Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
A reporter would like to speak with you about your experience; please reach out to PR@Edmunds.com by 7/22 for details.
A reporter would like to speak with you about your experience; please reach out to PR@Edmunds.com by 7/22 for details.
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like prices have fallen here alot in the past few weeks.
I don't know what quote they gave you but I got a very different quote for the two trims from the same dealership. Are you sure the quote you got was for brand new 2007 accords? Those quotes were too good to be true, no way a dealership will offer EX-L or EXs for those prices.They also gave me a quote for an '04 Accord sedan when I didn't ask for one at a good looking price but didn't mention mileage.
also, wanted to confirm that this does not reflect any documentation fees or other fees except the destination charge? if this the case, this helps immensely.
last question: has anyone mentioned to dealers that edmunds is the basis for their info, and if so how do the sellers react to this? thanks!
fcj
Thanks!
1) Deals can be regional - as are the dealer incentives. So fretting that you can't get these prices where you are is a waste of energy. You do the best you can where you are, or travel a bit to get a friendlier dealer. Last time I looked, no $1,200 incentive here - so no way would I get as good a price as someone elsewhere.
2) Folks make fail to mention they paid a high doc or prep fee. They could also fail to mention they also purchased some dealer install accessories - either already on the car or added by choice. They can sell you a car cheaper if they know you are buying a high priced spoiler, and other stuff to it.
3) Folks may have had a trade it and not mention it in the post. They can sell you a car really cheap if they rip you on the trade. Trying to get the same price without a profitable trade can be impossible.
4) Different models/colors/trim are harder/easier to sell or for a dealer to get. Want an EX-L MT with NAV? One dealer may have had one on the lot they thought they would NEVER get rid of - and the buyer comes along that wants it they will give it away to get it off the lot. Often AT cars w/NAV are not discounted as much (though the holdback is greater due to the higher MSRP) because the dealers do not get many of them - so they want to make more on the ones they get. Black cars in FL, TX, AZ, etc probably are hard to move - way too hot for a black car. No problems in more temperate areas.
5) Some dealers just don't deal low. "It take two to Tango" - and without a good dealer you are not likely to get the best price. All of my local dealers do not deal as low as dealers a 3-4 hour drive away. I could spend all day trying to grind out a deal locally and I would end up with a higher price than I can get with a simple phone call or e-mail to another dealer.
So there can be a lot of reasons why someone got a better deal than you can get. So losing sleep over a small amount of money may not be in your best interest.
Dennis
Or you could keep trying to pound the square peg into the round hole
Dennis
How do we know if the local dealers have the $1,200 dealer incentive or not? And would you recommend paying in full, in cash?
$23,400 - car price
$ 1,170 - MA state tax (5%)
$ 385 - Dealer fees and title
$24,955 - Total OTD
Currently, it is a little confusing as some locations show both a $750 and a $1,200 incentive and Edmunds is not clear on which models get which incentive - or perhaps the dealer gets both (we wish).
From what I have been told, the incentive is based on where the dealer is located and the cheap money is based on where the customer is located. So let us say TN residents get 4.9% financing on a Civic, but KY residents do not. I can go buy a Civic from a KY dealer and still get the cheap money if I live in TN. If you live close enough to other states to make a car buying trip worthwhile, you can check other ZIP codes in other states and see if there is a better incentive there.
If you can afford cash, that is always best. Most dealers do not care, but I think they do get a little "bonus" for every car they finance or lease - but it is not much if you finance/lease at the buy rate (no dealer markup on the money). I don't know that has come up for me in years - so it probably will make no difference on your price. The only time it does is if the captive bank/car maker have rebates that are tied to taking their financing. Mazda does this all the time - your bank might give you 6.7% on a new car loan, but Mazda has a MAC financing rebate of $2,000 if you finance with them - but they offer you 9%. So you take their deal, then as soon as you get your paperwork from MAC you pay off the loan. You get the rebate and a lower rate.
Dennis
I'm located in Northern California and it says "There is no marketing support available at this time." Not a good sign lol. I've been told if I can pay off a car then buy a car with a rebate as you can obtain the rebate and pay it off after you get the rebate $$$. But I'm only interested in Honda, my whole family drives one lol. I am somewhat interested in the new Altima Coupe, but those things won't go under MSRP anytime soon. And thanks again for all the info.
Another thing to mention is that the invoive price on the EX-L 4-cyl I purchased is $23166, $125 lower than edmunds invoice. Not sure if this is a dealer-by-dealer thing, or is the same for other dealers as well. Maybe Honda reduced their invoice prices on the cars made in May or June. Hope this is helpful for some of you.
Thanks.
Asked for at least 6 internet quotes and got responses ranging from $24,018 to $24558. Went back to the low price and preferred dealer today and got another $248 (the mud guards and wheel locks) without much of a fight. Here is the breakdown on my sedan:
Internet Price = $22776
Destination= 595
Doc fee= 399
Tax (3%) = 701.13
Title and tag = 69
Total price = $24,540
Looks like the battle is on to get as much of a share of the 2008 Accords as possible.
For folks looking at EXLs, I got a pre-tax, title, tag quote of $21729.
Over and out!
If you just keep your Honda loan as-in and pay it off in a year the EFFECTIVE finance charge will be a lot lower. The Honda finance loan should be simple interest and no pre-payment penalty (check your contract to be sure).
You said you were given a 7.29% loan and your OTD was $21,966 . You did not mention the term, so I will assume 48 months. That would be $528.96 x 48 = $25,390.08 or $3,424.08 in interest. It looks like if you paid an extra $1,500 or so each month you would have the car paid off in 12 months and save $2,500 or so in interest.
If your loan is 36 months, then there would be $2,556 in interest due over the 36 months. An extra $1,350 per month (over the Honda payment) would pay it off in 12 with over $1,600 in interest saved.
If your loan is 60 months, then the interest would be $4,312 in interest. Paying $1,610 per month more than the Honda payment each month should pay it off in 12 and save you nearly $3,400 in interest.
Just something else to think about. It does not make it "interest free" but for sure saves a lot of money VS paying over time.
Dennis
For $1,200 or even $750 I would Google up the ZIP codes of places within a comfortable drive from home and check their incentives. A neighboring state or even SoCal may be getting $1,200 per Accord - and that should make it well worth your trip.
Dennis
You can put in your VIN, etc. Once you have your Honda financial account number - they should send you a welcome package in the mail, then later your first payment statement - you can enter that online at ownerlink and have access to current balance, payoff, last payment, etc.
Dennis
Did you get any accessories thrown in by the dealer on this, or get the car au natural? I've seen a number of folks mention that they had some mud guards, cargo net/tray, and wheel locks thrown in.
Question for anyone: are accessories pretty easy to ask for in order to seal the deal? Trying to juggle 8 dealers and keep everything balanced without too much damage to my tracking spreadsheet....lol
Thanks in advance for your continued feedback. update on my nego. for EX-L 4 cyl sedan auto w/o Nav: $21850 OTD, no accessories included (yet), TTL not part of the quote.
fcj
To me, getting a deal a little under invoice less incentives is "good enough" if it includes the dealer fees and destination and there are no unwanted accessories on the car (that you have to pay for). Dealers do need to make money to stay open and getting to within a couple hundred of them making nothing should be good enough for most folks. $100 is a lot of money, but only 1/2 of 1 percent of the cost of most of the Accords sold - so a couple of hundred is 1% of the deal. In most cases walking away from a deal over a 1% difference does not make a lot of sense.
Get your new Accord for a nice price and spend your valuable time enjoying it or doing other things - don't spend hours and hours trying to squeeze that last few hundred out of every price. No matter how hard you work, someone will always post a better price - no matter if they really got it or not
Dennis
And a quick reality check for those looking to save $100...this $100 is less then $2 a month saved on a 5 year loan at 6.5%. Don't sweat the pocket change!
Use the dealer locator at automobiles.honda.com and find a dealer that charges no doc fee - or a small one. A few minutes on the phone/e-mail and a little driving nets you a $400 discount on the deal.
I assumed you and anyone reading it would understand that you also have to get the price for the CAR as well :confuse: . Nothing misleading there.
I always tell folks to get their quotes from the dealers to include the car, destination, and any dealer doc/prep fees. Then you are comparing apples to apples - since your TTL fees will be the same from any dealer. A smart buyer should know how to calculate their own taxes and know the license and title fees. They also never ask a dealer "what will the payment be?" or "What is the OTD price?" up front - always know exactly the price of the car and all the fees that make up the OTD price and run the numbers for yourself. When you are ready to sign the paperwork, if the numbers are off you will know it.
I was replying to user vasquire who posted "In the Charlotte, NC area all the dealers charge a $399 doc fee". So by doing a little driving and ASSUMING the same cost for the car - they could save $399 just avoiding the doc fee.
Dennis
1. Good dealers in socal you would recommend.
2. Why socal dealers are giving me ridiculous prices for the internet quotes ($20k-23k)? I have a quote from the bay area for $18,600, and I was down to push them down to $18,400 and buy it for that without any more dealing.
Planning to buy tomorrow. Any info would help.
Quote 1:
EX i4
OTD - $21,121
Car - $19,543.00
Freight - $595
Processing - $289
Tags - $40
Tax - $653.60
Quote 2:
EX i4
About $50 less total
Quote 3:
EX-L i4 w/o Nav
OTD - $22,551
Car - $20,896
Freight - $595
Processing - $289
Tags - $40
Tax - $731
This is without a quote without a trade-in. It does seem reading through these posts that the prices are definitely starting to drop.
Still haven't decided but am definitely leaning towards buying one.
Anyhow, using the triple net approach described by chrylsersrt8 in post # 15222, the base price of an SE v-6 auto sedan:
invoice (including destination): 21,755
- holdback: (467)
- current dealer incentive [ in Texas ]: (750)
= triple net price aka the base price of the vehicle: $20,538
For what it's worth, below is a sample of reported prices paid. Keep in mind that markets and dealerships vary and not everyone will be able to obtain these prices.
post #15101 _ $19,738
post #15188 _ $20,167
post #15092 _ $21,100
Using the triple net approach described by chrylsersrt8 in post # 15222, the base price of an SE i4 auto sedan:
invoice (including destination): 20,196
- holdback: (432.50)
- current dealer incentive [ in Texas ]: (750)
= triple net price aka the base price of the vehicle: $19,013.50
For what it's worth, below is a sample of reported prices paid. Keep in mind that markets and dealerships vary and not everyone will be able to obtain these prices. * I believe most of these prices were obtained during the previous month's dealer incentives.
post# 15126 _ $18,300
post# 14978 _ $18,394
post# 15104 _ $18,426
post# 15123 _ $18,529
post# 15069 _ $18,600
post# 15048 _ $18,750
post# 14862 _ $18,900
post# 14976 _ $19,000
==========
My approach is to use the "triple net price" as my base to negotiate from, e.g. multiply by:
1.025 to get 0.25% markup ~ $50 above base price of auto
1.050 to get 0.50% markup ~ $100 above base price of auto
and so on, until I reach a price that the dealer is willing to accept.
Myself, I am still holding out hope that I can buy a CR-V at "California" prices at the end of the month here in Dallas. (The triple net approach is not applicable to the CRV). If not, I will buy an '07 Accord.
Good luck to everyone who's making a purchase this weekend.
I thought Honda had that same incentive since late last year.
Can you share your dealer's info? Thanks
The triple net price calculated as follows,
invoice 23,291 - holdback 501 - dealer incentive 1200 = $21,590
What you get (21,850) is very close to this triple net price. Also from the same dealer? I wonder we could become member friends for sharing.
Charles
if you know how to set that up then sure. The next best quotes that I am getting in town are 22,200 and 22,500 OTD. They were both unwilling to come down to the 21850 figure, and were pretty cordial about it. I thinkthat they were both convinced that the low man was going to pull a bait and switch, so we'll see.
fcj
The quotes I'm getting from socal are pretty high, but I have yet to call them yet. I'll keep you guys posted as I'm almost certain I'm goign to buy today (if everything is smooth).
On edmunds, no incentives come up for norcal socal zip codes, but there are dealer incentives say, like in texas. But i know for sure there have been incentives from honda to california dealers as well, so is it just not showing up?
I was SET on buying an SE today but now it's confusing that the EX's are pretty much the same price as the SE becuase of the whack incentives.
1. they're all mentioning this incentive (EX better buy than SE)
2. prices paid before TTL for the month of June is pretty similar
So, in the end, I'm just wondering how much of the SE and EX incentives have changed from the month of May, because this will help me make my purchase either this weekend or possibly in very early July w/ new incentives.
EDIT: From the prices I'm looking at, it seems that the incentives are the same, except that Honda removed a $1200 incentive that was there for the past few months on SE's (and maybe LX's) for the month of June. The SE is mroe expensive right now (b/c of this incentive removal) than it was before in the past 3 or so months.
Seem a lot of ppl can get the SE for $18,xxx in May, but I don't know why the SE price jump in June.
Did you get that quote for the EX from El Cerrito? If not, can you share dealer info? El Cerrito quoted me $20,223 for an EX and a ridiculous $19788 for an LX! Keep in mind these quotes are for coupes.
I believe the coupe model is about $200 more!
I THINK they removed the SE (and lower) incentives but kept the higher EX ones.
Let me know if that's what you think, becuase I was going to buy the SE today but now I don't think so (it's the SAME price as in the EX in the bad way, and I can't justify spending $1300 ish more for a sunroof and security system).
I'm thinking of waiting for july sales and if the SE is not down, I'm just going to buy the EX becuase I really need a car soon.
I'm from the bay area but am going to buy the car in socal, and usually the deals are slightly better in socal. I got quoted $18,600 back in may for the SE (with dest, no TTL).
I guess Honda looks in the magic inventory computer and sees that last month they sold a ton or SE Accords but have a lot of EX models sitting on lots or in the pipeline. So they make it more attractive to dealers/buyers to take the EX models and a little less attractive to take the SE. The whole thing is about inventory, days supply, and trying to run out of 07s right when the 08s start rolling in.
If, due to the incentives they sell more than they expect for June and inventory is getting tight - they may remove the incentives for July. I would doubt it, but it could happen. Odds are the incentives will continue or get higher, but only Honda knows for sure - and they may not know until the end of month numbers are in.
The moral to the story is, if you get a good quote then buy the car. If you wait for it to get better, it may not and they may sell your car to someone else while you are waiting
Dennis
Additional cost was TTL + destination + processing fee ($289).
The dealer stated no incentitives on the I4 SE Auto and the EX was cheaper than the SE.
Dealer has already received their allotment of 2007's. They don't expect to get anymore 2007's. Honda is now longer producing 2007's - Dealer knows what their initial 2008 allotment will be. They expect 2008's to arrive mid to late July - when most of the 2007 Dealer inventory is gone.