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Comments
set your fishing nets wide enoughset your fishing rod where lots of dealers (fish) are in hopes that in that particular instance in time (end of month) one of them will be hungry enough to make you a sale at your price to make that quota. A dealer that is hungry for your business this month might not be that hungry next month, and the following months game rules might change.It's a game where last two days of the month really matter in order to determine which dealer will be desperate enough to follow your lead.
'17 Chevy Volt Premiere
2017 Accord Sport CVT Mod Steel Metallic
Oh, the PAIN some of you put yourselves through!!
But, hey! if that's what you like, carry on!
Thanks, all of you! Just don't believe everything you read.
Bill G
2017 Accord Sport CVT Mod Steel Metallic
Bill G
2017 Accord Sport CVT Mod Steel Metallic
Bill G
2017 Accord Sport CVT Mod Steel Metallic
Here's hoping you get a great deal on a great car!
Take care,
Bill G
2017 Accord Sport CVT Mod Steel Metallic
2017 Accord Sport CVT Mod Steel Metallic
This is how you find out the market selling price in your area. the further you broaden your search the better pricing may become. this has nothing to do with stress full buying it about determining what the pricing is. what dealerships are internet friendly, and what dealerships want to move there inventory cheaper. Its quick , stress free and you cover so many more miles than on foot.
We Just closed a deal for a Honda Civic with in 2 hours. 17 dealerships contacted my friend secured deal in Westchester, NY He fell short of his target price by 100 dollars but was happy to buy within 25 mins of his house.
8 dealerships competed for his business 3 said come down the rest would not commit on our price. Does this sound stressful. You have to find the best deal closest to your target price.
How long would it have taken us to visit that many dealerships tonight. You could waste more that 1 hour in the wrong dealership if they are into games and deception.
Maybe i should just go into five dealerships and say lets make this stress free and watch the salesman and manager go back and forth with you on pricing and i'll sit and wait and when there done i'll walk out get into the parking lot they chase you to come back in . This way of buying is SO less stressful.
Hope you guys made some good deals today. Good luck
23 Telluride SX-P X-Line, 23 Camry XSE
My apologies if i offend you. I was not calling you stupid just the way you are going about buying a New car. I heard no mention of you making that 20 dealership list and going down the line at the end of March for pricing... why not... You would of had you car by now.
You first tried to buy the Accord in the middle of the month an got nowhere with pricing. Going to 2 dealers and not getting a target price of 1k below does not mean you cant get it. Look at all the time you wasted down at those dealerships. Maybe Hamilton, and DCh had there sales numbers already and did not want to sell below a certain number in march.. that happens. Thats where calling dealerships eliminates this problem and wasted time.
I know you read my posts Make a list of 20/30 dealers we have hundreds in our area Ny, Nj, Pa, Ct. Call each dealership like my prior posts suggests and ask to buy your model car for the sale that day. Like today. After you call all your target dealerships you will have a clear cut price on where pricing is on your model and What dealerships are willing to sell cheaper. The dealer who sells some cars for 1k below in Feb, might not want to sell that low in march. Thats why you make your list and start your negotiations on the last2 days/ last day of the month.
Make your best deal possible with one of the 20/30 dealerships if your driven by getting the best price on your model accord and you dont mind traveling within 100 miles.. If convinence of buying closer to your house is important target 5 or 6 dealerships and make your best deal regardless of the price.
Now you could say to yourself i did not get ripped off... The 6 closest dealership to me were within 300 dollars of each other and i took the lowest price.
Now you are ready to buy again. Good luck in your search
23 Telluride SX-P X-Line, 23 Camry XSE
2013 Civic. lx model. Our best deal came by Pohanka honda at around 1800 below invoice price in D.C . We closed at 1553 below invoice here in n.y.
23 Telluride SX-P X-Line, 23 Camry XSE
Thank you for your support. I'm not a troll here. I'm a lurker. Big difference.
I had a good 13 years in the business after a successful retail management career. When it stopped being fun, it was time to leave.
I worked in a great store with great management and co-workers.
Yes, the business has changed. Shoppers feel empowered as never before and the stores are figuring out ways to still make money and stay in business.
Some "expert" advice that is well intentioned will lead to frustration in many cases.
Carry on...
Craig
You are always welcome in these forums. i always will respect your point of view. even if i disagree. Our posting are like day and night. makes for good reading. It does not matter what we think or say. This forum is about pricing/ dealerships , experience, and what info you choose to take and use. Forum readers can decide for them self what works and what does not.
Most people in these forums can tell you the horror stories about how they got deceived, ripped off, and tricked into spending there money foolishly by the scam artists in your business.
That is some expert advice that frustrates me.
23 Telluride SX-P X-Line, 23 Camry XSE
Like you, I visit this board on a regular basis but only post when I think I might be able to help someone. I am astonished at the lengths some go through to buy a car. I try to keep it simple and don't understand why someone would need to call 20 or 30 dealerships to get a good price when multiple emails usually does the trick and results in a great deal in most cases.
Oh well - take care and keep enjoying retirement
Bill
2017 Accord Sport CVT Mod Steel Metallic
I've learned a lot from Craig's posts over the years as well. Good stuff.
Craig - I had to mention something after reading your comments above about stores figuring out ways to make money. I've noticed your old shop has begun listing new vehicle internet specials on their site, where aggressive prices are listed. The small print mentions that prices do not tax, title or accessories.
When you get there, every one of these cars have pinstripes, door edge guards, wheel well trim, etc at $199 each. Plus the labor cost of $399. The sales guy tried to tell me it was a new pilot program that was too successful, because customers responded to the upfront low pricing. He then said they weren't sure if they would continue it since they were losing so much money on these prices and accessories "at cost" . Just made me chuckle to be honest...I wasn't even upset. The game continues.
23 Civic Type-R / 22 MDX Type-S / 21 Tesla Y LR / 03 Montero Ltd
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD
I am curious to know whether you were able to make a deal on an Accord LX CVT.
If yes, what was your final sales price. Was there any flex cash and what was the OTD price?
-Mike
I always welcome your opinion, and advice, even if I don't neccessarily agree with everything you say.
I agree, business models have changed, especially with the ease with which information is available pretty much to anyone willing to do some work. Invoice, may not be the true invoice, but general invoice is no longer the holy grail of auto shopping negotiations. One could even figure out the true individual dealer invoice by doing some calculations.
And it must be very difficult to deal with people who come in and feel that they should get the car for what dealer has paid, and not let dealer make a single dollar on it. I know some people who will fight for the last penny in a deal, even if it costs them an additional few hours of negotiations. But, that is the way they are. They feel that they should make money for what they do, but no one else should.
Anyway, back to my point. I do a lot of reverse engineering for a living, and I find it fascinating reverse engineering financial deals, be it repackaged mortgages, interest bearing checking accounts, credit card deals, and even sales of cars, furniture, home improvements, and such.
I don't buy cars often, but every time we go to buy a car, I find my self trying to figure out the new trick that a dealer is using. So, the business is moving forward. The bag of tricks just got a little more complicated, but it is still fun to figure it out, and beat the dealer at their own game.
All in all, it is just a game of poker, and the one with the stone face wins.
You made some good points in your post:
I agree, business models have changed, especially with the ease with which information is available pretty much to anyone willing to do some work. Invoice, may not be the true invoice, but general invoice is no longer the holy grail of auto shopping negotiations. One could even figure out the true individual dealer invoice by doing some calculations.
Being a consumer who is new at buying a car, I am glad that I am able to find so much information online such as MSRP, Invoice price, Dealer holdbacks, incentives, etc...
Not to paint all dealerships or car sales men with one brush, but it can be frustrating when some salesmen feel that giving the consumer the run around or not disclosing all the incentives one might qualify for is the way to do business in this day and age.
I am hoping to buy my first brand new Accord at the end of next month. My main criteria in closing the deal will be:
1. Price - It does not have to be the lowest price, but as long as it comes close to what I am prepared to pay and everyone involved is happy with the deal.
2. Purchase Process - No bait and switch tactics or "one day only" sale price tricks.
3. Dealership - Having worked in the customer service industry for more than 10 years, I will be interested in how I am treated by the dealership staff during and after my purchase.
23 Telluride SX-P X-Line, 23 Camry XSE
Craigs a big boy he can handle himself. When a salesman thinks you need to sit in front of his desk to buy a vehicle times have passed him by. If he wants to take the time to help someone get a good price he should donate his service. But not those lame answers about respect, trust, take a deal if its fair. I agree being on that side of the line he shares some valuable advice other than that aspect... he brings nothing to this forum about finding or getting a good deal.. Craig needs to stay in the Novice and salesman front lines forums.
We are all in this forum to weed out the b.s dealerships and find the high and low market value of the Honda Accord in different regions. Then we proceed to make our deal on preference.. Best Price Or Convenience with a higher price. Phone/ internet buying or visiting dealerships. This is what we consider when buying.
No salesman is going to come in this forum and give folks buying tips while in the dealership. What to say or do, What to look for, and what not to buy, How to get accessories cheaper than msrp. How not to get ripped off in the back office. I'd like to see that discussed with the people who visit dealerships and need help buying who are 1st time buyers or woman.
And lastly.... Thank you BILL for your service to this country. You also make fine contributions to this forum.
Brian
23 Telluride SX-P X-Line, 23 Camry XSE
21000 for the Accord which is no where near 1500 off of invoice. Furthermore, he checked his log book and only one Civic was sold yesterday with a trade. Its possible that it was not recorded, but unlikely. So something is not right here. He did offer the 500 flex cash, and the 21000 included it. Did you have some special relationship with this dealer, did you buy a car there in the past.
Because it seemed important to him what my zip code was. No other dealer seemed to care.
The dealership claimed there was no Flex cash remaining, so I am sure I left $500 on the table with that. We did finance through Honda.
But we were under a tight timetable, and I am happy to be in the new car.
As far as Craig is concerned, you can see from some of the others' comments that all may not agree with him but they value his advice and listen to what he has to say. He has many years of experience on the sales side and to dismiss him as a has been whose business has passed him by is both a mistake and perpetuates the antaganistic relationship between seller and buyer.
Anyway, thanks again for what you do here - we can all learn from each other to get great deals on cars!
Bill G
2017 Accord Sport CVT Mod Steel Metallic
I do know that you mean well and you spend a lot of time dispensing your well intentioned advice much of which is pretty good information.
You talk about making the process less stressful yet you suggest calling 10-20 stores! You may not be aware of this but is some marketplaces and smaller states there are hundreds of miles between stores.
Also, a high volume store doesn't care if it's the end of the month. That can even work against a buyer as the stores tend to be packed with "bargain hunters" who feel as you do that some magic thing happens as the month comes to a close.
In our store which was the highest volume store in nine states, we ALWAYS tried to make each and every sale. Actually we pushed harder if anything at the beginning and middle of the month because trying to play "catch up" as the month come to it's end is frustrating.
The only message I have tried to send is the fact prices are determined by the MARKET. If a store has 100 LX Accord automatic in stock with more in transit, anything go's! If a shopper has to have some oddball car or a car that is in high demand and short supply there is no reason to cheap sell a car like that.
It really doesn't have to be a miserable drawn out process. I tried to make it easy and even fun for my customers and as a result they came back to me and sent me a lot of referral business.
MSRP $23,270.
Price paid - $19,579. and destination charge of $790.
Estimated Fee Breakdown:
Nitrogen for Tires - $49.95
Tag/Temporary Fee - $78.
Louisiana Compliance Fee - $100.
Notary Fee - $16.
Convenience Fee - $19.50
Inspection Sticker - $10.
Tire Waste Fee - $8.
Title Fee - $18.
Estimated Taxes (8.65%) - $1766.24
Grand Total - $22,434.69
I also got free floor mats, trunk tray, pin striping and tinted windows. The car did have 124 miles on it.
I think that I got a good deal, please tell me if you feel the same way.
PS: We don't have doc fees here.
In many cases the profit made on installed accessories is the ONLY profit a store makes. This is an example of what I was talking about.
We just picked up a new 2013 CRV (our 4th one) from my old store. It had those accessories added and I didn't mind. Yes, they gave me a break on them as they would any customer if necessary. We never lost a deal over accessories. Most of those accessories are items I wanted anyway.
Who wouldn't want All Season rubber floor mats in my town where it rains 70 inches a year? Door edge guards help against nicks and wheel locks are important around here due to a continual rash of wheels being stolen.
They were going to remove the pinstripe and not charge me but I have grown to like it.
I learned that most of my customers found value in these accessories. If they complained about the price I would make sure they got a nice discount on them.
Then there were those who refused to pay for any accessory. No problem, I would simply take a deposit on an incoming car and make sure it didn't get anything extra installed.
Some people really found no use or value in any accessory and others were simply too cheap to spring for anything.
I once got a bad survey from a "hard to deal with" customer because their gas tank was only 7/8th full. The car had 50 miles on it from three repeated test drives...by them!
Bill G
John - just checked and if this is an EX automatic, you are around 1300 below invoice with the flex cash - not a bad price - depending on your time frame, not sure you're gonna do much better. You might be able to squeeze a few hundred more - is your uncle in a hurry?
2017 Accord Sport CVT Mod Steel Metallic
Bill G
2017 Accord Sport CVT Mod Steel Metallic
Maybe like Brian said they reached their quotas for this month so they are not offering good deals anymore. One of the dealer said
"Hi John,
Thank you for your interest in Hardin Honda. I can certainly offer you great price. The best pricing we can offer you is for you to come in person. At Hardin Honda, we strive to offer customer the best price in Orange County. When can i expect you to come in and have a look at the vehicle?" I said no thank you. I even stated my price which is about 24-25k for a final price.
2017 Accord Sport CVT Mod Steel Metallic
I do agree there are many Honda Dealers here. Maybe I am just in a bad month because they are selling Honda like wildfires. Or maybe they have all the deals they need for this month. If you have great experiences with any other dealers I will try and contact them if you can provide a name.
24998 OTD for a 13 EX CVT black/black with cloth mats. This includes $500 flex cash for Honda financing.
This is within $500 of my target price of $24500 so I think it's a good deal.
Does anyone know if I have to finance with Honda to get the flex cash? Does anyone know what the incentives will be for August?
Did you buy your lx Accord. What prices were the dealers selling at in New York.
Mike if you did not purchase already
Post for me the make, model, and color you want and also a 2nd choice color if any.
One other very important question
Are you ready to buy.
I'LL pass thru here tomm night to see your posting and will take it from there.
23 Telluride SX-P X-Line, 23 Camry XSE
I know this isn't the Toyota forum but any thoughts?