Anybody bought any 09 Fit in metro Atlanta area yet? Checked a few dealers' website and didn't see any.

 

I searched through the area on Labor Day weekend to no avail. Honda Carland in Roswell told me their first scheduled delivery wasn't for another three weeks. However, there are Fits in other parts of Georgia.

As of yesterday, I saw at least a single SSM Sport model sitting at the front of Walsh Honda in Macon, GA. Perhaps they're being purchased off the truck? I purchased mine right after they got done removing the factory plastics.

 

Honda Carland told me the same thing... but their service center is so close to me and they are selling for MSRP so I'm willing to wait - I put a deposit down for a SSM AT Sport with them and they are trying to either source one from another dealer or I have dibs on one when their delivery arrives...

Honda dealer in woodstock was showing some on Cars.com the other day, but who knows if they actually have them...

 

Right off the truck? Don't they have to do some sort of prep work such as idle learning something (or else you get bad mileage)? Also I heard that tire pressure right off the truck will be too high. Do you actually drive it off after it got off the truck right away? or do you go back the next day to pick it up?

I also found one dealer near Macon who had many Fits in their inventory, but the thought of getting all the way there discouraging because I don't currently own a car and have to ask a friend to give me a ride. If they tell me to come back the next day to pick it up it would be even harder. Also, if I do end up w/ a lemon, do I have to go back to the same dealer or can I return it to any Honda dealer? btw, so far I never encountered a Honda lemon, but I did get one Civic car w/ very low mileage.

 

Well I didn't mean that phrase literally. To put it in a better perspective, I'll take myself as an example. The truck arrived a 1 pm. The dealership then took off all the factory plastics and cleaned the car. I ended test driving and buying it just hours afterward.

I used to do this prep work for a Honda dealership during a summer many years ago. At least in the dealership I worked at, if a customer wanted to drive a newly delivered car, we would have to remove said plastics and clean it. Not surprising this step is necessary since those cars can pick up a lot of dirt just sitting on the back of a semi-truck going down the highway.

Just for the fun of it, I'd love to be able to drive my own car off the trailer.

 

What you looking for? Honda Mall of GA has a black auto sport nav and a blue i believe sport. I didnt look at it closely. Both were still there at 2pm yesterday. I got mine for MSRP & Delivery fee, they pull the old "docs fee" on you that is like 595. I think its BS, but the guy says the only way around it is if they take below MSRP on the car. I believe the guy since its hardcoded on a number of the pages I had to fill out.

Check Gwinnett Place Honda as well, they had a number coming in when I checked two weeks ago. Milton Martin had one on the 29th, but it probably sold. The guy I delt with insisted there was no way around the dealer prep fee when I discussed putting money down on one. He claimed it was for the removal of the plastic etc. Honda pays the dealers to remove that... so I wasnt going to do business with them when they lied to my face.

*Edit - I secured a SSM Auto Fit w/ Nav through Mall of GA Honda due to arrive late this week early next week. Worked with Eric... he was low / no pressure, but I was motivated. Mall of GA has a truck coming later this week with some or next week. I will post when mine hits.

 

So you ended up paying the 595 documentation fee? Maybe I should look for dealers outside Atlanta area. Last year I went to Ed Voyle Honda for an 08 Fit and they also quoted me about 500 of "administration fee". It's added pre-tax so it would increase tax payment too.

Anyway is it common for Atlanta area dealers to charge over 500 bucks of documentation/prep/administration/whatever fee? Does anyone know any dealer here that doesn't charge that much of a doc fee?

 

I spoke with a friend at Conyers Honda, he said they had a similar fee, but the dealership just changed owners, so hes not sure now. (hes a tech)

Make sure you say upfront if they say ok to msrp flat "no doc fee" "no other fee period".

 

Don't know about all Honda dealers, but I know that one of the reasons I'm buying a Fit is that the Toyota/Scion dealership (Atlanta Toyota in Gwinnett) I talked to about an xD had nearly $2000 of various fees! 600 destination charge, 599 dealer fees and then another 599 fee that the salesman could not even explain... which completely took away any price benefit of buying one...

 

Yeah, I once went to a Toyota dealer and for a 16k car w/ all the tax and fees added it totaled over 20k. The problem is, if everyone is charging the same amount of "greed fees" then it would be hard to bargain away these fees.

Oh, just got a quote from Hughes Honda south of Macon. It's about 19500 minus a few bucks OTD. That's for a non-navi sports auto. They include 300 dollar of "accessories" like mats and stuff even though I specified no accessories. There's also a 600 doc fee. They will not come down 1 penny due to "high popularity" of the Fit.

I may have to look outside of GA or wait for several months or both. Do you think waiting a few months will help the prices?

 

Picked up an '09 Sport in silver yesterday from Hennessey, Woodstock yesterday. Looked at a blue '08 Friday, but they sold it Sat. They had a black '09 sport auto on the lot as of 7:00 pm yesterday.
The sticker had $600.00 paint poly-raz-ma-taz stuff & 1000.00 ADM. We had talked a deal on the '08 at 500.00 over list, and they pretty much did the same on the '09 (about 400.00 over).
We had found a few '09s around, MAll of GA, Athens, and a couple of others, but as far as I could tell, everybody was getting 500.00 over list. As fast as they are disappearing, I don't really blame them...they're getting it! I figured if I kept looking for one with no markup, I may not even find one in stock at all, so I bit the bullet & paid the price.
$19,960 drive out price (6% sales tax)

Jeff

 

I saw a silver base in Macon last week. Haven't see any around town though...

Wow it looks like there is going to be more Atlanta 09'ers on FitFreak than us first gens...

 

I've been calling around trying to find a base model with manual transmission. I've talked with Gwinnett Place Honda, Carey Paul Honda, and Curry Honda. All I've found so far are sport models. Most say they are waiting for shipments. As far as documentation fees, this is what I've been quoted so far: Curry Honda wants $487 in document fees, Gwinnett Place Honda wants $399 in document fees, Carey Paul Honda wants $487 in document fees. As far as actual price quotes go for base models: Carey Paul quoted base model/man. trans. $16,205 (supposedly included tax) base model/auto. trans. $17,005 (supposedly included tax), Curry Honda quoted base model/man. trans. $15,745 w/o tax & base model/auto trans. $16,545 w/o tax. No quote from Gwinnett Place yet. What kind of quotes and documentation fees have you guys found?

 

The original deal we had on the '08 included $556.00 in doc fees, $500.00 over MSRP. What we ended up with on the '09 was a drive out price, so its hard to say what they called everything. The difference in MSRP from '08 to '09 on the sport is $840. The difference in our driveout price was $723.
We got a quote from the credit union carfinders that was about $300 above what we paid, she said the doc fee was $399.

Last Sunday, Willett had 2 manuals, not sure if they were base or sport. They also had an '07 base auto with 35,000 miles. Was also got a quote from Phil Hughes in Athens, but can't remember what it was. Obviously not good enough to drive to Athens.

There are a few around, they are selling fast, the dealers know they are moving...they know they can mark them up. If you don't like the deal, don't take it, someone else will... & they know it! I hated to pay the fees & markup, but I like the Fit more than the models out there, for the price, even with the markup I figured it was worth it, at least to me & my wife.

Good luck & let us know if you get a deal.

 

I just got a quote from Team Honda at Lithiun Springs. The GM named Dave quoted me 18500 for an orange sport auto OTD including 7% tax. He wanted me to add some accessories and I said no. I also said that my tax is 6%. Sounds like a good deal doesn't it?

Then he came back and told me that he made a mistake calculationg the price. He said that the initial quote was for a manual trans. The auto would be over 19800 OTD including 6% tax. I was soooooooooooooo pissed at this dirty game. I would respect him more if he told me outright that he couldn't not sell me that car for what i am willing to pay. I know he was playing the game because the auto should only add 800 to the manual and w/ 1% less tax the difference would be even less. Now he wants more than 1300 extra! What a lier and cheater!

update: he just replied back and said that the OTD for auto sport is 19600. The number kept on changing. I am sick of it!

 

My OTD price at Honda Carland for an AT Sport is going to be around 19300 (just waiting for my SSM to come in), including fees, pinstriping+all-weather mats... which is about $800 more than your original MT quote which should be about the right increase. They dont have any in that I know if, but maybe worth checking out if you want to save yourself a few hundred...

 

I went to Gerald Jones Honda in Augusta today to put down a deposit on a 09 Sport manual. The salesman originally told me MSRP, then shows me $18,320 (before tax). It had some BS $800 wax and I think $800 for trunk mat and mud flaps (impossible!). Next, I find out that it will cost an extra $300, then $400, then $600 or $700 for them to trade the Base Auto Fit they had for the Sport Manual that I wanted. Then they told me they wouldn't even try to find me the car until I went through the whole credit check/sign away my life/bring in my trade-in process. This was after the salesman had told me that it would only take "ten minutes" to make the deposit. I was so pissed, I got my deposit back and took off. If the jerk would have just been halfway up front with me in the first place, I would have been more willing to work with him.

On a positive note, I test drove the Base Auto, and it was actually pretty cool. The acceleration was much better than I expected (and I didn't even hit VTEC!). It did, however, reassure me that I don't want to settle for an Auto. Otherwise, the car felt really solid, well-built, and HUGE inside. That gigantic dash makes you kind of feel like you're driving a minivan. I sorta don't like that, but I can live with it.

 

So I finally got an offer from Ed Voyles that I could swallow - $18888.88 OTD including 6% tax for an orange sport auto. I can't seem to find a better deal anywhere else. The build day is tomorrow so I won't get it for over a month, but that's ok. As long as I get it before xmas I am in good shape. So I put down $500 NON-REFUNDABLW dollars (it says so on their deposite form) and I am stuck if I change my minds later about the Fit.

BTW, if you can't find a better deal elsewhere, please email Richard Wade - their internet manager at rwade.edvoyles@gs.reyrey.com. Officially their doc fee or "admin fee" is 600 bucks, and it's probably hard coded so they can't change it. So Richard lowered MSRP for me for about 380, which comes down to 220 for the doc fee effectively if I pay MSRP.

If you end up w/ a better deal, please don't tell me. I will cry.

Initially I wanted a Tidewater blue because I like that light blue color, but I think it's a bit too ordinary. The orange is more unique and definitely easy to locate in a large parking lot, and also serve as a warning sign for drowsy drivers on the road. Of course, it's a beautiful color to begin with.

p.s. Ed Voyles is 10 min from my home, so I am glad I don't have to go far to get a car. I bought a Civic from them many yrs ago and always brought the car there for maintenance.

 

Just been told by Honda Carland that they have setup a dealer swap for me just waiting for their next delivery (within 2 weeks) so they have something to swap for it, good news I guess, but not holding my breath, as was already told 2-3 weeks 2 weeks ago. Luckily I am not in any real hurry, other than the little "I WANT IT NOW" voice in the back of my head, I just hope I dont wreck my truck I'm trading it while I'm waiting... ;D

 

I didnt look in the front lot, but there is are Red Black and Blue fits in the back lot of Honda Mall of Ga tonight. Unfortunately, I did not see my SSM waiting for me. The three are proabably going to be put on the lot as they had stickers on the windows.