2013 and earlier-Honda Pilot Prices Paid and Buying Experience

kyfdx

They had the 2009 Pilot at the Detroit Auto Show..

No particulars on launch date, of course... It is still pretty slab-sided and generic looking.. I thought it might look more like the MDX, but you'd be hard pressed to see any resemblence..

jimcufsemall

My dealer called me today and advised Honda has added another $1000 off the sale price, in addition to the $1500. As of now my price for an EX-L 4x4 is down to 28,200. It pays to wait!

buydotcom

$28020 OTD ?

Thanks

steevo

Is that discount available for Lease customers or only if a buy? My low is 29400 right now for an EX-L AWD...

nettaxi

Present lease ends in june
Looking for best lease on 4wd VP located in NJ
Any info or advice appreciated
Thanks

steevo

Scroll back through these recent posts just before yours. Lots of info on very attractive Pilot leases...

parviz

I seriously doubt that is OTD price. Like Dennis mentioned earlier, I have not seen more than $2500 incentive on the Pilot either. A little over a year ago, I paid $28300 for my EXL 4WD w/ Navi and if you can get around that price these days I think you should go for it. Saving a couple of hundred $$ by waiting a couple of months is not worth the enjoyment and the use you will start getting out of the car if bought now. If it were for another $1000 or more that would require a second thought but I doubt it would get there. I just bougt an 08 Accord EXL V6 w/ navi and the prices on the 07 Accords are pretty much the same as when we bought my friend's Accord over a year ago. You will definately limit your choices the longer you wait.

steevo

You paid $28300 for a 2008 Pilot EX-L with Nav???????????

cherishzm

I just got e-mail from a Honda Dealer stating that they are offering up to $7,000 off MSRP on Pilots and Ridgelines. There should be increase in dealer incentives on 08 Pilots.

robsdad

Sale price for a 2008 Honda Pilot 2wd VP in Atlanta. Please help. Might buy this weekend:

$21,422

399 documentation fee

1309.26 6% County taxes

28 titling fee

3 GA lemon law

$23,161.26 Drive out Factory Equipped.

IS THIS A GOOD DEAL?

jimcufsemall

ok, signed my deal! $3500 under invoice! I got the 4x4 EXL with dvd for $28,862, invoice was $32,362. Obviously the lease numbers are higher, I think my salesman told me around $1000 under invoive. With $3500 under for a purchase, and 4.99 for 72 mos financing from my credit union, I couldnt hold out any longer. Oh I live in philly!

dwynne

OK here is an example. I used the 2WD VP Pilot and used the current CapitalOne new and used car financing rates. I figured the cost of the Pilot at invoice less $1k for the lease and invoice less $2,500 for the buy. At lease end I financed the residual for 36 months at the used car rate. I rolled the $595 bank fee into the lease. No tax in this example:

Lease VS Buy Lease - no tax Buy - no tax

MSRP $29,030.00 $29,030.00
Selling Price $24,630.00 $24,630.00
Residual $ $14,805.30 $0
Bank Fee $595.00 $0
Extras $0.00 ($1,500)
Net Cap Cost $25,225.00 $23,130.00
Net with Tax
Residual % (Calculated Value) 51%
Term 36 60

Money Factor 0.00014

MF as Interest Rate 0.34 6.35%

Tax Rate 7% 7%
Calculate Payment $295.04 $450.94
With Tax

Sum of Payments $10,621.45 $27,056.50

Residual $14,805.30
Residual w/tax
Term 36
Rate 6.65%
Payment $454.78
Sum of Payments $16,372.05

Total of Payments $26,993.50 $27,056.50
Difference $63.00

The formatting is messed up, but basically if you lease then buy you pay $295.04 per month for 36 months, then $454.78 per month for 36 months for a total of $26,993.50 for the Pilot. If you buy it on a 60 month loan it is $450.94 per month for 60 months or $27,056.50. So you SAVE $63 if you lease, then buy - even paying the $595 bank fee and even paying $1,500 MORE for the Pilot. The upside is you pay less for the first 3 years, then have the option of just turning it in and walking away. The downside is it takes 1 more year to buy the Pilot this way.

If I add in tax, I used 7% sales tax, added to the lease payment and added to the residual sales price and new sales price the numbers are similar.

Lease - with tax Buy - with tax

$29,030.00 $29,030.00
$24,630.00 $24,630.00
$14,805.30 $0
$595.00 $0
$0.00 ($1,500)
$25,225.00 $23,130.00
$24,749.10
51%
36 60

0.00014

0.34 6.35%

7% 7%
$295.04 $482.51
$315.69

$11,364.95 $28,950.46

$14,805.30
$15,841.67
36
6.65%
$486.61
$17,518.09

$28,883.05 $28,950.46
$67.41

You end up $67.41 cheaper doing the lease w/tax then buy than just buying outright.

If I use the EX-L w/Nav 4WD with an MSRP of $36,280 and invoice of $32,905 and lease it at $1k under invoice or buy it at $2.5k under invoice and the higher 0.00041 MF (may not be this much now) and a guess at residual I come up with $355.65 LESS to lease/buy without tax and $380.55 with 7% tax.

So to me it seems a "no brainer" - use Honda's silly cheap lease money and let THEM take a chance on future value. You pay LESS overall than buying now and you have the "just turn it in" option at the end of the lease.

Dennis

piloti_sti

Thanks for taking the time on that, it really puts it in perspective.

piloti_sti

What dealer is this? That is the cheapest I have ever seen a Pilot.

dwynne

Plug in the rates from your bank or credit union and see how it adds up.

One thing for sure, you are not going to spend MUCH extra to lease/buy no matter what your rates are.

My rule of thumb is usually $1k or so - if the lease/buy is no more than $1k MORE than the "just buy" then I say it is worth doing. In this case, you actually save money by leasing first.

Dennis

hurlbert

I got a phone call from a Dallas dealer today saying that they lowered the purchase price for the Special Edition AWD. The AWD's are kinda scarce in DFW area, but we have family in Colorado and may buy some property up there so, want the AWD.

MSRP w/ dest $33,630
Disc w/ dest $28,320

Does anyone have any experiences w/ Colorado dealers? They may have bigger selection on AWD's.

I'm not sure if I could get the same price for a lease here in DFW? We were planning on holding out until the new Pilots came out. However, our 1999 Isuzu Trooper is showing some aging and after $1,400 of "maintenance", it still probably needs some suspension work.

So, my thoughts are: Lease a 2008 with the strong discounts and lease factors and then wait 3 years for the newness to settle on the new Pilot. Possibly look at a Diesel?

Any comments, suggestions or better deals?

Thanks,
Bill in TX

slamtaz

Thanks Dennis for that elaborate example. If i may ask a dumb question though, how did you convert the .00014 money factor to 0.34% interest?

joeyjoejoe

I don't think you took into account the $1999.00 that's due at signing for the lease....did you? I'm looking at an AWD VP for the same deal, but have a dealer that is offering it as a pruchase for right under $26000 OTD. We will probably stick with the lease though because it is more affordable in the short term. Thanks for the post though. Cheers!

dwynne

To convert MF to equivalent interest you just multiply it by 2400. So 0.00014 * 2400 = 0.336% . 0.00030 * 2400 = 0.72% .

Dennis

slamtaz

I don't mean to be a pain, but why 2400?

dwynne

There is no money due at signing other than first payment at taxes.

You are confusing the deal offered on the Honda web page with "real life". In "real life" we don't settle for the price in the pre-done deal. We pay well under that. If you walk into the dealer and say "I want that deal I saw online" you will be paying way too much. Still a decent deal, but you will be paying too much.

Leasing you should be at $1k or more under invoice and buying about $2,500 under invoice. Roll the $595 into the lease and you are good to go.

The online deal is just a sample deal and allows even the worst dealers to still make money. Get a good, low dealing dealer and you just save money.

Dennis

dwynne

Never thought about or looked into the math, just used it .

If you multiply the MF by 24 you get the effective rate as a decimal 4% would be 0.04, or use 2400 to get it in percent.

I can look into the reasoning/math if you just gotta know, but it would be easier to just "trust me" and know that MF * 2400 = effective interest percent.

The actual MF is used in the lease payment calc, the "effective interest" is just used to help you gauge is a MF is a good rate or not. With the effective under 1% the answer on the Pilot lease is yes. New 08 Accords were going for 6.6% but are now down to 6.1% - a far cry from the cheap Pilot and Ody and Ridgeline deals.

At one time, GMAC used to give rates in percentages so it did matter that you converted those to MF to plug into the lease formula, otherwise is just for your information only.

Dennis

slamtaz

No worries, i trust your numbers. That's precisely the reason why i'm asking you. I was just trying to pick your brain so we can make a reasonable evaluation of the pricing out there. Thanks!!!

piloti_sti

http://leaseguide.com/calc.htm If you go on here it will explain all the components of a lease. Very handy tool....

kyfdx

The money factor is a monthly multiplier... You are converting it into an annual percentage rate..

Multiply X 100 to convert number into percentage
Multiply X 12 to convert monthly into annual
Multiply X 2 ... just because..

Okay, not just because... The lease formula for monthly finance charges is (Residual + Cap Cost) X money factor.. But, in reality you are paying finance charges on an average of the (Residual + Cap Cost), not the total.. Instead of making the extra calculation to get the average, they just halve the money factor.. That is why you have to multiply by two..

So..
100 X 12 X 2 = 2400

Clear as mud?

piloti_sti

Just to test the waters, I just got a quote on a VP 2WD. First offer from dealer was a little over $3000 under invoice. $22k and change. This is on a purchase but will see about the lease deal.

parviz

No, sorry if I was not clear. I did say in my post that I bought my Pilot a little over a year ago. My Pilot is a 2006 model year. The point I was trying to make is that I don't think you would get any lower than that price (maybe $100-200) even when the 09's are out so if they are offering a quote very close to it I wouldn't wait much longer as the selection will be limited as well. I had a difficult time finding a black EXL with Navi that was 4WD. They had lots of 2WD's at the time, though.

dfwhonda

I spoke with a Dallas area dealer today who informed me that the $1,500 dealer incentive on purchased 2008 Pilots has been increased to $3,500. The quote I received on the above trim level was $27,789.

I think it's a pretty good deal (although it seems to be right in line with the increased dealer incentive, so it's not as if the dealer is making an extra effort), but I want a few extras included (such as bluetooth capability).

Am I getting too greedy by asking for the extra accessories (which the dealer said would cost around $1,000 total) to be included in the quoted price above?

Also, on the above trim level I could not get a lease quote nearly comparable to the examples listed in this forum (and so more advantageous than a purchase), but perhaps I didn't negotiate enough with the dealer.

robsdad

I had to let everyone know about our purchase. The honda dealers are now giving out $3500 in incentives to buy pilots. I think now is the time to buy.

Here's the breakdown (with destination):

MSRP: $28230.00

Invoice: $25631.00

Price Paid: $21270.00

That's $4361 OFF INVOICE. I am assuming they got inside their holdback even after the $3500 incentive to make the deal happen. I have never seen this at a honda dealership.

After we finalized the deal, I got $2000 for my junk 2001 taurus. This was exactly what I was expecting, because it's in BAD shape. I actually thought I'd get a little less.

I was able to get 4.99% on 48 months. They beat my CREDIT UNION for financing. I do have excellent credit, but I was floored again.

If you are in the market for a honda in Atlanta, message me and I will give you the salesman's name / location. I

joeforjob

What is the current best price for a brand new Pilot SE 4WD or 2WD? Thanks.

andyman1970

Are you hot to buy now, or can you wait for the 2009 models?

piloti_sti

Dennis,

Does this warrant another look, based on the apparent $3500 incentive? I plugged in the numbers on Edmunds calculator and the payment still came out around $450 for the purchase so I don't think that is right but it may put the purchase closer to the $1000 threshold you were talking about.

degiulio

Just wondering if this is as good a price as I think it is? A 2008 new Pilot, VP, 4WD with a MSRP including destination charge of $29,630. The lowest offer I have received so far is $23,300 which includes the destination charge. With tax and title we are OTD at $24,534. We received another price from a different dealer for $23,495 and am waiting for one more dealer. We weren't sure we wanted a Pilot because the gas mileage on it isn't great but this appears to be a great deal that I don't think we can pass up. The invoice on this is $26,896 which puts this offer at $3596 under invoice. This is not as good as "robsdad" but we are in western Massachusetts which is a much smaller market than Atlanta.

joeforjob

I am not interested in 2009 model.

Thank you for your asking.

dfwhonda

"If I use the EX-L w/Nav 4WD with an MSRP of $36,280 and invoice of $32,905 and lease it at $1k under invoice or buy it at $2.5k under invoice and the higher 0.00041 MF (may not be this much now) and a guess at residual I come up with $355.65 LESS to lease/buy without tax and $380.55 with 7% tax."

Dennis (or anyone interested in helping a math idiot),

I'm probably not doing the math right, but with the new $3,500 purchase incentives for the Pilot, would leasing still be a competitive option versus purchasing a Pilot?

I ran a lease calculator using the following numbers for a 2008 Pilot FWD EX-L w/NAV:

MSRP: $35,175 (quoted by dealer yesterday)
Invoice: $31,789 (again quoted by dealer)
Selling Price: $30,789 (invoice minus $1k)
Residual: $18,291 (52% as quoted by dealer)
Bank Fee: $595 (assumed)
Extras: $0
Net Cap Cost: $31,384
Term: 36 months
MF as interest rate: 0.30 (I think I can get 7.0% from the dealer)
Tax Rate: 6.25%

The payment the lease calculator spits out is $544.77 per month, which is more than the monthly payment if I finance $27,789 (dealer offer from yesterday) at 4.9% for 60 months with no money down (which I calculate to be $523 per month). The $523 is also cheaper than the monthly payment I would make for the following 36 months when I finance the residual at 4.9%.

What am I doing wrong with these lease calculations that I am getting such a high monthly payment for the first 36 months?

Also, the salesperson I spoke with at a dealer yesterday did mention that he didn't think there were lease incentives for Pilot EX-Ls.

Thanks in advance.

joeyjoejoe

I never thought about rolling the down payment into the lease. We are trading in a car and had planned to use a portion of it for the down payment. I think I'm finally getting a grasp on the negotiations for a lease. It just seems like everytime I get a solid deal on a purchase, and I try to roll into a lease with the same price, dealers drop a line of they can't negotiate sale price on a lease option. I realize this isn't exactly true now. What are the thoughts of asking for more money on a trade-in to offset the cap cost? That might be a little easier. Ideally I could negotiate the price and try to get more for the trade-in. I'll shoot for the suggested $1000 below invoice and then go from there. Thanks!

dwynne

If you could get $3,500 under invoice on a buy and $1,000 then the lease/buy VS buy changes to $1,106.76 total MORE for lease/buy compared to buy - $1,184.23 if I include 7% sales tax. This is on a 2WD VP, on a loaded up 4WD EX-L w/Nav the difference is probably less.

You have to get your own rate (credit union, bank, etc) to compare - I used the Capital One new and used rates - it could be more or less.

Still not a bad deal, I don't think, to lease and then decide if you want to buy or just turn it in for something new.

Dennis

dwynne

They have hold back and most dealers seem willing to deal down to invoice less the $1k lease incentive and they keep the hold back. Others deal even down into the hold back.

If you get a cheap price on the new car, they are not going to give you much for your trade - that is just how it usually works. They could give you a lot for your trade to make you feel better, then just charge you more for the new Pilot.

Take your trade to other deals or places like CarMax and Driver's Way and see what they will give you for it. CM and DW will probably be about $1k under what a dealer will do on a cheap deal. Then get your new Pilot price down to $1k under invoice or less, then have the dealer give you something close to $1k over the CM/DW price, and you should be all set.

If your car is worth a lot more at trade than you owe on it, then you could ask the dealer to give a check for the difference rather than adding it to the new deal.

The only thing set in the lease deal is the MF and residual, the selling price and for sure how much or how little you put down are entirely up to you.

Dennis

northernexp

Just bought my 2008 Honda Pilot EXL w/o nav and ent. for $28,400++ on 2/8/08. two dealers offered me this price.

joeforjob

Could I have the name for the Honda dealer in that area? Thanks.

robsdad

Sure. gwinnet place honda. The salesman I spoke with was Marco. He's a great guy and doesn't beat around the bush. He will fight for a great deal for you.

trdprerunnerdc

I have been getting quotes for $26,500 to $26,800 in the Los Angeles Area. This price includes destination or delivery charge. Internet quotes. Thank you.

joeforjob

Thank you for posting your information so soon.

joeyjoejoe

While running through some leasing vs purchasing options I decided to ante up and throw out a few offers. I think it does finally make a little more sense to purchase as compared to lease in my situation. I was getting quotes around $24000 for the AWD VP trim in my area, with roughly another $2000 in taxes, title, license, etc... I'm trading in a not-so-great Chevy Malibu that KBB insists would go for $2000 trade-in. I went ahead and threw out an offer with the Malibu and everything included out the door of $22,000. We'll see what the dealers have to say about that. That would be a new Pilot for just over $20,000!!! Keep your fingers crossed kids

djw1212

After weeks of looking and some sound advice we leased a 08 Pilot EXL AWD (no fwd availible around philly). I would have never thought of leasing, but with the rates they were offering i had to do it.
MSRP $34080
Invoice $30914
Price paid $29614
Down $ 1700 (i know, see below)
36 m/12k per
Monthly $ 350 including tax (9% in PA)
Residual $18000
Best purchase i was offered by a dealer was $ 27,917 and most dealers were right around invoice for a lease

I know i should have went for a sign and drive, but my wife wanted the payments at $350 , minimum down would have been $370

May have made out better by waiting a bit but really wanted the color combo we got
(cherry/gray) and most dealers around here had one or two in stock.

Thanks Dennis for all your # crunching a leasing advice

piloti_sti

Are you sure the calculator is using the money factor as an interest rate, in other words are you putting in .30 instead of .00014? This would impact your payment in a major way..

dwynne

I bet that is it. If they put in the effective interest rate rather than the MF you end up with a WAY bigger payment than you should.

Somehow I missed that question, thanks.

Dennis

joeforjob

I just bought a new Pilot 4WD VP and paid $22,500 plus NY state tax, document fee, government fee and inspect charge.......... I am very happy for this amount and will go to the dealer place to pick my new SUV. I think that it is good time to get your new Pilot if you need. I really appreciated you posted so many wonderful and helpful information here.

slamtaz

A dealer here confirmed that honda is giving 3500 incentive on the pilot but i'm wondering why there is an additional 200 added to edmund's invoice as ad association fee plus dealer fees of 726.25++!!! Anybody here know if this is normal here in Las Vegas??? :confuse: or are there some other dealers you know in here with lower fees??? :confuse:

Need the expert advice of our gurus in here...

Thanks in advance.

needacar41

Hi!
Wow! Where'd you get that OTD price?? I'm "beating up" at least 12 LA/Ventura Cty dealers (via internet pricing) for a 2008 2WD EX-L and the lowest I'm getting is $28,840, OTD (no dvd or nav)....
Am desperate for a new car! Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!