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Internet Price: $ 23,299.00 (dest.included)
Dealer Doc Fee: 599.75
Sales Tax (7%) 1,672.91
Title Fee: 21.00
TOTAL DRIVE OUT: $ 25,592.66
That seems pretty good. (They also quoted me $27,305.73 OTD for a 2WD EX-L with nav). I think I'm gonna play that quote off some of the other dealers to get a bit better deal. Is there more room to negotiate?
My buying experience (2 Plymouths, a Ford station wagon, a VW camper, a Triumph TR-3, a Volvo sedan, a Datsun coupe, a Dodge pickup, and finally the minivan) and my own personal OPINION ... Comparing many different manufacturers and models, my final choice based upon my needs, safety, gas consumption, dealership quality, and price came down to the base models of Santa Fe, CRV, and the Malibu.
On my needs and crash test safety: all three were equal.
On gas: the Santa Fe = 18/24; the CRV = 20/24/; the Malibu LS = 22/30.
On vehicle reliability: Honda CRV, the new Malibu, really last the Santa Fe
On dealership quality: 0-10 the CRV = 0; the Santa Fe = 3; the Malibu = 9
On price: the Malibu LS no options = OTD was $20,084; the CRV and Santa Fe at least $5,000 more and much more depending upon the dealership... up to over $30,000 on a Toyota Camry Hybrid.
Costco Auto Program (which I was informed is not owned by Costco but by an advertising company paid for by the dealerships) was even more expensive and ineffective than direct dealer negotiations.
I would not have thought to even consider a Chevrolet Malibu, but the news all over the internet was amazingly positive. With Detroit suffering and the global financial markets so dangerous, parts and costs from overseas may not remain stable in the future. And then I know it may sound irrelevant, but I decided to support a USA company... and really from my own logic.
The Malibu in my choice of color was on the lot for just hours after delivery and with only 2 miles on it; manufactured in March 2008; the dealership has been in the same family here for over 40 years and is directly involved with the company.
The wife runs the service department and her son runs another department. The receptionist has been there over 30 years. The entire staff that I had to deal with were very, very courteous, cooperative, and knowledgeable... in outrageously sharp contrast to other dealerships and the reputation of car dealers.
None of my extended family nor I had ever bought a vehicle from this Chevrolet dealership (and in fact my mother's Impala was the only Chevy [from Chicago] we ever owned), but knew of this local Chevrolet's reputation. No wonder this dealership has been in business for so long... in an extremely rapidly growing community of developers' gated homes and with frequent loss of every kind of business ownership here, I think I have made a wise choice.
I hope others will share honestly and completely on this website so that vehicle buying can be made much less painful, time-consuming, and more equal in price & and transparency. Hopefully Edmunds, Consumer Reports, etc independency increasing in the future will cause consumers to know and demand an end to the present "carnival circus like" market place that now exists. All you folks out there, please keep the pressure on to help build a better environment for vehicle retail purchasing so when I hopefully return to the market in 10 more years, buying will be easier and fairer to all.
My best regards to everyone.
Decisions made on patriotic feelings are generally good decisions. But, CR-V is assembled here in the US by US workers, while I can't speak for Malibu in particular, but a lot of GM (insert Ford, Chrysler... here) products/components are either coming from Korea, China, or Mexico. So, yes, you are supporting the fat cats in the executive offices in Detroit who ran these companies into the ground, and then shipped the jobs elsewhere, because they made decisions that turned buyers away from their products.
I agree that Malibu is nice, but from what I understand it is just an Opel underneath, just like Saturn Aura.
Good Luck.. M
Here are detailed sales price and fees:
Selling Price: $22,069.32
Tax (6.25% in Texas): $1,379.33
Deputy Service Fee: $16.50
License/Title: $74.30
State Inspection: $21.75
Documentary Fee: $50
Dealer's Inventory Tax: $50.80
Total: $23,662
/quote
You beat me by around $250 (also Texas):
2008 EX 2WD Non-Nav
Selling price - $21979
"paint protection sys" (wax??): $300
"dealer doc fee": $50
Tax: 1392.37
Vehicle inspec fee (??): 39.50
title, license: $93.80
Inventory tax: $47.61
Driveout (total): $23917.77
The way I see it, the wax, dealer doc fee, and inventory tax are probably fluff, but I estimated the fluff to be around $300-400 over my opening offer of invoice + TTL. The dealer was able to read from my tone that I was ready to buy if the price was close and I didn't have to pull teeth. They moved fast, quickly got to a price they knew I would likely pull the trigger on, and saved me what would have been countless more hours and aggravation driving and pitting dealer v. dealer. The first dealer I offered invoice + TTL wouldn't even talk.
So, there's another data point for Texas. Probably not a record, but not too bad for a few hours work.
To me, the best result is achieved for both parties by structuring a sale where the dealer can maximize its holdback/profit by selling sraight off the truck (0 days in inventory), the dealer reciprocates by minimizing markup over invoice, and both parties minimize time invested in the deal so I can get on w/my billable time and the dealer can get on to other customers and potential sales. It's a win-win approach.
INTERNET PRICE: $ 23,154.22 (includes Splash Guards and destination)
Dealer Fee: 599.75
Sales Tax (7%) 1,425.23
Title Fee: 21.00
TOTAL DRIVE OUT: $ 25,200.20
I haven't seen anyone on this forum beat that price on an EX-L yet!
My dealer told me 25k drive-out on an EX-L was impossible; I would have dropped 25.2 if I knew such a deal were possible.
About a month ago I said that I had one for 25 even -- the sales person forgot to add in the destination charge-- Still got a good deal -- I think !!
CRV Price 26300.00
Traded Nissan Pathfinder 19500.00
Net Diff 6800.00
Battery Fee 6.50
Dealer Fee 279.99
Tag 24.00
Subtotal 7110.49
Tax 426.63
County Tax 75.00
License 67.85
Total 7681.97
Trade Payoff 14034.11
OTD Price of 21716.08
My trade saved me over 1250.00 in taxes. So the net trade value was 20750.00
Price without trade OTD was $28835.92
We don't mind members listing the name of the dealership but we ask that you not list contact information including the names of salespeople. You can exchange that information via email.
tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper
Thank you all for posting your experiences in search of CRVs.
I just got mine today and wanted to contribute a little before I sign off for a few years :-)
I was firm on 21,200$ price in all my emails. Even though I kept insisting on price before I walked in, the responses never mentioned the price.
It just said that something can be worked out in person...and not given in writing.
Honda CRV 2008 EX 2WD with ProPack (includes mud guards, wheel locks and cargo tray) at Sierra Honda in Monrovia.
Whistler Silver with black interior:
Here the break down.
Sale Price with Accessories: 21,200$
Documentation: 55$
Sales tax (CA) 1753$
License: 210$ (138$ license, 64$ registration/title/transfer + 8.75$ tire fees)
Total out of door: 23216.$
I financed with Honda for a 4.9% APR for 5 years. I had an equivalent interest rate from my credit union.
Sierra Honda is very laid back, no pressure environment (as apposed to Spirit Honda in El Monte)
ask for Sunny, I highly recommend him.
good luck to you all in finding your car at a good price/
(ask for Sunny, I highly recommend him)
Thanks
Came at him with my best offer of $27305 out the door (including wheel locks and 100k extended warranty - ? number of months).
He came back with $26058 including dealer fee, license, 5% tax, wheel locks and 5yr/60k extended warranty. I'll get all other accessories through cheaphondaparts or some other site. Planning on getting the cargo cover, floor mats, splash guard and rear armrest all for about $360.
Any thoughts? Seems like a very good deal.
Thanks,
E
And you're right, I decided to go with the online ones instead.
So for the car, is that a solid out the door price? I emailed the other dealers to see if they could beat it. Just wanted to touch base here too.
Thanks,
E
Monrovia, CA 91016
I am getting email quotes on '08 CR-V EX-L 4x4 with Navigation. The lowest offer is $ 27,183 (compared to edmunds' invoice price of $27,033), including destination charge but excluding tax/license/title/service fees. What would a good final price be?
Also, I am thinking of buying two accessories, i.e. day-night mirror and remote starter. I know they try to rip you off here. Honda.com lists these as costing a combined $831. How should I haggle for these and what would be a reasonable price?
It's usually a way for a person to avoid tax and it exposes the dealer to a lot of liability.
Just sell your Odyssey to your buyer.
Price of vehicle including destination and doc fees
tags
I haven't gone into the dealer yet, but plan on soon. I am hoping for $27,000.
Which dealership quoted you 27,183? thanks
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
That should be under warranty unless it's been damaged.
"cut out"...makes no sense?
And...yeah, you SHOULD have caught that when you inspected the car when it was delivered.
Still, an unhappy customer isn't worth it. Most stores probably would abve just fixed it.
E
We were pissed and they knew it!
Why are SOME of these guys so dumb? They will say do anything stupid to get you in the door. They called twice last night leaving me a VM saying they brought in another car just for us. Needless to say we won't be buying our Honda from them.
That is one miserable marketplace!
After I got back from vacation, but not right away, I restarted the email process again. It was interesting to see the change in response, some who previous were hot to sell were not that way now. Others how were not bidding before, now were in the game. It turned out that number of cars on the lot had a lot to do with their desire to close a sale. So, after sending/receiving 89 emails to all the dealers, the Colorado Springs dealer wanted the sale the most. Most were competitive up to a point, and then fell out of the bidding. Only a few stayed in there. I think the end of the month helped push them a bit harder to close the deal.
Buying two cars did help drive the price down up to a point, multiple dealership didn't have both colors we wanted and they would have given us for one car a price of $27,315 + tax. I think a key to our negotiations was that we didn't have to buy a car this month or next, so we were not pressured to get it done. I just kept sending out email to the dealerships saying this is the best price so far, what is your offer?
Another key was that I wanted vehicles with LOW miles on them, this took away the ability of the dealer to move a vehicle from another dealer as they can't control the mileage. We ended up with one with 66 miles on it, and the other was brand new. This deal was clean too, cash, no trade - no areas were dealer can gain leverage.
Final price for each - $26,991 + tax, no accessories, this is $1,331 less than what Edmund's "What others are paying". Not much game playing, took just one email stating if there is any DH, or other charges it was a no deal.
All in all an easy process, if you got the TIME, and can be PATIENT, and sit on the computer...
You should write a book with your suggestions as to how to buy a car in this dealer's ruthless market.
The dealers do their work every day. We enter into an arena without such experience or information and are pitted against the lions and gladiators.
I'll copy your post, but do wish you would increase the details for those of us who are involved in other worlds.... FEMA for instance!
No one on this and other manufacturers' lists has been as helpful and precise as you. If you post your email address, the rest of us can send you our details/questions of interactions with dealers which you could answer in a blog or book... just turn us on.
(Sorting out the dealers on this list will be your challenge.)
Thanks so very much for your help for us consumers.
I am also having the remote start installed for $450 and am considering the 7 yr, 84000mile extended warranty for $1145.
Any thoughts on this price?
Going to pick up car tomorrow.
Also, received 5 yr loan w/ 4.49% from Chase thru the dealer.
The only thing I did in addition to what he said was create an Excel spreadsheet of every dealer's offer, broken down by base price, destination (if not already included), doc fees, tax, and TTL. Then when I got follow-up calls/emails from dealerships, it was easy to pull up the info on their prices compared to others. Being able to quote to-the-dollar exactly how bad a dealer's offer was when compared to my best offer was a powerful, powerful negotiating tool. This little bit of obsessive-compulsiveness on my part saved me a ton of dough.
Here's the link that explains it all:
http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.ee93eaa/17260
It works. Period.
A 2WD EXL for 23,100?
That is over 1200.00 BELOW invoice on a CRV that has no incentive money on it.
I bought my '06 CR-V from Huntington Honda. The F&I guy with whom I worked almost burst into tears when I told him that there was nothing that he could say to me that would convince me to buy an extended warranty. This is obviously a high-profit item for them.
Actually, I had two other area dealerships offering me $25,300ish out the door, so I had several backup options in that same ballpark price range.
(I had prearranged 3.9% financing through my credit union, which the dealership couldn't match, and they gave me the same price Carmax quoted for my trade-in. I didn't tell them I had a trade-in until I arrived at the dealership. All my negotiation was on price alone.)
Thanks
Your trade in is worth the same amount of money. If you spring it on a dealer after the fact, it doesn't matter.
Any smart salesperson will smell it anyway.
The dealer called me back and offerred me 7 yr/80K, w/ $0 deductible for $815. Much less than his "best deal" of 1145. I think I will take it for my "piece of mind"
I
I hope to get fog lights, door molding, body molding, cargo tray, all season floormats. The dealer won't include any accessories in price. Dealer wants me to buy car first, then deal with the accessory person.
Opinions? Suggestions?
THANKS