2008 Accord - Prices Paid / Buying Experiences

[darrickc]

Just ordered my EX-L/V6/AT/Navi for 2% over invoice. (comes to just over $500 from invoice) I had three dealers willing to sell it to me at this price. Ordered it from the one that offers life time oil changes. I will also be purchasing the 8yr/100m/$0 extended warranty for the matched price of $895 found on line. I figure I would purchase the accessories that I wanted and install them myself. (I enjoy this kind of work) I calculate I will cut the cost of the dealer installed accessories by more than half!

No trade in, (I will sell my old car myself) no dealer financing, (tax advantage loan through C.U. at 5.5%) and no add-ons while visiting with the finance guy you have to sit with while they pitch scratch insurance, under coating, paint protection, ...etc.

Accord should arrive mid March or earlier with only the factory to the truck, and dealer prep miles on it. Build date is next week!

Planning on applying double chrome pinstriping, and installing a concealed radar/laser detector.

Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences and their wealth of knowledge. I figure it saved me more than $6000!

[lokeey]

Belize Blue Pearl EXL/v6/6MT

Dealer applied accessories were mud guards, and trunk protection mat.

got them down to $28000.00

[k757]

2/28/08
EX-L V6 sedan - Polished Metal Metallic
$26,300

I will buy mudguards and a cargo net and install myself

[darrickc]

Hi all,
Thought I would share a bit of my Accord buying experience. I hope it will help others in their purchasing quest.
1) Edmunds is the best place to investigate and compare cars. They will give you invoice prices, and TMV prices. You can also look to see what incentives there are if any and use that to your advantage.
2) Go to the Honda web page and build your car in every conceivable way to familiarize yourself with the options and their prices. It is a lot of fun to boot.
3) See what other people are paying for their Accords. Read the various forums and take mental notes on the exact configuration you are looking for.
4) Test-drive the configuration you want at multiple dealerships. Don’t rush or get pressured into anything. Take your time and control the process.
5) Wait until the dealer mark-ups disappear on the window stickers. I wanted an Accord the day they were released, but waited five months before all the early adopters paid the premium prices and the mark-ups went away.
6) Never, never, never start at MSRP and work your way down. Always start at invoice and talk about what is “fair” for the dealership.
7) Check to ensure that Honda is not providing any floor assistance, or marketing bonuses to the dealers. If there are some on the table, instantly subtract them from the invoice price and start the discussion from there.
8) Don’t fuss about dealer holdback. (3% for Honda) The sales force doesn’t see much if any of that.
9) Request a quote from dealers over the internet. Use Edmunds quote service. But don’t leave it open ended. Describe exactly what you are looking for, and how much over invoice you are willing to pay. Some dealers will say no, others will say yes.
10) When setting your target price, be reasonable. Know exactly what the dealership is paying for the car, and decide how much you are willing to “give” to the sales force. They have to feed their kids too. Remember, macaroni and cheese is just fine. Don’t give them prime rib!
11) Once you have your internet quotes, print them out the day you are going to purchase your car and take them with you. Try to at least match them or better them.
12) Select the dealer that is the most convenient for you, or the one that offers things like free oil changes and the like.
13) Consider ordering your car. They can not hold the local availability of the car you want over your head. I always order my cars from the factory with only what I want. I only had to wait three weeks for my Accord. Your dealer can look into their allocation as well as other dealer allocations and get what you want.
14) Make sure that on your order form you have written in “No dealership badges or stickers”. I can not believe the gaul of some dealers who will drill holes or stick things on your car so that you can provide free advertising for them. Just say no! Also specify the maximum amount of miles on the car you are willing to accept. I wrote 10, the car had 3 miles on it when I drove it off the lot.
15) Watch out for the dealer markup on accessories. All your official Honda accessories are dealer add-ons. That means the techs at the dealer install them once your car arrives. In my case, I saved more than half the cost on all my accessories (mud guards, backup sensors, spoiler, backup camera, wheel locks, all weather mats, trunk tray, interior illumination, pin striping, chrome door pillars, even HID headlights and a remote radar/laser detector) Buy them from a wholesaler and install them yourself. Use the instructions and videos you find on the web. Take your time and make sure you have the right tools. Took me about eight hours to do it all.
16) Don’t trade in your old car. You loose thousands that way. Sell it yourself, or be willing to pay through the nose to have someone else do it for you.
17) Don’t buy any of the extra’s the dealership wants to sell you unless you really need them. Huge mark-ups are involved.
18) Don’t buy the extended warranty unless the dealership will match the internet price. Note: Honda has instructed all dealers to no longer sell their Honda Care extended warranty over the internet by April 1st.
19) Check your credit a month or two in advance. It is free and you will see any little boo boo’s if you have any. Dispute them and get them removed, which is also free. It will save you a point or two in interest.
20) Banks and credit unions usually change their interest rates (if they are going to change) at the first of the month. Check them before you go buy. It saved me three quarters of a point.
21) Once you know the rock bottom interest rate you can get, tell it to your finance guy and let him match it with what ever bank he wants, as long as the terms are agreeable to you. This got me a $25 cash bonus, and I ended up going with the bank I have my main accounts at. (Some banks will give you a quarter point discount for direct withdrawal.
22) Don’t play the monthly payment amount game. Know up front what you can afford and the configuration you want. Choose the shortest duration of loan you can afford.
23) Take a look and a drive in what you are going to buy before you sign. Note every imperfection you can see, and take your time. Make sure the dealer is willing to fix them and documents it on the sales form, or wait for the next identical model the dealer can get a hold of.
24) Some dealers will allow you to charge up to $3k on your credit card. If your card gives you cash back, make sure you take them up on this. Just make sure you pay off the balance before your due date.
25) If you can get a hold of the owner’s manual before you buy, look through it closely. It will show you details about the Accord, your salesman may not even know.
26) Lastly enjoy your ride! It is a great car!
Stats:
EX-L V6 AT w/Navi 4 door, $28,600 (2% over invoice), Title and Registration = $218, no tax (Oregon). Out the door = $28,818. Minus $25 bank bonus, $60 CC money back = Grand total of $28,733.
Accessories: My cost $1360.00 (with shipping) Dealer cost: $2771.00 Saved $1411.00
Honda Care extended Warranty: 8yr/100k miles @ $0 deductible = $895-$25 bonus = $870. Dealer wanted $2400. Saved $1530
Auto Loan: 48 months @ 5.24% Most at 6.26% in the area
Old Car: Sold for $2500. Trade in value $900. Saving $1600
(If I had done none of these things: MSRP = $30260 + $218 +$2771 + $2400 + $1600= $37249. A waste of $6286.00 and I would have paid 6.26+% interest on the higher balance.)
Good luck everyone!!

[portablecow]

2008 Accord EX Sedan 4cyl
w/ Interior illumination, trunk tray, splash guards, wheel locks and nitrogen filled tires.
MSRP w/ Accessories: $24,900
MSRP w/o Acccessories: $24,495
$23,195 OTD
$2,000 Down
Financed $21,195 at 2.9%

No trade in, sold my 2006 Civic private party, made about $2000 more off of it over trade-in.

[tracemiller]

2008 Accord LX-P Sedan Automatic
MSRP: $22,795
I paid $19,616 before tax and license
$21,400 OTD

I think I did good.

[txdude]

Someone earlier wrote about purchasing a 3rd party extended warranty... FYI, Geico offers their MBI (Mechanical Breakdown Insurance) for just $500. It's only available on newer current year cars and is 10yr/100K mi. true bumper to bumper. Deductible is $250. If you don't have the cash then they just add $5 to your monthly bill. I bought it two ears ago when I picked up my 06 civic, never had to use it but it was a good selling tool becuase I was able to tell potential buyers is was fully transferrable (if they were Geico Customers).

Yes. You have to insure through Geico for this.

Other than that, hello all. I'm new to the forum, currently deployed and plan to buy one of these sweet 8th gens upon my return. It'll be a 2dr EX-L Nav 4 cylinder -- I won't pay a dime above $250 over invoice (sold cars in another life so I know the game).

First post

[txdude]

For those of you adding dealer-installed accessories when you buy your car...

Take a look at H and A Accessories dot com - Genuine Factory Honda and Acura Accessories at discount prices. Accessories made by Honda and Acura for your car (H=honda, A= acura). When I ordered lip kits, fogs, etc. from my local dealership for my 06 civic, I printed out the prices on that site & my dealer matched them--considerable savings! Note: currently a lot of the accord exterior accessories aren't available on that site yet for comparison, but check back, eventually they will.

Dealers can sell you a car a few hundred over invoice & still make a killing on the accessories so hopefully this saves some of y'all some $$

[junk4us]

We just bought an Accord V6 EX-L with Nav and camera attachment for 29,866. This was around the first price that was quoted to us as the special internet pricing. We got them down to 29,400 OTD. Since we didn't buy the same day, the manager called me up and offered me $200 off the camera, which we wanted anyways.

We bought the warranty (8 year/120k miles/dissapearing deductible.and ding monkey and the guy threw in Crystal Fusion for "free". I didn't want to buy the warranty there. The only good thing is that if we bring the car back to them, there's no deductible. I think I can still cancel the warranty.

Where is everyone buying the warranty online for the 895? Is Crystal Fusion worth it for 249?

[anhpeter]

black LX coupe, v4 nothing special. 23,000 otd