"id":46024,"date":"2023-12-15T12:01:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-15T17:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/?p=46024"},"modified":"2023-12-07T16:13:06","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T21:13:06","slug":"costco-auto-program-mostly-a-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/15\/costco-auto-program-mostly-a-scam\/","title":{"rendered":"Costco Auto Program: mostly a scam"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Our beloved 2021 Honda Odyssey&#8217;s lease expires in January 2024. Due to the mostly peaceful inflation that the government says does not exist, leasing a replacement would cost nearly 2X what we&#8217;ve been paying on our lease whose built-in interest rate is close to 0%. I&#8217;m trying to decide whether to buy the car from Honda for about $25,000 or trade it in on a new one (where &#8220;new&#8221; means &#8220;identical to the 2021 version&#8221;). I requested a quote from the Costco Auto Program, figuring that the result would be a simple fraud-free number. Here&#8217;s what came back from the local dealer that is the Costco affiliate:<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-21.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1154\" height=\"1169\" src=\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-21.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-46025\" style=\"width:643px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-21.png 1154w, https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-21-1011x1024.png 1011w, https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-21-296x300.png 296w, https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-21-768x778.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1154px) 100vw, 1154px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The dealer adds in about $4,000 in profit via some worthless accessories for $4,225 and then tacks on $999 as a straight-up &#8220;dealer fee&#8221; in addition to an &#8220;agency fee&#8221; of $99 (either of these could be $5,000, right?). On the third hand, there is a note about the accessories being discounted by 75 percent and a bizarre calculation that adds up to more than $73,000 (Cybertruck territory!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What is the value of going through Costco if the result is having to sort through this multi-layered fraud and being delivered a car that has been disfigured by the dealer? It looks as though Costco negotiates a discount off MSRP and then the dealer is free to add back in as much profit as it wants to with accessories and fees. Costco could negotiate a price of $10 for the Odyssey and the dealer would still be able to charge $45,000 or $75,000 or whatever other price it felt like.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our beloved 2021 Honda Odyssey&#8217;s lease expires in January 2024. Due to the mostly peaceful inflation that the government says does not exist, leasing a replacement would cost [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cars-including-self-driving","category-consumerism"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Costco Auto Program: mostly a scam - Philip Greenspun\u2019s Weblog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/15\/costco-auto-program-mostly-a-scam\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Costco Auto Program: mostly a scam - Philip Greenspun\u2019s Weblog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Our beloved 2021 Honda Odyssey&#8217;s lease expires in January 2024. Due to the mostly peaceful inflation that the government says does not exist, leasing a replacement would cost [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/15\/costco-auto-program-mostly-a-scam\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Philip Greenspun\u2019s Weblog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-15T17:01:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-21.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1154\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1169\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"philg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"philg\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/15\/costco-auto-program-mostly-a-scam\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/15\/costco-auto-program-mostly-a-scam\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"philg\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/448e4e6a0ae9105741a06dcf62cee50e\"},\"headline\":\"Costco Auto Program: mostly a scam\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-15T17:01:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/15\/costco-auto-program-mostly-a-scam\/\"},\"wordCount\":257,\"commentCount\":19,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/448e4e6a0ae9105741a06dcf62cee50e\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/15\/costco-auto-program-mostly-a-scam\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-21.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Cars, including self-driving\",\"Consumerism\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/15\/costco-auto-program-mostly-a-scam\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/15\/costco-auto-program-mostly-a-scam\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/15\/costco-auto-program-mostly-a-scam\/\",\"name\":\"Costco Auto Program: mostly a scam - Philip Greenspun\u2019s Weblog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/15\/costco-auto-program-mostly-a-scam\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/15\/costco-auto-program-mostly-a-scam\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-21.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-15T17:01:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/15\/costco-auto-program-mostly-a-scam\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/15\/costco-auto-program-mostly-a-scam\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/15\/costco-auto-program-mostly-a-scam\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-21.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-21.png\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/15\/costco-auto-program-mostly-a-scam\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Costco Auto Program: mostly a scam\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Philip Greenspun\u2019s Weblog\",\"description\":\"A posting every day; 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