UPDATE 12/23:
Woohoo - perfect Christmas present, new 2012 Fit in our garage Technically hubby's car, but I'm as excited as he is!


We got the Base automatic in polished metal metallic, which was exactly what we wanted. Very happy with the deal we ended up getting - paid invoice ($16,181), which worked out to $17,736 OTD (7.75% sales tax). We ended up with the cargo tray and carpet mats included - sweet! And we were able to put $5000 of the purchase on our 5% cashback credit card (which we'll pay off immediately), which means $250 cashback So anyways, we drove away happy campers!

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I've been doing lots of research on what's a reasonable price for a 2012 Base auto, especially in the threads here. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of Base buyers here, but I used some of the prices for the Sport to give me a rough idea. In the past few months, I've seen some OTD prices (in SoCal, so same tax as me, or other places with similar tax rates) for the Sport auto for between $19-20K, and for the Sport manual for between $18-19K. Since the Sport auto is about $1700 more than the Base auto, and the Sport manual about $900 more, I figured that $17,500 OTD for a Base auto was a low but reasonable offer. We're not in a rush, so we can shop around and see if anyone will give us a Base auto at that price. We'd go up to $18K if necessary, but I want to see if we can get it for lower first.

So anyways, I test drove a 2012 Base auto today - loved it!!! I can see why the Fit has so many fans! The sales guy asked if I wanted to buy today, and I said that I've done a lot of research, and if I could get it for $17,500 OTD, I'd buy it today. He said, okay, let's go talk to the sales manager - so in we went, and the sales manager (who was acting all busy and barely had time to talk to us ) said as long as they make a couple hundred bucks, I can have it - so I said, well, if you'll do $17,500 OTD, I'll take it -and he looked at me like I was crazy and said there's no way he could sell it for that low. So I said, no problem, we'll shop around and see if anyone can give it to us for that price, and he said good luck, and if you find someone, let me know because I want to buy from them (that line sounded familiar, must be a standard sales line ). So anyways, I said, sure, I will, and I left.

So is $17,500 just way too low? Should I not even bother asking for that? I mean, maybe I'm off on my comparison prices. However, it seems that the Sport models are in higher demand (at least here), so I thought I could be aggressive with my offer on a Base model. And of course, I'm not going to totally believe the sales manager, I know they have their own tactics.

Anyways, I'd appreciate some feedback before we go shopping around. Just as a reference, our sales tax is 7.75%, and I'm expecting other costs (doc fee, license fee, registration and title, etc) to cost $350-500. Thanks in advance for any advice/comments/tips!

 

I would go to edmunds.com and look at their TMV pricing. My 2 cents.

 

Don't worry about offending them, no matter what crap they give you.

I bought my car a year ago, one local dealer told me that they know what other dealers sell cars for, there was no way on this planet I could get my car for the price I told them I wanted to pay, must be some mistake, either not an automatic or it wasn't the Sport model, etc. Impossible, they claimed.

Yeah, I bought it for several hundred less than that.

Dealers play games. If you're not in a hurry, time is way on your side, especially as Honda ramps up production and the car becomes less scarce. And they really want to sell as much inventory as possible before the end of the month.

 

It's pretty close. I paid $17.2k OTD on my Base manual. Figure an extra $700 bucks for an automatic would take you closer to $17.9k, so the price is certainly in the right neighborhood.

A lot depends on your state's sales taxes and registration fees. The deal is more reasonable in Oregon, where sales taxes are zero, versus California where they push ten percent.

 

Sounds like a completely reasonable offer to me.

What dealership if you don't mind me asking?

 

I wanted to buy from my local dealer but they stonewalled me...

The best thing I did was submit my request for the car to different dealers on the internet. One gave me a great offer on the car I wanted. After I negotiated the local dealer down as far as they would go, I showed them the offer from the other dealer, and asked them to match it. They were still $1000 more than this offer and said there was no way.

I had to drive 40 minutes to get my new car, but for $1000, it was worth it. I still have it serviced by the local dealer, but could not afford to be sentimental when they could not come close to the price I paid.

 

Don't be afraid to go to all dealerships within 2 hours of your house. I went to five. And by the third dealership, I was getting pretty good at negotiating (first time buyer). And it actually because strangely fun.

I now have full confidence I got a fair deal.

 

try truecar.com . If you love on the La area or inland empire, guarantee Spreen Honda will have the lowest quote. No one will match it but they'll come fairly close. (Why not just buy from spreen? A little bit of research and you'll understand why) I had to drive 86 miles to get my car but I tell ya it was defitley worth it!

 

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2 months ago I was offered a base auto for 17, 600 out the door....

BUT I went with a Sport Auto for 18,600 out the door, the extra was well worth it in my opinion.

 

"Don't be afraid to go to all dealerships within 2 hours of your house."

To each their own, but in my opinion, there there is a threshold where the additional mileage, time spent, and inconvenience does not justify a marginal savings. For instance, going to a dealer two hours away is easily 100 miles (or more) away. Round trip to buy the car plus round trip to pick up the car is maybe 400 miles, plus you have to get someone else to take you to pick up the car (unless you are trading in). Plus you are talking about 8 hours of driving, 4 of which you are imposing on someone else to commit to (again, unless you are trading in). If you are going to multiple far away dealerships to shop around, your time and transportation costs are even greater. It doesn't make sense to me as a buying strategy.
If you know for a fact you can save $500 or $1000 driving to a particular dealership, then it sure sounds like its worth it. If you spend countless hours driving with only the possibility of saving an unknown amount money, even if you save a couple of hundred bucks, it doesn't seem worth it in the end.

You really can't compare the OTD price in LA to the OTD price in CA. It's one of the reasons I really hate the use of OTD pricing for comparisons.

 

Thanks very much for this tip. I've visited truecar.com, and without submitting my info, I could see that one dealer (82 miles from my zip code) was quoting $1000 less than the others. Based on your comment, I figured this is likely Spreen, so I chatted with the internet guy online and he did quote essentially the same price, $15,786! According to my calculations, that would get my OTD price of $17,500. So now I'll just have to see if any local dealers will match that price, as it is quite a drive otherwise.

 

You can't just go by your calculations, you have to get the OTD price from the dealer. The dealer might have given you the quote for the car but neglected to mention any options or services (added profit) they might try to tack on. I would try to get the whole deal in writing emailed from the dealer before driving all that way. Once you have driven all that way, it is easy for the dealer to surprise you with a few hundred in extras, and it is hard to just walk away after investing all that time and driving.

 

hey bro honestly on a car like this you are talking about maybe 500 bucks in profit…. just make sure you are getting a couple hundred bucks of sticker, no add;s (that means no other products or services added, which includes the doc fee being more than $20) so basically you are paying MSRP - $$$ 2-3 hundred bucks with nothing else added but tax license and registration and small doc fee…

If you can achieve that be happy with it and move on… this car has a great resale value and there is not a lot of profit in this car to begin with… make sure that you get the color and model you want and more importantly that it has low miles and in perfect condition… that will matter more in the long run if you plan on keeping this car many many years not the extra $500 you saved…

When you get a great deal on a car most of the time you are buying a "bastard" car, one that is a funky color or has some "lot damage"

 

The dealers have you by the noogies right now when it comes to the Fit. It is one of the quickest cars off the lot, being only 10 days from when the dealer gets it til it is demoed, financed, paper work completed and on the road with the new owners saying bye-bye. The dealers don't have many, or any, supplies of Civics and particularly the Si variety. Because of the demand for the Fit there is no pressure for them to low-ball sell. It doesn't hurt to try, but don't wait too long or it will be sold from under you. What you offered was reasonable and a quick sale 6 months ago, but with the lack of cars from Japan since their typhoon fiasco, it will be a while before they are up and running with many cars. Just keep offering pennies more, each day til they budge. I get letters from all the dealers in my area to buy back both my Fits at great prices, on a regular bases as they have no used versions, and can sell them in a heart-beat. Trickle in a little bit more each day til you arrive at the sale you want. It only takes increases of $50 to keep the dealers interested.

 

Hey there,

PA 2010 Base purchaser here. I got an 8450 mile Honda Fit Base OTD for 14.5k and free State Inspection stickers (25 bucks - not much but something) for life of vehicle. This includes the 4 year 48k overall warranty and 10 year 100k powertrain.

Hope this helps!
Sean

 

Quick update - I called the dealer where I test drove the Fit and said I had a quote from anothe dealer for $15,786, including destination fee. He said that the invoice price for the Base auto is $16,181 (which is true), so the other dealer is probably just trying to get me to drive up there (also likely true). He said the best he could do is invoice, which would come to $17,735 OTD - that's pretty darn close to the $17,500 I wanted. I'm going to make a few more calls, but I think we're in the right price range now. Hopefully we're driving one home in the next few days!

 

yo bro just make sure you get the color you want and that the car is in good condition thats more important than 235 bucks and if you are getting it for invoice be happy with that…. and you should really reconsider the AUTO on a car like this the Manual is the way to go… man up and learn how to drive manual

 

I know how to drive a manual...but why don't you man up and take my commute everyday in stop and go traffic in your manual?

 

Haha...you guys are funny

I just learned to drive a manual since getting my Fit a week ago...now I go driving in traffic downtown just for the fun of shifting. 'Course, I'm not a man... (just teasing, I know it would be different if I really had to drive like that all the time)

 

If you have a commute in stop and go traffic man up and get a motorcycle! Split lanes and you never care about traffic, its actually more fun!


And people always say traffic blah blah blah but In my opinion having to shift gears gives me something to do instead of bitch bout being in traffic…. but i guess thats just me and the 25% of fit owners who rather shift themselves