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Comments
My experience at the Honda dealer was great. NO high pressure, NO number games. The only dispute was over a $395 documentation fee which I refused to pay. Overall, I would rate the Honda dealer 9 on a scale of ten for the experience. Toyota I would rate a 2. I presently own 3 Toyota Camry's, and as of last night a new 2004 Honda Accord EX...beautiful car...I'll do another post on the deal details.
1991DX with 240,000 miles...all from me.
1993 Camry LE with 190,000 miles, being tortured by my 21 year old College bound daughter.
1997 Camry LE with 90,000 miles, my wife's car. Guess it was time to retire that 1991 Camry..
During the negotiation, one's target number may seem farfetched, and the dealer will see to it that it looks ludicrous. It would be, if the timing is wrong, as they're not pressured to sell.
That's why end-of-month negotiation, when dealers are catching quota and its associated incentives, combines with the target number to make it work.
I've probably posted this more than 4x, but without a target number, I would have paid $9k over invoice for my wife's 03 EX-L.
Your $23k is right on the money. Good luck, glad to help, and let us in on the outcome !
The Toyota salesman, on the other hand, seemed indifferent, the dealership allegedly had no cars available to start up, and had no navi models in stock. The clincher was the salesman told me he would want 31K for a Camry with navi IF he could get one. (Obviously this wouldn't have been the final price, but just the fact that he quoted such an outrageous price turned me off. ) The Camry seemed nice, but I liked the Accord a lot more. Much less money, more features, a breathtaking interior that blows Camry's out of the water, and quite a bit sportier. My '96 Taurus feels like a Chevette compared to the Accord. I love it.
The $160 difference x 60 months is $9,600 over invoice had I come in unprepared. Much too easy to get swayed by dealer's statements like "it's a new car with all the new improvements, features and standardized options, so you really have to expect to pay more...," etc.
I post this whenever appropriate to make forum folks aware how important preparation is. Dealers have mastered the art of creating profit; they need it to survive. However, their system by design will overprice cars, especially for financed deals where the purchase price, as in my case, can be made very vague.
To know more how dealers maximize profit (they have the "4-square method," among other negotiating tools), this is interesting reading about an Edmunds employee who worked concurrently as a car salesman to know the tricks of the trade: http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying/articles/42962/page003.html
2004 EX V6 Coupe w/ Navi
Next go here to Edmunds and price it out, getting the price other's pay.
Finally I joined consumersreport.org for one month, which was $3.95 and I also paid $12 for their car buying report per model. It will list wholesale prices, among all the different Accords.
For an investment of a little time and a little research, and a cost of under twenty dollars, you come in much more prepared to make a good deal. I would guess this would minimally save you one thousand dollars. Just my opinion...your mileage may vary..
That is a fair price for the vehicle. We paid around 25,750.00 back in December of 2003 which included mud guards and wheel locks, plus Taxes, DMV, etc charges. Enjoy the vehicle. Our OTD in NYC was approx. 27,900.00
No dealer in their right mind would even think of such a thing in this day and age.
1) didn't wait till end of month-- not good
2) bought on a busy saturday, not on a slow day
3) paid $100 doc fee
4) didn't really care what they gave on a trade (saturn 5 speed with over 90k miles)
but the thing is, you can go nuts trying to do everything "right"-- the dealership had the exact car we wanted, in the exact color... we got the car for over $2200 under msrp, with a few goodies thrown in (auto day/night mirror, all weather mats), got the 1.9% financing for 36 months, and will never be upside down on the car.... sure, we didn't get $400 under invoice or whatever the best deals are being quoted here. but it's a heck of a nice car (despite no coinbox), so why put yourself through the ringer? am i nuts?
jrock...Sure, quite often and why not? Accords are a great value at MSRP.
Some people have better things to do with their time than spending weeks researching, grinding, and pitting one dealer against the other.
The post above this one is a great example of someone who bought a car and is happy!
am glad we got the auto day-night mirror-- drove the car at night for first time last night-- works good...
expend such energy on a customer who they feel needs so much convincing, especially about a Honda.
Sure, "spending weeks researching, grinding, and pitting one dealer against the other" might be necessary to get it at invoice or below, but ten minutes of research can enable someone to know that you can easily get $1500 or $2000 off MSRP, depending on the model. Ten minutes for $1500 is worth it in my book.
Sure, I never said otherwise.
But, IMO those buyers who pay MSRP for an Accord just have lack of information and/or were pressured into it by salesman sweet talking.
Let's face it, if they knew that they could get $1500 off with just a few minutes of haggling and research, I'd guess that 99% of Accord buyers would take that tradeoff.
Accord buyers for the most part aren't like S-class or Ferrari buyers, to whom it really isn't worth $1500 for a bit of haggling/researching.
I had to walk out of 3 dealerships though. Also mine was in mint condition, plastic wraped and 3 miles on it.
Good luck
Which state are you in?
Thanks.
According to Honda's own website, the LX comes standard with floor mats. It is not considered an option unless you want upgraded ones. If this dealership is telling you that the floor mats are extra then I would go to another dealer!
Plus... If 18,200 is what they OFFERED then that means that you can at least try to get it for 18000 if not less.
I am afraid that seeing the car in my driveway will only make me less focused on the paperwork and I will sign something I didn't mean to or the car that is delivered will not be exactly what I had requested.
If it's an outright cash purchase, just make sure the price agreed to by phone matches the price on the delivery invoice. In this regard, it's critical that the "Delivered" price, to include sales tax, tag and license fees, is clear. Otherwise referred to as the "Out the Door" price when picked up at the delivership.
If financed, make sure the key numbers like downpayment, monthly payment, APR and # of months are agreed to over the phone, matching the numbers on the paperwork.
Having said all that, check to see if there's a dealer actually willing to do it. Maybe Isellhondas can comment...
the local internet offers i've received for a 2004 ACCORD V6 EX COUP w/ AUTOMATIC transmission have been:
1 - "$23,345 plus destination, tax, license, and doc fees"
2 - "$23,690 + fees plus destination, sales tax, DMV lic. and any government fees"
3 - "$23,890 + $45 (doc) + 1854 (tax) + 213 (lic.) = $26,002 out the door" this guy gave me all these numbers in the email. i assume the first number includes destination since he didn't mention it.
any suggested stategies? go with the lowest or highest and haggle? do i bother to haggle at all since the prices are lower than invoice to begin with? is friday better than monday, or should i wait until tuesday to go in?
Price they gave me $ 26,500 minus my trade-in (2001 GMC Yukon SLE)$ 14,000, trade differ:$12,500 + TTL = $13,522.38 + (payoff on Yukon) $3,113.37 for a drive out price of $16,635.75 Financing 48 @ 2.9% - $ 367.93 Is this a good price? Appreciate any intake on this deal. THX kptx
I deleted my post because it was all crap. I was doing this all wrong. Of course, if I have NO trade this would be a good deal of course, because it would be at invoice.
After going back and AGAIN reading TONS of messages, I figured I did it funky. Now these dealers know I have a trade-in, but I haven't been worried about it because my trade-in is iffy, iffy.
What I don't know from these dealers is what their purchase price of the vehicle is and other fees, which I started to get, but then got stuck on total OTD prices without a breakdown. Now if I have a trade, and they give me $1300 for it, and I've agreed to the OTD price of $25765, well then they've just sold me the car $1300 over invoice. Obviously, not a good deal.
BUT, if they understand they will adjust the OTD based on my trade, then it might not be so bad. But I STILL need to get the breakdown to figure out how much around invoice they are offering. Hell, they may not go ANYWHERE close to invoice. Crap crap crap
So anyway, instead of causing needless disection of my previous post and wasting people's time, I just deleted it. I'll let you know after I talk to the two dealers tomorrow if I REALLY have a good deal or not. I think it'll mean going back to the drawing board, worst case scenario. Live and learn.
Well, what about service? Would you pay more, say $200, to buy from a dealership who was closer to you, and provided loaner cars for service (I don't know, the svg mgr said that Honda requires this?) The longer distance dealer told me that that didn't mean anything since the other dealer would only give me a loaner car if the job was not going to be finished within one day. But assume this is true and not true.
Back to your question: I got it from a dealer in Boston for 25,500 before taxes, ex v6 w/ nav coupe.
Justice1: I would make real sure if the dealer close to you gives courtesy cars for an oil change etc. Most non premium dealers like Mazda, Honda require a certain amount of down time (say 1 day) before they give you courtesy cars. This has been my experience with both these brands.
I would question the first dealer a bit more regarding the specifics of their courtesy car program. Good luck!
Is the vehicle a sedan or a coupe? If a sedan, not a bad deal, with all those options already installed. We got ours back in December 03, all we got was MG and WL. Now I am to get the vehicle tinted and trunk tray installed. As per the fog lights, I really did not find much of a difference with them on. The Accords display the road very well with just the headlights alone, what I may do is change the bulbs to either PIAA or Silverstar's and bank the other $400.00 that it would of cost us to have the fog lights installed. Tinting in the NYC area for a good quality tint is about $150.00 for the sedan. What many dealerships do is sell people a vehicle at or a bit below invoice, but they make the money on the interest they charge, which would be much more than the $26,500.00 quoted.
The EX-L has everything you really need and dealer add-ons will be decidedly overpriced. For example, the dealer's added-on sticker might show wheel locks at $125 when they're a $25 to $40 item you can buy separately. Of course, anything that's thrown in to make the deal is fine.
Also, watch for "document fees" which are limited in California to $45 and $5 "tire fee"--so $50 in fees are the rule here. I've seen some posts from people in other states showing these fees as high as $400! That's pure profit and should be negotiated into your deal.
Go to the page on Edmunds that shows the invoice price of the car you want--many deals on '04 Accords are currently at invoice or even below because the dealer gives up some "holdback" about which you should also read.
The bottom line is that for somewhere in the low to mid $20s you'll get a car that drives like it should cost in the $30s--the Accord EX-L is a superb car..........Richard
this is a recap on post #4135 where i'll update with the "out the door" prices...
i'm in southern california, north of los angeles. i have no trade-in.
the local offers i've received for a 2004 ACCORD V6 EX COUP w/ AUTOMATIC transmission BY EMAIL have been:
1 - $25,945 OTD - "$23,345 plus destination, tax, license, and doc fees"
2 - $26,370 OTD - "$23,690 + fees plus destination, sales tax, DMV lic. and any government fees"
3 - $26,002 - "$23,890 + $45 (doc) + 1854 (tax) + 213 (lic.)"
i'll call one of them on monday and set up an appointment to drive (and buy) the car. i don't know if i should bother to haggle at all since the prices seem low to begin with.