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Well, I picked up the car last night (2 days earlier than expected) and everything went smoothly.
The car is great though I'm only getting 38 MPG so far with a whopping 37 miles on the car I'm sure that will improve as I learn how to drive it "correctly".
congratulations! I was skeptical about your deal and hoped you didn't get any delivery time oops issues with the dealer. can you post the final details of the deal again for the forum?
Vehicle: 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid with Navigation (Galaxy Gray)
Price: $21,790 (including destination)
Extended Warranty:
84 Month 80k Mile Honda Warranty: $580 (w/$0 deductible)
(anyone can get this online)
Dealer also threw in free inspections for the life of the car ($29/year)
No Trade-in.
Purchase Date: 3/24/07
Promised Delivery Date: 3/29/07
Actual Delivery Date: 3/27/07 (2 days early!)
Location: Bernardi Honda, Natick, MA.
BTW... I'm in the Chicago area.
That is a very good deal. Here in Dayton, OH I am unable to get an o-t-d price below 23.0; BTW, I thought invoice on a no-nav HCH was 21.3. How are they going so low? Did you see the deal (post #368) the guy in Natick, MA was able to get? I'm in the wrong town!
http://www.edmunds.com/advice/incentives/holdback/
I need to remember this next time I buy a car.
Thanks
P.S. with only 114 miles on the car I have gotten 51MPG during my drive to work today using side streets.And got 47MPG in our rush hour freeway traffic....very happy so far
This was my first new car purchase, and I'm looking forward to seeing my gas mileage improve (My other vehicle is a '95 Blazer--18 MPG on it's best day)!
What was the actual price of the vehicle, including the obligatory destination charge... without title, registration, conveyance, the works? That would be a much more useful figure here, since all dealers and localities have unique addons.
Paid cash and they allowed a portion on credit card.
Cash Price 21,213
conveyance 299
Ct Lemmon Law 3
Registration to transfer plates 85 (I suspect that is high but I gave them my price and let them work backwards to get to it however they wanted to.)
Salesman was Steve Vikaros. I highly recommend him. Took a ride with no pressure. Called back the next day and after two phone calls the price was settled. Took about 2 hours to do all the paperwork. No pressure from the "business manager" to buy the extended warranty or any thing else. This was a very good buying experience!
Pray tell, what is your dealer's "appearance package", what does it contain, and how much did they add to your bill for it?
Could you share with us the name of the dealer in Chicago? What is the best price we can hope to get on a non-navi version of HCH?
I am reading in many articles that millions of people will come under the purview of AMT for the 2007 tax year and that essentially most people will NOT be able to claim a hybrid vehicle tax rebate because of that. I was almost about to buy a 2007 HCH but this news has made me have second thoughts. Is this true? Also, is this the right forum to discuss this?
Looking to maybe trade in a 2006 Civic LX for the Hybrid since you can travel in HOV lanes on Long Island.
Things that concerned me is, I see others posting this as a common problem with the 06 Civic and yet nothing was mailed out asking us to come get it checked. What if we had changed our own oil or gone to jiffy lube?
The other thing that raised my eyebrows is when I was greeted by the service department employee I incorrectly said I think it might be a recall issue and he looked overcome with guilt and said "Oh is this a Hybrid" which sometimes a picture or a look on a knowledgeable techs face is worth more than a thousand words... I'll steer clear (pun intended) of the hybrid myself until I know it's solid.
http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.ef32446
For people filing jointly the AMT exemption is being reduced from $62,550 to $45,000 for the 2007 tax year. A lot more people will have to pay AMT in 2007. It is not a rich man's tax anymore. Just look at the following links:
http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/article/0,,id=109876,00.html#amt_2007
http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/article/0,,id=109876,00.html#amt_2006
In order to claim the full hybrid rebate your tax calculated using the conventional method minus your tax calculated using AMT should exceed $2100. Most people will get no rebate or if they do get the rebate, it will be a very small portion of the $2100.
So keep these things in mind before purchasing the hybrid.
The following link talks about the situation of people who bought hybrid cars in 2006:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/01/26/EDG- C7N75RT1.DTL
For 2007 the situation will be worse since the AMT exemption is being reduced ( unless the congress intervenes ).
So when we looked at the car we were told by the salesman that the car had XM radio, however this was the no navi car, but we didn't know any different and was like oh great, XM. Then I called the dealership that Monday and asked why we couldn't get XM to work. He did some research and called us back and said that we don't have it, and he did admit that he was wrong and thought we did. But he "generously" offered to pay half of the $700 that it costs to put one in. After going back and forth, the best we got from them was to install it for free. My husband didn't like the idea of them pulling off the dashboard of our brand new car to install something we were told it had to begin with. He feared rattling or possible electonic problems down the road. They consistenly declined all of our offers for a HCH with navi (so we could have XM without ripping off dashboard) or a discount off of the car we have now. They declined all the offers and would only install the XM radio free of charge, that's it.
So in the last phone call (Tuesday after buying car on Friday) I asked if we could just return the car and he laughed and said no. Then I gave him three options...23,200 for car with navi, or refund of $700 making the price of the car 22,030 (including everything but sales tax...21,800+230). I mentioned those were his options and if he didn't take one we would keep the car the way it was and report them to BBB and wherever else we could. He paused and requested that we return the car with no cost to us, and stated we were trying to "screw" him and the whole thing was just not going well, so this was the best option. Our point was we wanted what we thought we were getting, a car with XM radio that hadn't had the dashboard ripped off to have it installed, and we were not going to pay the additional $1100 they offered us (and that's down from $1800 they previously offered) to have that feature. It's unfortunate they don't make a HCH with XM only and no navigation, or it all would have been simple.
Anyway, on the way to the dealership to return the car, I called around and got a bottom dollar of 21,600 including everything but sales tax. I had also gotten figures of 21,750 and 21,900...ALL better than the offer the other dude refused!! We are going tomorrow to look and likely buy one for 21,600. He promised out the door price of 21,600 as we don't pay sales tax at that dealership. So that's almost $400 less than what I offered the first dealership for the car we bought after all the stuff went on with the XM and misrepresention, and he would rather I return this car that we drove all weekend and put 300-400 miles on, then to take less for the car. And he definately would have still made $ on the car. All due to stubborness if you ask me, and I know we are stubborn too. I am glad he gave me that option of returning that car, even if we had to jump through all kinds of hoops to get there. But the whole experience was really an eye opener to me. Some dealers will gladly take what another wouldn't even think of in the same city!! Do your homework, fight for what you think is fair. And remember, HCH w.o navi do not have XM radio!!
I would love to hear other's buying experiences, well the ones that don't go so smoothly!
Can you tell me what dealership? I am in the MD/VA area as well, and I got $22k OTD but without the Auto Day/Night mirror installed. I have not purchased yet and if I could get the price you are saying, that would be great.
Thanks,
Prem
That's $21,400 sales price, $600 destination fee, $700 sales tax (reduced by tax credit for trade-in), and $200 for T.T.L.
Also, I highly recommend the dealership -- Huggins Honda, north of Ft. Worth. They're one of the few DFW Honda dealers that DON'T add a "market adjustment" to the hybrid sticker price.
The salesman didn't play games and didn't pressure me. The finance guy was cool. The whole buying experience was very pleasant.
Location: SF Bay Area, CA
Color: Magnetic Pearl
Added Accessories: Splash Guards, Wheel Locks
Cash Price of Vehicle: $20,680 (including destination charges etc...)
OTD: $22,680.39 (8.25% Tax, Tags and Title... and a lame $55 charge for "Documentation Preparation Fee")
hope this is of help to someone.... thanks everyone else for posting their deals its a great buying tool and helped me haggle with confidence and call it a day when i got a price that seemed reasonable..... thanks!
Side Bar - On the way to the dealer where I bought my car I had another dealer on the phone offering $20500, $20400, $20300.... but his extremely pushy demeanor was throwing up red flags everywhere. I started screening his calls and he eventually ran my cell battery dead with his consecutive repeated calls. Though I might have gotten it cheaper, I'm happy with the decision I made as it was fairly painless and the only thing they "stuck me for" was the lame $55 doc prep free. I'd say it took about an 1-1.5 hours total, with about 15mins haggling and the rest spent signing crap or just sitting around waiting. So far this is the best car buying experience I've had (but i'll keep my fingers crossed for good measure).
-Mike
Thanks!
Can you please post the dealership and salesperson info for the SF bay area delaership you referred to in your post. Thanks in advance!
in general my suggestions would be ---->
Check out carbuyingtips.com read up on the best techniques. form there link to a couple of the online car quote sites (cars.com, invoice dealer etc.) send out a bunch of request for the exact car you want, round up the quotes, then call or email everyone with the lowest quote that you got IN WRITING and see if anyone is willing to beat it. think it over, call the dealer with the new lowest quote and tell them that you'll come over immediately if they'll lower the price a tiny more or throw in some cheap accessories....
also something that worked great for me was to go to your states DMV and find a calculator that that will show you the exact fees you'd pay for your lowest quoted price. print the fees out and bring it with you. that plus your negotiated fee SHOULD equal your final cost, if it doesn't add up they've slipped some bogus charge in there. fight them over it.
good luck.
Thanks for the followup and the tips. I have made my email address visible now - sorry about that! I'll try not to beat your deal!
thanks
My dealer also will get me heated leather seats installed for $1900 and included in the 3 yr warranty- wife really hates cloth.
We looked at Prius too but it would have been $2,000 more and less tax break and the HCH is just a darn nice car!
Now the battle over the navigation voice- female (my daughter says she's a slut) or male (I don't want some guy telling me how to drive).
Quick question: I'm looking into buying an '03 Civic Hybrid from a Honda Dealership, and it looked like it was in great shape... however the dealer just let me know that, as part of the Honda certification process, they are going to have to fully replace the transmission (with a new one) before they sell it to me... I guess it wasn't in all that great shape!.
Do you all think this is:
A) A Good thing? (i.e. A "plus" for buying the car, as it will have a brand new transmission, warrenteed under the Honda Certified program up to 100,000, etc), or
A Bad thing? (i.e. A "minus" for buying the car, as it indicates that the car has obviously had some problems, perhaps more future problems, etc).
Thanks so much - not too knowledgable about all this - but excited about getting a civic hybrid!
-Anthony
With hybrids in particular, I'd avoid used altogether. The prices on pre-owned are skewed too high right now. Plus the interest rate on a used car loan is 7%.
You can buy a brand new 2007 Civic Hybrid for $21,000 right now (not the $22,600 msrp). Honda will give you 2.9% financing for 3 years, or 4.9% for 5 years.
With nothing down, your payment will be between $450 and $650 per month, depending on the term. You'll get a full 3 year warranty, and you'll be certain that the car will outlast the payments.
I'd rather get a new model and drive it away for nothing than take a chance with a used car that has problems, have to put a few thousand dollars down, pay high interest, and hope it all works out ..... just to save $100/month on the payment.
Do the math yourself on new vs. used. When you factor in the interest rate, the warranty, and the fact that the new Civic Hybrids are much better than the previous models, I think you'll see the light.