2013 and earlier-Honda Accord Prices Paid and Buying Experience

brian125 · July 2013

flex is financed thru honda only . Incentives could stay the same or change in Aug. have to wait and see.

isellhondas · July 2013

I'm a So. Calif native and I can tell you, that is one NASTY marketplace. I couldn't have worked in that environment.

I helped friend buy an Accord Coupe NAVI a few years ago and I couldn't believe the LOW price I was given on an almost impossible car to find at the time. The manager I worked with over the phone APOLOGIZED for quoting me 500.00 over invoice!!

I snapped up that deal for her and he said most of his customers would have ground for even more!!

That was Gardena Honda by the way.

Why even open a car business??

isellhondas · July 2013

This isn't directed toward any particular store or market area but sometimes a market will simply get "ruined".

The customers become nasty and cheap. The stores react by resorting to the tactics that the buyers hate.

So. California has become one of those marketplaces but there are others as well.

oocyndeeoo · July 2013

I spoke to a dealer he offered the following:

Dealer selling price: 22,416. This price does not include the 500 flex cash he offered and 500 for recent college graduate. Only thing is I will have to finance the car at .9%. I wanted this to be a cash deal. Is this worth financing or can I do better?

isellhondas · July 2013

WHY in the WORLD would you pass up an interest rate that is less than ONE PERCENT???

Invest the cash you were going to spend in a good Mutual Fund and earn a decent return on your money!

Or, if you insist, take the financing and just pay it off in a couple of months.

Maybe I'm missing something here?

brian125 · July 2013

You are right on this one. All you young guys have to be smart with your money today. Take that very low interest rate and lock up at least 50% of your money. Your payment will be very low and the return on your invest will pay off in 4 to 5 yrs. this extra money could possible help you with your next vehicle purchase or if your a first time home buyer that extra cash is always needed.

Buying a New car is probably one of the worst investments you could make with your money. With depreciating values, repairs , bad roads and all the animals who deface our vehicles you cant win. Buying a well maintained vehicle that is 3 to 5 years old is how you win this war on pricing. Buying a new car today is indeed a privilege alot of folks are hurting out there and cant afford these prices. We are blessed that can afford new cars.

fiona6 · July 2013

Brian:

Just finished a four-hour exam in the afternoon and then went straight to the dealers for my Accord LX. My OTD is 22,100 plus 500 flex cash, 0.9% financing. I don't know if it is a good deal but the salesperson that I worked was respectful. The first dealer that I went to played the game with me by saying that they had the silver exterior and grey interior that I wanted. However, when I got there they pull out another one with about 500 miles already on it. I said no and walked away. Then I went to the second best offer that I had and sealed the deal.

Anyway, it has been a great experience for me, a first time buyer and international student. Thanks everybody who shared their deals and experience with us, either as a buyer or dealer.

Brian: I really appreciate your help and patience for answering tons of questions. Lots of my friends know Edmunds but few of them know we have such a great forum here. I would definitely share my experience with them.

user404 · August 2013

I've been lurking/asking/learning on this forum for a about a month and yesterday bought Honda Accord EX with manual transmission. Well, leased actually.

My case is a bit different from what Brian and others were teaching. I was l looking for EX Manual and unfortunately these cars are hard to find. Within 50 miles radius from me there was only 7 cars as of July 29th, and on July 30th there were 6 left. What's interesting was that 5 of those cars were at one dealership, not sure why they stock so many, perhaps for trade. So I knew it's going to be tough getting the price I wanted. So one dealership was in Princeton, NJ and other in Yorktown Heights, NY. Princeton was the one that carried 5 EX Manuals so I figured that's the place I would have the most luck getting my price. I didn't bother doing negotiations over the phone because I wanted to experience negotiations techniques I've learned in person. Call me crazy.

While driving to dealership I was remembering everything that I've learned here, and thought the reason Brian is so good at negotiating is because he does it more often than us mortals. We do it once in three years if leasing and more than that if buying so obviously ours negotiating skills are not at the "super negotiator" level. Also, when you buy car for yourself you get attached to the thought of driving a new car, and that's hard.

I got to dealership at around 11 am. I didn't want to do negotiations at late evening as suggested because:

Did not want to hit traffic because dealership is 35 miles from my house
Last time I drove stick was 20 years ago and had a bit of practice with my neighbor couple of days before

I need to add that I had to trade-in from my current lease so that made things a bit harder, because you have two targets to follow.

Dealership is very nice, clean and upgraded, staff is very friendly and not pushy which I really appreciated. Last thing I want somebody telling me that I am stupid for not taking the first deal I was offered and stuff like that.

I had a price in mind which was $21,500 plus taxes, fees so that's where negotiated started. Of course I didn't reveal my asking price and let the salesperson name his - $23,700. That's $400 above invoice. I did my research and the best offer I've received was $22,990 which I really didn't like. We started dancing and I said that best I can do is $21,500. We went back and fourth about cost of the car, cost of my trade-in and 6 payments left on my old lease. After about 30 minutes with sales manger we settled on $22,200 with no money down everything in a lease and they pay remainder of my lease and pay out the car to HFM. I thought that this was a good price because, as I said the only other dealer that had this car was now 120 miles away and it wasn't the color that I wanted and calculating the lease price I wanted to be in a range of $260 - $280 per month and the best I have received from other dealers was $305. Plus, I didn't want to end up in situation where 2014 models start rolling in and for whatever reason dealer would unload their stock of EX Manuals. So the final lease price - $272 per month.

So at the end at negotiated price is $1300 below invoice, which I think was pretty good. Was I in situation where if I were negotiating for EX Automatic things would've been much different, but as I said, my case was different.

Thanks a lot for your help everyone, even if I didn't do the best possible deal I could, I've learned a lot from all of you which is both beneficial and fun. Best of all, I've learned that knowledge is a power and once you have that you are treated differently.

One last thing, and this had been mentioned here, don't let your guard down once you've negotiated selling price. Finance manager will try to sell you stuff, and you need to decide if you want it or not, but make an educated decision, not just "yeah, whatever, let's get it over with."

I will be visiting these forums more in the future when I will take a new lease on my wife's Honda CR-V

Thank you all!

gmanusmc · August 2013

I hear ya Craig - we are originally from the East coast but stayed here when I retired from the military. SoCal is overrun by dealerships of all the major makes and models. I guess maybe we are spoiled when it comes to buying cars. There are probably well over 50 Honda dealers alone between Orange and LA counties. So if you know what you want, it usually just takes a shotgun email and a little Internet negotiation to get to a fair target price. There's really no reason to resort to confrontational or demanding type tactics. In my case, I state what I want, ask what they are willing to do, and we go from there. Usually results in those types of numbers Brian says he gets using his methods.

I am a bit dismayed about what John is describing about Honda World but I think he has educated himself enough about the buying process that he'll be able to find his uncle a nice EX at a decent price.

You take care and thanks again for offering this forum your perspective on less stressful ways to buy or lease a vehicle.

Bill

gmanusmc · August 2013

User404 - congratulations on your new car! Although I don't know the details of your trade in vehicle and if it had equity or not, it looks like you did well. Honda Accords are great cars and I think the EX is the sweet spot. I am encouraged that you took what you learned in this forum and molded it into a buying process that worked for you. It sounds like you were methodical and calm and that the whole thing went down with little to no stress. Enjoy your new ride!

Bill G

johnnguyen714 · August 2013

Don't get me wrong. Maybe there are a few good salesmen in Honda World. I personally don't recommend people going there because I experience/read/hear about so much bad things about that dealer. Most of the time you walk in some Asian Dude will try to play the "help our race card" which I don't mind but only if I am getting a deal out of it. People there give Asian people a shady name (I am Asian). Also I did email several dealers around the area. Like I said before, maybe they have reached their quotas this month so they are not offering me a good deal. Those prices are every day prices anyone can get so it is not a deal by any means. I am still emailing a few more so I have more choices. Also I am not the type of person that takes another dealers low quote than run to another asking them to beat it by $100. That is something I will never do because, I feel if they are offering me such a low quote and not paying games, they have earned by business and that extra $100 is not worth my ethics and morals. I do know this is a common problem here in socal so dealers don't tend to give out good quotes anymore. I do agree with Isellhondas this area has so much dealers so the buying experience has became a nightmare.

pjny77 · August 2013

User404 - When you say the negotiated price was $1,300 below invoice, does that price include destination ($790)?

Also, do you mind sharing your lease term, MF, and residuals that you were quoted?

I can't say I've had the same experience. I've been prepared too...maybe too prepared because I know exactly what I want and I think that turns off the dealer. They stick to their guns and don't budge. I was fully prepared to sign last night, but no one wanted to negotiate.

user404 · August 2013

Hey pjny77,

$22,200 included destination charge. It also included HMF $500 credit, I wanted to take it further and apply the credit to $22,220 but knew that it would lead to nowhere. One thing I should've done was to negotiate the price and THEN mention $500 credit, but I am sure dealer would've said something like, "this price already includes credit."

MF was 0.00075 and residual was at 59%.

What dealer(s) did you deal with?

user404 · August 2013

Thanks Bill!

Yes, surprisingly I was calm, there were moments when things were a bit stressful. But it's a good thing I had calculator app so that I could re-calculate every change in price. One thing I will do next time is make dealer physically sign off (if possible) on every change that is made during negotiations so that there are no doubts about who said one and how someone misunderstood what was being said.

pjny77 · August 2013

I dealt with Nanuet Honda in Rockland and Mt.Kisco Honda in Westchester. Mt. Kisco also told me that $500 flex cash was all gone...didn't know if I could verify this or not.

Regardless, both experiences left a lot to be desired.

In regards to your negotiations, how did you bring the dealer down from their original offer to your final offer of $22,200? Was there a lot of back and forth? This is where my deals fell apart. Their attitude was "this is our number and we're sticking to it".

bluemkn57cars · August 2013

I'm just curious but did you obtain an online quote before heading down to the dealerships or was your plan to negotiate in person?

gmanusmc · August 2013

Hang in there John - you are going about this the right way. And you are right to avoid a dealer that you know for a fact is employing questionable business practices. I've received competitive quotes from them in the past but never actually executed a deal with them, sometimes when you are physically in the dealership, their whole demeanor changes and that's unfortunate. Keep up what you're doing by gaining as much information and knowledge as possible, and I am confident you will land a great deal - don't rush things if you don't need to.
Keep us posted on how things are going.

Bill

user404 · August 2013

Yeah, there was about half an hour during negotiating the price. My range was $21,500 to $22,500, last number being the price at which I walk away. Realistically that what I expected to pay - $22,000 to $22,300. I didn't expect to pay $21,500, but starting from there gave me room to lose some of my price due to unexpected hick ups whatever they might have been. I guess it's just as what was being said here - if dealer has quota to meet he will negotiate with you. He is not there to be your friend, neither are you. I had experience similar to yours, call dealership ask for the price, they tell me straight up this is the price and we are not moving one bit.

Regarding $500 flex cash, I agree it's hard to verify. They can tell you whatever makes sense for them.

One last thing. I did a lot of research and printed out a lot of information ranging from tax laws in NJ to breakdown of all prices. Here is an example. I brought the whole stack of papers with me and was always looking through them to verify, first to show dealer that I know what I am talking about (or at least think I do) and to be on a target of how price change will affect OTD pirce. I don't know if it makes a difference, but it was suggested by someone here.

Don't despair. Some dealers are outright nasty and just don't care, others might be more approachable.

If these dealerships are closer to you, may be it's worth going there and try talking in person, I am sure a lot of them don't want to talk over the phone because they want you on their field to have home field advantage. Good luck!

sdlsteve · August 2013

I'm trying to get an Accord for $23000 OTD (approx $1500 in taxes/title fees). I've received a quote for $23800 but I've also been told by a few dealers that we are thousands of dollars apart in price. Where I appreciate the competition in getting the best price I do feel that some dealers don't take into account how much information there is about market price. I did hold my tongue though when one dealer mentioned that I hadn't taken into account the dealer fees although I did laugh when I read it.

Would love to hear if anyone else is getting near this price.

user404 · August 2013

Dealers don't care how much you or I know because majority of buyers don't know. All you can do is survey your market area and hope for the best outcome which is finding dealer that will be willing to meet your price just to meet his quota. Finding such dealers for me was constant communication from him via email or phone - otherwise they wouldn't bother.

isellhondas · August 2013

Not surprised you got a good deal. Any store stuck with six EX manuals would do whatever it takes to get rid of them.

Nothing "wrong" with them but they are very poor sellers.

You were wise to go in at 11:00. Whoever suggests coming in shortly before closing is dead wrong. People are tired and want to go home in a lot of cases. They may just decline your offer instead of having to stick around two more hours when everything gets done.

Sounds like it worked to your satisfaction and that's all that really matters.

user404 · August 2013

Thanks isellhondas,

Aside from other reasons I came at 11:00 because I didn't want to start going out of my mind by end of the day.

Regarding stocking 6 Accords manuals, I am sure they had their reasons. I am thinking trade...

carguy778 · August 2013

Local dealer in MD EXL with Navigation $25595. Good price?

brian125 · August 2013

Fiona,

I had a good feeling about you young lady. You did very good for a 1st time buyer. You asked the right questions and did your homework.

Enjoy your new car

brian125 · August 2013

Congrats on the new purchase. If Princeton dealer was not looking to sell that cheap you would of had problems with the limited ex models. It always comes down to supply and demand. Your best deal did lie at that dealership with 5 models on there lot.. I hoped you learned alot in the little time you were here. You were correct in your assessment on me. I have over 40 years experience in the art of buying and negotiations with close to a thousand vehicles under my belt by now. Back in the early 70's before internet and all these wonderful sites with a breakdown of prices i used to go in and out of the american dealerships and try to work my best deals. Over time you learn the tricks of the trade. Its no different today with the exception we the buyer have a bigger advantage. Dealerships cant get over as much as they did years ago. Kind of unfair now ....... LOL

Take what tips you learned here and build on it with every new car purchase.

bluemkn57cars · August 2013

Wow..That's a great price. I was quoted about $25.5k for an EX-L without navigation in MA last month.

Does it include flexcash? What are the prices like for an EX-L w/o nav in MD?

user404 · August 2013

Thanks Brian. Your insight was very helpful and without help from you and folks here I would probably paid a much higher number. Greatly appreciate these forums.

carguy778 · August 2013

For EXL no Navigation a local MD dealer quoting $23999. Flex cash included. Ourisman honda in Bethesda, MD.

brian125 · August 2013

Steve

I'm not here calling anyone a liar. Very few but some of these posts are not true with price paid.. In your case and area. Take the high and low prices and find a medium and make that your go after price on your model.

Call/ email all dealers first with your asking price to buy. At the end of your targeted dealers you now negotiate with dealerships who want your business.
If you prefer to walk in and out of dealerships thats fine . Do your legwork on line first.

There is no reason to post any more info on buying it has been covered in the past 5 threads in detail. Go read and apply to you.

Supply and demand will play a big part on dealers lots effecting your price.

Do not try to get the lowest price you see in this forum.. most likely your not getting it.

When dealerships and salesman identify you as just another HERB trying to buy a car they will walk all over you. Playing there tired game. When you educate your self on How and When to buy , Know your pricing and your target area pricing along with dealers doc fee charges makes for a easier trans-action. When salesman start to run there arrogance on you Open your mouth and slap them in place with knowledge.... educate them.

bluemkn57cars · August 2013

That's also a good deal. I am hoping to get a deal at the end of the month in that price range here in MA.

Thanks again for the info.

mrbeernoon · August 2013

I got the EX for 24500 OTD here in San Diego.

johnnguyen714 · August 2013

Thank you for the input. That price sounds about right where I am willing to buy it. 24,500-25k out the door would be perfect. I will use that as a guide.

mrbeernoon · August 2013

For $24500 otd, 1.9% interest comes to $428 a month. The finance charge is about 500 for the life of the loan.

mrbeernoon · August 2013

Your invoice does not include destination charge, my total invoice including destination was $24063, I sealed the deal with $24500 OTD with honda financing. all dealers seem to include the wheel locks, splash guards and trunk liner.

brian125 · August 2013

BLue

Let me know what price's you are getting from the M.A./boston dealers in the up comming weeks and right before you are going to buy. I only want the dealerships that are over 1k without incentives for the EXL model.

Tks

bluemkn57cars · August 2013

I will be emailing some dealers towards the end of the month. I have 5 to 6 dealers on my list. I am hoping that prices have dropped compared to last month.

Could you clarify this statement: I only want the dealerships that are over 1k without incentives for the EXL model.

brian125 · August 2013

I want your list of dealerships in M.A. that will sell for 1000 or more below invoice price. Any dealer that lets say wants 800 or 900 below i'm not interested.. dealers willing to go 1200 /1300 are were i'm looking to push getting 1500/1600 below with any incentives.

You need to expand your emailing list to at least 15 dealerships. keep me posted in the M.A. area............ Tks

alpha123 · August 2013

I know this is an accord forum but just wanted to post how my situation turned out. I ended up getting a new pearl highlander base for $26075 + TTL. $4500 below sticker and about $700 below invoice. Good enough for me. The techniques I read about here did work. I even had one dealer tell me he respected my tactics and then proceeded to break down every bit of his price, holdbacks, advertising, wholesale finance cost, etc. that gave me even more confidence in the pricing I was getting. Also, by dealing with 10 dealers over the Internet and phone I saved myself time and was able to get a sense for market pricing. Best of all, I ended up buying from the same dealership I bought my last car and it's right down the street.

bluemkn57cars · August 2013

Brian,

Thanks for clarifying. I had to eliminate a few dealerships from my search given their sales tactics dealing with them last month. They are as follows:

Kelly Honda in Lynn
Commonwealth Honda in Lawrence
Honda Gallery in Reading

The following dealerships were not prepared to budge on their online sales price (They offered flex cash but wanted me come to the dealership):

Herb Chambers Boston/Burlington
Honda Weymouth

Honda Cars of Boston had given me the best quote at the time for $25,119 (I am not sure if it included Flex Cash). You could try them out. I might reach out to them again and see whether their price has changed.

I had also contacted Honda North, and although I was not offered the best price, I felt I could negotiate with them. I will reach out to them again.

As I stated in my earlier post, I would be reaching out to about 6 new dealerships but I will also include a couple from last month.

I am hoping to get a deal at the end of the month. If not, I might just wait for the 2014 models to be released.

cardionp · August 2013

I am getting cross eyed looking for car online. I need help with this. I have my car narrowed down. I am giving my son my 2003 accord v6 which I bought new and now has 195K on it. Seems like a good car for a new driver to me. Anyway, I want a v6. I want black leather interior and am flexible on the rest. I have searched for a gently used one with this criteria and no luck thus far and am tempted to buy new though it goes against every bit of Dave Ramsey advice!! Thoughts on this? Also, just need some direction on negotiating my best deal whether new or used. I only fear getting used because I don't want to buy the problem child. Any good advice is appreciated!

isellhondas · August 2013

If you fear buying a used car you probably shouldn't buy one.

You want a V-6 and you want black leather and you want a "gently used" one.

Seriously, Hondas depreciate so little that even IF you find the car of your dreams you may find it's not much less money than a new one.

Dave Ramsey has his opinion and on most makes of cars I agree with him.

Just like in these forums there are a lot of "experts" dispensing what they think is sage advice.

I do think you should consider new rather than used and get exactly what you want. The four cylinders are much more popular than the V-6's and finding a black leather interior will REALLY limit your market in used cars.

And, if you drove a new four cylinder Accord you may no longer feel the need for a V-6.

Good Luck!

bethpa · August 2013

I have been maintaining two older cars for my college age kids. I am looking at selling the two cars they drive today and use the proceeds to get two Civic LX leases for the kids. I have seen $89/mon with $1995 down for 27 months that looks good. Both the kids would qualify for the college grad program but the lease would be in my name.

The question is I am looking to possibly replace my 2010 Accord EXL at the same time. I have no urgency to replace the car right now but I figure if leasing two Civics and buying an Accord at the same time might get me a much better deal. Is there any way to play this buy calling the sales manager at the dealers I'm looking at? Possibly the end of the month getting 3 sales from one buyer might give me some more negotiating power. My target is the $89/month with $1995 on the two Civic LX's. The Accord EXL is $22500. I know that is a stretch on the Accord but maybe buying 3 cars will make it work. Anyone out there in the business who knows better let me know so I don't waste anyone's time chasing this Accord number.

gmanusmc · August 2013

Are you saying you want to buy a 2013 Accord EXL for 22.5? If that's the case, I don't think you stand much of a chance - that's around 4k below invoice. Also, beware of those leader ads that say 89 or 99 a month on a lease - they are usually on one or two specific vehicles at a dealership and they may not be there when you arrive. The best way to get a good lease deal is to negotiate the lowest selling price you can, get a very good money factor and lease a car that has a high residual value (aka holds its value).

Bill G

bethpa · August 2013

My thinking is a good deal on an EXL is $24.5. The flex cash on three cars, assuming $500 each, gets me $1500 off $24.5 so I'm close to to the $22.5 assuming a dealer wants three units sold. I'm not sure that matters until the end of the month. If this is never possibility let me know. I just hate to waste anyone's time trying to run this up the flag pole.

bluemkn57cars · August 2013

I would be surprised if you get $1500 in Flexcash for 3 cars. My understanding of Flexcash is that it is a one time $500 discount offered by dealers (on a first come basis) for financing through Honda Financial Services. The sale price of the Accord EX-L I have seen is somewhere between $25k and $25.5k without incentives. You might be able to get it for $24.5k at the end of the month, but it depends on where you are located and whether a dealer needs to meet their monthly quota.

If you are planning to buy at the end of the month, it is a good thing to have started researching prices this early. There are some previous posts on this forum that give advice on how to negotiate with dealers.

Good luck.

bethpa · August 2013

That is the plan to do the homework now and have everything ready for the last weeks the month.

I know the Accord is the stretch in my plan and I don't have a gun to my head to buy that car now.

Ill have to start hopping with the dealer sales managers and see if I have any takers.

gmanusmc · August 2013

If you haven't already, you should start your research by reading the past few months posts on this forum. In my opinion, I think you are starting with unrealistic expectations and are likely to get frustrated quickly. These cars are selling well and there are aggressive deals available, but I do not think you will find any dealers willing to lose a couple grand just to move a unit. As far as the flex cash, keep in mind not all dealers have it and if they do, I'm not sure it is transferable between multiple cars/transactions. You might be able to get it on each separate deal - not sure. At any rate, good luck and let us know how it goes.

Bill

bluemkn57cars · August 2013

I also wanted to add one more thing.

Before reaching out to dealers about trading in all your 3 cars, make sure you found their true Kelley blue book value at kbb.com.

With regards to taking advantage of the college grad program, it is my understanding that your children would have to finance or lease the cars through Honda Financial Services to take advantage of that offer. It will not hurt to find out all that info, first. Here is some info: http://www.hondafinancialservices.com/finance/college-grad-program

huskerfan5 · August 2013

Think of the dealer's side using hypothetical numbers. Let's say he knows that he makes $1,000 on average on each car sold or leased so he would expect to make $3,000 on two Civic and an Accord. You come along and will lease two Civics but would like the dealer to give you a fantastic deal on the Accord since you will be leasing two Civics. So you want the dealer to only make $100 on your Accord. Well, if I'm the dealer, unless I'm making $2,900 on the two Civics, why should I sell you the Accord for so little profit. I'd rather sell to three different people and make $3000 in total.
In your case, do you know the selling price of the Civic in the lease deals because if he's willing to sell you an EXL for $24.5, the selling price of the Civics must really be excessive.

enginner1 · August 2013

Is $24,600 on the road a good price for Accord EX here in MD?

2013 and earlier-Honda Accord Prices Paid and Buying Experience

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