2013 and earlier-Honda Civic Prices Paid and Buying Experience

gmanusmc · October 2013

Great job burbdriver - good price - enjoy the new LX!

Bill G

rrrma · October 2013

16,480

pankajs · October 2013

I am planning to buy 2013 Honda Civic EXL with Navi with some add on like floor mats and trunk mat. Dealer is quoting $25,550 OTD. Can you please advise a good price on this.

gmanusmc · October 2013

Wow - one of the best prices we've seen in this forum - about 2000 below invoice. You should share the technique that got you this great deal - it will help others on the forum.

Congrats and enjoy your new Honda!

Bill G

gmanusmc · October 2013

What is the selling price minus the TTL (tax, title & license)? A total out the door price without an itemized breakdown is no help because TTL varies by location. A good price on this car would be around 21,300 including destination but before any fees and taxes. That's about 1500 below invoice.

Bill G

pankajs · October 2013

Thanks Bill.
Selling price is 23,505 and about $2000 is TTL and Dealer's fee.
I too think it's pricy.

gmanusmc · October 2013

Your thinking is correct - that dealer has a lot of work to do on the price. Do you have any other dealers within a reasonable distance that you can get quotes from? I think you will see the price drop quickly if you get some competition going. Try to work with dealers who have good Internet mgrs/depts who are willing to negotiate through email.

Bill

zackley123 · October 2013

Hi,

Just wanted to share that the Honda Dealers seem to be more open minded to discounting the Civics give the new Corolla is quite a nice car and formidable competitor. I nearly bought a Corolla this week but was able to get a NEW 2013 Civic LX in my desired color combination with no dealer options. Dealers really seem to inflate the cost of basic easy to install options so I like to get the basic vehicle as I can install, mud flaps, floor mats and most accessories.

Civic LX
MSRP 19,755 (incl. Destination)
Invoice 18,423 (incl. Destination)
Selling Price 16,866 (includes $1000.00 of dealer and loyalty cash)
OTD of 18,457.36 after Tax (7.0%) Title and Fees.

As the math works you pay tax on the 1,000 (customer cash) as it's included in Selling price and backed out as a down payment customer cash or flex cash I think the called it. It was mandatory to finance through Honda in order to get a piece of that 1000.00 I think it was 500 loyalty and 500 flex etc.

First negotiate and agree on a selling price via Email. Ask for best OTD pricing with detail. Many will reply with request for phone number. Just ask for OTD that you're evaluating on price first. If you have a trade get it appraised at Carmax if possible (clean it all up well first) and you have a low wholesale amount that most dealers should be willing and able to top. Check KBB, Edmunds, NADA website and others for used value and be reasonable to realize those services WON'T buy your car and don't sell used cars so you may need some flexibility. Remember it's all a negotiation and the dealer has an obligation to make the most profit possible. If you squeeze them on the selling price of the new car you leave little room or profit on a trade in. Straight Cash/finance deals are easier since no second negotiation on a trade it is involved. I've got to believe that the profit is still at least $500.00 on this deal, and maybe hidden in other elements and volume discounts and rewards that the bigger dealers get. Good luck to all you Honda Civic shoppers. The civic is a great car and I anticipate many years of good service and fairly low cost per mile of operation.

gmanusmc · October 2013

Congrats zackley - this is exactly how to go about a vehicle purchase to get a great deal - I hope vehicle shoppers in this forum heed your advice and employ it.

Enjoy your new Civic!

Bill G

biomenace · October 2013

Hi everyone,

My 02 Impala decided to die after 12 years of faithful service. I looked into getting a smaller car and decided on the civic. I decided to get the EX trim for the added disk brakes. It is my first time buying a car, but I think I did alright.

Civic EX

MSRP: 21,605
Dealer's Price: 22,200 with pro package
Invoice: 20,450
Sales Price: 19,400
OTD Price: 20,800

I might have done better, but I had been without a car for two weeks at this point. The dealership had the color combo I wanted, so I pulled the trigger. I was approved for the 1.9% 60 mos. Let me know how I did.

gmanusmc · October 2013

You did great - got a pretty good price and great financing on a fantastic car.

Congrats and enjoy your new EX!

Bill G

dagwave · October 2013

Bought mine in PA about 5 weeks ago:

$21,735 plus TT.

Walked out the door with 1.9% at $23,293.

Had a Civic about 12 years ago. Now I have one to complement my 10 year old 180k Pilot.

I absolutely LOVE this car!!!!

Thanks to all for feedback and advice

gmanusmc · October 2013

Great job dagwave!

Congrats and enjoy your new Civic!

Bill G

coolpete · October 2013

Got the civic for an OTD price of $ 17,169. Got $1000 in dealer cash including $500 for loyalty.

Don't have the exact breakdown in front of me, but thought I would share the bottom line price. This is at Hendrick honda in Woodbridge, VA.

I don't think I have seen a better OTD price than this lately.

gmanusmc · October 2013

From what I understand, sales tax on vehicle purchases in VA is capped at $300. That's why it is difficult to gauge how good a deal is using out the door figures - not many states have that good of deal on sales tax. It looks like you got a good deal but it's hard to say for sure because we don't know your actual selling price. A great deal would be 1500 below invoice (including destination and any dealer doc fee) plus whatever incentives you qualified for. So if your sales price was around 16000 plus TTL, you got a great deal.

Congrats and enjoy your new Civic!

Bill G

mars86 · October 2013

Hi All

I just got a great deal for the EX-L. My out the door price is $21,353. I live in NY and am purchasing in NJ because my family has purchased from this dealer several times before.

It would have been $22,853, but was able to get several incentives for dealer loyalty, having a graduate degree, and getting a approval for 0.9 % financing. This reduced my price by $1500!!

I will be picking up my car this Saturday. I think this is the month to buy a civic!

kyfdx · October 2013

I think that's South Carolina that has the $300 cap... Last I saw VA, it was around 3.17% ..

gmanusmc · October 2013

You're right kyfdx - I should've remembered that since I lived in VA while in the military - I just looked it up and it went to 4% this past July. I'm still envious though because that's less than half what we pay in CA.

Thanks,

Bill G

md91919 · October 2013

My quote:our Internet Sale Price is *19,375
Special Monthly Lease Payment *210
Special Financing - 0.9% up to 60 months with approved credit

This does include destination fee but not tax, title, license and documentation fee. Does anyone have any advice on a good price to negotiate? Please help. I am new to this.

karhill1 · October 2013

Get the invoice price. Get the holdback percentage. Research incentives, both dealer and customer.

Take invoice and reduce by he holdback and incentives. That amount is a starting point.

Research these price posts to see if there is any relevant price info.

Contact multiple dealers via the internet. Avoid dealers who do not provide a price. Research dealer reviews. Avoid Dealer Rater as they rate too high.

Choose a dealer and start negotiating. Never, ever believe anything a sales person states. Example, just bought a new vehicle. Got a good offer which was $1,200 off my price estimate. Salesman assured me that was the best I would find anywhere. Left and went to the next dealer on my list. I got the price I wanted.

Best thing to remember is to use your feet. If a deal is not right, just walk away. There is always another deal and you are always in control of the deal. Of course a sales person is highly trained to make you think they are in control.

civichunter · October 2013

Appreciate the good counsel also. Can you advise what a holdback is?

civichunter · October 2013

Also had a second follow up question. What source do you reference to identify the incentives for dealer and customer?

pennylee · October 2013

OTD price at $17,594 (including 6% taxes and 250 for tags). Is that a good deal?

maelstromm · October 2013

That sounds like a good price for an LX. Where did you get that price?

littlemookie · October 2013

I just got a similar price to your deal.

Honda Civic EX

Sales Price: 19,050
OTD Price: 20,700

Difference between sale and OTD prices is only the NYC tax: 8.875%.

Interesting thing is that I likely could have gotten the car for cheaper, this was the dealers offer when I asked for the best price.

I have no incentives that went into reducing this price. I have no trade-in, no conquest cash, no military discount, and no student discount.

Was this a decent deal?

carb_guy · October 2013

Warning: This is a long write-up so I'll just jump into the details first and follow with what my experience was in researching and shopping for the EX and LX. This is my way of giving back. Thanks and kudos for all the other active posters that helped me gather knowledge and gain perspective. This is for CA so needless to say your experience could be different. But I'm saying it anyhow in prep for some of the flamers out there. Ultimately, I hope this is of help to someone.

Sales Price (including Destination charge of $790): $18,135
Document Processing Charge: $80 Taxable
Dealer Add-ons: $0
DMV Fees: $247 Non-taxable
State Tire Fee: $8.75 Non-taxable
Sales Tax: $1,457.20
Current Incentives: $500 "Conquest" + $500 for Financing = $1,000 total qualified
Financing: 0.9% for 36 months
Total OTD: $18927.95 ($19,927.95-$1,000)

Lets go through this line by line for those of you who have questions about strategy or even what does this mean?
1) Destination charge is non-negotiable. In CA it is $790 and I'm almost sure it's standard across the US. When you are hunting for quotes on the internet, be careful about asterisks tied to the sale price. There will most definitely be some fine print. Read it. Carefully. Usually there will be something about dealer add-ons NOT being included. More on this below. One other note, sales price quoted better be below MSRP. Don't even bother with that dealer if it isn't at least $1k below MSRP.

2) Aka "Doc Fee" but due to CA legislation this is the term used. Used to be $55 but now capped at $80 in CA as of 2011. As far as I know, non-negotiable. Don't complain though as it is as high as $499-$599 in FL and other Southeastern states.

3) Add-ons - Negotiable. As you compile and compare quotes, ask the internet manager to let you know if there any dealer add-ons for the specific car you are interested in. My suggestion, as you are shopping on-line, look at the dealers inventory and get the exact VIN for the car you are interested in (color, trim, etc.) and then you can pinpoint and more importantly pin him/her to let you know exactly what is on it. Hint: If you just ask for availability of color/trim, their strategy is to tell you that it is available and to "Just come on in!" As you arrive lured in by the very low base price...surprise! There is a bunch of over priced optional equipment added. There are also options you may want like fog lights. But for $800?!! C'mon. But if you really want OEM then be sure to negotiate.

4) This is Title, License, Registration and other fees. I can't say with complete certainty but license is probably standard but registration is most likely based purely on price of the car. Anyhow, the point is it varies by state, type of car, and even trim. $247 for EX and $236 for LX goes to the DMV. Yay. Non-negotiable but also not taxable.

5) Tire fees: Self-explanatory; non-negotiable but also not taxable.

6) Sales Tax: Varies within the state and based on the zip code/address of where the car will be registered (and supposedly used in). I bought this car for my mom and tax was 8%. If I bought it for me in LA area it would have been 9%. Play the shell game to reduce tax at your own risk.

7) Incentives: Ask the dealer what is available. Currently, if you finance not only can you get a great rate at 0.9% for 36mos (oac) but you also get a $500 rebate. This means $500 off the OTD price, which is post-tax. Must finance at least $5k via Honda Financial Services (HFS). No cost to set up the loan. No pre-payment penalty either. For all cash buyers, you might as well finance to get the rebate. However, it will not truly be $500 off. There is a minimum $75 amount due even if you prepay. In my case, the dealer set up a 24 mos term at 0.9% where the total interest would have been about $50... so I actually pay $25 more to get rid of the loan thus my benefit is $425. Splitting hairs I know. Conquest and Loyalty rebates are available. $500 each but you can only get one or the other and not both. Conquest is if you own a 2003 or newer vehicle that is one of their competitors like Toyota, Nissan, Ford, etc. Also military rebates... Again ask the dealer.

If you've read this far I hope it was informative. The funniest part about this whole thing is that I was set on buying the LX since my mom didn't want anything "fancy" like a moonroof. In the end, the increased safety of the disc brakes and alloy wheels made this a no brainer beacuse the LX price I got was about $800(!) lower than everybody else. It could be that I may have just got lucky with being in the right place at the right time but as others have said, you gotta play the dealerships back and forth to ratchet the price down. I read back to about April 2013 for this forum and the lowest EX quote I saw was about $20,400 OTD.

Finally, as an FYI (if this whole post isn't already a very long FYI) I researched dealers in the San Gabriel Valley area and in Sacramento (where my mom lives) and even a few in the East Bay. There are about 50 Honda dealers in the greater LA area and about 5 in the Sacramento area. Interestingly enough, the best deal I found was in Sacramento. No, I did not contact all 50 dealers in SoCal but I contacted about 10 in the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valley area (this does not include Cerritos Honda which I have heard is a high volume dealership in OC and where you can get aggressive quotes); but my point being when I went back to some of the SoCal dealers with some of my Sacramento quotes, and not even the lowest one that I ended up getting, they already dropped out. I hope this info helps someone also get a great deal like I think I did. Like I said, I read back to about April 2013 on this Civic forum and gained some valuable information. My goal is to save you the trouble of reading all those other posts and other internet research I did by consolidating into this one post.

Below is the LX quote I got from Folsom Lake Honda in Sacramento from Clay, the internet and fleet manager, if you are also interested in that. But like I said, because this dealership's price was soo low, I asked how much the EX would be and at $18,930 OTD it was about the same OTD prices that I was getting for the LX trim. EX for an LX price. Good luck!

Base Sales Price: $16,422
Document Processing Charge: $80 Taxable
Dealer Add-ons: $0
DMV Fees: $236 Non-taxable
Tire Fee: $8.75 Non-taxable
Sales Tax: $1,320.16
Current Incentives: $500 "Conquest" + $500 for Financing = $1,000 total qualified
Total OTD: $17,066.91 ($18,066.91-$1,000)

gmanusmc · October 2013

Outstanding post carb guy - one of the best I've seen on this site - I'm sure it will help a lot of buyers out.

Congrats on the new EX for your mom - she's gonna love it!

Bill G

muki1 · October 2013

Nice post and excellent price on an EX Sedan. Enjoy!

redhawk7 · November 2013

That is a GREAT price! And an awesome post carb_guy!
I almost pulled the trigger on a 2013 Civic Sedan auto for $18,000 OTD, but I thought the deals may get better, wrong $18,500 now. I'm in Ohio BTW.
When are the 2014 coming out?

ken117 · November 2013

Holdback is a percentage the manufacturer pays dealers for a sold vehicle. For Honda, I believe it is 2 percent of base MSRP. Holdback essentially reduces the cost of the vehicle for the dealer. Manufacturers know many buyers, most, have access to invoice pricing so they developed holdback as a way to allow dealers profit while selling at or near invoice.

For example, if the base MSRP of a Honda is $20,000, the holdback is $400. If the invoice price is $19,000 the effective cost to the dealer is actually $18,600 ($19,000 less $400 holdback).

Holdback is one reason, some dealers willingly sell below invoice. In addition to holdback, there are often other manufacturer to dealer incentives, such as volume discounts, which are often difficult to learn.

Edmunds has a list of holdback by manufacturer on the website.

Some dealers are more willing to pass all or some of the holdback to the customer. This makes comparison shopping essential if a person is interested in a lower price as even at invoice, most dealers will still make a profit. Any dealer who says they will lose money if they sell at or slightly above invoice is probably not being complete honest.

goldeninquirer · November 2013

redhaw7 in Ohio, can you tell me what dealership you bought your 2013 Civic EX Sedan at? Looks like you got a fair price.

carb_guy · November 2013

Thanks Bill G! You are one of the active posters that I was referring to and I gained alot of from your many informative posts. Besides that aspect, I salute you as a veteran and wish you the best as you stand proud this Monday.

carb_guy · November 2013

Thanks muki1, I thought your post about the 80% calculation was a simple yet innovative approach and quite helpful.

carb_guy · November 2013

Hi redhawk7, thanks for the compliment. Keep on trying. If you can wait and they know you are out there as a serious buyer, you'll have a very good shot at getting the price YOU want. Maybe put a bug in their ear towards the end of the month as they might just need that one extra sale to hit some goal or get their bonus. Better yet they might be calling you and then you're really in the driver's seat. Good luck!

gmanusmc · November 2013

Appreciate your kind words very much carbguy - and today is the Marine Corps' 238th birthday so happy birthday to all Marines, past and present.

Best wishes and thanks to all the other veterans out there - especially the brave men and women currently serving on active duty.

Thanks again carbguy - take care

Bill

billy3554 · November 2013

Buyers should also be aware of the Stair-Step incentives dealers often receive. These incentives, usually based on sales volume, can further reduce dealer cost by several percent. It is truly possible for a dealer to sell well below invoice.

ggeerod · November 2013

Hey all, so I'm looking to buy a new Civic LX. First time car buyer so I'm not entirely sure what a good price is, but I've been searching around and done some math... (I'm in Canada so it's hard to find a comparable on here...)

$18181 Invoice
$1495 Freight/PDI
-$1500 Honda Incentive CASH only
+ $500 (~2.5-3% profit for them)

= $18,676 pre-tax

= $21,104 on the road

Did I do the math right? Right now I have a dealer offering me $21,600 and I feel like I should be able to get an offer better than that.

Also, with things like stair step incentives, what would a reasonable canadian price be? below 21 even?

pdjmwj · November 2013

Just pulled the trigger on a new 2013 Civic EX-L. $20,621.56 OTD.

Very happy with this deal. Went out to just browse 2013 Honda's on a Sunday with little intent to buy that day, just researching what we wanted. Dealership was 20 plus miles away very busy; we also had a couple dealers closer but they were closed on Sunday.

Our salesman, who was great, was all over the place and could only spend a few minutes with us at a time. We drove a 2013 Crosstour, Accord, and then a Civic. it took us a while to get thru this as we had to wait for the salesman to get freed up.

Da wife was smitten with the Civic and it reminded her of the first car she ever had, 1982 Honda Prelude. We were in the show room waiting to discuss a price when I said to da wife "It's time to leave; we've been here long enough waiting and were missing the Ravens". Nothing mean, hated to do this as I really liked the car and the salesman but it was getting late.

We walked up to the manager's perch and told him that we were sorry and really needed to leave, we walked out and just as we got to the car out runs our salesman begging for a few more minutes. We did but politely explained that we needed his best price quickly or we might be back next weekend on appointment. My thinking was that the car we were looking at would not be there in a week.

The salesman was sure and the manager realized that the chances we would be back were not very good. Had nothing to do with the dealership or the salesman, just that we lived closer to his competitors. Gave us what I thought was a great deal based on the research we were able to do while waiting.

Never did get to see the Ravens lose, but not a bad day after all. We did close the place down thou.....

shrini · November 2013

Hi,
a dealer in NC quoted me $17,604.63 for a new car as mentioned in the subject. Another dealer told me that this is too low and the car could have some hail/flood damage that is not reported and which will come to bite me when I sell/trade the car later on. He also said this damage may or may not have been reported. Could this be true? How can I confirm? I have the VIN with me.
Another question: the dealer installed options on this car (mud guards, trunk tray, wheel locks) are quoted at $599. I know this is one of the ways to earn a profit for the dealer, but can this be negotiated or would the dealer rather lose my business than negotiate it? I found online that price for these items together is ~$160. Even with $40 labor charges, the dealer is making 200% profit on it. I was wondering if I can get him to lower the price by $200.

shrini · November 2013

The price I mentioned is OTD, with tax, TTL, doc fee and dealer added options.

civictory · November 2013

I'd say the guy mentioning hail/flood damage is trying to scare you, especially if the $17,604 quote came from a Honda dealership. My advice would be to deal with someone else. He doesn't want to help you; he wants to sell you a car.

The add-ons are certainly negotiable. If they won't negotiate on cost, I'd tell them to take them off. Wheel locks and trunk tray will take two minutes to remove. Mud guards a bit longer.

shrini · November 2013

Thank you so much for your informative reply. It's taken a big load off my mind!
Nice advice on dealer added options too. Didn't know it's so easy to get them off.

Will post details here if this deal goes through. Thanks once again.

civictory · November 2013

No problem. As many others have advised here: If the deal doesn't feel "right" to you, walk away. Your instincts are your best friend in this process. Your gut won't lie to you. Some car salesmen will.

Good luck!

shrini · November 2013

Went to the dealer who quoted me $17,604.63. Test-drove 3 Civic cars, and found a distinct stalling in all of them when they were going from 40mph to 50mph. This stalling was different from the one we feel when a gear automatically shifts.

The dealer told me that this was a problem in Civic 2012 which was addressed in 2013, but I could still feel that problem in 2013.

Has anybody else found a similar problem in Civic 2013 sedan auto?

ohiogals · November 2013

Just got a pretty good deal at Performance Honda in Cincinnati Ohio (October)
$17,000 + 283. (dealer and doc fees) - 1000 rebate if we finance = $16,283.

We didn't need to finance, but we did just enough to get the rebate. I see that some others are getting 1500 rebate, but we did this in late October and I think they are offering more money now. No destination charges or other stuff.

In ohio we pay 6.75 % sales tax in addition but that is not really part of the price as this is out of their control.

We also had a very old trade in, but we negotiated price without the trade in. We had shopped around at other dealers too so we knew the range of trade in value. Might have been able to get another 500 trade in somewhere else, but the rest here was pretty good.

I did it all over the internet (with Jennifer Gladwell) and they had the car ready so we didn't have to wait around. Superior Honda in Cincinnati had about the same deal but we have worked with Performance before so went with them.
Highly recommend them.

ohiogals · November 2013

You can tell the dealer you don't want the things and just take them off. It's just way for them to make some more money off of you.

Here is our purchase story in Cincinnati. By the way, we also shopped in Raleigh NC and found the sales people there to be total "slimers". We told them the quote we had from Cincy and they basically said the dealers in Cincy were liars. My husband was so upset with the NC dealers that we left and drove to Cincy to buy the car.

In the end, we feel we got a pretty good deal at Performance Honda in Cincinnati Ohio (late October)
$17,000 + 283. (dealer and doc fees) - 1000 rebate if we finance = $16,283.

We didn't need to finance, but we did just enough to get the rebate. I see that some others are getting 1500 rebate, but we did this in late October and I think they are offering more money now. No destination charges or other stuff.

In ohio we pay 6.75 % sales tax in addition but that is not really part of the price.

We also had a very old trade in, but we negotiated price without the trade in. We had shopped around at other dealers too so we knew the range of trade in value. Might have been able to get another 500 trade in somewhere else, but the rest here was pretty good.

I did it all over the internet (with Jennifer Gladwell) and they had the car ready so we didn't have to wait around. Superior Honda had about the same deal but we have worked with Performance before so went with them.
Highly recommend them. Our total price including Ohio taxes and one small option we asked them to add was $17, 458 out the door including everything.

khanhle · November 2013

Got the car out of the lot yesterday. Price was 18500 OTD.
I was not eligible for the College Grad and Military incentives so I think this deal is not bad at all

cbuadelaire · November 2013

Hi Khanhle, I just want to clarify, was that price for an EX or LX? It seems extremely low for an EX, as stated in your title.

cbuadelaire · November 2013

The 16,283, does that include the following fees?

Online Registration: +$14.55
State Tire Tax: +$5.00
State Encumberance fee: +$5.00
Title fee: +$22.50
Registration: +$36.00
New Plate Fee: +$10.00

I am just very confused about how people are getting such low prices. I live in Pittsburgh, and have contacted 8 dealerships, and they all say they are out of my mind when I try to negociate and offer the prices that people are getting on here. (I don't qualify for military or grad). The best quote I got out the door is as follows:

MSRP: $19,755
Invoice Price: $18,422.80
Our Selling Price: $17,880
Sales tax @ 7%: $1,251.60

Subtotal before fees after tax: $19,131.60
- $500 (conquest cash)
$18,631.60

Documentation fee: +$131.00
Online Registration: +$14.55
State Tire Tax: +$5.00
State Encumberance fee: +$5.00
Title fee: +$22.50
Registration: +$36.00
New Plate Fee: +$10.00

Out the door price: $18,855.65 (-or- $18,355.65 if we receive a new supply of flex cash after November 4th)

And so, when I here people say OTD or X amount plus Doc fees, are you guys including new plate fee, registration, title fee, state tire tax, online registration, etc.

khanhle · November 2013

It was EX

. They held me back with that price as I was about to walk out of the dealer. I got the deal of 18800 at another dealer, but they didn't let me walk away that easy.

2013 and earlier-Honda Civic Prices Paid and Buying Experience

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