2013 and earlier-Honda Accord Prices Paid and Buying Experience

bbang

Hi arnp99,

I am new What is TTL? tax and license? Thanks

BBang

kyfdx

Tax
Title
License

smeezy

I would like to know if you're buying from an internet sales associate who gives you a quote under invoice, is there a fee dealing with them then with a floor salesman?

dwynne

Usually it is considered "poor form" not to buy from the salesperson you started working with. If the quote they gave you is a good one, why not work with them to buy the car? If they are unavailable or were rude to you or something, then I can see going with someone else - just tell them you were working the first person and got the quote of $xx,xxx for the car.

As far as an extra fee goes, anything is possible as each dealer would set their own policies. It would be more likely if you walked in you might not get as good a price from the floor salesperson - at least not right off.

Dennis

toosweetroni

What would be a good deal for this type of vehicle? Has anyone gotten this vehicle @ $20g otd?

jijom

I like to share my price with the forum since I was a regular reader here, and it provided me with most of the information I needed.
I probably did not get the great price, but considering that there were only 2 cars available N.VA, i thought it was a good buy.
Here are the numbers.

OTD 21550

Price 20550
processing 290
tax/TTL 710

smeezy

That's a good price if you ask me.

rj5324

Here is the offer I have so far:

EX-L 4IL AT
$21,320 - July Month Special
$1,066 - MD Tax @ 5%
$195 - MD Tags

Includes destination and other fees charges.

rj5324

What dealer in N. Va - I'd like to get a quote to compare?

thanks

jjon256

This board has been great. I've read others' experiences, and wanted to contribute my experience as a thanks. My price for the EX AT 4Cyl was 20,300 plus tax and title in Alabama, includes wheel locks, pin stripe, mud guards, and trunk tray.. 21k even OTD. I'm pleased with the deal, and considered getting the EX-L, which from the sounds of it might could have gotten for another 1k or so, but didn't want to spend that much. Thanks for all your comments, and thanks to Edmunds for this forum.

frankcjames

Hi guys,

I'm looking up inventory numbers at hte dealships, but I can't figure out what "2007 Honda Accord EX 5AT w/Leather PZEV FWD" would mean; when I filter by this term, I still end up with coupes mixed up in my sedan search, and ther eis no option to search by sedan (how great is that). Could any of you shed some light on this? Thanks!

Frank

jijom

Fairfax Honda
Good luck

dwynne

Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle

Wiki has the explanation of what that means at this link .

It sounds like an oxymoron - how can it be a zero emission vehicle and be partial? Anyway, it means it is a "really, really low emissions vehicle".

Dennis

chloe11

I am a new buyer so I wanted to throw a price I got out there and see if it reasonable:

2007 Honda Accord EX - V4 - No leather or navigation

Invoice 20,150
TTL&F 955
OTD 21,105

I know they have a lot of dealer incentives right now so I didn't know if I should try to get lower than that.

Thanks for the help

arnp99

Hey jijom,
I think you did great. I'm envious that you found an elusive MT. What color did you get?

haller4

T O T A L P R I C E O F V E H I C L E 20454.00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
S A L E S T A X ( 6.75% BASED ON 20704.00) 1397.52
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTHER FEES |
----------------------------------------------------------------|
DOCUMENTARY FEES 250.00 |
NEW CAR TITLE FEES 5.00 |
USED CAR TITLE-FEES 0.00 |
TEMPS 10.50 |
GASOLINE 0.00 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
T O T A L O T H E R F E E S 265.50
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
G R O S S O T D 22117.02

vinzilla

I got a quote from my local honda dealer

--------------------------
Make: Honda
Model: Accord EXL coupe
MSRP: $25,895
Our Price:$21,966
--------------------------

is it a good price?

dwynne

First off, there is no "rebate" - Honda never has rebates. It is a dealer incentive or "marketing assistance" - not a rebate.

Invoice on the I4 EX sedan is $21,754, your price is $20,704 including the doc fee. If there is a $1,200 dealer incentive on this car, the the invoice falls to $20,554 - so your price is $150 over dealer cost including dealer fees (but not including hold back). Sounds like a winner to me. Others have posted lower prices, but a new Accord $!50 over invoice including fees is always a good price.

Dennis

smeezy

I got a quote for 07 Accord LX Cpe A/T for $18,499.00 destination fee included. I don't know if that quote includes leather interior but I'm interested in cloth interior and single cd player. Isn't the only difference in EX and LX the moon roof and heated seats or something like that? No difference in performance correct?

tallman1

I don't know if that quote includes leather interior but I'm interested in cloth interior and single cd player. Isn't the only difference in EX and LX the moon roof and heated seats or something like that?

There is no leather in the LX or EX. Only the EX-L has leather. You can't get heated seats in cloth... only leather.

As for differences in EX and LX, you can search back in messages to see them or just go to Honda's site and see the fact sheet. More than just a sunroof though... brakes, wheels, CD changer, heated mirrors, and some interior differences. Engine is the same.

haller4

Thanks
Sorry for the terminology

I've seen lower on this forum - not in my area

frankcjames

Dennis,

Interesting how different dealers deal with this; one guy actually used the phrase "$1,200.00 dealer cash rebate".

On another note, this offer/counteroffer business has been interesting so far; one respondent thought I was nuts (I admittedly came in low, but to work up to a fair number). However, he also told me that invoice on the i4 EX-L sedan AT w/o Nav was $23,391, which is $1500 above the Edmunds TMV base price...guess we'll see what happens.

Thanks,

fcj

jijom

Well I didn't have much choice in color, as I mentioned b4, only 2 cars I was able to locate here.
I got the one with Black in/out. I love the color now.

dwynne

Honda and the dealers don't like the word rebate it "Cheapens" the brand.

The idea with the dealer incentive is that they figure most folks don't know about them. So a customer comes in and pays too much for a new Honda - good for the dealer. Another customer is upside down in their trade or they can't quite close the deal - they have $750 or $1,200 in their pocket to make the deal sweeter and close the sale.

If you start offering big rebate it can hurt resale and create a culture of "I will wait for the next big rebate" so the car maker locks themselves into having to offer consumer rebates to move cars.

Dennis

frankcjames

Thanks for the explanation on that, Dennis. Sounds like that was the trap that the US makers fell into a few years ago.

Thanks to everyone else that has also provided feedback thus far; I will happy to provide data as my negotiation continues.

dwynne

Post 9/11 the domestics jumped in with 0.0% and big discounts to stimulate the economy (and stimulate their sales). It really reinforced the culture of wait for the big deal and they had to keep trotting out cheap money and big rebates any time they wanted to move cars. At times, you could get a new car/truck for about what the "book" value should be for a used one - so folks trying to sell used cars had to deeply discount to move. With so much cheap money and prices on new, folks quit buying used cars.

To a lot of people in country Hondas are not discounted much, they think they are supposed to pay near MSRP. Any mention of cash back or a rebate would make them think otherwise.

Dennis

arnp99

jijom
I'll bet it's a beautiful car. The two I knew of here were white and desert mist. My 2002 is white so I didn't want another one so soon. Loved the graphite pearl so got the AT in that. Love the color, it rides like a dream and is a beautiful car. Just not as much fun to drive as the MT I test drove. Enjoy and have fun!

abcsummer

After reading this board for over a month, I just got back my 2007 Accord EX-L 4-cyl AT with wheel locks and splash guard, with only 3 miles on it . Price is 21966 OTD (including $149 documentation fee but not tax and title).
I think it is very possible to bargain down $100-200 more if I spent more time. Emailed several local dealers to get an initial quote of $22240 before I went to the dealership.
The whole buying experience is more enjoyable than I had expected. I guess I was over-prepared .

The information in this board is so helpful. So I'll take the chance to ask another question here. Has any of you had experience with transfering a car loan to credit cards? I am financing through Honda, who gives me 7.29% APR now. I want to transfer the balance to a credit card with 0% APR, and then pay off the balance in one year. If I use a check from the credit card company to pay Honda, will that be counted as a cash advance, balance transfer or purchase?

Thank you.

jonghwan7575

Your quote includes sales tax? If so, could you tell which state you are? Thanks.

slisstudent

I think your price is great (mine is higher by $38). Using the approach mentioned by chrylsersrt8 in post # 15222:

invoice (including destination) for EX I4 cloth: 21,755
-minus holdback: (467)
-minus dealer cash incentive [in TX]: (1200)
= triple net price aka base price of vehicle: $20,088

Here's a brief list other EX I-4 transactions:
post# 14696 _ $20,042
post# 15292 _ $20,150
post# 15288 _ $20,300
post# 15294 _ $20,454
post# 15112 _ $20,007

rj5324

Here is my progress...

Asked other dealers if they could improve above price and that I wanted to buy this weekend.

None quantified an improved price but said they would. So I visited the closest dealer. In the span of an hour with at the dealer, I walked out 2 times. I parked about 500 yards from the dealership. On 2nd walkout the dealer chased me practically out to my car. He also called me at home late that evening. I was able to get a $300 further reduction.

I believe there is still a little room in the above price. I started the negotiation - that he would need beat the above quote by $500 - because I didn't think it would be fair to the original quoter.

BTW forgot to include total price in the original post. It is $22,581 which includes TTL.

frankcjames

Hi,

Where axactly in the Midwest are you, and if in the Kansas City area which dealer? Thanks!

dwynne

If you use a balance transfer check it will be subject to the rules applied to the check you use. There is very likely to be a fee for this - it is usually a percentage of the amount of the check and normally capped at a certain dollar about (say $50). But beware and read the fine print, if there is no cap on the fee it would get expensive to transfer the car loan over.

Some reasons not to do this:

1) The transfer fees - check it out before you do it

2) If you carry a balance on that card (at a higher rate) and transfer the car price to the card the bank will apply your payments almost exclusively to the lowest interest item on your statement (the car) and you will pay the other charges down very little. Since this is at a higher rate, the interest will keep adding up since the principle will not drop much - until you pay off the car. Depending on the balance this could offset the interest savings of doing the transfer.

3) The same as reason 2 apples if you ever charge anything on the card used for the transfer - you will never pay it off. Any new charges will get the higher rate and very little of your payments. So to do the transfer and have it make any sense - you need a card with $0 balance and then cut up the card and do not charge anything on it after the transfer.

4) Your minimum monthly payment is likely to be well in excess of your current car note. You may have financed the car for 72, 60, or 48 months and the credit card company may ask for 1/25 of the balance as a minimum payment.

5) You will likely hurt your credit and credit score. You will move the cost of the car from a secured installment loan to an unsecured "revolving" account. High secured debt (house note, car note) is not nearly as damaging as high unsecured debt (credit card balances). This may hurt your ability in the future to get a new house loan or other account - until you have paid off the car on the credit card.

You do what you want/need to do, but read the fine print on the checks and weight the other consequences of doing this before you decide to transfer.

Dennis

abcsummer

Hi, I am in St Louis, and the dealer is Huey's. I remeber someone on this board have reported great deals in the KC area.

he8833

invoice (including destination) for EX I4 cloth: 21,755
-minus holdback: (467)
-minus dealer cash incentive [in TX]: (1200)
= triple net price aka base price of vehicle: $20,088

Dennis can you explain how one figures out the MINUS HOLDBACK

abcsummer

Hi Dennis,

Thank you very much for your answers. I have thought about (1)-(4), but didn't know (5), that it is going to hurt my credit score. But you think it will be counted as a balance transfer not a cash advance, right? This is important because many credit cards can waive the balance transfer fee or at least have a cap, but not for cash advance. They may also have different APRs for balance transfer and cash advance. I actually intend to pay off in 1 year, so it doesn't matter to me that I have to pay 1/25 or 1/12 of the balance a month. I am planning to apply for a new card, and use it solely for this purpose - so I can save my own cash in citi, which gives about 5% APR. That would be like $1000 extra savings for the car...

Any thoughts? Thanks.

dwynne

Dennis can you explain how one figures out the MINUS HOLDBACK

Actually, they mean "minus the holdback" - as in subtract it.

The dealer holdback is listed here , but I think they have the Honda number wrong - Edmunds shows 3% but I have heard it is now 2%.

In any case, on Honda it is 2% of base MSRP - so take the MSRP of the car and multiply by 0.02 to get the dealers holdback on the car. So if the MSRP is $30,000 the holdback would be $600. Most holdback is based on MSRP, but there are a few based on invoice pricing - an few car makers have 0 holdback.

From the Edmunds link:

Almost all dealerships consider holdback money "sacred" and are unwilling to share any portion of it with the consumer. Don't push the issue. Your best strategy is to avoid mentioning the holdback during negotiations. Mention holdback only if the dealer gives you some song-and-dance about not making any money on the proposed deal when you know that isn't true.

Dennis

dwynne

As I said, it will printed on the documents included with the transfer checks. Most of them say "you can use these for anything" and it will be at a fixed rate until paid off - or until a certain date. If it says "anything" it means that - you could write on to me, just for answering your questions and it would be good. Ditto for paying off the car loan. The same is true if you wrote one to yourself. This is really a "Cash advance" but if the wording with the checks says "anything" then this is valid and would be counted as a balance transfer.

If the wording is more like "these checks are good to pay off other credit cards" or something like that, then they may not honor it for the car payoff nor would they if you wrote it to me or yourself.

If you try to do it online it the same, you have to see what the fees and limits are on the use of the transfer.

Adding new accounts drops your score a little as well. You will have a new Honda account then a new credit card account. However, paying off and closing (or showing $0 balance) on the Honda account will negate some of the negative.

Dennis

frankcjames

you mind me asking what kind of a deal you got on your AT?

Talk about bonehead moves: just realized that I've been basing my initial offer on the price for an MT, not AT for the EX-L 4IL....that being said, though, it looks like there are a number of folks getting below invoice pricing nonetheless. Maybe KC isn't a huge Honda town?
Or I'm gdtting stonewalled....(of course having the right numbers to work with probably wouldn't hurt, either). :surprise:

slisstudent

Dennis is correct, the math I used to determine holdback was multiplying MSRP by 2%, i.e. 23350 * 0.02 = $467. As Dennis points out, holdback is generally not open to negotiation, however, this is a special time. According to posts, the number of '07 Accords sold is an important factor in how '08 Accords will be allocated to dealers, therefore dealers are motivated to make a sale, even if they have to dip into their holdback money.

I refer you back to post # 15222 where chrylsersrt8 describes the triple net price. As he points out, obtaining a price below invoice is doable. In fact, I just received a quote for a EXL-v6 for $22,500 albeit with the disclaimer that it does not include dealer accessories, which - in the Dallas area - adds another $1500 to the price.

* I do not hold out hope of obtaining this triple net price. Instead, I want to use this as a base to negotiate from as opposed to working down from MSRP, as one dealer has already tried doing.

abcsummer

Does that simply mean 4-cyl, or something more? Just curious.

smeezy

Your quote includes sales tax? If so, could you tell which state you are? Thanks.

Absolutely not. $18,499 is quote including destination fee. I live in California, with 8% sales tax If I purchased the vehicle at that price, TTL would be $1,664.00 with $1,480 from taxes alone. Final OTD price would be $20,163 for an LX V4.

dwynne

for an LX V4.

What's 4IL mean?

There is not such thing as an Accord "V4" and you normally don't call the inline 4 banger a "4IL" (though that is more accurate than V4).

Use V6 or V-6 and I4 when typing about the cars to avoid confusion.

It also would be a good idea if EVERYONE stated sedan or coupe. It seems that 99% of the folks that do not specify are typing about the sedan, but it never hurts to be specific.

Thanks from the thread police :shades:

Dennis

smeezy

Slisstudent,

So if you pay triplenet then what's in it for the dealer? Other than making a sale to improve sales numbers in hopes of getting more '08s in?

Also in dealing with internet sales managers, they claim they don't make commission, if they give me a quote, will they add any other fees other than TTL? I mean, if they claim they don't make commission, then how do they make money? I'm trying to purchase an accord by negotiating with an internet salesman and I don't want them to add a ridiculous fee by working with them.

Furthermore, how much longer will the $1,200 dealer incentive last? And as for invoice prices, they pretty much seem to be homogeneous in terms of trim style but what if I choose cloth instead of leather? I presume the invoice includes leather interior.

smeezy

Fine I'll call it an LX 4 banger are you happy now? :shades:

m9j5c

I posted a couple days ago and I figured I would update on my progress. I finally got all my quotes from the dealers and the best one yet is as follows:

$24,014.57 - car price
$1,921.17 - NY Tax (8%)
$216.98 - Dealer Fees and Title
$26,152.72 - Total OTD

I had contacted six dealers total and so far one said they cannot match this price, and three others said they can match it, and I am still waiting on one more dealer. Hopefully I can get at least another $500 off the car's price getting the four remaining dealers to compete.

frankcjames

Hi,

Was this the OTD price, or just the price of the car? how about fees? Wuld be curious to know, ifyou don't mind. Also, what part of the country?

Thanks,

Frank

slisstudent

Don't feel sorry for the dealer. As others have mentioned, there may be additional dealer incentives that the public is unaware of such as a bonus for reaching monthly sales goal. Additionally, you have to factor in the money that dealers recoup during the F&I stage. Then there's the support that is provided by their current cash cows, i.e. Fit, CRV. Bottom line, the dealer is still making their money.

As for the incentives, according to one salesperson, that is entirely in Honda's control. Honda may decide to increase, decrease or remove the dealer incentive altogether. One thing is sure, at these prices, the deals on '07 Accords are very enticing. Additonally, the longer one waits, the less likely one is to locate their car of choice e.g. color, features, etc. I have noticed that a few of the lots in the D/FW area are loaded with mostly EX, EX-L, and EX-L-6's...very few SE's or LX's left to chose from and even fewer VP's.

slisstudent

using the triple net approach described by chrylsersrt8 in post # 15222, the base price of an EX-L i4 auto sedan is:

invoice (including destination): 23,291
- holdback: (501)
- current dealer incentive [in TX]: (1200)
= triple net price aka the base price of the vehicle: $21,590

Below is a sample of reported prices paid. Keep in mind that markets and dealerships vary and not everyone will be obtain these prices.

post# 15189 _ $21,000
post# 14892 _ $21,100
post# 14889 _ $21,198
post# 15142 _ $21,291
post# 15286 _ $21,320
post# 14798 _ $21,498
post# 14848 _ $21,500
post# 15227 _ $21,532
post# 15157 _ $21,545
post# 15229 _ $21,556
post# 14830 _ $21,575
post# 15144 _ $21,706
post# 15306 _ $21,817
post# 14835 _ $21,988
post# 15008 _ $22,100
post# 14627 _ $22,250
post# 15181 _ $22,350
post# 15093 _ $22,500

smeezy

Thanks slisstudent, you've been very helpful.