How exactly do you negotiate a low price for a 2009 Honda Fit Sport? (No navigation) Every dealership in New York City I've gone to wants to charge me about $18,500 OTD. I've read many posts on this forum where people have gotten $17,000 and sometimes even less.

New York Honda dealers tend to say things like "well it's a popular car, and the demand is great, supply is low, so we will charge MSRP and higher." Negotiating lower prices appears to be difficult here in New York, in contrast to other states in the U.S.

I'm not a cheapskate......I don't mind paying whatever it takes to get a Fit. However, with that said, I don't want to leave a Honda dealership feeling like I got ripped off. I will be forever reminded of it every time I start up the Fit.

I want to feel like I got a fair deal. I feel like car dealers are like venomous snakes; they're not really there to help you, but just to make money off you. I wish there was just one flat price for a Fit ----- it really would make things a lot simpler. In fact, because of this predicament, I'm tempted just to go for a used car since pricing might be more straightforward. Some have even suggested I should go for a more traditional car, like the Honda Civic used. What's so special about the Fit anyway to pay 18k for a brand new one?

New York is also a crazy place to be, because it is common for teens to jack up your car and steal your wheels, which might actually make the base model more popular for its lack of alloy wheels to steal here. Yet you don't get cruise control and a ton of other features you might really need.

Anyway, MSRP for a Fit Sport is around $17,780. What is the invoice on this car? What price should I really be negotiating for? I asked for $16,500, first offer, from one dealer, and he was like, are you serious? I can't believe Honda dealers are so rude.

Thanks in advance for any insight anyone can provide.

 

drive out of state.
get car for cheaper.
???
profit.

 

I'm not surprised the dealer thought you were crazy with your offer of $16,500 . . . with nothing to back it up! You can't just make a low-ball offer unless you have some sound reasoning behind it. Before you buy, check out carbuyingtips.com. Be sure to read the entire site (there's a lot of material there). If you follow the advice on that site, you'll be able to present a dealer with an offer that is based on facts and gives him/her a reasonable profit. I used the offer spreadsheet from the site and got my Fit for 4.2% over actual dealer cost (not invoice).

My Fit was the second car I bought using the info from this website, and I've also used the info to help my friend buy two vehicles. It's the best website, and a must-read for anyone in the market.

 

Edmunds.com has a feature called True Market Value that takes into consideration what buyers are paying in your area including dealer holdbacks and incentives. Check it out.

 

it was funny...i had it happen to me as well when i was shopping for a fit. i was like 16500 otd...the manager was like dont waste my time. then i went to another dealer and got it otd for 16800.

keep in mind, im in socal..the prices on fits and tax are higher here.

mine is a 09 white fit sport manual

 

what dealer did you get your fit from?

 

Sierra Honda in Monrovia.

If you want the sale person name, PM me.

 

Go to Edmunds.com. They have the TMV (true market value) as previously stated and specify the invoice for the car and "what others are paying". You can usually see some reviews to let you get to know the car. They also have a link that will get you a couple of dealer quotes (usually at least one non-local). I bought a car for my son using this feature for a Honda Civic last year at a decent deal.

For my recently purchased Fit I tried Edmunds and got an offer for a decent deal but got a better one using my insurance company's buying service which actually was a link to a Zagmut buying service. I suspect that you have to leave the city to get your best deal. The local dealer doen't have much incentive for selling you a car if its popular. But a distance dealer doesn't really car about maintaining your local dealer's price support and sometimes will make the sale just to keep his volume up.

 

Thanks for your advice everyone.

By the way, when I said in the original post that I asked for $16,500 for a Fit Sport, that was not OTD! With tax, title, fees, etc, the total would be $18,500 or so. I would want the dealer to get some profit off of me, but the idea is that they shouldn't get so much to the point where it rips me off.

 

I would sell you mine for 16k it only has 6700 miles.

 

Edmund's is good
profit on the car is like $645 (sport manual)
In a tight market I would think you can get $300-400 off sticker.
As far as taxes and fees, they are what they are, you gotta pay.

 

lol, I'd sell you my gd3 to considering I may be going to NY next week anyways.
All I can say though is go in there with as much info as possible. Got mine last year for msrp n the dealer I went through had to get mine shipped up from cali cause I wanted a m/t vbp n there was nothing in any cornering states lol.

 

I used edmunds to get quotes. The best one was $1250 off sticker on a sport MT. I sent that to the other dealers that replied. One matched it and the other said it was below his dealer cost. I think he was probably telling the truth. The salesman looked pretty unhappy when I said I was paying cash.

 

I bought my 2009 fit sport automatic back in September of 2008 (they we're available for sale in mid-late august) and the dealer was trying to charge 1000 over msrp and I told him absolutely not. The prick went away and came back and said he can do 500 over msrp and once again I told him to screw himself. Finally, like he was doing me a favor he said he could do it at msrp and I said how about 500 under and he said invoice was more than that so I settled at msrp. I tried to get him to do something for me like a third key or some floor mats and he wouldn't. But, I was fine with msrp because I knew he was telling me the truth so I just settled. I wanted the car too bad and he knew it. My advice, go in there and act like if he or she can't give it to you for what you want then your not buying. The 2010's will be coming out so they won't tell you but they need to clear they're inventory out for the new ones. The dealership didn't even have what I needed in stock so I got one that was on the way in which they had ordered. So they basically sold me a car they didn't even have yet. That may work to your advantage because it wouldn't have sat on the lot costing them money, they may be more inclined to make less of a profit on something like that.

 

Um, invoice is not more than 500 under MSRP. Even if it were, the dealers don't pay invoice price anyway. They get dealer holdback. That's why they can sell for under invoice and still make a profit. I got my 2009 Fit Sport AT with Nav/VSA for $530 under MSRP, or $19,100. The invoice price was $18,947, but the dealer's actual cost was only $18,358 (including destination charge). So, the dealer got a 4.2% profit ($742). I know all these numbers from using the spreadsheet on carbuyingtips.com. If you don't do your research, you will get ripped off. Caveat emptor.