I'm moving to Wichita Falls, TX the beginning of September (09). I'm moving from Japan to Texas so I will be arriving without a car, and will need to get one as fast as I can (so waiting til the end of the month is not likely). I don't know much about buying new vehicles, and I've never lived in Texas before so I don't know what's "normal" price wise for that state.

The only dealership that sells Honda (that I could find online) in that area is Patterson Auto Group. Their prices range from $16,020 to $19,630. This seems to include tinted windows and some type of security system. (Which I'm perfectly happy including.)

We're planning on getting the Sport, which seems to be about $17,580. How fair is the price in relation to the State I'm living in? How much lower should I bargain?

Any advice?

Thanks.

 

with the 2010's usually coming in around that time you might be able to get a better deal just because the dealer wants to clean out their inventory. if you're not picky about color, that is.

as far as prices they appear to be pretty consistent.

 

Those prices sound quite high. Here are some prices that I have been quoted from a dealer in California (not the one I bought from):

2009 BASE 5 SPEED $14,105.59
2009 BASE 5-SPEED AUTOMATIC $14,873.62
2009 SPORT 5 SPEED $15,555.25
2009 SPORT 5-SPEED AUTOMATIC $16,371.28
2009 NAVI 5 SPEED $17,331.32
2009 NAVI 5-SPEED AUTOMATIC $18,147.36

If they won't go down in price, you would be better off driving to a distant city where there is more competition. Get quotes from several dealers online... Make an Excel spreadsheet of all the quotes, and then haggle back and forth with the best 3 or 4 to get the lowest price.

 

My friend got a Fit auto sport(non-navi) for 16,900 out the door. I paid a little more for my fit auto sport(non navi). These cars were both purchased in Houston.

That is one hell of a move from Japan to Texas.

 

if it's the KARR alarm, I suggest doing some research into it. many (all i heard from, actually) hate it and find it useless.

 

Ok, so KARR is bad and I need to make sure I ask what security system they're using. Lets say it's KARR and I tell them I want it taken off because it's crap. Could I ask them to install a different security system? If so, what should I request? If they can't--or won't--how much should I ask off the total price?

Yes, I'm looking for the Non-Navi version of the Sport. (I like Stability Control but I'm not paying for a crappy Navi system. :P)

It looks like I should be able to haggle them down to BELOW 17K and still be reasonable.

I also plan on putting a down payment of 4K to 5K.

And yes it IS. I hate moving international! (Especially when I'm dragging two cats with me.) It's a lot of stress and you end up without any of your stuff for almost 2 months. Blarg. But I'm looking forward to going Stateside despite it all!

 

yes haggle and make the poor sales consultant work 500 times hard for 100-150 bucks. want a good deal, get a FAIR price about 19,600 out the door on a 09 fit with navi and tell the consultant to add the over inflated accessories to the deal. each dealer will beat the other by 10-50 bucks when you get to haggling. you will have a MUCH better experience with your dealership. i usually end up treating my customers pretty poorly when it comes down to the 10-50 bucks on a deal because no matter what we do, you the customer will still screw us in the end on our survey, which takes more money out of our pocket.

btw 19,600 is about 500 above invoice here in NC.

 

Ah, I know this is a dumb question but I'm asking it anyway.

Tax and Title and stuff.... can the dealership handle that or do I have to?

 

dealership handles tax, title and all paper work for your financing and state paper work. that is what a dealer documentation fee is for.

 

The inventory of new Fits is very high, like 100 days, so you have that on your side. Likewise, sales too.
Do your homework and THEN go to the dealer.
1. Find the invoice on the car you want on Edmunds orcredit union, whatever.
Since you apparently don't have a trade-in offer them a price in cash halfway between the MSRP and the invoice, plus taxes, tags, and licenses with a documentation fee not more than $200*.. If he's anywhere near strauight forward he'll take it. If he wants to add more than that with warranties, be aware that Majestic Honda sells the 100K warranaty from Honda for under $500. The dealer handles taxes, tags,license, etc.
If he wants to rape you lower your offer to $100 over invoice.
And be ready to go to another dealer, even if far away. He has to face Honda warranty regardless of where it was bought.
Be aware that if he doesn't have the exact car you want he can do a dealer trade. Or you can internet search inventories to find exactly what you want and go straight to that dealer.

* and if you need the ealer financing you can still base it on your offer, with the loan amount being the difference after down payment.
good luck.

 

I would e-mail dealers in bigger cities (Richardson, Oklahoma City) for quotes and use the lowest quote you get as a starting point with this dealer. Don't pay a premium to buy the car in Wichita Falls. Above all, DO NOT negotiate at the dealer if you want the best price. DO NOT set foot on a dealer's lot without having a firm price from them emailed to you in writing. Make them give you a written breakdown of all charges (base price + tax + license + doc fee) for a total OUT THE DOOR price. If Wichita Falls won't play ball, there are other dealers within a two hour drive.

 

I'm not inclined to have much sympathy for car salespeople. Car dealers have had an unlevel playing field for decades, and now that people are able to comparison shop between dealers just like purchasing a TV, it's somehow unfair. Cry me a river. The fact still remains that for every educated "unprofitable" customer, there are five others that have no clue as to what a good price is. And I wouldn't pay $19,600 for the navi any day of the week. Even Cars Direct (which isn't hard to beat) is offering the car at $19,100. It's probably even cheaper through Costco.

 

One more thing, for everyone here with excellent credit. You can join PenFed Credit Union and get 3.9% financing for 5 years. They send you a blank check, so you can negotiate just like you were paying cash ... that way the dealer can't play games with the financing part of the equation.

 

and to think that the dealers do not realize this in this economical situation is pure stupidity. to not realize that there is hardly any profit in a new car is just as stupid. yes, shop around, i encourage my customers to do that, but to bust my balls over damn 100 bucks is bull crap. the car sales industry is the only damn place people feel like they have some sort of right to hassle a sales man. i bet you dont hassle walmart for the damn $10 pack of underwear and all you do with those is cover them in shit. do that tell walmart you only want to pay 2 bucks for you next pack of drawers and see how quickly they laugh at you.

19,100 is an out the door price at invoice, lets do the math 19,600 is 500 above. to the OP look at edmunds.com, thats what you should be paying in your market. print out that price, walk into a dealership demand that price and if they jerk you around walk out. if you have a trade let them appraise it and have a spare key. if they dont give you back your keys leave and call local athorities and BBB. buying a car is the easiest and can be fun. just trust your gut and if you like the dealership and your sales consultant then get the car there. the way you treat your sales man will determine how great of a deal you will get with that info from edmunds.com. do what chris says and some of these other folks and your in for a long long process. i will see what our fits cost us minus hold backs and see how much we acutally pay for the car. that should give you a good idea of what you should pay.

 

Baloney. You know and I know that by the time you play games with trade-ins, financing, extended warranties, paint sealant, etc. that a deal can be VERY profitable. If there was "hardly any profit" in selling new cars, nobody would be doing so.
YOU guys (dealers) are the ones that decide to run your dealerships on a pricing model that is based on haggling, not the consumer. If you don't want to have people haggling for the best deal, then set a fixed price. Walmart doesn't charge $99 for a package of underwear and expect you to have to bargain for 10 hours to get it to $9.99, where it should have been in the first place.
The price I "should" pay is not determined by what Edmunds says, it's determined by the price a dealer will sell the car to me. I could care less if *you* think I am paying less than I "should" pay for my car. If a dealer will sell the car to me for a particular price, why should I want to pay more? I bought my Fit Sport manual for $194 UNDER invoice with no destination fee. $15,491 including wheel locks. I spent about 30 minutes emailing several dealers to get the lowest price. It was not a hard process at all. Your assertion that there should be a fixed margin of profit for a dealer on every transaction is a load of manure.

 

dealers do that crap to make something that they lose on the price of the car. I admit that we charge 199 for painted pinstrips on a fit (which is ugly as hell on a fit) that cost us 30 bucks, which i think is crap but its the game that the whole process has pushed both the consumer and dealer into. Plus the 5-6 grand mark up on a used car makes up for the losses on a new car.

like you said profit can be made on trade-in, which im sure you got a low value for because "thats what there going for at auction," extended warrenties, and turning around and rapeing you on an intrest rate. I have seen a buy rate at 4% and tell you its 8%, which i also find wrong. if people just payed msrp, if each dealer was like carmax (no haggle) those things would probally be done. I make about 150-180 on a new car. I have no problem showing you my commision sheets. again im not telling to OP to go out and lay down and pay sticker plus for a car, hell i have offered to find out what we ACTUALLY pay. I think the Fit is one of the greatest cars we have on the road here in the states, I'd love to see the OP in a new Fit, and can't wait to congradulate him. All im saying is that you can get more of a deal if you find a fair price and get some accessories out of the deal.

There is being educated on a purchase, then there is thinking your so smart you screw yourself on an even better deal. Chris im not saying that your wrong, im saying that that if you have two quotes that are a few 100 bucks apart (200 at the most) tell the more pricer place to throw in all weather mats and the cargo tray that retails about 600 bucks, and cost the dealer maybe 150 and get some better stuff for your car without spending the 600 bucks out of pocket

 

If Karr was offered to me when i bought my Fit, I would have gotten it. The stock alarm that car with the Fit is useless.

 

Oh my oh my! No reason to get in a heated debate folks!

I could head towards Dallas or to Oklahoma to buy a car. But I'd really rather not. I don't know what my situation will be once I get to that area, so I don't know how easy it will be for me to go to other cities. Plus, that's a total of 4 hours for driving, not to mention the time it takes to buy the car. That's a long long day I'd rather not experience after everything else I'll be going through. (Move, buying a house, etc..)

Also, I've heard good things about Patterson. My husband is US Air Force (I'm his wife, so SHE not HE thanks!) and the dealership gives discounts for military personal. I expect to have a few hundred $$$ taken off just for that. They aren't commission based either, which ought to help alleviate some of the pressure. I really want to give them a fighting chance!

I'm trying for a reasonable price, mind, not the cheapest price. I did go to Edmunds to get some price comparisons like someone suggested. If Patterson is a few hundred more expensive I'll do as Egon suggests and ask for some mats or something along those lines to be included.

I know it sounds strange but I really try to buy local if I can help it. If they suck and won't work with us I'll go some place else, but I'd like to give them a chance first.

Our credit score is excellent, so I'm expecting to get a good interest rate on the car loan. I think we'll try for a local Credit Union for the loan rather than the dealership. And of course we're putting down a few thousand dollars, so it's not like I'm walking in empty handed either.

Thank you all for your suggestions! If you have anymore please post them!

 

check your credit union. hondas rates on the fit are not that great right now. thank you and your husband for your service. i just got out of the navy not to long ago.

 

If your husband is USAF, join PenFed CU -- www.penfed.org. You can't beat 3.99%. Good luck buying your new Fit, it is a great car. We've owned ours for less than a week and couldn't be happier.