Pumpkintacos, if you aren't happy with the out the door price of the 17s and soon to be 18s, why not consider another car altogether? The Fit is an ok car, but it is not, in my opinion, the best car for everyone. I had one for all of 12 months and ditched it because of all the issues I had with it. There are a lot of great cars out there without a Honda badge on them. The best of the best deals going right now are the Toyota iA. It's a Mazda2 sedan and it's as much of a handler as the Fit. If a sedan suits your needs, I'd strongly consider that car. I drove one recently and can attest if you like the Fit, you'd like the iA as well. Right now, the car with automatic and standard features (including safety suite) lists at $17935. The icing on the cake... everyone gets a $2000 rebate and most dealers are willing to knock a few hundred off without much of an effort. Imagine your new ride, at less than $18000 OUT THE DOOR (all in). That way you'd have a great new car for thousands less than a Fit and no aggravation in the showroom. You need a new car you say, so why not expand your choices?

 

I can't say I am unhappy with the price because I don't know it yet. Honda gave me a price for the 2017 that I feel is high but that is without negotiating. I will see how low I can negotiate a 2018 down.

I can't see myself driving a sedan, at all, and I think the Toyota Yaris is BUTT ugly. I've pretty much fallen in love with the Fit. It's the first car I've ever actually wanted to buy for myself and call my own. Every car I've ever had was just a hand me down. Sure I can spend 18k out the door on another car, but if I don't love the car it's just a big waste of money to me. Also, no car is perfect, you're going to find things you dislike about any car.

 

To each his own Pumpkintacos. If you are set on a Fit, then a Fit you shall get. Then why even bring up pricing as you will eventually spend close to what the dealer already quoted you on a 17 and another $800+ for the 18. There is a fine line between what the dealers will 'knock off' on their lowest profit margin vehicle. Expect no more than $500 off list and then add your (outrageous) documentation fees, tax, and (again outrageous) DMV costs. Anyway you look at it, that Fit if an 18 and it's true it's another $800 more than a 17, will set you back $22k or so. By the way, forget about what others say when they state how much they paid for their Fits. Reality is that the best you'll ever get from a Honda cash purchase on a Fit is about $500 and that's a stretch at best.

 

I brought up pricing at all because the number was so much higher than what I've seen here in other threads. That was also before I knew you could negotiate price on a new car. I didn't know you could even do this, I just thought the price was the price and you had no leverage. I thought you could only negotiate older cars. I'm going to see what the invoice price is when they arrive and see if I can get it close to that. This dealership seems to be marking things up a lot. I'm already pre-approved for a loan so that should show I'm serious, also I have a 9k down payment. We'll see.

 

Hmmm. Then how would you explain how I managed to knock $1500 off list on my '16 LX in Feb. 2016? No trade, cash purchase. Seems to contradict your statement.

Dealerships count on the fact that most folks don't like to negotiate. Savvy shoppers know when to walk away from an offer, because there's always another one waiting somewhere, if not at that dealer, then somewhere else.

On that $1500 off list deal, I started to walk out not once, but twice. The dealership started with the salesperson - who was a young guy not skilled at negotiation - then brought in the "heavy", the sales manager, to see if he could work on me some more. Neither tactic worked. I really needed a vehicle, having lost my GD3 to a red light runner at high speed, so it wasn't a good spot for me to be in. I had been without my own vehicle for a month and hated the rental (Hyundai Veloster). So you might think that I was not bargaining from a position of strength, but in the end, I held out and got what I wanted.

 

Bargainguy, post your sales contract for all to see and maybe we'll become believers. $1500 off list? I just checked with my brother in law who works as a salesman for Honda part time. A 2016 LX CVT carried only a $335 holdback, no manufacturer to dealer incentives, and a $440 gross margin. That means the best they could do to break even would have been $776 off. If you managed to get $1500 off, then that had to have been on a dealer 'enhanced' vehicle with a lot of low value, high dollar add-ons. By the way, my bro in law says Honda never had a manufacturer to dealer incentive anywhere in the US on this version of the Fit. Come on, I'm calling your bluff... post that contract so we all can see.

 

I will admit to one error: I was going from memory. It wasn't $1500, it was $1138. Attached find a copy of the contract with relevant portions redacted.

Dealer Retail Price: 17,425.00
Services Fee: 219.00
Discount: 1,138.00

Total Price (b/4 tax) 16,506.00

This was for a completely stock 2016 LX / CVT, no add-ons, additional markup, options, etc. No trades, no incentives, no anything else.

So explain to me how this works. Apparently I did a lot better than your bro-in-law who claims max $776 off.

 

When you say documentation fee are you referring to the documentation/delivery fee on the window sticker before the final price or an additional documentation fee? If it's the first one that's on the window sticker then you have to pay it. If it's an additional fee than that's just some dealer BS to increase the price. The DMV fee is whatever it is. You're not getting out of that. Same for taxes. Uncle Sam wants his share. Obviously the better you are at negotiating the price the less tax you'll be paying. Even though I don't see a huge difference in that,

So basically find out about the documentation fee, and see if it's the one in the window sticker and use a buying service, research on Trucecar, brush up on your negotiating skills or pay what they're asking. Keep in mind, the Fit is a low profit Auto so don't expect huge discount. Same can be said about others at that price point in the sub compact class

 

That fee covers transport, a tech doing a pre delivery inspection that may or may not include installation of items not put on at the assembly plant for fear of breakage during delivery and paperwork fees. I wouldn't call it "pure profit"

 

Still not a believer Bargainguy, then again, your price before tax is looking leaner and leaner. Here is how it works for Honda dealers nationwide... the dealer pays a certain amount for the car, plus they have costs to finance inventory and pay their overhead. Those costs must be recouped or the dealer will go under. Cost to the dealer is not invoice btw. It's calculated as follows: invoice price + freight - holdback - manufacturer to dealer incentive(s). Your car cost the dealer this much: invoice (16,150) + freight (835) - holdback (350) - incentives (0) = 16,635. The dealer also has some interest costs and overhead to make off the car as well, so their true cost is actually higher. The finance dept supports itself by direct fees (doc fees), the rest is recouped by making an adequate profit on the cars sold. You claim to have paid 129 less than COST (not invoice) and if your 'service fees' are doc fees, you actually claim to have paid 348 less than it cost the dealer. A definite loss leader for that dealer. I can tell you, without seeing proof, that deal never happened. I just discussed this with my bro in law as I wrote this and he about fell off his chair. He knows his stuff, I know it because of him, and neither of us believes it. Something, somewhere else in the deal shifted costs around to increase the 'discount'.

 

So you don't believe the actual contract? I called your bluff. Kinda hard to not believe the $1138 on the Discount line under Price of the Vehicle (c).

Well, I guess I've been driving a nonexistent Fit all this time, commenting on it, accessorizing it (see my pix of the Sony aftermarket stereo and Aries 3D mats installed), and enjoying it. Hope your bro didn't hurt himself when he fell off his chair.

 

Lmaoooooo

 

ok Bargainguy... you got the dealer on a good day or they really wanted to get rid of that car. They obviously sold it under cost and there had to be a reason for them doing so. You bought in Winter so maybe they sold enough Pilots and CRvs to make their profit margins for the month. Good for you. But it's really not fair to say to people like Pumpkintacos that he/she should expect to get such a deal, because that is not a reality and certainly won't be on a newly released 18.

 

No no I know for sure I won't get a deal near that good, but good for you Bargainguy, that's awesome.

 

Bingo.

Does'nt matter what he paid, you paid or what I paid. All that matters is what the dealers in anyone's area are willing to sell it for. You can bring in all the documentation of what others paid that you want. The dealerships response is going to be something in the order of go fly or drive to that dealership and drive it back or pay to have it transported back. I drove 60 miles from where I live to buy a car $300 cheaper because the dealers in my area were pretty much in unison on pricing. I figured it was only two extra hours of my time and $10-12 in gas. Would I have driven 5 hours for $300 probably not? It would have had to have been a bigger difference. That being said I'm sure other wouldn't have driven the 60 miles for $300? Well maybe not from this group of penny pinchers?

 

Well, I bought the car/signed the contract on Feb. 2nd, so it's not exactly like the dealership had enough time to sell a whole lot of anything that month.

I never meant to imply that the OP could get the same deal I did, but it sure doesn't hurt to try. I did everything I could to get the best deal: Costco buying program price as baseline for a no-haggle deal, internet shopped six different Honda dealers, gave them all the same opportunity to bid for my business, did further negotiation with the Honda dealer I eventually dealt with. It's not rocket science. It's persistence and knowing what you're willing to pay.

 

"We"? You and the mouse in your pocket? I think the invoice has a lot more credibility than second-hand info from a car salesman.

 

IDK. I have a 2017 LX MT. MSRP is/was $16,965. I paid $16,100 or $865 off. No trade in to squew what someone really pays. The $1,100 might be correct for a dealer who really wanted to move the car. What you're not seeing is if they sold your loan and how much they made on that? Also not seeing if for sake of discussion the interest rate for your credit was say 4% but they gave you 5% and are making that point. There a whole lot more to the profit than strictly the numbers on his invoice.

 

If you're talking about my invoice, it was a cash deal with no financing. I put a $500 deposit down when I signed the contract and paid the balance in full the next day. There was no loan, no interest, no points.

 

Again that's odd that you got such a deal. The dealer makes less money on cash sales. Maybe they didn't know that when negotiating? Anyway good for you.