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Military/Veteran Discounts

USAA has changed buying cars for me. No more frustration, haggle over the phone if at all, and walk out with a fair deal every time. My favorite part of the process is when the salesman acts like you are somehow robbing them and they can't believe you got this deal. Yeah, I am sure they would sell it to me if they were losing money. Now about that gap insurance...
 
I am the customer car salesmen hate, I go in prepared and will haggle over everything, I never go to buy a car when I have to get a new one, I have had them switch tires off of one car to the one I was buying, free oil changes (didn't pay for any oil changes for 2 years), extra floor mats, etc..... One sales manager made the mistake of saying "you wouldn't walk away over 100 dollars", yes, I would, I got up, told them when you change your mind call me, I didn't even get to the door before they agreed.

I will also mention that the salesmen that have been courteous and nice during the negotiation are the ones I refer people to over and over again and he will get my business again shortly, he was the first car salesman that didn't try to sell me what he thought we needed, but asked what we wanted in a car, we went in thinking we wanted car "A" but walked out of there with car "B" and couldn't be happier.
 
On a wine tasting trip to Napa, I bought a case of wine at one vineyard. When I put it on my card, I used my retired military ID instead of a drivers license. The cashier said, "Oh, you're military... we will give you a discount." I was really surprised. It was a very nice discount!

While not all, I have found a number of wineries giving military discounts. but you would never know it without asking. And ask. They don't mind. It's good business for them and a good deal for you.

Thereafter, I always use my military ID instead of driver's license for ID. Without even asking for a discount, they surprisingly turn up often.
 
Personally I think the overseas car buying program is a huge scam. I looked in to buying a new jeep wrangler unlimited and they quoted me a grand over the kelly blue book price. Maybe if you are interested in financing I could see how it would be beneficial but I'm not.
 
KingofBattle777 said:
Personally I think the overseas car buying program is a huge scam. I looked in to buying a new jeep wrangler unlimited and they quoted me a grand over the kelly blue book price. Maybe if you are interested in financing I could see how it would be beneficial but I'm not.
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Just like anything else, you have to do the research and know what your options are. There are many different "Military overseas sales" programs, some are better than others. The ENCS (exchange new car sales) are the ones that you see actually on base and I've heard good and bad stories from people that use them. Other non-exchange sanctioned programs are usually stationed right out the gate in town. Those can be sketchy and may or may not be run by the car company themself. When returning from Japan, we purchased a BMW wagon from the BMW military sales dealer off base, I called BMW customer service to make sure they were legit. After getting the invoice prices for the car and all the options we wanted off the internet, went to the dealer and filled out a purchase order for exactly what we wanted, the final price was exactly the invoice price that I had figured and we signed it, no haggling. Car was built at the factory, followed the progress online, and it was waiting in Norfolk when we got back stateside. Lots of companies offer a miltary sales program like this even if they're not part of ENCS.

Last car I bought stateside, we did all the price haggling via email and had the final price settled on before ever stepping foot into the showroom, including a military discount. Showed up, test drove the car, and then drove it home for our price. If you get a couple dealers fighting over your business and let them know it, it's amazing how low under invoice you can get. The only thing we had to deal with was the finance guy trying to sell us his plan and the extended warranty.
 
Your post reminded me how 'behind the times' many dealerships are. I did a similar technique with regard to contacting via email. It's just faster that way and easier to communicate with weird work hours. But almost every response was a standard copy/paste followed by 'come in for a test drive.' With some persistance and repeatedly telling them I have test driven several cars and will only come in if they can meet the price, someone finally decided that he wanted to sell me a car rather than get me into the dealership to employ annoying sales tactics that waste everyone's time and drive customers away.
 
Would like to see the military and/or other discounts made into its own section.

It's not military, but the local grocery store chain (Krogers) offers fuel points - you can save up to a $1 per gallon. Will end up saving nearly $1000 this year, enough to pay for a new Remington 11-87 shotgun and a new Sony 7.2 digital surround sound receiver. If anybody else has similar good deals, please post them.

As mentioned elsewhere in this thread, both Home Depot and Lowes offer 10% off for military.
 
Randy Daytona said:
Would like to see the military and/or other discounts made into its own section.

It's not military, but the local grocery store chain (Krogers) offers fuel points - you can save up to a $1 per gallon. Will end up saving nearly $1000 this year, enough to pay for a new Remington 11-87 shotgun and a new Sony 7.2 digital surround sound receiver. If anybody else has similar good deals, please post them.

As mentioned elsewhere in this thread, both Home Depot and Lowes offer 10% off for military.
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ACE hardware in my area gives 20% off to all military (active and retired) the first Friday of each month.
 
Randy Daytona said:
Would like to see the military and/or other discounts made into its own section.
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In what way? This is a stand alone forum called "HOT DEALS", quite a few threads in here about a variety of deals/discounts out there. Or are you proposing a mega thread? IDK
 
webmaster said:
In what way? This is a stand alone forum called "HOT DEALS", quite a few threads in here about a variety of deals/discounts out there. Or are you proposing a mega thread? IDK
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Would like to see if possible a listing of businesses and how much the discounts are (i.e., Lowes - 10%, Home Depot - 10%, Kroger's - fuel points, etc) - kind of a one stop shopping to see what is available.
 
Randy Daytona said:
Would like to see if possible a listing of businesses and how much the discounts are (i.e., Lowes - 10%, Home Depot - 10%, Kroger's - fuel points, etc) - kind of a one stop shopping to see what is available.
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A lot of base's FFSC supply a list of local businesses that provide mil discounts. I suppose with a little effort you can fill in the % as you shop.
 
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