To understand who we are and how Costco Auto Program and Affinity Auto Group came to be the industry’s most recognized and successful resources for member-based auto buying programs, you need to know a little about how we came to be.

Our Roots

In 1976, retailing legend Sol Price introduced business shoppers in San Diego, California to Price Club, a warehouse shopping club targeting small business owners, government businesses and credit union employees and members. The no-frills warehouse bought in bulk, stacked products on pallets and sent purchases out the door in cardboard boxes, keeping their costs and member prices down. Price Club’s popularity grew and soon the retailer had multiple warehouses serving millions of members. As part of a growth strategy to extend shopping benefits and discounts to products available outside of the warehouse, Price Club introduced its Auto Program to members in 1989. Price Club created a team of automotive specialists with a single mission—to hand-select top dealers known for service and arrange special member pricing on new vehicles. In exchange, the participating dealer was granted exclusivity for their brands in each warehouse market.

Price Club merged in 1993 with another leading warehouse club, Costco. Over the next few years, the new organization, now known as Costco Wholesale, decided to have their service divisions, like the Auto Program, managed by outside companies. This is how Affinity Development Group, or ADG, entered the picture. ADG approached Costco to acquire the Auto Program in 1997, and in 1998 the two companies finalized the deal. ADG, known for its expertise in creating membership affinity programs for Motor Trend and Hot Rod magazines, joined the original Price Club automotive team, and together continued to grow and manage the Costco Auto Program exclusively for Costco members.

Building a Successful Business Model

By 2000, the team had built the Costco Auto Program into the largest member service in the automotive marketplace. ADG continued to develop and enhance the program’s offerings to Costco members. In addition, ADG further invested in various tools and training programs that would allow our dealer partners to successfully close sales through the program – leading to some of highest close ratios in the industry. All of this work earned the Costco Auto Program industry recognition as the premier member auto buying service. Competition emerged, but none met the standards for value, service and overall experience. ADG’s top member program resulted in higher member confidence and more sales for participating dealerships. Still today, 15 years after the program was acquired by ADG, it is a buying process that works for buyers and dealers alike.

In 2006, ADG started recruiting other top member organizations. Going back to Price Club’s roots, ADG began working with credit unions to offer the Costco Auto Program to their members. It wasn’t long before San Diego-based USE Credit Union joined the Costco Auto Program family. Shortly after, Phoenix-based CU West Credit Union followed. The most recent credit union to offer the Costco Auto Program to its members is the National Institutes of Health Federal Credit Union, based in Maryland. ADG realized the value of these relationships to all partners; growing the number of quality organizations who used ADG’s proven program increased the overall member reach, and in turn, meant more volume for participating dealers.

Future Growth

It wasn’t long before large credit unions and automotive associations approached ADG for custom, branded auto-buying solutions for their members. With Costco’s support, ADG created auto program partnerships outside of the Costco Auto Program. To develop and manage the new programs, ADG created a new division, Affinity Auto Group (AAG). Together with the Costco Auto Program team, the two divisions would partner to develop new programs and create strategic partnerships for growth.

All of AAG’s programs use the same successful executive and management teams, infrastructure and processes. And since its creation in 2007, AAG has launched custom-branded programs for other highly recognized and well-respected organizations, including Navy Federal Credit Union (the country’s largest credit union), The Golden 1 Credit Union (California’s largest credit union and the sixth largest in the country), AAA Northern California, Nevada and Utah, Desert Schools Federal Credit Union (Arizona’s largest credit union) and IntelliChoice.

For nearly 20 years ADG has remained focused on our mission for service, value and continuous improvement. This means watching and analyzing trends, managing change, creating an infrastructure that supports our programs and our program partners, and responding quickly and appropriately to ensure we meet our objectives. We’re strong, experienced and agile. We know achieving the top spot doesn’t mean we can rest… it means we work harder to keep distance between us and the competition. We are committed to growing our business by adding other top member and customer organizations; in doing so, we provide our dealer partners with new opportunities to ensure their success.

Find out how we can help your business grow. Contact us.