Brian, I took your advice and did try calling some of the dealerships as soon as I got out of work but unfortunately none of my friendly dealers(whom I was in contact via email) did not pick my calls and it may be because they must all be really busy. I knew this because one of the dealer's internet manager told me that he will get back to me later as they are super busy right now. I will continue calling them again tomorrow morning to see if I can make any progress. I am slowly losing hopes To answer your question for 15 CIVIC EX, the best offer I have is $18.6K + TTL. I am trying to see if I can round it off to $18K. What do you think about this deal?
You bring up a good point ... given that today is the last day of the year, the salesmen will naturally be more inclined to work with a customer who shows up at the dealership rather than play phone or email tag with a customer who isn't standing in front of them.
I'm not saying that @brian125 is wrong with his advice, but be aware that at some point, you will have to travel to a dealership to finalize the deal.
Brian, As requested I am posting my purchase today with Kelly Honda in MA. I ended up purchasing a 2015 Honda Accord LX. I began this process more than a month ago. At that time I was interested in an Accord Hybrid. Since then, I have been test driving and negotiating with dealers for a Subaru Outback, Honda Accord and the Honda CR-V. I ruled out the Subaru today because it would take 8-12 weeks to order an Outback. So In the end it came down to the 2 Hondas. You may recall, I had a really good quote on a 2014 Accord LX, but I waited and it was sold. I had another quote from a different dealer for a 2014 Accord LX at 18,823.43, $456.00 more than the one I lost out on. In the end I bought the 2015 LX with 3 miles on it for $19,381.00 including destination fee.
Here's the breakdown:
Selling Price: 19,381.00 Doc fee: 402.00 Ma tax @ 6.25%: 1,048.94 Registration Title Fee: 100 Trade in: 3,000 OTD: 17,931.94 No cash down Honda financing .9%
The trade-in was my 2005 Honda Odyssey that has been in a past collision, has 168,650 miles on it and currently needs a transmission. I closed the dealership this evening. And Brian, I didn't wear my scout uniform...not very flattering on a woman. Ha ha.
I will tell you the best quotes consistently came from Boch Honda. They were working with me for the past 6 weeks. All the other dealerships were trying to match or beat Boch's quotes.
Thank you for the help and advice. Happy Honda New Year to all.
First of all Wish you all a Happy New Year. Thank you Brian for your guidance.
Finally, it's my turn to share my experience. I bought the 2015 Honda Civic Hybrid base model for $23,800 OTD at Stockton Honda here in CA. Details as below $25,455 MSRP, including transportation Invoice: $23,930.90 Internet Price/Selling Price: $21,695 OTD=$23,809 $0 down ; rate= 0.9% @60 months
this dealership's internet manager was very professional from the start till the end. Would recommend them to anyone. It seems like they have a very big sale coming up tomm. The manager told me that they sold more than 50 cars today.
Here is a little more about my experience. The short version: Brian's advice and insights were spot-on.
The long version: I had 16 dealers within 50 miles of me, between VA and MD, and I'd have been happy to buy from any of them. I was on family vacation out of town, so I had no choice but to do everything via email/phone.
Day 1 (Monday Dec. 29): I reached out to each dealer via email or through their website if I could not identify the contact info for the internet sales manager, asking for their best price on the specific car I wanted, indicating I was soliciting bids from multiple dealers and would choose the best deal. With one exception: I did not reach out to my local dealer where I had done the test drive, because I knew how to directly reach the sales manager by phone. Here is generally how the responses broke down:
- 5 did not respond at all. I eliminated them. - 2 insisted on me coming in to their dealership before they would offer a price. This was a deal-breaker, both because I was out of town and because it wasn't how I wanted to deal. - Several sent "opening bid" prices that were never going to be competitive, but at least they got the conversation going. - Several sent somewhat serious offers, that indicated they were willing to deal and had a clue. - Several others insisted on phone calls, which was fine, presumably because it was faster for them or they didn't want to document their offers for me to shop around. These all provided relatively good bids, including one who "set the market" with an excellent bid, albeit for my second choice color. - Although I did not "shop offers", I did send email to those who were clearly not making competitive bids to let them know that they were much higher than everyone else, and asked them to confirm that this was their best offer.
Day 2 (Tuesday Dec. 30): This was really "dealing day" for me, and it was obvious that the dealers were getting more serious as well. My phone was ringing off the hook and emails were flying in with competitive offers, including those I had told the previous evening were not competitive. By late morning, email was no longer feasible or efficient, as Brian had indicated, so I shifted to direct phone interactions with sales managers. A handful of dealers were now showing themselves to be willing and eager to DEAL. Like Brian said, you could really tell within a couple of minutes of talking who was and wasn't. For example, one bid was not competitive in part (but not entirely) due to $600 worth of dealer add-ons. Their only "dealing" was an offer to take a couple of them off the car to cut the price by $300. This was someone who didn't need to sell. No hard feelings, but not someone I had time to deal with on Dec. 30.
A couple of things I found (again consistent with Brian's guidance). First, sales managers responded when I took command of the conversation by telling them I was ready to buy right there and then, with credit card in hand for a deposit. Although they believed I was sincere before, I think talking in those terms raised their interest as they could almost taste the deal. For those who really wanted to deal, this seemed to be music to their ears. Second, and related, their BEST deal did not start coming out until they believed I might take it and they might close on it. When I would ask, I started to get responses of "if I say yes, will you come in today." This is important because for the most part, I don't believe the pure email-only approach will get these offers. Via email, too many of them are worried you aren't serious or will just shop the offer around. On the phone, if you commit to something, especially with a deposit, you can get better offers. Brian's script is, I believe, right on the money. Tell them you have credit card in hand, will stop speaking with other dealers, and drive to the dealership today (or tomorrow if you are on family vacation out of town) if they agree to $X, As the end-of-year deadline approaches, and the sales manager knows that SOMEONE is going to get your business, knowing that they can rack up a sale right then just by saying yes seems to become difficult for them to resist.
Anyway, by late afternoon I called the sales manager at my local dealership to tell him I had some good offers but would love to hear his best. My intention was to call all the remaining dealers who were competitive and showing great interest, and close with the first one who would give me my price. This one did. Unfortunately, he didn't have the right car on his lot, so he almost lost me. But he called back before I could make contact with another dealer, to tell me that he was getting the car shipped in from another dealer that night. So I agreed to the deal. It is too bad for one of the other dealers who was unavailable by phone. I am sure he was busy so there are no hard feelings at all from my end, but if I had gotten through to him, maybe he would have gotten my money instead of this dealer who had the opportunity to find the car I wanted on another lot and call me back.
Day 3 (Weds Dec. 31): I returned home from the family trip, arrived at the dealer at 6:30, and drove off the lot around 8:45 as the final deal of the year (it was a very busy place when I arrived, but I was the last person in the shop at the end).
There were several dealers who were simply great to work with, and I would be happy to recommend and would love to have purchased from. I do believe that if I'd had the time (I was on family vacation after all, and spending 2 days online or on the phone was not particularly well-received) and been more patient, I could have knocked another few hundred off the price. But I hit my target, whether that was too easy or not, so I wasn't sufficiently motivated to keep going. I was able to close a deal on the car I wanted, at my local dealer, as it turned out with splash guards and wheel locks included at no cost. Funny enough, this car was shipped in from another dealer who had offered $900 more for the same exact car! LOL. Bottom line, there were at least 4 dealers who clearly wanted to deal as the deadline neared, and if Brian were doing this I think he could have played that into a 23,000 or less OTD. But I'm content with what I paid, and appreciate the insights provided on this forum.
Deal fell thru for me on the ex-l v6....dealer didn't have color i wanted in stock...was pushing a navi model which i didn't need...they gave me an offer over 31k OTD mind you the ex-l v6 would have been in the 29's (this includes about 900$ worth of accessories. They kept saying its a really good deal can't go lower blah blah blah.....I couldn't justify extra money for NAVI that i didn't want to begin with. Not sure what I'm going to do now....It's a new year and surely prices would be up...closest dealer in my area for the car I wanted was 1K higher then the lowest price dealer. Just Damn Just Damn
First of all Wish you all a Happy New Year. Thank you Brian for your guidance.
Finally, it's my turn to share my experience. I bought the 2015 Honda Civic Hybrid base model for $23,800 OTD at Stockton Honda here in CA. Details as below $25,455 MSRP, including transportation Invoice: $23,930.90 Internet Price/Selling Price: $21,695 OTD=$23,809 $0 down ; rate= 0.9% @60 months
this dealership's internet manager was very professional from the start till the end. Would recommend them to anyone. It seems like they have a very big sale coming up tomm. The manager told me that they sold more than 50 cars today.
Your selling dealer sold more than 50 cars on the 31st.. So you and the other 49 smart shoppers played the game well. It came down to the wire and you made a nice deal. way to go.. @mrsunny2014
Apply buying this way every time. Buy Any month the last few days possible holding out to the very end of the month till you meet your target price or come close.
Buying a new car is like a good game of poker. Most buyers usually blink first and show there hands.
First off you played the system well. And seen the powerful effect with direct calls to dealerships. End of Dec, is the Superbowl of car buying in a lot of area's.
You seen first hand the power and leverage you command with dealerships managers and Internet depts. Emailing gets you so far. Direct phone calls on the day your buying is the secret to my success and has been for 45 years. No dealer is smarter than me on that day because I am the buyer and every one of my targeted dealerships know if they don't take the bite one of there other competing dealers will.?
One note: In some States and area's where dealerships are limited and your not willing to expand your search outside of your area buying this way may not work. If that is the case use some of these tips to better your deal. Go down to each dealership only on the day your ready to buy and tell each dealership that for x price I buy today. Your objective with pricing is the same. You want all your targeted dealerships to commit to your target price.
The only answers you want is Yes or No or a Counter offer..... otherwise you move onto the next local dealership.
Thank you for that well written and informative post on your car buying experience. A vacation and a new car to boot way to go...........................Happy New Year
Happy New year and thank you everyone for sharing all the information. Especially @brian125 Below are the details of my purchase 2015 Accord touring OTD $32K MSRP: $34450 Invoice: $31569 Selling price $28,968 Sales tax $2,607 Registration fees $299 weight fee $24 Flat ad /county fees $20 Electronic Filling $29 Smog abatement fee $20 Documentation fees $80 Tire/Battery/MVWEA $9 ----------------------- Total OTD $32,000
Put 5k down and got 0.9% financing from Honda. Monthly payment $461.
Now anybody who can commnet on Honda Care? I am in California and need to know if i can buy Honda Care from out of state dealers online? e.g. Saccucci Below are the details of their plans Plans for vehicles under 6,000 miles. Plans start on the day vehicle was first sold, and 0 miles. $0 deductible plans
72/120K for $1k.
Do you guys think its worth it considering all the new electronic gadgets this car has?
Happy New year and thank you everyone for sharing all the information. Especially @brian125 Below are the details of my purchase 2015 Accord touring OTD $32K MSRP: $34450 Invoice: $31569 Selling price $28,968 Sales tax $2,607 Registration fees $299 weight fee $24 Flat ad /county fees $20 Electronic Filling $29 Smog abatement fee $20 Documentation fees $80 Tire/Battery/MVWEA $9 ----------------------- Total OTD $32,000
Put 5k down and got 0.9% financing from Honda. Monthly payment $461.
Now anybody who can commnet on Honda Care? I am in California and need to know if i can buy Honda Care from out of state dealers online? e.g. Saccucci Below are the details of their plans Plans for vehicles under 6,000 miles. Plans start on the day vehicle was first sold, and 0 miles. $0 deductible plans
72/120K for $1k.
Do you guys think its worth it considering all the new electronic gadgets this car has?
Also can anybody recommend good paint protection?
Once again thanks a lot folks..
Build up 3 or more layers of wax on your vehicles clear coat finish. It will protect your paint.
Clay bar the car every year then apply another 3 or more coats thru out the year . Do this every year and your car's paint job will hold up for many years.
My favorite wax is P21's looks great on darker colors, goes on and off effortless and leaves no residue, you can wax your Accord in 15/ 20 mins . Zaino , and Klasse all in one are also excellent waxes. .
So After my deal went sour on the 31st....I decided to try again today at dealers further away from the City, up to 100 miles out and re-emailed some of the local ones....Ended up getting same offer I was gonna get at my previous dealer had they not "sold out" of the car I wanted...
EX-L V6 + All Season Mats, Mud Guards, Trunk Tray, Wheel locks, Spoiler.
In the state of Georgia OTD 30K Dealer was out of the city but still getting the deal was important
@Brian....I am still considering the Acura TLX, invoice is 34118, i'm down to 36900 OTD with All season mats, mud guards, trunk tray and wheel locks...Price worked out to about 1k below invoice before fees..Does this sound reasonable for a low inventory car thats been out only two months...Its so low inventory that no dealer in Georgia has the color/type i want In stock
On the 1st I bought a 2015 Accord Hybrid Touring. In the finance office I was offered a 5 yr./60k mi. warranty that even included dent repair and tire and wheel replacement, and theft replacement. It was completely with no deductible and unlimited claims. But...get this, the price was (gulp)....$5400!!
Naturally, with no pause, I DECLINED. Can you imagine this insanity???
I just bought a 2015 Accord Sport, CVT, in Southern California, Los Angeles area.
MSRP: $25485 (incl. destination) No dealer added accessories. Price paid: 20900 Tax (9%): 1888.20 Doc: 80 EVR: 29 DMV: 237 CA tire: 8.75 Total OTD: 23142.95
Hi, I live in that area and if you don't mind me asking, could you tell me exactly which dealership this was from? I would definitely be interested in buying at that price
I just bought a 2015 Accord Sport, CVT, in Southern California, Los Angeles area.
MSRP: $25485 (incl. destination)
No dealer added accessories.
Price paid: 20900
Tax (9%): 1888.20
Doc: 80
EVR: 29
DMV: 237
CA tire: 8.75
Total OTD: 23142.95
I too am in the socal area looking to get the sport CVT, what dealership was this at?
Purchased a 2015 Honda Accord Sport 4 door CVT at Marin Honda (California, Bay Area) for $24,200 OTD.
I emailed multiple dealerships asking to please quote best price OTD (all fees and taxes included). Most responded and this worked out well. Do not go in and haggle with them.
I wanted to share some Chicago area pricing I received just before New Years. I was researching a 2015 ACCORD EX-L Sedan White/beige but ended up buying the '14 Toyota Avalon XLE for 26.2K which my wife preferred. All prices are before TAX,Tag, Title but were below invoice. Fees were std. documentation fees etc. I emailed most of the dealers and asked for their best OTD detailed quote but was really after the PRE-TAX, TAG, TITLE and other fees. I also requested pricing on a base EX-L with no dealer installed accessories. They mark those up huge and most of us can install a splash guard or other simple item after buying them form College Hills or HANDA. Some dealers will match those prices on accessories but gouge you to install.
2015 Honda Accord EX-L prices at 12/28/14 (some holiday incentives may have lapsed now).
O'hare 25,238 Lisle & Fletcher Jones 25,317 Valley 25,249 Rosen 25,259 Motorwerks 25,300
Schaumburg wouldn't send anything in writing so I didn't pursue them. Lisle was very good to deal with as was Valley. Fletcher Jones was quite professional and responsive and I would have bought from them even though pretty far away. They seem to be the straightest shooters then Valley Honda 2nd. I had a trade but we didn't get that far as I preferred the Avalon to the Accord. We've had 10 Hondas in a row and was ready for a change. Actually for my wife. I recommend compiling all the data into a spreadsheet when you start your search It's a great way to compute your true cost OTD with simple formulas for tax etc so that there are no surprises later and you are ready to deal. I walked out of a few dealerships when negotiating my trade (odyssey) as you'll find that when you squeeze them on the top line in a non-cash deal that involves a trade they often will just low ball you on the trade offering a few grand below "low" wholesale. I went to Carmax and got an appraisal and I generally find that is $1000. below low wholesale. A dealer should be willing to pay you $1,000-1500 above that in a trade assuming it's a pretty decent car. Good Luck to all, the 2015 Accords are very nice and can be bought right. The new Camry should help make things more competitive and improve pricing further as it's a nice car and will get accord buyers to look there and hopefully translating to a few new incentive to "us buyers".
1) Do you think I can get the better car price than this in December? I asked for $25000. Or am I unrealistic in asking this price? So far all dealers have rejected it.
2) do you know what is the value of lifetime power training warranty (can go to any Honda dealership in US)? How much is it worth?
@OSCGOER did you get this deal. I too live in CT and for an EXL this looks like an excellent price. Do you have a salesman name? Did they honor this deal.
2015 Honda Accord EXL Sedan V4 MSRP : $29,240 Got Out of the door price (includes everything) for $25800 (24100$ + Taxes 980 + 280Reg+ doc fees 499)and 0.9APR/60mos
2015 Honda Accord EXL Sedan V6 MSRP : $29,240 Got Out of the door price (includes everything) for $27600 (25800$ + Taxes 980 + 280Reg+ doc fees 499) and 0.9APR/60mos
This is in Northern Virginia. if you need any help, just message me and I can forward the information, I bought then 1 week ago, you can negotiate another-300-500$ $ low now.
tried to message you also. New here and not sure it worked. Can you name the dealership. this seems like a great deal on the EXL which I am interested in. your other deal is also untouchable in CT
I have been offered 25K OTD for 2014 Honda Civic Hybrid with Navi & leather. Please let me know if this is a good offer or If I can get similar offer on 2015 model.
I have been offered 25K OTD for 2014 Honda Civic Hybrid with Navi & leather. Please let me know if this is a good offer or If I can get similar offer on 2015 model.
Can you provide the breakdown of the $25,000? Sales price, taxes and fees?
The breakdown for 2014 civic hybrid with Navi n leather is. Price 22400+ 10% tax 2240 +fees 360=25000. Please let me know if this is good price for this car.
The breakdown for 2014 civic hybrid with Navi n leather is. Price 22400+ 10% tax 2240 +fees 360=25000. Please let me know if this is good price for this car.
Looks like the average price paid is $22,430, so you're just under that threshold
The breakdown for 2014 civic hybrid with Navi n leather is. Price 22400+ 10% tax 2240 +fees 360=25000. Please let me know if this is good price for this car.
Here are the numbers I come up with on your model 2014
Invoice =$25,382 plus 820 dest/ charge = 26,202...... Good deal at 3802 below dealers invoice price. You will not be able to get a 2015 hybrid at this price. Dealers are getting 1000 cash incentives to sell 2014 models.
If this dealership has several 2014 Hybrid models on there lot you may be able to work a few more dollars off your price.
I have two following quotes for 2015 accord EX-L V4 in MI and would like to know your opinion. Have not visited any dealership yet.
1st quote:
$25750 selling price including destination charge $125 documentation fee $15 transfering title $1552 for sales tax ($500) financing through Honda --------------------------------- $26942 OTD price
2nd quote for "demo" 2015 accord EX-L V4 with 4200 milege:
$26830 OTD price (did not provide the break-down)
Two questions I have are:
1) I plan to buy this car with $24000 of dealer price to reach $25500-26000 OTD. Do you think I can negotiate more to decrease price? Or, is it the best deal to go and get the car right now?
2) It seems that I can get a bit more discounts when I purchase the "demo" car. However, I would like to ask your opinion about demo car.
I don't know why you would only pay $112 less OTD for a car that has 4200 miles on it than one with 0 miles. Even assuming a rate of 15 cents per mile, that's worth $630. And 4200 on a demo seems a bit much to me as Honda doesn't do loaners for service customers. Assuming it arrived on the lot in early September, that calculates to about 3 test drives per day at ~11 miles per test drive.
Just bought a 2015 Honda Accord EX-L for 25003 in So Cal. Finance guy got me with 795 for added car alarm. So overall 25798. OTD was 28254. What do you guys think? I feel like if I had pushed or waited I could of gotten some accessories and a lower price, but I had to buy that day because my car rental was over.
Just bought a 2015 Honda Accord EX-L for 25003 in So Cal. Finance guy got me with 795 for added car alarm. So overall 25798. OTD was 28254. What do you guys think? I feel like if I had pushed or waited I could of gotten some accessories and a lower price, but I had to buy that day because my car rental was over.
what's done is done..................... enjoy your new Accord.
brian125 . I read your negotiation notes and haveStarted my list. I live in Ct and built a list of Ct, Ri, mass and NY dealers. I know you noted that $2k under invoice was a good deal. Does that hold in Ct, and would that include the Honda cash of $500? Will savings increase as the 16's near or is now as good a time as any? I plan on following your advice, but need to compute a starting offer on my part.
NY, CT, RI, pricing will be higher than in MA. If you do not mind to travel to pick up your Accord you will do better than most buyers in these area's. Pit these dealers against each other. By getting as many dealerships involved / as far as your willing to travel to......................... Will help you make the best possible deal.
Email these dealers in MA. In addition to yours.... Herb Chambers, Weymouth, Bosch, Honda cars of Boston. These are the big boys. Catch one of these dealers on the right month and you won't be disappointed. Pit these guys against each other. Herb and Weymouth hate each other.
MA. most likely will be where your best deal lies. Target price of 1300 to 1400 hundred below should be a good target price to buy depending on that dealerships doc fee charge.
NY target price ...............500 to 1k below........... with 1k being a top price to get. NY... emails to ............... Friendly Honda, New Rochelle ( end of the month only ) last 2 days, last day
CT has never been a good state with pricing on Accords. So at worst you want 500 below dealers invoice on any model.
RI. target ................. same as above.
2k below will be a hard price to get on a 2015 model right now. Savings will increase as we get closer to June and July. Dealers will be receiving more incentive money
States with high doc's ....add them to your asking price to compensate this charge and make a wash on the bill of sale.
NY doc fee's are capped at 75
MA doc fee's range from 249 to 399.
Presidents week in FEB is a good time with dealers getting more incentive money to sell
Thanks so much... You are definitely the best source for negotiating info. Thirteen years ago when I bought my last honda, a RI dealer matched a herb chambers Boston ad, was ticked and wouldn't beat it, but as the metro ad said, he matched it. Hard to find a printed ad for sales these days.. Thanks again
2015 Honda Accord EXL Sedan V4 MSRP : $29,240 Got Out of the door price (includes everything) for $25800 (24100$ + Taxes 980 + 280Reg+ doc fees 499)and 0.9APR/60mos
2015 Honda Accord EXL Sedan V6 MSRP : $29,240 Got Out of the door price (includes everything) for $27600 (25800$ + Taxes 980 + 280Reg+ doc fees 499) and 0.9APR/60mos
This is in Northern Virginia. if you need any help, just message me and I can forward the information, I bought then 1 week ago, you can negotiate another-300-500$ $ low now.
tried to message you also. New here and not sure it worked. Can you name the dealership. this seems like a great deal on the EXL which I am interested in. your other deal is also untouchable in CT
Just bought a 2015 Accord Sport. Sticker MSRP was $25,485. Paid $22300 + tax and license fees =$24,400 OTD. The Truecar price was $23,618- I probably could have pushed harder for a few hundred more off. Glad the deal is done
What are your payments? Monthly and down payment (drive-off)
Just bought a 2015 Honda Accord EX-L for 25003 in So Cal. Finance guy got me with 795 for added car alarm. So overall 25798. OTD was 28254. What do you guys think? I feel like if I had pushed or waited I could of gotten some accessories and a lower price, but I had to buy that day because my car rental was over.
Which dealer may I ask? I'm in Socal and looking for this car too
Hello, new user here. I've been lurking around but is there any benefit in paying ANY downpayment for a car?
I tried googling but the main argument for paying a downpayment is not to be upside down..... so let me give you an example:
28000 car + fees, tax, etc that rolls into the loan = $30000 OTD. You do 0 down and drive off the lot (assume int rate charge is 2% for honda) with a loan of 30k. As soon as you drive off, your car is worth, let's say 25,000. You get into a car accident almost immediately , the insurance should be pay you the market value of the car , which should be 25k only, but now you STILL owe the bank 5k after you use the 25k to pay the bank back, which is the "upside down scenario".
BUT.....if let's say you put down 5k as downpayment. Your loan is 25k, you drive off the lot, car is worth 25k. Get into car accident, totals it, insurance pays you 25k. You owe 0. Great! but is it? you're still out the initial 5k you put down. So ending number wise, i see NO difference.
The only other argument i see is YOU PAY LESS INTEREST! Ok true, but how much less? I used a autoloan calc for 30k for 2% for 60 months, my monthly payment is $525 approx a month.
But if you do 5k down, your payment per month will now be 438 approx a month, which is a difference of $87, and over the course of 5 years, the "extra interest" you pay is only $258.33.
So i ask, shouldn't we put down as LESS downpayment as possible? and strive for 0 down all the time?
Anyone got good quotes from dealers around SF Bay Area? I got one quote that's just below 20k for a 2015 LX CVT but everyone else is staying around 20.5k. Thanks.
Buying a new vehicle is the Worst Investment we could ever make. Your detailed post is very true about depreciating value's. You also have wear and tear from bad roads and other drivers that costs us more $$$. Guys like me that flip vehicles every 3 or 4 years really feel the pinch.
If your the type who keeps a vehicle 10 yrs depreciating value is really a non factor for you. Your only concerns are vehicle reliability / track record after the warranty expires. Out of pocket expense to keep X amount of years ?
If you keep your cars only 3 to 6 yrs you want a vehicle with better than average Resale value. ( Honda, Toyota, Nissan etc. ) Stay away from most American cars, Kia, and Hyundai's. If you flip cars often resale is bad on these. Be prepared to take a hit.
Smart shoppers are the folks who look for deals on vehicles with low miles 2 to 4 years old.
So I ask, shouldn't we put down as LESS down payment as possible? and strive for 0 down all the time?
There is no right or wrong answer to your question ........ Higher payment over time or lower payments with down payment.
With interest rates so low today its a non factor especially if you could afford the monthly note.
I like to pay 75% of on my cars price upfront then take a low interest rate loan for remaining balance paying off in 1 to 3 years.
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I'm not saying that @brian125 is wrong with his advice, but be aware that at some point, you will have to travel to a dealership to finalize the deal.
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Especially @stever and @michaell for all there good work and advice throughout the year.
Brian
23 Telluride SX-P X-Line, 23 Camry XSE
Here's the breakdown:
Selling Price: 19,381.00
Doc fee: 402.00
Ma tax @ 6.25%: 1,048.94
Registration Title Fee: 100
Trade in: 3,000
OTD: 17,931.94
No cash down
Honda financing .9%
The trade-in was my 2005 Honda Odyssey that has been in a past collision, has 168,650 miles on it and currently needs a transmission. I closed the dealership this evening. And Brian, I didn't wear my scout uniform...not very flattering on a woman. Ha ha.
I will tell you the best quotes consistently came from Boch Honda. They were working with me for the past 6 weeks. All the other dealerships were trying to match or beat Boch's quotes.
Thank you for the help and advice. Happy Honda New Year to all.
23 Telluride SX-P X-Line, 23 Camry XSE
Finally, it's my turn to share my experience. I bought the 2015 Honda Civic Hybrid base model for $23,800 OTD at Stockton Honda here in CA.
Details as below
$25,455 MSRP, including transportation
Invoice: $23,930.90
Internet Price/Selling Price: $21,695 OTD=$23,809 $0 down ; rate= 0.9% @60 months
this dealership's internet manager was very professional from the start till the end. Would recommend them to anyone. It seems like they have a very big sale coming up tomm. The manager told me that they sold more than 50 cars today.
2015 Honda Accord EX CVT
+ splash guards
+ wheel locks
MSRP (incl. freight): 26,650
Invoice (incl. freight): 24,455
Selling price (incl. freight): 21893
Processing fee: 499
Tags, title, and tax: 1008
Total OTD price: 23,400
Here is a little more about my experience. The short version: Brian's advice and insights were spot-on.
The long version: I had 16 dealers within 50 miles of me, between VA and MD, and I'd have been happy to buy from any of them. I was on family vacation out of town, so I had no choice but to do everything via email/phone.
Day 1 (Monday Dec. 29): I reached out to each dealer via email or through their website if I could not identify the contact info for the internet sales manager, asking for their best price on the specific car I wanted, indicating I was soliciting bids from multiple dealers and would choose the best deal. With one exception: I did not reach out to my local dealer where I had done the test drive, because I knew how to directly reach the sales manager by phone. Here is generally how the responses broke down:
- 5 did not respond at all. I eliminated them.
- 2 insisted on me coming in to their dealership before they would offer a price. This was a deal-breaker, both because I was out of town and because it wasn't how I wanted to deal.
- Several sent "opening bid" prices that were never going to be competitive, but at least they got the conversation going.
- Several sent somewhat serious offers, that indicated they were willing to deal and had a clue.
- Several others insisted on phone calls, which was fine, presumably because it was faster for them or they didn't want to document their offers for me to shop around. These all provided relatively good bids, including one who "set the market" with an excellent bid, albeit for my second choice color.
- Although I did not "shop offers", I did send email to those who were clearly not making competitive bids to let them know that they were much higher than everyone else, and asked them to confirm that this was their best offer.
Day 2 (Tuesday Dec. 30): This was really "dealing day" for me, and it was obvious that the dealers were getting more serious as well. My phone was ringing off the hook and emails were flying in with competitive offers, including those I had told the previous evening were not competitive. By late morning, email was no longer feasible or efficient, as Brian had indicated, so I shifted to direct phone interactions with sales managers. A handful of dealers were now showing themselves to be willing and eager to DEAL. Like Brian said, you could really tell within a couple of minutes of talking who was and wasn't. For example, one bid was not competitive in part (but not entirely) due to $600 worth of dealer add-ons. Their only "dealing" was an offer to take a couple of them off the car to cut the price by $300. This was someone who didn't need to sell. No hard feelings, but not someone I had time to deal with on Dec. 30.
A couple of things I found (again consistent with Brian's guidance). First, sales managers responded when I took command of the conversation by telling them I was ready to buy right there and then, with credit card in hand for a deposit. Although they believed I was sincere before, I think talking in those terms raised their interest as they could almost taste the deal. For those who really wanted to deal, this seemed to be music to their ears. Second, and related, their BEST deal did not start coming out until they believed I might take it and they might close on it. When I would ask, I started to get responses of "if I say yes, will you come in today." This is important because for the most part, I don't believe the pure email-only approach will get these offers. Via email, too many of them are worried you aren't serious or will just shop the offer around. On the phone, if you commit to something, especially with a deposit, you can get better offers. Brian's script is, I believe, right on the money. Tell them you have credit card in hand, will stop speaking with other dealers, and drive to the dealership today (or tomorrow if you are on family vacation out of town) if they agree to $X, As the end-of-year deadline approaches, and the sales manager knows that SOMEONE is going to get your business, knowing that they can rack up a sale right then just by saying yes seems to become difficult for them to resist.
Anyway, by late afternoon I called the sales manager at my local dealership to tell him I had some good offers but would love to hear his best. My intention was to call all the remaining dealers who were competitive and showing great interest, and close with the first one who would give me my price. This one did. Unfortunately, he didn't have the right car on his lot, so he almost lost me. But he called back before I could make contact with another dealer, to tell me that he was getting the car shipped in from another dealer that night. So I agreed to the deal. It is too bad for one of the other dealers who was unavailable by phone. I am sure he was busy so there are no hard feelings at all from my end, but if I had gotten through to him, maybe he would have gotten my money instead of this dealer who had the opportunity to find the car I wanted on another lot and call me back.
Day 3 (Weds Dec. 31): I returned home from the family trip, arrived at the dealer at 6:30, and drove off the lot around 8:45 as the final deal of the year (it was a very busy place when I arrived, but I was the last person in the shop at the end).
There were several dealers who were simply great to work with, and I would be happy to recommend and would love to have purchased from. I do believe that if I'd had the time (I was on family vacation after all, and spending 2 days online or on the phone was not particularly well-received) and been more patient, I could have knocked another few hundred off the price. But I hit my target, whether that was too easy or not, so I wasn't sufficiently motivated to keep going. I was able to close a deal on the car I wanted, at my local dealer, as it turned out with splash guards and wheel locks included at no cost. Funny enough, this car was shipped in from another dealer who had offered $900 more for the same exact car! LOL. Bottom line, there were at least 4 dealers who clearly wanted to deal as the deadline neared, and if Brian were doing this I think he could have played that into a 23,000 or less OTD. But I'm content with what I paid, and appreciate the insights provided on this forum.
Apply buying this way every time. Buy Any month the last few days possible holding out to the very end of the month till you meet your target price or come close.
Buying a new car is like a good game of poker. Most buyers usually blink first and show there hands.
Happy New Year
23 Telluride SX-P X-Line, 23 Camry XSE
First off you played the system well. And seen the powerful effect with direct calls to dealerships. End of Dec, is the Superbowl of car buying in a lot of area's.
You seen first hand the power and leverage you command with dealerships managers and Internet depts. Emailing gets you so far. Direct phone calls on the day your buying is the secret to my success and has been for 45 years. No dealer is smarter than me on that day because I am the buyer and every one of my targeted dealerships know if they don't take the bite one of there other competing dealers will.?
One note: In some States and area's where dealerships are limited and your not willing to expand your search outside of your area buying this way may not work. If that is the case use some of these tips to better your deal. Go down to each dealership only on the day your ready to buy and tell each dealership that for x price I buy today. Your objective with pricing is the same. You want all your targeted dealerships to commit to your target price.
The only answers you want is Yes or No or a Counter offer..... otherwise you move onto the next local dealership.
@bighoo93
Thank you for that well written and informative post on your car buying experience. A vacation and a new car to boot way to go...........................Happy New Year
23 Telluride SX-P X-Line, 23 Camry XSE
2015 Accord touring OTD $32K
MSRP: $34450
Invoice: $31569
Selling price $28,968
Sales tax $2,607
Registration fees $299
weight fee $24
Flat ad /county fees $20
Electronic Filling $29
Smog abatement fee $20
Documentation fees $80
Tire/Battery/MVWEA $9
-----------------------
Total OTD $32,000
Put 5k down and got 0.9% financing from Honda. Monthly payment $461.
Now anybody who can commnet on Honda Care? I am in California and need to know if i can buy Honda Care from out of state dealers online?
e.g. Saccucci Below are the details of their plans
Plans for vehicles under 6,000 miles. Plans start on the day vehicle was first sold, and 0 miles.
$0 deductible plans
72/120K for $1k.
Do you guys think its worth it considering all the new electronic gadgets this car has?
Also can anybody recommend good paint protection?
Once again thanks a lot folks..
MSRP: $25485 (incl. destination)
No dealer added accessories.
Price paid: 20900
Tax (9%): 1888.20
Doc: 80
EVR: 29
DMV: 237
CA tire: 8.75
Total OTD: 23142.95
Build up 3 or more layers of wax on your vehicles clear coat finish. It will protect your paint.
Clay bar the car every year then apply another 3 or more coats thru out the year . Do this every year and your car's paint job will hold up for many years.
My favorite wax is P21's looks great on darker colors, goes on and off effortless and leaves no residue, you can wax your Accord in 15/ 20 mins . Zaino , and Klasse all in one are also excellent waxes. .
Honda care read this:
http://www.curryhondacare.com/faq.cfm
The 72/120k for 1k is a good price .. Check out Bernardi's Honda care they sometimes will beat that price or do a 8yr for the same price.
23 Telluride SX-P X-Line, 23 Camry XSE
EX-L V6 + All Season Mats, Mud Guards, Trunk Tray, Wheel locks, Spoiler.
In the state of Georgia OTD 30K Dealer was out of the city but still getting the deal was important
@Brian....I am still considering the Acura TLX, invoice is 34118, i'm down to 36900 OTD with All season mats, mud guards, trunk tray and wheel locks...Price worked out to about 1k below invoice before fees..Does this sound reasonable for a low inventory car thats been out only two months...Its so low inventory that no dealer in Georgia has the color/type i want In stock
Thanks
yes
23 Telluride SX-P X-Line, 23 Camry XSE
Naturally, with no pause, I DECLINED. Can you imagine this insanity???
Hi, I live in that area and if you don't mind me asking, could you tell me exactly which dealership this was from? I would definitely be interested in buying at that price
I emailed multiple dealerships asking to please quote best price OTD (all fees and taxes included). Most responded and this worked out well. Do not go in and haggle with them.
All prices are before TAX,Tag, Title but were below invoice. Fees were std. documentation fees etc. I emailed most of the dealers and asked for their best OTD detailed quote but was really after the PRE-TAX, TAG, TITLE and other fees. I also requested pricing on a base EX-L with no dealer installed accessories. They mark those up huge and most of us can install a splash guard or other simple item after buying them form College Hills or HANDA. Some dealers will match those prices on accessories but gouge you to install.
2015 Honda Accord EX-L prices at 12/28/14 (some holiday incentives may have lapsed now).
O'hare 25,238
Lisle & Fletcher Jones 25,317
Valley 25,249
Rosen 25,259
Motorwerks 25,300
Schaumburg wouldn't send anything in writing so I didn't pursue them. Lisle was very good to deal with as was Valley. Fletcher Jones was quite professional and responsive and I would have bought from them even though pretty far away. They seem to be the straightest shooters then Valley Honda 2nd. I had a trade but we didn't get that far as I preferred the Avalon to the Accord. We've had 10 Hondas in a row and was ready for a change. Actually for my wife. I recommend compiling all the data into a spreadsheet when you start your search It's a great way to compute your true cost OTD with simple formulas for tax etc so that there are no surprises later and you are ready to deal. I walked out of a few dealerships when negotiating my trade (odyssey) as you'll find that when you squeeze them on the top line in a non-cash deal that involves a trade they often will just low ball you on the trade offering a few grand below "low" wholesale. I went to Carmax and got an appraisal and I generally find that is $1000. below low wholesale. A dealer should be willing to pay you $1,000-1500 above that in a trade assuming it's a pretty decent car. Good Luck to all, the 2015 Accords are very nice and can be bought right. The new Camry should help make things more competitive and improve pricing further as it's a nice car and will get accord buyers to look there and hopefully translating to a few new incentive to "us buyers".
I have been offered 25K OTD for 2014 Honda Civic Hybrid with Navi & leather.
Please let me know if this is a good offer or If I can get similar offer on 2015 model.
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2024 Kia Sportage Hybrid SX Prestige
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2024 Kia Sportage Hybrid SX Prestige
Invoice =$25,382 plus 820 dest/ charge = 26,202...... Good deal at 3802 below dealers invoice price. You will not be able to get a 2015 hybrid at this price. Dealers are getting 1000 cash incentives to sell 2014 models.
If this dealership has several 2014 Hybrid models on there lot you may be able to work a few more dollars off your price.
23 Telluride SX-P X-Line, 23 Camry XSE
1st quote:
$25750 selling price including destination charge
$125 documentation fee
$15 transfering title
$1552 for sales tax
($500) financing through Honda
---------------------------------
$26942 OTD price
2nd quote for "demo" 2015 accord EX-L V4 with 4200 milege:
$26830 OTD price (did not provide the break-down)
Two questions I have are:
1) I plan to buy this car with $24000 of dealer price to reach $25500-26000 OTD. Do you think I can negotiate more to decrease price? Or, is it the best deal to go and get the car right now?
2) It seems that I can get a bit more discounts when I purchase the "demo" car. However, I would like to ask your opinion about demo car.
Happy new year 2015!
http://www.edmunds.com/honda/accord/2015/?sub=&ps=
23 Telluride SX-P X-Line, 23 Camry XSE
23 Telluride SX-P X-Line, 23 Camry XSE
23 Telluride SX-P X-Line, 23 Camry XSE
NY, CT, RI, pricing will be higher than in MA. If you do not mind to travel to pick up your Accord you will do better than most buyers in these area's. Pit these dealers against each other. By getting as many dealerships involved / as far as your willing to travel to......................... Will help you make the best possible deal.
Email these dealers in MA. In addition to yours.... Herb Chambers, Weymouth, Bosch, Honda cars of Boston. These are the big boys. Catch one of these dealers on the right month and you won't be disappointed. Pit these guys against each other.
Herb and Weymouth hate each other.
MA. most likely will be where your best deal lies. Target price of 1300 to 1400 hundred below should be a good target price to buy depending on that dealerships doc fee charge.
NY target price ...............500 to 1k below........... with 1k being a top price to get.
NY... emails to ............... Friendly Honda, New Rochelle ( end of the month only ) last 2 days, last day
CT has never been a good state with pricing on Accords. So at worst you want 500 below dealers invoice on any model.
RI. target ................. same as above.
2k below will be a hard price to get on a 2015 model right now. Savings will increase as we get closer to June and July. Dealers will be receiving more incentive money
States with high doc's ....add them to your asking price to compensate this charge and make a wash on the bill of sale.
NY doc fee's are capped at 75
MA doc fee's range from 249 to 399.
Presidents week in FEB is a good time with dealers getting more incentive money to sell
23 Telluride SX-P X-Line, 23 Camry XSE
I tried googling but the main argument for paying a downpayment is not to be upside down..... so let me give you an example:
28000 car + fees, tax, etc that rolls into the loan = $30000 OTD. You do 0 down and drive off the lot (assume int rate charge is 2% for honda) with a loan of 30k. As soon as you drive off, your car is worth, let's say 25,000. You get into a car accident almost immediately , the insurance should be pay you the market value of the car , which should be 25k only, but now you STILL owe the bank 5k after you use the 25k to pay the bank back, which is the "upside down scenario".
BUT.....if let's say you put down 5k as downpayment. Your loan is 25k, you drive off the lot, car is worth 25k. Get into car accident, totals it, insurance pays you 25k. You owe 0. Great! but is it? you're still out the initial 5k you put down. So ending number wise, i see NO difference.
The only other argument i see is YOU PAY LESS INTEREST! Ok true, but how much less? I used a autoloan calc for 30k for 2% for 60 months, my monthly payment is $525 approx a month.
But if you do 5k down, your payment per month will now be 438 approx a month, which is a difference of $87, and over the course of 5 years, the "extra interest" you pay is only $258.33.
So i ask, shouldn't we put down as LESS downpayment as possible? and strive for 0 down all the time?
thanks!
Buying a new vehicle is the Worst Investment we could ever make. Your detailed post is very true about depreciating value's. You also have wear and tear from bad roads and other drivers that costs us more $$$. Guys like me that flip vehicles every 3 or 4 years really feel the pinch.
If your the type who keeps a vehicle 10 yrs depreciating value is really a non factor for you. Your only concerns are vehicle reliability / track record after the warranty expires. Out of pocket expense to keep X amount of years ?
If you keep your cars only 3 to 6 yrs you want a vehicle with better than average Resale value. ( Honda, Toyota, Nissan etc. ) Stay away from most American cars, Kia, and Hyundai's. If you flip cars often resale is bad on these. Be prepared to take a hit.
Smart shoppers are the folks who look for deals on vehicles with low miles 2 to 4 years old.
So I ask, shouldn't we put down as LESS down payment as possible? and strive for 0 down all the time?
There is no right or wrong answer to your question ........ Higher payment over time or lower payments with down payment.
With interest rates so low today its a non factor especially if you could afford the monthly note.
I like to pay 75% of on my cars price upfront then take a low interest rate loan for remaining balance paying off in 1 to 3 years.
23 Telluride SX-P X-Line, 23 Camry XSE