I purchased the EX-L with Navigation and only paid just over $19,000. Here is how.
I got had contacted about ten Honda dealers letting them know exactly what I wanted. I finally got the call and went straight in. I haggled the price down to just below MSRP because here in San Diego demand is beyond high. Then the salesman started with the extras. I agreed to purchase to almost all the extras as long as the vehicle price was lowered. Now, they get a nice cut from the extras that you buy. The main ones I got were the maintenance, care and service plan. I played it right with them though. Since I've had the 2005 and 2009 fit with no problems I knew I wouldn't need it. They get a nice cut for you purchasing anything outside of the agreed car price. I got them to drop the actual price of the car. Once the financing was approved and I the paperwork at home, I went back to the dealer about two weeks later and got a refund for all three services I purchased. Essentially getting the car EX-L Navi for just over $19,000. Check the refund policy for your state, in California you have 60 days. This will be the fourth vehicle I did this with and it worked. Three in California and one in Washington. Hope it works for you.

USE THIS TACTIC IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO PURCHASE A HONDA FIT.

 

Good for you! I've read my fair share of how to get a good deal but never heard of this one. Good to hear someone sticking it to the dealer.

Lord knows they've done it to many buyers! And congrats on your new ride!

 

An interesting tactic if you can keep track of the numbers.

My problem is that, despite a technical education, I can still get flummoxed when they start juggling numbers. It's like playing 3-Card Monte, they keep moving the numbers around and somehow in the end they are higher than they seemed to be!

How much trouble did you have cancelling the services? That's where I would expect to see the dealers drag their feet.

 

Even I would like to know, how much time/trouble did it take to get the extras cancelled, as its not always easy to do it (is there a way to know the cancellation policy in advance for other states, i stay in PA ... anyone knows the policy here?)

Also I presume you wont be going back to the same dealer for maintenance/service/oil changes - as they would be pretty upset and may end up compensating by charging extra in service!

 

The service department is usually not closely associated with the sales department so they shouldn't be concerned with what you did in the showroom.

However, in these days of Big Data, you might earn yourself a notation of "pain in the butt customer" in the dealer's customer database and that might be viewable by the service department.

I wonder how long it will be before they come up with "Yelp for businesses" where they rate customers the same way that customers rate them.

 

So basically, you made a deal and then changed the term two weeks later?

Interesting. That would be like the dealership showing up two weeks after I bought it and demanding more money. Everyone here would hold their chests and cry foul.

I think what you did is immoral, unethical, and you cheated the sales person out of the commissions that they worked hard to earn.

I hope you can look yourself in the mirror, because I think what you did is revolting.

 

Dealers change the terms of the deal after the fact all the time. They call it "you didn't qualify for the 0.9% financing, so your rate is now 12%...." If you complain they point you at the fine print in the law and the contract that allows them to do that.

Frankly, if someone has the chutzpah to use the fine print in their own favor I say "more power to them!"

The reason that there are "escape periods" built into the service contracts, etc. is because they have been pushed by shady high pressure salesmen and the escape period allows the customer to make a correct decision after cooler heads prevail.

Those salesmen are hardly starving, even if they are selling at "invoice" or below. There are holdbacks, advertising allowances, etc. remitted to the dealer by the manufacturer that we never hear about that reduce the dealer's wholesale cost of the car. If he were truly selling below their cost a dealer wouldn't last long, would they?

Jbuttler thinks he got a good deal. I'm sure that the dealer would have been happy if he had kept the add-ons, but even with cancelling them I'll bet that the salesman's kids will have shoes this winter.

 

I am glad this worked for you. Here in Tennessee, you can cancel the extended warranty, but the refund check is sent to the financing bank, and the balance is reduced from your loan amount. The payments however stay the same.

With our Mazda CX-5, we were able to get our refund paid to us directly, because we submitted a lien release when we canceled. We had this because we also refinanced our loan a week after we purchased the car, so we were not required to surrender the refund to our Credit union who refinanced the loan.

 

I'm at work now but give me a couple hours and I will would get you the answer you need.

 

Don't hold your chest, hold you stomachs laughing. I made a deal on a car. Had I paid $500 for for two day cool-off I could have returned the CAR to the dealer. I purchased something that had a 60 day cool-off period and used it to my advantage. Good job using the two adjective "Immoral and Unethical" because those always go good with "car salesman". If the law says I can do something and I do it that is not cheating. I do have a full body mirror in my room and I use it daily before I go to work and guess what I see, I'm smiling as approximately $5000 are credited back to my account. Anything else you want to say Ma'am?

 

although not my personal way of buying a car, i don't fault the OP for doing this. it works for him, and has done it in the past.

i buy some sort of vehicle new every year. we all have our mehods that we think work best in getting the best deal. mebbie i am a better negotiator. if i don't like the deal, and it is not favorable, i walk. i don't play games.

 

This is correct. If you cancel after the financing is fully approved you will get the total reduce which will lower your payments. If not, just like he said, the refund will be deducted from your loan balance and the payment will remain. At this point it would be best to refinance at the lower amount. My original loan through Honda Financial Service was about $24,500 down to $19,000 when I refinanced with my bank.

 

what was your downpayment? trade in value toward fit?

 

For those that want to know. The refund process took about ten minutes. I went straight to the finance offices in the back and ask to talk to someone about a service plan. They ushered me in to an office and a guy came in after about a minute. I told him "I don't want these anymore, please issue a refund."...I'm sorry to hear that...blah, blah, blah. "please issue the refund". Typing, typing some more, "here you go Sir and thanks for your business." Nothing special. I did highlight where it says that I have 60 days so he knew I read it, don't know if that helped. I've done the same the other times too and never had any problems with a refund.

 

Good for you op! Beat the system. I mean its there so it would be fair at least to the consumer. One way or another they're still making money regardless.

If you were one of my good friends in real life I would call you a con and we'd laugh about it

 

You have a 2005 Fit? Weird. My Fit was the first one my dealership received in May, 2006. Maybe California dealerships got their lot one calendar year and two model years earlier than Arizona.

 

trick and deceptive plays are weaselly when your team is on the receiving end; but when you benefit it suddenly becomes great strategy.

no less a weasel move, just a different spin.

 

I was in Japan from 2005-2009 which is when I fell in love with the car.

 

All I have to say to that is ... Touché