I emailed 3 dealers via the Honda site. All 3 gave reasonable prices. One
lowered their price without any inspiration by me 4 days later. The one
closest to me met that price and we had a cash deal. This was on a hot
selling Odyssey.


<kwon22@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1148658252.145122.197200@j73g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
> Hello,
>
> I just had a good Honda buying experience, so I figured I'd share with
> you. In essence, I think the reason that I had a good buy was a
> combined result of the internet shopping tactic and happening to
> getting in touch online with a salesperson with a particular
> personal sales policy.
>
> First, define some variables here.
> X="published" invoice price of my model without any additional
> options including destination charge. "Published" means
> that I got this number from edmunds.com or carsdirect.com.
> Y=Tax, tag, registration, documentation fees
> Z=manufacturer-to-dealer cash incentive per sale of my model
> (happens to be available for the month of my purchase)
> All numbers below are approximate within $100.
>
> At the beginning of the month, I emailed 6 dealers asking for
> their best out-the-door price for my model. In the emails,
> I made clear that I am shopping online and comparing
> several dealers and "undecided" about the method of payment.
> The responses were (in the order of descending price).
> The breakdowns are my interpretations.
>
> Dealer 1: (X+$900)+Y
> Dealer 2: (X+$600)+Y
> --> In about a week after the first quote, this dealer corrected
> their quote to X+Y. I think they decided to pass $600 out
> of Z to me.
> Dealer 3: Car price is X+$100
> Dealer 4, 5: X+Y
> Dealer 6: Car price is X-Z-$200
>
> Dealers 3, 6 did not give me the exact out-the-door price. The price
> from Dealer 6 was too low and therefore I guessed their car
> price does not include destination charge. I asked about it, but
> there was no definite answer from them.
>
> After waiting for three weeks, I sent another email to dealers
> 2, 4, and 6 asking for their final best out-the-door price. (I did not
> any method of transportation to dealer 5, so I gave that place
> up.) In the email, I made it clear that I am writing one check
> in full amount of the out-the-door price and I will be walking
> in to the dealership with the lowest price and simply pay and
> pick up. I also gave my willing price in the email saying that
> I am willing to spend X-Z+Y. The final responses were
>
> Dealer 2: X+Y
> Dealer 4: (X-Z+$100)+Y
> Dealer 6: (X-Z-$200)+Y
>
> The interesting part is that dealer 6 could just have accepted
> my price, but did not and stuck to its original quote, which
> turns out to include destination charge. At this point, the dealer
> - no, the salesperson - got my trust (sort of) and my business.
> A couple of days later, I went to dealer 6, wrote a check for
> the quoted price, and drove one home. The salesperson said
> he gives relatively aggressive prices to sell many vehicles
> under his name.
>
> Well, I bought an Accord LX sedan Special Edition. It is interesting
> to me that my final price is slightly lower than the out-the-door
> prices projected from those 'fair values' for a new Civic EX
> sedan. Hmmm. It could be due to that Civics are hot-selling,
> but Accords are not so... Anyways.
>
> The good part for me about internet buying was that I only gave
> them my email address and no phone numbers whatsoever,
> so they could not call me trying to negotiate over the phone or
> make me come to their place first. I just don't like haggling
> in any real-time fashion. I could take time to think over their quotes
> and reply at my convenient time in the privacy of my place.
>
> Finally, this purchase was made in the US. Thanks.
>