There was a period of about 4-6 months where it made sense to have a Costco membership to get some great lease deals. Haven’t seen many (if any deals) that pre requisite Costco membership.
Have all those deals dried up or are is there a cyclical / seasonal promotion period about to start?
You really don’t think that you’d get $60 worth of value over the course of a year regardless of the additional vehicle incentives?
I never go to Costco. I know $60 isn’t a big deal but I signed up for AARP for bmw lease incentives 4 years ago which I never got the benefit of. It kept auto billing. I let it do that by accident. Constant deluge of emails and mailers and magazines for old people. Just not worth the hassle.
Do you really lease a car every year?
Did you have a Costco before? Because there are reports your ‘start date’ will be retro’d
One of the benefits of Costco’s auto buying program is that participating dealers are supposed to offer at the least invoice + incentives, depending on the brand. If you’re getting MSRP shopping by yourself this may be one way to circumvent the market.
Supposed to, recent reports to the contrary, e.g.
I thought this came up more recently than last summer, it’s a recurring topic
It’s most advantageous for the special manufacturer programs like Audi, Chevy, Cadillac, Volvo, etc.
The auto buying program is separate from the manufacturer offers.
On my last attempt, the offers I received from their auto buying program were atrocious. I was getting dramatically better pricing just by walking into a dealer and having a price shoved under my nose at the end of a test drive appointment.
They had only one network dealer, and aside from almost no discount on a slow selling vehicle, the dealer added back in floor mats and an advertising fee (and I believe there was one other worthless add-on).
I buy more from costco.com as a member than I do in person.
Supposedly if you’re a member and you decide not to renew, when a lease opportunity comes around, you can have your membership reactivated and it’ll revert to hour original sign up date, skirting the “must be a member by” requirements.
True statement. I wanted to get something at Costco recently, and my membership expired. I reactivated it and paid for the renewal online, and voila…my membership date was the original date I signed up for a couple years ago. Just for giggles, I checked to see if I was eligible for the Audi/Chevy promo when I reupped in May, and was.
Now, this won’t work if you have never had a membership at Costco before, and only if you need to renew an expired membership. Likewise, my membership was only expired for a couple years. YMMV if you’re trying to re-up a membership from back in the Carter administration.
Other than saving money, there’s no real benefit to having Costco. I have never been treated better (or worse) by the Finance company or Dealer by being a Costco member. It’s not like they say “Thank you for being a BMW and Costco member” when you call in.
Well sure, other than that pesky saving money part
Yep - nice if they would honor the Costco return at any time for your money back benefit.
This is not a lease benefit, but if you drive a luxury car that needs premium fuel such as a BMW, you save $$ by filling up at Costco. Where I live, that can be a saving of 40-60 cents per gallon compared to Shell, Mobil etc.
I saved over $60 alone by eating a bunch of their $1 hot dogs
you mean that “benefit” they provide on their return policy that most people looking for a membership refund just use as a loophole to avoid paying the membership fee?
They also have a mortgage service which saves you a ton of money and vetting
If your Costco location has a gas station, that alone is worth the membership cost. But you also save money on auto & home insurance, their credit card is decent and their $5 roasted chicken is awesome 
Great on laptop purchases too, they offer 2 years warranty + another 2 years from the Costco credit card.
It depends on the dealer. Some respect it and some don’t. It’s also a good floor to bargain them down instead of them starting at MSRP
this is true, premium gas at Costco gas is by far the cheapest around where I live.
