We compared buying a car through Costco to buying a car on your own at a dealership - here's how they stack up

Ted S. Warren / AP

The Costco Auto Program is only available to Costco members.

• The Costco Auto Program allows Costco members to buy discounted cars through participating dealerships.
• The program makes a lot of the hardest parts of buying a car, like research and negotiation, easier.
• It also limits the customer's choices in some areas.

Shopping for a car can be an overwhelming process.

If, say, you know you're looking for an SUV, you have to determine the brand, model, and model year you'd like, as well as the dealership you want to use, whether you'd like to buy new or used, and whether you want to buy or lease. Where do you start your research? Which sources can you trust? What's a reasonable price for a given model?

The Costco Auto Program attempts to eliminate some of that uncertainty. Costco members can use the program's website to research and compare vehicles, calculate monthly payments, and get a discount at participating dealerships. While the size of the discount varies based on the vehicle's class, brand, and model, a Costco Auto Program spokesperson told Business Insider that the average discount is over $1,000 off a vehicle's average transaction price.

And since the program uses the same customers as Costco's retail operation, it has plenty of reasons to vet dealers and salespeople so their customers don't end up feeling like they were tricked - and putting the blame on Costco.

"We're not just providing leads to dealers. We're creating a referral," Costco Auto Program senior executive Rick Borg told Business Insider.

Here's how using the Costco Auto Program is different than the average car shopping process: