On 28 Jun 2004 22:29:16 -0400, furrier@iglou.com (Chris Bradley) wrote:

>I hope this isn't too off topic, but I just bought a new 2004 Honda
>Accord EX/V6 without navigation. Anyway, I thought I might share this
>with the group, since it was one of the most pleasant car buying
>experiences I've ever had and found some interesting info someone
>might benefit from.
>
>MSRP was $26400. First dealer I went to here in Louisville (Kentucky)
>agreed to lower the price to $26000, not including taxes, handling or
>registration. But, I was just going to test drive and wasnt prepared
>for negotiating.
>
>So poked around on the Internet, read through google usenet posts,
>etc. One guy mentioned mycar.com, which is a fee-based site that
>sends out bids to 10 or so dealers and lets them bid against each
>other. It was $19.95, so after finding one or two people who had
>positive experiences, I tried it. Worst case, I just threw away $20,
>but thought I'd give it a whirl.
>
>Only 3 of the 10 dealers bid, but one of them in Lexington KY, about
>75 miles away, bid down to $800 below invoice. With destination fee
>added in (before taxes), it came to $23500.00 or so. Called the
>dealer and they said they would indeed honor it, so next day I drove
>to Lexington and sure enough, bought it at that price.
>
>I'm not affiliated with mycar.com in ANY way, and don't necessarily
>know how big a company they are or how well others have fared with
>the service, but I do know that it worked well for me.

Thanks for the info, Chris. Not at all off topic, IMO. A couple of years
ago, I helped my son buy a car through CarsDirect.com (he's computer
illiterate!) and had a very pleasant experience there, as well.

I'll be buying a 2005 vehicle to replace my 7-year old pickup and will
definitely be doing it through one of the online services...after doing my
homework, of course.
--
<<<SgtRich>>>
Chicago, Illinois, USA