<p>So we decided to buy a Honda CRV (wife doesn’t like the small SUV’s made by American headquartered car companies) We went to a dealer and spelled out what we wanted, color and trim. We met the sales manager. They had a demo (new car but 500 miles) they kept suggesting, but did not have the exact car we wanted in stock. As we left the dealer I commented to my wife that it was strange that they never gave us a price for the car we wanted. They phoned a couple of days later and asked me a few customer satisfaction type questions. I mentioned that I never got a price. They wanted me to come back to the dealer to talk. I said no way, I have all the info I need except a firm price. They said hold for a manager. After 2 minutes I hung up and called a buying service. One hour later he had located the exact car I want (searching 5 states) at a price below invoice. ($500 factory to dealer incentive makes this possible). I have no interest in playing these car dealer games. We might even have the car Saturday. They deliver it to your house.</p>
<p>Honda dealers are tough to deal with.</p>
<p>Was this a nationwide service like Costco or AAA or was it something else?</p>
<p>Here in California, we p[robably couldn’t do the 5 state search, what with our strict pollution requirements.</p>
<p>I hate car dealer games!</p>
<p>We bought a Honda 2 years ago just as they were changing the Accord to the new series. Bought it for something like 2,000 under invoice (over 4k under list) because we knew of the mfgr rebates to the dealers. </p>
<p>The only way we got that price was by not visiting dealers when it came time to shop. We visited dealers for test drives and such, but made it clear in person that we were shopping. When it came time to buy, we did it by email and phone, mostly through the internet sales managers (do they still have those? Two years later…). </p>
<p>Doing it this way was a remarkably painless process, completely free of games except for one: Some dealers would ask what the best price I’ve gotten was, offering to beat that. Don’t play this game. It is unfair to the more reputable dealers, and a fool’s game, because they might not even honor a “low ball” price. </p>
<p>Be aware too that you should ask for the “drive away” price including all taxes and doc fees. Buying across state lines may or may not be a challenge. We live in DC, bought in Maryland (Sport Honda in Silver Spring) with no problem. Actual purchase and pickup took about 20 minutes. </p>
<p>BTW, if you want the lowest price, it helps to be flexible regarding color. We got what we wanted because we wanted the most common color, but it does not always work that way. </p>
<p>you should be aware too that nationwide buying programs like Costco or AAA are convenient and low hassle but are never lowest price. You will usually leave a ton of money on the table with these programs compared to doing it yourself.</p>
<p>Just picked up our new CR-V yesterday; yes, WAY under invoice with the dealer incentives…but only two dealers would give us firm prices (which were exactly the same)…One visit back, we gave them a price we wanted to pay; the closer dealer hit the price; done…and they traded to get us the exact color we wanted…</p>
<p>Sounds like the OP hit a dealer trying to get rid of existing stock; not willing to trade with another dealer to get you what you wanted…kind of weird, but, yea…</p>
<p>P.S. I think the dealer kick-back incentives on the CR-V were scheduled to expire on May 4th…no idea if they were extended because we contracted before that…</p>
<p>Spouse just purchased a Toyota–same sort of issues. Finally resorted to internet shopping with the dealers and had many responses with OTD offers. The places we visited in person rarely even followed up with a phone call! Guess they prefer internet buyers?</p>
<p>The Mfgs have always claimed that the dealership network is the weak link in the car buying process. They can’t sell direct due to state franchise laws. Most states require that the auto actually be delivered to the customer at the dealership, although everyone has figured out ways around that one.</p>
<p>
This is exactly what I did one year ago to purchase my new CRV. After a test-drive local to my residence, I emailed five dealerships within about 50 miles with my exact specifications, including color. All dealerships had internet sales people who replied to my query (real people, not automated). Every one of them supplied a price by email. We went with the lowest price and the process was incredibly painless. Got the car I wanted at a price we liked (can’t remember how it compared to the MSRP). And then set up a maintenance relationship at the Honda dealer closest to my office. We did not negotiate anything and made that clear in our initial email request to each dealer.</p>
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</p>
<p>It was a nationwide service like Costco or AAA… very very much like AAA. :D</p>
<p>I am happy with the price (until I hear someone who got a significantly lower price… LOL) but so far it has been so easy. Supposedly I am getting one fresh off the boat, which should mean it is not an Ohio-made vehicle like most sold in the U.S.</p>
<p>I purchased my last several cars through the fleet side and agree with the no hassle and less expensive approach and hate working through salespeople. I’m working on another purchase now and thought I’d see how the Costco deal was but have a concern that it might not be as good as I can get myself with the fleet/internet departments outside of a Costco/AAA contract. So, I’ll get the ‘Costco’ price tomorrow and already have some straight fleet prices so I’ll know soon how it compares. I’ll also ask the guy if AAA is any better than Costco on it.</p>
<p>It sounds like you got a good deal.</p>
<p>ucla dad - you let us know how it turns out, okay?</p>
<p>Does the price quoted from AAA buying service on the price of a vehicle include the destination charge?</p>
<p>Feedback - </p>
<p>I received the ‘Costco’ price which for Toyota turned out to be $200 over dealer invoice. I received some lower quotes, as low as dealer invoice, from other dealers by just contacting their fleet/internet departments via email or a ‘quick quote’ link on their websites. The factory cash rebate comes off of that price so if, for example, there’s a $1000 factory rebate you’d get the car for $1000 under dealer invoice in my example.</p>
<p>My suggestion - </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Start by going to kbb.com, edmunds.com, AAA.com, etc. to find the cost of the particular car you want and any factory incentives that might exist. Note the delta between the MSRP and dealer invoice since dealer invoice is where you want to start from.</p></li>
<li><p>Especially if you live in a larger urban area with multiple dealerships for your desired brand, go to the dealer’s website and check their ‘New Car Inventory’. In many cases it’ll let you know exactly what they have on hand and the MSRP. For domestic cars, if they don’t have what you want, you can get exactly what you want by oerdering it from the factory. It takes about 6-8 weeks to get. I’ve done this multiple times. This might all be different now with the auto manufacturer troubles. If a particular dealer doesn’t have exactly what you want they’ll usually search other dealers and get you the car if they can. In my general area there are 10 Toyota dealerships. </p></li>
<li><p>Just contact their fleet/internet departments and tell them exactly what you want. Let them know where you’ll flex or not (color, particular model, options). Ask them for a price sheet that shows exactly what options, etc. the vehicle has, MSRP, dealer invoice, and their lowest price which will usually be ‘invoice plus x’ or possibly ‘invoice minus x’. This is dealer invoice - not MSRP. Dealer invoice is the theoretical price the dealer pays for the car (but they actually pay less). It’s convenient to give them just your email address and not your phone number so they don’t bug you too much. Some dealers will cooperate and some won’t.</p></li>
<li><p>Compare the offer prices you received from all the dealers. Either go with the lowest price dealer or allow the most convenient dealer a chance to match it. Remember that you can have your car services at any factory authorized location - you don’t need to take it to the place you purchased it from. In fact, for my last several vehicles I only visited the dealership once - to pick up the car. After that I took it to the most convenient service location.</p></li>
<li><p>You could still use Costco, AAA, or another buying service but it’ll probably cost a couple hundred or so more than you can get directly if you compare enough dealer offers. </p></li>
<li><p>Some dealerships will have sales with ‘loss leaders’ advertised. If you want that particular vehicle and manage to get there in time to purchase the one or two loss leader units, then you can get a better deal.</p></li>
<li><p>Negotiate the price of the car without a trade-in. Once you have the price fixed you can discuss a trade-in but you likely won’t like their price. I’ve never traded a car in because it’s always a bad deal although it’s convenient. </p></li>
<li><p>Ask for the ‘cash price’ and pay attention to factory cash rebates if any. Once you have that cash price either pay cash or get a loan through your credit union or bank on the lower priced car since it’s usually less than if you skip a cash rebate and opt for the dealer’s low interest rate. In some cases the factory doesn’t offer cash rebates but does offer low loan rates in which case it might be better to go through the dealer on the loan.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t think in terms of ‘monthly payment’ which is what the dealers want you to do. Instead, think in terms of total cost of ownership for the period in which you’ll have the car.</p></li>
<li><p>I’ve never leased a car so I haven’t considered those numbers but when I’ve run them in the past it’s always an expensive way to go for someone like me who keeps the car for a long time.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>We used the Costco program to buy my car. We probably could have saved the 2 or 3 hundred that uc_dad mentions had we done a more thorough search, but given that there are only 2 dealers for the make of car I wanted in our area… maybe not.
It was totally painless, unlike any other car purchase. Only hangup was that we decided to buy it on a weekend, and pay cash, so they kept us hanging around until their finance people were satisfied that our check was good. I don’t mind that - heck, we could have been homeless or hucksters. I did mind that they made other excuses instead of just stating the obvious…</p>
<p>Our CRV was delivered to our house and I wrote a personal check. (I guess they know where I live)
It was a very easy process. One of the many reasons I prefer this to shopping a bunch of dealers myself is that no matter how diligent you are, you remain vulnerable to the usual tricks. You can still end up driving for 2 hours only to find that the car promised to you is not there or the price is not exactly as specified. Once you have driven 2 hours it is very unpleasant to turn around and drive home empty handed.</p>
<p>OK -I start at the invoice price but the $675 destination charge is after the invoice. Do you pay that?</p>
<p>These days, if you pay invoice you may leave thousands on the table. You need to know what allowances are going to the dealer from the manufacturer that cut dealer cost below invoice. A number of online sites have this information. </p>
<p>Knowing this was how I bought a new Accord two years ago for $2000 (or so) below invoice.</p>
<p>newmass- so do you tell the dealer to take the destination price off?</p>
<p>Check out a great website called [Fighting</a> Chance New Car Buying Guide - Buy or lease a new car with our car buying guide. Get new car invoice prices for most all vehicles. Buying or leasing a car? Don’t do it without this car buying and leasing guide.](<a href=“http://www.fightingchance.com%5DFighting”>http://www.fightingchance.com) For a very small fee, this guy gives you all the ammunition you need to bypass all of the salesman negotiating tricks and get the car you want for a great price. I bought my Accord in late December of 2006 and the only person I had to work with was the sales manager who happened to be the son of the dearlership owner. Although he tried a few “tricks” on me, I was very well prepared to be expecting it and avoid spending any more money. He finally gave up in total frustration with me and told me that his daddy wanted to know if I wanted to sell cars for them. What makes this even a more powerful plug for this service is that I am a woman doing this alone in the south which is known to be very paternalistic at times.
Armed with the information he gives you when you buy the information for a specific vehicle as well as other great information, I typed up a form letter and faxed my proposal to each and every dealer within the radius of my home where I was willing to drive. This immediately fleshed out dealers who were willing to “compete” for my business. The basic trick is when a dealer calls you they will give you their bottom line price. I tell each person who calls that to be "fair to everyone else I will wait until all of their bids are in. Once I have my best bid, I call each dealer back and tell them the best price I was offered and that I would be taking that deal.( I do not say the dealer name at this point) This usually starts a miniround of additional bidding which can shave a few more hundred dollars off the final price I agree that Honda is tougher than some other automakers to deal with but this saved me so much time,money and gas and I actually had fun buying my car.
The other unique aspect of this service is that you can call him to get extra coaching help with your purchase and he does not charge you for the phone call.</p>