I'm ready for the car dealers of future I was promised 35 years ago.
Imagine a kiosk where you type in your order and a Honda comes out like a plane ticket.
I hate to suggest anything that might eliminate jobs, but the current system of marketing automobiles is ridiculous. If anything today's dealerships are less professional and knowledgeable than the store fronts of fifty years ago.
Surely an industry that can create such amazing products can distribute as well as they can engineer.

 

My son is buying a Fit EX - Black - on Thurs. I'll let you know how that goes.

 

Well, that would be nice. However, look at how Tesla is treated for trying to create something like that. Existing dealership networks/owners have a vested interest in keeping the system operating in their favor.

 

I had a good experience with pricing via email. After months of research, I knew exactly what to expect OTD and made an offer. Dealer came in $5 under what I was expecting. Didn't talk price at all once at the dealership when I took delivery, other than the usual extended warranty upsell.

 

Hellllooooooo Tesla!

The car dealer associations are scared to death of Tesla'a approach. They're pumping money into legislator's campaign chests to buy the votes needed to make Tesla's approach illegal and to force everyone to use dealers. They claim that, with Tesla's approach, we won't get the "high level of customer service" we now enjoy at conventional dealers. Some legislators are having a difficult time saying that with a straight face!

With my last car, that "high level of customer service" included lying about the features of the car itself, playing games at the finance office, making me come back three times to get a defective CD player replaced, lying to me about my vehicle not being in the affected range of serial numbers when I had the TSB in my hand, and "forgetting" to order a part needed for a factory recall but suddenly finding that it was in stock when I mentioned that my next step was calling corporate customer service.

Anything is better than the current system.

 

Yeah, I've been reading the nightmares with the dealers, and am very glad I'm going with my credit union. I don't care if Honda is offering .9% and my credit union is offering 1.24% -- it will be worth it just to not have all that angst.

I am a Quaker, and I don't negotiate. It can be frustrating buying a car, but haggling is out. I offer a *fair* price, knowing that these people need to earn a living and make a profit, but if they can't meet it, I leave. I've bought a few cars that way now, and it has worked, really. I think because I'm honest, and don't low-ball. (This is just a "let your yea be yea and your nay be nay" thing.)

 

My credit union offered 3.5%, which I thought was good till I saw the 1.9% at Honda. I got a loan through them, and my son is doing the same tomorrow.

 

Quaker or not, that is a good approach. There is a lot of information out there now to help determine a fair price.

 

I sort of wish the car selling practices were more this way. I don't have any religious or cultural guidelines which discourage haggling, but I still abhor the need to do business that way. The two cars that I bought before my Fit were from salespeople (or perhaps this was a dealership thing, but the salespeople claimed it was their own preferred way of doing business) who stated that they were going to just give me a take-it-or-leave-it lowest reasonable price they felt like they could manage, and both times it happened to be right where I had determined in advance to be right within a fair range. A fair range being defined as true dealer cost plus a reasonable profit. The Fit did not work out quite so ideally, making me really appreciate the last two transactions.

I should consider taking up your practice. I realize that might seem frustrating to you at times, but the haggling process is frustrating to someone such as myself who really hates doing it.

 

With Fits in short supply, you'll have to pay list price. There's not to negotiate after that.

What gets me is that after squeezing everything they can from you, they'll ask for a top recommendation when you get the survey to fill out. As my salesman said, "If I don't get a five, I fail."

They should think about the rating before the deal is done, and act accordingly. I think that's why so many dealers have such high ratings. They generate pity in their customers.

 

I was able to negotiate a price that was $645 below MSRP on an EX-L by simply using truecar.com. The site gave me a certificate to take to a dealer an hour drive from me. I took that certificate in to my local dealer, and after he told me what he would give me for a trade in, I showed him the certificate and said can you match this price of this dealer in Buffalo? He checked with his manager and got the green light! Actual negotiated price: $19,945 down from $20,590 (both numbers are including the $790 destination fee)



I used a similar strategy for my Fiances 2014 Civic. I started at Edmunds.com for that and was able to get pricing $2700 below MSRP on her EX-L Civic.

 

the only issue I think with true car is that the fine print after the nice price tag of 18280 is

"Price estimate including dealer fees and additions ($399) is $18,679. Price estimate excludes tax, title, and license."

of course the tax, title, and licence, is a sure thing, but it leads me to believe that the 399 is also forced on to you when you go and bring this certificate to them... I never really believed in truecar... the numbers they express is what they feel that is fair or the price around where you are.

 

All I'm saying is it got me 2015 Fit EX-L for $645 below MSRP.

*Note: I didn't take the certificate to a participating dealer, I took it to a competitor of the participating dealer, and they honored the discounted price with no attention to any fine print.

 

No matter who you borrow the money from verify the monthly payment. There can be a difference by the way its calculated. And yes DO NOT purchase any add-ons for extended warranty, paint protection, etc.
The guy who got a $149.50 doc fee is dealing with an honest dealer. Thats all it really costs to run the sales data thru finance.Everything above that is ADP (additional dealer profit) no matter what they say.

 

niiice Ocdoc,

again I think its good to do some research before walking in the big room. I have compiled the information which will help before hand.

 

Thanks for the affirmation -- I really hate haggling. I'm not good at it, and I'm easily overwhelmed by hard sells. I was a single woman for a long time, and like the idea that I don't "need a man" to go in and get me the best price.

I'm not single anymore, and told my husband that he might not want to come to the dealership with me, because he might get frustrated that I wasn't getting the "best deal". He actually said that he kind of admires the way I do it, too.

I just think that, if you say something costs a certain price, then it should cost that price.

 

No. Handling sales paperwork is part of the dealer's business. Charging a fee for it is simply a way of adding profit. It makes as much sense as me deducting a "check-writing fee" from the check I write to pay for the car.

It's pretty obvious that as soon as a state establishes a maximum "documentation fee" the dealers immediately start charging that much, often lying and saying that it is a state mandated fee!

Don't get sucked into the shell game. Demand to know the bottom line price with everything added in, then decide whether to buy based upon that number.

 

Can you post a copy of the letter or is their a link to the offer?

I was going to pay cash for my new Fit but that cash is coming from an account that is earning 4% right now and getting 0.9% looks like a very good deal.

My Fit is arriving this week so any information is appreciated.

Thanks

EDIT: Just found the link:

http://automobiles.honda.com/current...5FEW&sf=2&ft=3

 

Dealers are not all bad and neither are the salespeople that work there. I just got back from picking up my Fit one day after signing the contract. They offered me above the max trade in value as quoted by other dealerships. They also gave me $300 off MSRP. No doc fees or dealer fees. There was no haggling at all. I told him what I wanted to pay and he met my price.

I did get into the finance office but I knew I would be approached about extended warranty. After putting thousands into my GTI post warranty expiration, I was prepared to actually consider the extended warranty this time on my terms. I negotiated the extended warranty down $500 from his original quoted price and they threw in splash guards, all weather mats and cargo tray which also had a $500+ value.

Overall, I had a good experience and felt like the entire transaction was done on my terms.

 

Congratulations! That's very unusual for a car in short supply with bg demand.