How was there price? I am also looking to purchase within a month and Penske Honda was one of the dealership nearby my house. I e-mail them for a quote, but they want me to call them back near my purchase time.

 

they added wheel locks and rear bumper applique to most of the fits i seen...and the applique looked like it was put on wrong...it wasnt close enough to the hatch opening...that put it around $222 over the msrp price of 17,580 for the automatic i was looking at. the total price on the window sticker said 19,152..i'm guessing that price is the out the door price?...this is my first new car purchase so still doing my research....but i didnt really get to stay long..was in a hurry...i just wanted to take a quik look at the 09 fits in person that day...looks so much better in person IMO.

 

+Rep for you....

Lets try to keep this back on the original topic please

 

Ladies and Gents lets try to stay on topic here. If you want to argue about the differences in government and the flaws and bonuses of such then please take it to an appropriate thread or pm each other.......

This is a heads up for those thread jacking in here to move on.

 

From the NY Times:

A Sea of Unwanted Imports:



In October Honda had 91 days of inventory, compared with 51 days in '07. Toyota, 78/42.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/bu...l?pagewanted=1

Not sure how that translates to Fit's specifically, but I've got to believe it trickles down to all models.

 

Fits are still flying off the lots in the midwest. The first dealer I went to, which calls itself the largest volume dealer in the area had one 09 Fit and it was already sold. Luckily, the second dealer I went to (about 40 miles away) actually had about 4 automatic Fits, and one SSM sport manual which i bought. Apparently I got lucky because they had just gotten a shipment in.

 

I'm beginning to see more and more GE8s nowadays. Most of them are SSM. SSM FTW!

 

Any idea how many cars that translates to? How do they usually measure days of inventories?

 

I am not sure how car sales work, but I would think, based on the NYT's article, cars simply aren't moving, period. So for a dealer, the bottom line is to move as many cars as possible.

In this economy, if a dealer has an added markup, I am actually OK with it. It's their car and they can charge $100k for their Fit. But for me, who is not rich, I will internet shop elsewhere. They lose my business. Basically, they had a chance to sell me a car and make a profit, but because they got greedy, they lost out. There are other dealers who are hungier for my dollars and not want to waste my time and money.

By December, when it's cold and rainy. the economy worst than ever (as if it sin't bad now), all car companies (big 3, Toyota/Honda/BMW/all) will be in greater pain. We'll see who is the driver seat then.

 

I've read the Times article as well, and I think it should be taken in to perspective. All companies are obviously experiencing a slowdown in sales, some a lot more than others. This news comes just after the news that the Fit sales were up 28% for the month of October. https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...wn-28-4-a.html

I believe the Prius sales would have been up also but they can't build them fast enough.

So I think that the Fit sales might have slowed down a little but they're still moving.


Plus the article never mentioned the Fit or other comparable cars. From memory the cars mentioned in the article were Toyota Rav4, Corolla, Camry, and Mercedes, BMW, etc.

Again, all car sales are down, some more than others.

 

My dealer now lists 2 Fits in their inventory - from what I've seen, the inventory doesn't mean they're on the lot but could be part of their allotment that hasn't sold yet. These 2 look new, 1 base, 1 Sport AT - that I haven't seen there before, meaning the rest are gone. So they're still selling them on a pretty brisk pace.

Compare that to 58 Civics sedans, 13 coupes, 4 hybrids, 43 CR-Vs, 156 Accord sedans... etc... you get the idea. The only thing they don't have much inventory of besides the Fit is the Element and Ridgeline which are low volume models.

 

Here we go people...

Bloomberg.com: Japan

They're already considering expanding the Fit/Jazz worldwide production.

 

Tonight on CNBC the reporter covering the LA Car Show stated the 2009 Honda Fit as been a huge success in the US market and Honda is increasing production because sales are out pacing production.

I also found this article written in Sep. 07 by Edmunds interesting. They predicated sales of the Fit could possibly cannibalize sales of the Civic.

First Drive: 2009 Honda Fit

 

North american fits comes from japan, and the japanese plant was already operating in full capacity. i dont' think Fit supply here will increase, at least not this year. next year maybe they will be making Fit instead of civics in the new Indiana plant.

 

Honda thinking about making the Fit in US. Supply is still very low.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/honda-considers-fit-production-us/story.aspx?guid={890DC42E-0A79-475B-B9DD-CACD5C1C380F}

 

Limited Supply????
AutoTrader shows 25 in stock at Beaverton Honda, 25 at Gladston Honda. Things must be slow in Oregon....

 

I got this reply from a (less than reputable) dealership yesterday when I asked if he could beat another dealership's quote of $16,459 for a SSM Fit Sport AT:

"They are quoting you invoice for an automatic Sport that does not include the $670 destination charges which makes the REAL invoice price $17129 which I don't know that I can even guarantee. NOone is selling Fits at invoice though many are quoting it. In fact most dealers are asking OVER the MSRP for the Fits because of the demand for them and not telling you until you get to the dealership. We do not sell Fits for less than MSRP so if someone will sell you one for invoice go buy it there. I refuse to give you a low quote just to get you in the door and would caution you to question the ethics of anyone that does. It is despicable and gives all of us a bad name. I would rather lose your business than lie to you.
Thank You, (economically oblivious salesman)"

First of all, he assumes that I don't know about the destination charge.

Secondly, he says he won't sell for below MSRP even though his dealership sent out an email ad stating they are offering employee pricing, including Fits, lol. I even emailed him about it earlier confirming it was available for Fits.

Apparently, his dealership must be tossing Fits left and right even though the inventory on their site reflects almost 20 in stock for the last few weeks, the same with many Dallas dealers.

 

I've come across situations like this and it made me re-evaluate if I even need a car frankly...because situations like this really highlight the ludicrousness of the whole purchasing process.

What happened to me was very similar...but with a Civic. I ended up keeping my current car and told the dealer to shove it. None of the dealers I visited were willing to deal and I wasn't about to drive or fly half way across the country to get a deal on a car.

So you really need to ask yourself at this point, do you really need the car? If so, then keep waiting until this initial craze of buying Fits calms down...I'd give it 6 months.

Otherwise, keep what you have and if its paid off, all the better.

I'll never pay MSRP for a car. I don't care what excuse they give me. If they won't budge, I won't buy.

 

Don't believe what the dealer tells you.
Fit is selling better than other brand or model, the one that I brought been in their lot for over 2 weeks, got it for $200 under MSRP.

 

Why do I get the feeling you also got the same email I did from Vandergriff?