Rebates, Incentives, APRs - Questions & Comments

0101000082 · October 2010

Even if I were at the low end of Super Preferred, that would put me squarely in preferred which also qualifies for the promo...

What concerns me the most is that neither Honda Financial or Honda Corporate customer service is willing to do anything... not even issue an apology. If the issue were just a bad dealer, I'd just go to a different one, but I have spoken to 3 different "customer service" representatives at Honda, and they don't even feign concern. They insist that I have to take up the problem with the dealer, despite the fact that the offer is from Honda Financial.

I wonder how often dealers add APR points onto loans for people who qualify for nationally advertised promo rates... There is clearly an institutionalized denial of responsibility when this happens, which gives great cover for dealers and thereby generates risk free opportunity for them.

jwilliams2 · October 2010

Honda usually states in the fine print that "Not all Honda automobile dealers participate in these programs." Perhaps this is one who doesn't participate.

I'm not sure what Honda can do to an independently owned dealer, although you have to wonder how long any dealer can stay in business this way. They must lose lots of sales by not being competitive.

I would simply find a dealer who will honor the program.

jipster · October 2010

They insist that I have to take up the problem with the dealer, despite the fact that the offer is from Honda Financial.

Maybe someone else can chime in here, but I don't understand why the dealership wouldn't let you buy the car at 1.9%... it's not their money. Maybe the dealership has some type of restrictions on how many low interest car loans they can sell per month... who knows. Or maybe they are just trying to get more money out of you. Dealerships are independently owned and have flexibility in how they manage their loans. I would still try another Honda dealership though, as this does sound more like a dealership issue than a Honda Financial. Though why Honda Corporate doesn't do more is also puzzling.

jipster · October 2010

Honda usually states in the fine print that "Not all Honda automobile dealers participate in these programs." Perhaps this is one who doesn't participate.

Yeah, this dealership is hoping 01010000082 will take the 3.74% loan. If they say, "Sorry we don't participate in the 1.9% financing program", then they know he'll buy elsewhere.

0101000082 · October 2010

This dealer participates. They advertise it all over their website.

Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but my worry is that Honda Corporate is intentionally turning a blind eye to this dealer tactic, which is either in violation of truth in advertising laws or (if their legal department is good) as close to it as legally possible.

Given the relative price transparency that the internet provides, taking a cut of elevated interest rates is probably one of the few remaining safe-havens for dealer profit, and it's an easy and free way for Honda to keep their dealers happy.

Still it rubs me the wrong way... particularly the lack of response from Customer Service. They at least supposed to pretend to be concerned in these situations.

tallman1 · October 2010

This dealer participates. They advertise it all over their website.

Okay, that just doesn't make sense. If what you are saying is true, contact your state's attorney general.

Do you have a local TV station that takes on consumer issues?

There has to more to this story.

kirama · November 2010

I contacted a local dealer who participates in truecar, but they never have prices listed, on the list of dealers it simply says 'contact this dealer for your price'..so, I did. And I asked him for his price. It came in almost 1k higher than the other two dealers listed on the site. I asked him to explain and he said 'here is how we calculate it' we deduct dealer incentives from the invoice price and add back $600. I showed him what the holdback was and he said 'we can't give you a discount based on that since holdbacks are not guaranteed' and he went into some elaborate explanation as to how they only get the holdback if they sell x # of cars in a given period. None of that makes sense to me. Is there any validity to what he is saying? It was clear from the pricing offered by the other two truecar dealers they were taking the holdback into account.

dtownfb · November 2010

here's an article on the dealer holdback -

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/incentives/holdback/index.html

duff333 · December 2010

I'm looking at a 2011 Silverado Reg Cab4x4 in Maryland. Edmunds shows a $2000 rebate + $2005 rebate if financed through Ally. I'm now also seeing a $1500 "Holiday" cash (just today) being advertised. Does anyone know if that is in additional to the $4005 in rebates already posted??

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

kirama · January 2011

I bought a new car in November, and a few weeks ago received a check for a $1,000 rebate that I didn't expect to get, but I just figured that they realized that I was due a rebate and I cashed it. Just the other day I get a letter from the dealer asking for the $1,000 back stating that I didn't 'deserve' it because I had opted for low interest financing in lieu of the rebate. Do I legally have to return the $1,000? and if so- since I have already spent some of it, can I ask them to add it on to my auto loan?

Kirstie_H · January 2011

It's difficult to give you an answer since you didn't say what make/model you bought, or what program you took advantage of.

Instead of wondering about your obligation, just politely ask the dealership to send you the paperwork from the original deal, documenting that it was EITHER the financing that you took OR the rebate. Some special finance rates offered do mean that you can't take the rebate too.

kirama · January 2011

It was a Kia Sorento EX AWD, the check had a 'memo' that it was for a competitive bonus. In the letter I received from them they state: "recently I sent you a check for $1,000 with a memo that it was for the competitive bonus on your 2011 Kia. Well, you had already been given credit for that rebate on your contract (attached) Also, additionally offered during that period was either 1.90 apr or $1,000 in consumer cash you opted for the 1.90%. I feel very badly about this but I must respectfully request that you return the $1,000"
Actually the 'competitive bonus' was $1,500 and had been applied to the purchase of the car, so when I got the check for $1,000 I had no idea that it referred to that rebate, and since it was not claimed to be 'consumer cash' (the low APR rebate) I assumed that it was an additional rebate that I had not been given credit for and I cashed the check.
I'm not trying to rip them off, but it was their mistake..do I have any room for negotiation here? Either offering them a partial repayment, or asking them to add it on to the financing of the vehicle?

Kirstie_H · January 2011

Someone goofed, but the check isn't rightfully yours. Send it back. The fact that you received a check and assumed that you should get that, in addition to the special financing, doesn't make it so.

Look at it the other way around - if you had negotiated a price of, say, $16,000 on a vehicle, and the sales contract said $16,000, then you accidentally wrote a check for $17,000, would you want the extra $1K back? Of course you would - it's not legally their $1K. Your mistake wouldn't entitle anyone to keep money that isn't theirs either.

kirama · January 2011

thanks much for the response.

ericc4 · January 2011

Hello,
I am close to making a purchase of a RAV4 but I really don't need it or want it delivered until late February. I see that a $750 rebate expires at the end of January. I see the following possibilities:
* the rebate is extended past January - maybe optimism on my part as I have seen no evidence this will happen but you never know. Is there a way I can find out for sure?
* I buy before the end of January and don't take delivery until February. In this case what kind of contract do I sign and how much do I put down?
* I just buy and take possession in January - I can live with this.

I live in Northern California.

thanks in advance,
Eric

lrguy44 · January 2011

Even the dealer will not know if the rebates will be extended until they are or are not. It is a manufacture's marketing tool. Whenever you sign the paperwork the contract starts so my advice is either gamble or buy now.

boltsdynasty · January 2011

I've been told that I don't qualify for a manufacturer's advertised finance rates because my prior car loan was for a smaller amount (approx. 25k v. 40k for new one). Does this sound legitimate, or more like a dealer trying to make more on my loan? I'm looking at 4.4% for 72 months with a couple grand down, so I don't think I'm getting a bad rate, just not the best rate.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

fushigi · January 2011

Finance institutions are more picky than they used to be so I suppose it is possible, but IMO it sounds like BS. I bought a '99 for ~22K + TTL and in Dec '09 bought a '10 for ~$33K + TTL .. a 50% increase in sale price .. and in both cases I qualified for the best manufacturer finance rate available.

There may be contributing factors to you not getting the best rate, including these possibilities:
- A small down payment; a "couple grand" down on a $40K car is only a 5% down payment. Ask if you increase the DP if they can get you the better rate.
- How's your credit rating? Are you in whatever group the manufacturer considers to be "top tier"?
- Is there anything on your credit score that might stand out? That includes high debt-to-credit ratio, short time at current employer, one or more late payments, etc. Are you upside down on your home mortgage?

I'm sure there are other possibilities.

That said, it wouldn't hurt to ask your bank or local credit union what finance options they can offer.

kyfdx · January 2011

4.2% on a 72 month loan looks pretty good...

As noted, you won't know if you don't check your local bank or credit union..

sirspamalot · February 2011

Hi all--

On the page: http://www.edmunds.com/dodge/car-incentives.html , it shows for the 2010 Charger a "manufacturer to dealer incentive: up to $4500".

I'm in the metropolitan Phoenix area. Is there any way to verify what level of manufacturer to dealer incentive is applicable at this time? (President's Day Weekend, 2/21/2011).

The reason that I ask is that I went in to a dealership, armed with my TMV values but also this extra "up to $4500" value. I made an offer on a Charger and the counter offer was a bit more than $4500 apart. So either they laughed me off as a screwball/lowball person

OR they are greedy (or perhaps the truth lies somewhere in between).

I'm not sure how to verify this "manufacturer to dealer incentive: up to $4500", but that's my goal. Can anyone help?

Thanks.

* SirSpamalot *

explorerx4 · February 2011

Based on your link, I up to 3k on a 2010 Charger.
It is after the 21st today.

sirspamalot · February 2011

Hi explorerx4...you must be reading something else because I do NOT see that at all.

Anyone else? Still trying to verify what the actual manufacturer to dealer rebate would be for a 2010 Dodge Charger in the Phoenix area ("up to $4500") as of 2/22/2011.

Thanks.

* SirSpamalot *

qbrozen · February 2011

I'm also seeing $3k, but it may have to do with region.

Since it says "up to" it very well could be one of those volume-based incentives. So the dealership has to sell x number of chargers before getting the max incentive.

sirspamalot · February 2011

I contacted a different dealer in the Phoenix metropolitan area and he said "no manufacturer to dealer incentives". But of course, he has no incentive to tell me about it.

Anyone else?

* SirSpamalot *

annie10359 · March 2011

I made a deal on a new car for a purchase price of $18,495 minus my trade in for $8500, leaving a balance of $9995 to be paid. During the negotiations, no mention was ever made by either me nor salesman of the $500 rebate that was currently available. Since the rebate is a factory to customer incentive, (assuming I qualify for it), I am entitled to that rebate, essentially bringing my net cost down to $9495?

robr2 · March 2011

Does the paperwork reflect the rebate in any way? If not, then bring it to the dealer's attention. Typically to get the rebate applied to the purchase price, you have to sign a document directing the manufacturer to pay it to the dealer.

garywoods · May 2011

absolutly annie what robr2 is saying is correct you have to sign for the rebate to be given to the dealer and if not then you do not have the rebate. most 500 rebates are military rebates what manufacturer was this?

ilyaigdalev1 · July 2011

Hello , my name is Ilya Igdalev. Is there any good REBATES running right now on Mercedes Benz.

Kirstie_H · July 2011

You might start by checking our incentives and rebates page:
http://www.edmunds.com/car-incentives/

stever · January 2012

Are you an active duty or retired member of the U.S. military who recently bought a new or used car from a dealership? Do you feel like you got a better deal because of your service? Or did you ever feel that the dealer tried to invoke your military experience as a way to butter you up for a bad deal? A reporter is interested in hearing about these experiences, both positive and negative. Please send a brief overview of your experience and your contact info to pr@edmunds.com by February 5th, 2012.

newfrog · February 2012

Hi, since I haven't found a simple app to quickly tell me the rebates and incentive on any new car I might be shopping, we decided to build one.

The idea is to select a make and model and have the app return the current cash back, lease and APR incentives on that exact car, in your area. Handy on the lot or in the showroom, it will work on smartphones, and there will also be a web site.

What do you think? What features would you like to see?

Enhancements I'm already thinking about:
- Save the incentive info for several cars.
- Add a VIN scanner as an alternative to selecting a vehicle.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

To learn more and sign up to be notified of the release, go to WhatsTheRebate.com.

Dave

steine13 · February 2012

While I'm thinking, is this for real or thinly veiled spam -- I find it doesn't matter, because it's a good topic to talk about.

My biggest frustration with these sorts of apps is that they do what you propose: I pick the car, you show me the numbers. To me, this is backwards.

I've bought many a car simply because (i) it suited my needs, which aren't complicated, and (ii) because the price was right.

I prefer to see the numbers for all makes on one page -- cars.com is a good example for this. Then I can follow links to the details.

To put it another way: I'm not in the market for a small pickup. But if there's a $5,000 rebate on the Chevy Colorado, I want to know about it.

Cheers -Mathias

newfrog · February 2012

Thanks for the feedback, Mathias!

Sorting incentives by size is a great idea, and should be something I can add. In addition to an overall "sort my current incentives by size" function, would it be good to also offer sorting within a vehicle segment? Like you said, you might want to know the largest rebates for pickups, and you don't really want to see rebates for subcompacts. So I wonder if that'd be a good option too?

To answer your first question, this is product research - not spam. I have nothing to sell. IF we develop a paid app, then those that register at WhatsTheRebate.com will get the app for free.

Keep the great ideas coming, and thanks again!

Dave

zyaaaaa · February 2012

Can anyone tell me the credit score requirements for Ally leases? I know the prime range is 620+ but within that they have S, A, B, and C and I'm trying to figure out what score is needed for the best rates.

VWJunkieGTI · February 7

V2301-600M what is the incentive under that code? Anyone know?

Michaell · February 7

VWJunkieGTI said:
V2301-600M what is the incentive under that code? Anyone know?

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