Go in, tell them you have decided not to buy a car, and ask for the deposit to be refunded. Keep it simple, don't get drawn into discussion of your reasons, and be persistent. Remind them that their salesman told you that the deposit was refundable.

I'm not saying that this will be immediately successful, but if the dealer sees that you are persistent they may find it to be easier to refund your money than to have an unhappy customer in their showroom in earshot of other customers.

Making any sort of deposit is not a good idea. It doesn't guarantee that any particular car will be "yours" but it does guarantee that you are a captive of that dealer when the car you want shows up elsewhere. If someone shows up with cash in hand they will happily sell "your" car to them because they have you on that deposit "leash."

 

Wanted to update. I went back to the dealer near me. Yes it was Jeff Wyler in Florence ky. The sales guy I worked with was Larry. Not sure if I should post last names. He seemed like a cool guy. Well I called and emailed him telling him I had the opportunity to get the same car for a better price. He called me back and said the sales manager wouldn't budge but he'd try. He wanted me to get the best deal and if not with them, I'd get my deposit back. Of course he calls me back a few days later and said "cars in! I know you want to see it, come check it out and we'll see what we can do. " I go in Thursday, mind you I wasn't expecting it for another week or two. I didn't see the car but I went in and Larry gets the sales manager Dan. ( I wouldnt recommend anyone to deal with Dan.)

I use to be in sales. I know those trigger words you say to try and close the deal with our a rebuttal. Dan seems to have no clue I'm looking for a better deal. So i told him what my options are. He is hesitant but asks to see my emails. I show him. An hour later, he agrees but I have to finance today. OK no problem. Oh but now larry tells me the cars not actually here yet. But it should be in tomorrow. I told them sounds a bit odd to finance a car not here. He said nothing will go to the bank yet til I take delivery. Dan comes back offering me a ridiculous rate ( 10%, 8% or 7.5%). I was already approved for a 4% else where. I tell them no way. He says I'll get my deposit back when my wife returns with me and I say that sounds great.
I truly didn't want to give them my business but figured if they could match the price we could agree and I'd get the car next day and be done.

That's at least 3 lies I got from them. Lets add them up:
1. All dealerships are doing markups since that cars are hard to find.
2. With the initial amount we agreed on, i was told my rate would be no higher than 5%. They offered me 7.5 at lowest. My scores are over 650. Ill come back to this.
3.the car was in; clearly was not.
4. When I told him I was approved at 4% with another bank, he said that bank requires $3000 down and I can't finance the additional charges ( taxes, registration, etc. ) TOTAL LIE!
5. Larry told me since my deposit was still held and the wife and I were coming in Saturday, we had till then to think it over. The car would still be held.
I called Dan on Friday to find out the car was not held since we couldn't agree and it was offered to the next in line. Dan was not empathetic. I could tell he could care less. Made me feel like he really wanted my business,. Not!
After its all done, I am sooo happy to not give them my business. There is no integrity here.
I have 2 credit cards. I'm at less than 25% used based on credit line. I work for a large bank. I know credit in and out. I owe 1500 on a car being paid off in less than a month. I was approved for 25k with the other bank. The rate I was quoted was higher than a friend's who has student loans, credit cards close to credit lines. And scores I believe not even at 600. Come on now.

So today we got our deposit returned. I go in there and they are having a tent sale or something. Lots of sales people there. 2 people said I'll go get Larry. Larry NEVER SHOWS HIS FACE! Guess he realized he was wrong and my sale was a lost cause. Dan comes over gets the card we used, gives the receipt to me showing the refund and says Larry will be right over. I got a flyer in the mail for a free item if we came in. Why not? We're already there. Id say literally 6 or so sales people come ask if we've been helped. Finally one just takes us and asks why we won't buy. I let him know exactly why. I won't be treated this way. So we drove to Jeff Wyler Colerain in Ohio. A rep there was the one offering me the car at msrp with a free accessory. She offered me an awesome rate. Prices of add ons are much lower than Jeff Wyler in Florence. I will post the totals after we're done. She expects the car in this upcoming week. Fingers crossed! Thanks for all the input! I'll update when I hear something. ☺

 

I'm glad you got it sorted out, but sorry that you go tangled up in it in the first place.

They said that they wouldn't refund your deposit until your wife came in? Talk about a delaying tactic!

 

Weird that the Jeff Wyler in Florence wouldn't match the deal from Jeff Wyler in Colerain. They're the same company! At least you're getting a better deal. It looks like I dodged a bullet not buying from Jeff Wyler Florence. I'll still go there for my services. They do a good job with that. If you do get services there, ask for Dylan to set you up, she's awesome.

 

They would match the deal but tried to bull crap me on the down payment with financing. I guess that was a tactic to get me to go with American Honda financing but what makes zero since is Florence offers me I believe the exact rate was 7.44%. Colerain said at 72 months I'd be looking at 5 so my other financing may work better but if I did 60 months I could get 1.9%
Florence would of been so much more convenient. I live in Burlington. I literally have to pass them everyday to get home. So when I do now ill remember the way they treated me.
Thanks for the info on the service. I will remember that.

 

It sucks to hear you had such a bad experience. But let me give you a few words advice from a Honda salesperson's experience, which will reaffirm some of the replies already in this post.

First, only leave a deposit on a car after agreeing to a deal. Leaving the door open to once the car arrives leaves too many variables that can go ugly. At the same time, it's never cool for a customer to agree on a deal, then call the next day saying they got a better price from someone else and asked for it to be matched. No customer would want a dealer to call them a day after agreeing on a price, to inform them that they are increasing it for any reason, right?

So agree to your price, and at that point honor your agreement and stop shopping.

Second, if the car is in transit and is set to arrive in a few weeks, then that means the dealer has to have the vin number...

Which leads to three, when ever you leave a deposit for a car ALWAYS GET A COMPLETE BUYERS ORDER!!! This should include all your information, year, make, model, trim, color and VIN of the car you are reserving, in addition to the selling price and signatures from a manager.

Read the order carefully. Some dealers might give you a price subject you finance with them, which should be stated on the order. If no details are given, the price you agreed upon should be the same regardless if you paid cash or financed, even if it's with your personal bank.

Next, I wouldn't go over rates or anything until the car arrives. Bank programs change from month to month, so there's no point going over this until the car arrives. I would, however, check with your local bank or credit union and see what they are offering and what you qualify. It gives you a good indication of what you should be looking for.

As far as price goes, my dealer is selling Fits at MSRP with no accessories or fees tacked on. This is one of the reasons why one of the members drove here three hours for his Yellow Fit. Everything agreed upon over the phone was honored when he arrived. No games.

That being said, other dealers near me are charging over MSRP. To be fair, they have a right to. Just like some people put PS4s on eBay for over MSRP and get some people to buy. If a dealer has a car you want, but you are not comfortable with their asking price, it's simple. You don't have to buy it from them.

It all depends what the car is worth to you. Years ago I drove two and a half hours when I bought my Mugen Si. Everyone was charging MSRP or more for them. To me, the car was worth it. We agreed on a price I was comfortable with and we proceeded forward.

Driving an hour or two for a car is worth it to me, if it's what you want. Think of it this way. Why would you drive hours to go on a vacation, yet you can't do the same for a car, which you will have for many years and use everyday?

Again, these are just some tips and advice from my end, which of course you may or may not agree with.

If you do have any more questions or need some advice, just send me a pm and I'll assist you anyway I can.

Best of luck to you!!

 

Check credit unions for their rates. Mine 1.9 %. google credit unions there is usually one you can join. I am in Naval credit union. I got out in 1964 but the fact that I was in qualified me. Don't pay Honda's rate.

 

We also pre-arranged financing with Navy Federal Credit Union. Best decision I ever made was keeping that account after I left the Navy in 1977. Gotta love the 1.9% rate they offer!

 

After looking for three months, I was able to buy two EX CVTs, within three days of each other. One was three hours away, and one was one hour away. In both cases, I paid list price with no add-ons. You should be able to do likewise. You have to decide if spending extra money is worth it to get the car nearby.

 

I got the same 1.9% on both Fits through Honda. My credit union was offering 3.5%.

 

I have found that not all Credit Unions are created equal. We have several, and the Navy Federal Credit Union had the best rates.

 

Wow, I am getting old....My Wife just pointed out to me that our rate was 1.79% (not 1.9%). In fact, had we been willing to go with 36 months or less, the rate would have been 1.49%. I can't help but think rates will be going up soon, should the Federal Reserve start raising rates. It was not that long ago 3.9% was considered a good low rate.

 

The positive out come of this thread is that you should shop for the best interest rates . Amazing how much of a difference there is.

 

Car makers, like Honda, often subsidize their loan rates just to sell cars. I took advantage of that. I think I'm paying about $500 interest for a five-year loan, and my son is paying even less.

 

Honda financial often offers 0.9% for 36 mos and 1.9% for 60. A local dealer was offering 0% for 60 for a limited time on the then new 14 Accords.

On my last car loan, my credit union had offered me 1.65 and the manufacturer was offering 1.9 but you got a 500 dollar cash inventive to finance with them. So, I took the 1.9 and refinanced with my credit union a few weeks later. Best of both worlds.

As others have posted, credit unions tend to be pretty good for low rate car loans . Remember too, if the best rate you get is only "ok" and you are comfortable proceeding, you can always refinance as your credit score improves. I had a friend who not too long ago had a loan at 10%!!! I told him he NEEDED to refinance that ASAP. He got smart and got rid of the vehicle.

 

If you have to finance I prefer the simplicity of getting it approved at a credit union and then being able to negotiate the price of the car directly.

Doing the financing at a dealer complicates the situation terribly, as they can play games with down payment, loan duration, interest rate, and purchase price. With so many variables in the mix, the "pros" can pretty much snow us amateurs with numbers.

One ploy is to get the us focused on the monthly payment and then sneak a longer term into the loan paperwork. If discovered, they will apologize for "thinking that you wanted a longer term" and voilą, your payment zips way up.

Even if the rate is a few tenths higher, you're safer with the credit union than with the "pros" at the dealer finance desk. A tenth of a percent is worth about $25 on a three year loan on a Fit.

 

Right. Usually, financing with the dealer is a major bargaining point. When I bought a Civic, I financed with the dealer because I got some kind of financial advantage. The salesman said all I had to do was keep their loan for three months and then finance with my credit union, which is what I did.

Buying both Fits was completely different. My CU approved a loan ahead of time at 3.5%. Honda offered 1.9% for any amount - even full purchase price - and any length of time. My son and I took the five year plan, and we'll probably pay them off early.

By the way, you can have your bank make automatic payments, so you're always on time and don't have to write and mail checks. Also, if you make payments for half the monthly amount every two weeks, you will substantially reduce the interest you pay. One of the salesman was a math genius, and he explained why that's the smart thing to do.

 

Both GeorgeL and SilverEX15 are right,

There are pros and cons to financing with the dealer, or in reality, with the manufacturers bank, since that's who you would be paying your car note to.

Yes, do check with your credit union or bank and see what rates they have.

Yes, do agree on a selling price with the dealer and move on from there.

Keep in mind, like SilverEX15 said, that at times you can get a better selling price by financing with the manufacturer. Having worked for a Lexus dealer up until this spring, we had vehicles that would have cash rebates for up to $1,000, which the bank was giving to customers who financed with them. So if the best price the dealer could give you is $40,000, you could lower that to $39,000 if you financed with the bank. You would lose the extra grand discount if you payed cash or went with your credit union since it was Lexus Financial, not the dealer, who was giving the extra discount.
The only thing the bank required is that you finance a minimum of $10,000 and have to make at least four payments, before paying the loan off completely or refinancing with someone else.

Like everything in this world, there are pros in cons all the time.

 

Yes, finance rebates do occasionally come along. The rebate is the bait, the loan is the hook. They're hoping that the hassle or penalties of refinancing will be too much so you'll stick with their loan.

Personally, I like to keep things simple. Anything that involves pages of fine print is not likely to be to my advantage and there is a very real chance of deception that will cost me far more than the advertised savings.

In the old days, sales and finance people would get additional commissions for getting customers to finance with the dealer/manufacturer. Often the purchase price could be lower if the customer was going to finance. I remember my father going all the way through the process talking up the financing and at the end of it pulling out his checkbook and paying in full. He said that he got a better price that way. I don't know if the pressure to finance is as prevalent these days.

 

Well car was expected within 2 weeks as of earlier this week. I get an email the car came in today! ! Woo hoo! Picking it up Saturday. Can't wait. Ill post pics and update price after 😀💖🚘