2017 EX-L CVT for $20,084 plus tax and fees.

DaveGee

 

Houston, Nov 29, 2017 LX with CVT, modern steel metallic, wrote them a $18,000 check. I love the car for what it was designed to do.

Another competing dealer said I paid around $300 too much. But, talk is cheap in the car business. Don't they love to tack on outrageous fees? Some of them made me laugh. Most dealers around Houston tack on dealer added options like window tint $300, nitrogen $300, sealant $200, and thief protection $600. Just go in the dealer and tell them you wanted nothing added on, no Honda accessories and no dealer added features.

 

Nice.

 

Wow! That thief protection doesn't work because if you pay that $600 to the dealer then you've just been robbed.

 

My OTD was $18102. I had a trade-in and they gave an extra $500 off so after all was said and done I wrote a check for $14400. Southeastern Honda in Palm Bay, FL was the dealership and now I own a beautiful blue '17 LX Fit

 

For the record, I did not pay or bought anything that the dealer offered.

 

Right on!

It's impossible to get Honda dealers here in SoCal to budge on price. It's just the way it is

 

So I just bought my Fit yesterday and am still awaiting delivery. I drove a 2000 Honda Insight for 13 years starting my junior year in high school so this was a BIG step for me. First ever car purchase at the age of 29. Please please please let me know what you think about the price I got. Looking through the thread I feel like I got a pretty average price. Not bad, but not amazing either. Here goes:

Location: Salt Lake City, UT
Model: 2017 Honda Fit LX, 6spd MT Modern Steel Metallic
Purchase Price: $15,901
Sales Tax: $1,116
License & Registration: $85
Property Assessment: $150
Waste Tire Recycling: $5
Doc Fee: $299
Maintenance: $99?????
OTD Price: $17,655
-$4,000 down payment. Financed $13,655 at 2.94% APR for 60 months.
Monthly payment= $245

 

The sales price is right on, but interesting in regards to the line items. Don't you love the dealer tagging on those fees, trying to make additional money? I googled the following for the state of Utah...
Utah collects a 6.85% state sales tax rate on the purchase of all vehicles. Some dealerships may also charge a dealer documentation fee of 149 dollars. The maximum tax that can be charged is 900 dollars. In addition to taxes, car purchases in Utah may be subject to other fees like registration, title, and plate fees.

 

Wow, really??? I haven't officially closed on this deal and am more than willing to talk to the Finance Manager some more tomorrow. I'm not sure that $900 sales tax cap is correct though honestly. Perhaps they meant the max doc fee is $900, although I know Utah has no cap on that. On that note though, the average doc fee in Utah is $305. I would love to know where they get the max sales tax is $900. I'm pretty sure a $50,000 car bought in Utah is going to have more sales tax than $900.

What gets me though is the fact that they included the Doc Fee as part of the taxable amount. That's how they were able to get what they got for the sales tax.

https://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/w...pay.html#chart

 

I hope it works out for you...The doc fee is beyond local customary. I am not sure if the $149 max by law in Utah or what?
https://www.salestaxhandbook.com/uta...s-tax-vehicles

 

Thanks! I'll let you know how it goes :-)

 

Why are they charging a waste tire recycling fee? I've seen that when getting replacement tires, but this is a brand new car and tires come on it at delivery. Also what's the maintenance for? I'd see if you can try the eliminate those fees if it's still possible.

Another thing I'd do is shop credit unions for the loan. You can get much better interest rate from a CU versus a bank. I thought Honda was doing .9% financing for qualified buyers right now too. Current Offers and Leases on New Honda Cars - Official Website

 

Alright, so here's an update after OFFICIALLY signing for my new car tonight! I'm picking up the Fit tomorrow morning as it just arrived today! :-)

1. Per the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, all new vehicles are charged a fee of $1/tire. 4 tires with 1 spare comes out to $5, so that explains that: Utah DEQ: Programs: Waste Tires

2. The current Honda financing offer of up to 0.9% APR financing only applies to 2016 year models. This makes sense considering Honda is obviously trying to offload all of its 2016s. This is Honda-wide as well, not just dealer specific.

3. My 2.94% APR came through the dealership which uses local credit unions located throughout the SLC area. My auto credit score (different from a standard consumer credit score) is 783 and the best rate I could get through the credit unions was 2.94%. That being said, I was able to secure a rate of 2.71% via Pentagon Federal Credit Union (widely known and accepted as offering some of the best auto loan rates in the industry). USAA offered me 3.35% The reason I did not go with PFCU was because the dealership obviously wanted my business, so they knocked $240 off the purchase price and included 2 years of auto maintenance for free. As a result, I saved money by going with the 2.94% APR due to the $240 price reduction.

4. Although I did not initially include this as part of my original post, the agreed upon purchase price was $16,000 not $15,901. They took $99 off the purchase price and then included it later on as a $99 "Maintenance" fee. Really all this is is an accounting trick that is sending $99 over to the service department so they get a cut. So really the purchase price is $16,000 just as we agreed upon.

5. The state of Utah puts no limit on the Doc fee with the average fee being $305. The dealer "claimed" that they are required by law to charge this doc fee and that there is no way around it. They even claimed the last time they purchased a car for themselves at the dealership they had to pay the fee. I told them I understood all dealerships have doc fees but I point blank asked them if it is required by state law to subject the doc fee to the 6.85% sales tax. According to the Utah State Tax Commission, dealers are ALLOWED to do this, but nowhere does it say they are required to do so. Two different salesman point blank told me they are required to. I'm still not sure if I believe them re: "required" but I decided I wasn't going to throw a fit over $20.48.

6. The claim that dealers are not allowed to charge over $900 in sales tax is patently false. Nowhere is that written in any tax code anywhere, but just thinking about it, it makes no sense. Cars are goods just like the rest of the commodities we purchase and it would make zero sense that you only charge $900 in sales tax on a fully loaded Cadillac Escalade as you do a Mitsubishi Mirage. Cars are taxed the local sales tax rate regardless of price.

I hope that was informative/helpful to a few! More than happy to answer any questions! SUPER excited to finally pick the Fit up tomorrow morning! I've been driving manuals my whole life but never a 6 speed

 

Congratulations. Let see some pictures after you pick it up.

 

A fellow Insight driver! I have a 2003 5-speed myself with over 300k miles on it. Unfortunately it's time to either replace the battery or get a new car, and the Fit has piqued my interest. I'd be really interested to hear how the Fit works out for you as a former Insight driver.

 

I drove a first gen Insight off and on for a while, great car! The Fit is awesome too and more practical than the Insight in my opinion. Welcome to the Fit Freak Frambly!

 

Oh man that is awesome! It was always my goal to try and get over 300k miles with my Spacepod, but I fell 27,000 miles short. The frequency and cost of the repairs just became too much and too often to justify continuing to sink money into it, and since the Fit was always a car I always admired, that's what I went with. Plus, I've been a Honda guy my whole life.

So on that note, I picked up the Fit this morning at the dealership and I have to admit it felt like Christmas morning. I drove it 60 miles today to work and then home and I averaged 44.2 mpg. I know the EPA says 29 in the city and 36 on the highway so this was a MASSIVE pleasant surprise for me. And this was in stop and go bumper to bumper traffic in the middle of a combined rain/snow storm. Granted, I was driving it like I drive the Insight by using all the tricks I learned over the last 13 years (using momentum to my advantage, gentle acceleration, using the lowest gear possible, anticipating traffic, and coasting in neutral on the downhills). Also, I'm well aware that the mpg reading isn't completely accurate based on some of the forums I've read. Still, I wasn't expecting to achieve that kind of fuel efficiency just based on the EPA rating.

One thing I do have a concern over though is the inability to put the seat back as far as I'd like. With the Spacepod, I could really put the seat back (I'm 6'0" and have really long legs) and never dealt with knee or leg cramps. In the Fit though, I was already starting to cramp in my right knee and leg even with the seat all the way back. Any advice or insight would be awesome from any of you.

 

Funny, my Fit's name is SpacePod Elroy.

 

Raise the front of the seat. Plenty of posts on the subject, link in my sig. Congrats, btw!