America is not Thailand. If car dealerships in America treated people that way, they would be out of business in the first month.

"Honda President Takeo Fukui on Dec. 22 said the automaker may expand its factories in East Liberty, Ohio, and Alliston, Canada, to meet growing demand for its Civic and Fit compact cars if demand rises in 2006."

http://www.technologynews.info/017872.html

I can go to www.carsdirect.com right now and get a 2006 Civic DX 4 door for $14,616 (in my zip code area). MSRP on it is $15,110.

I can get a 2006 Civic LX 4 door for $16,645. MSRP is $17,060.

I can get a 2006 Civic EX 4 door for $18,241. MSRP is $18,810.

There are no shortages of the 2006 Honda Civic, yet the Civic is Motortrend's Car of the Year. The Civic is the North American International Auto Show Car of the Year. How much more of a freaking pedigree can you get for a mainstream automobile????

I wouldn't even pay the Carsdirect prices because I know I can get the price lower. If I buy the Fit, I'll guarentee you I will get the price out the door far lower than MSRP. I know because I've done it many times before with other cars.

Car salesman are vultures. I know because I've seen it. A former co-worker of mine is a sales manger at a local Honda dealership, and I've sat in his office and witnessed what happens behind the scenes when you, the average Joe, is negotiating with a salesman. These people will screw a little old lady on a fixed income from Social Security out of every dime they can.

Allow me to enlighten you all with how it works behind the scenes at a car dealership. Go read "Confessions of a Car Salesman" at Edmunds.com http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying...2/article.html

If you're first in line, there will be no negotiating. If you show interest, they know they've got you. If you ask to be put on a waiting list, they know you want it. If you show the slightest bit of weakness, you're toast. That's their ace in the hole!

Let's all rush down to our local Honda dealer and show our "early interest" in the Fit and ask to be put on a waiting list so none of us get's a good deal.

 

After all this heated and excited debate - I think you were right with the first spelling!

 

When the Murano first came out, my best friend's mom was interested. She was about to place an order but was worried about negotiating the price when I told her to wait a couple of months after its release. So two months after it arrived, we headed to the local Nissan dealership. They had the Murano that she wanted. I negotiated the deal for hours. She walked out with the Murano for $250 UNDER INVOICE. The sales manager told me that I was the best negotiator he had ever seen and even offered me a job as a salesman. I politely declined.

# 1 rule of buying a car - don't let them play you, you play them. One easy way to get a lower price is to say, "Oh that other dealer in town offered me xxx price. If you can beat it, I'll buy the car from you. If not I'm buying the car from that other dealer." Even if it isn't true, chances are they will at least match the offer.

We're talking about a b-segment car here, not an exotic. There will be plenty in stock and no storages. I think some here have the Fit confused for a Ferrari. Although they both begin with the letter "F", have four tires and a steering wheel, the differences end there. And sadly, these same people are the ones who pre-ordered and locked themselves in at MSRP when the Fit can be had for invoice or $500 above it by the summer.

I can say this definitively though... there is no shortage of gullible people in the world. HAHAHA

 

 

Being in the business, I think most salespeople would agree, if a customer comes in and starts "playing" a salesman, you are just opening the door for them to "play" you. Has anyone here the old saying "buyers are liers?" A person who has been in the business has heard it alll. I apprieciate the customer who comes in knowledgable, but who has some since of what the word reasonable means. I will aways try to treat the customer the same way they treat me.

 

The thing with cars that arent rare and are pretty readilyavailable at least a month or two after launch is that its very easy to see that dealers dont markup on cars costing so low and arent rare. At least this is my experience from the two local Honda dealerships here. MSRP at one dealer is gonna be the same as the next dealer, its not like a EVO MR where supply is very low but demand outdoes supply, in those cases dealers can put there own markups because they know that customers who want it pretty much dont have any other choice since no one else is carrying the car.

If your gonna negotiate with a salesman for hours just to save $250, your better off saving your breath and energy because they can afford to give you the car for at least $1k lower then MSRP and in some cases more since there cost from Honda is usually $1k to $2k lower then MSRP sometimes more sometimes less. So to put that into perspective, if one dealership sells 100 cars a month making at least $1k profit on each sell, you can see how dealerships can get relatively rich in not much time.

 

Lol. Spoken like a true salesman. I'm fairly certain all car salesmen, who I"m sure are 'princes among men' at home, pillars of the community, probably want to maximize the total amount of each car sale just like anybody else would. Just like how everyone likes
to save money or make more money.

Yes, there are stupid people who will ask for a car at half price. But
also blame the market and environment. Don't characterize everyone
trying to get a better price as unrespectable. Dealerships are a known
forum for negotiation. If it's such a pain then why not fixed pricing?

 

Oh please man. If you could sell a b-segment Fit for $5K over MSRP to some gullible idiot, knowing full well that you would be ripping him off, you would. MSRP is what it is, the Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price and is almost never reasonable, unless the car is a limited production vehicle.

If you are aggressive but polite, you can often play a salesman without him even knowing it.

BTW, I thought the old saying was "all salesmen are liars".

 

I definitely agree that there are alot more salesmen that are liars then honest, I guess it comes with the job if your out to make money since 99% of them are since its a commision based job, dont sell, dont make money.

Salesmen in a sense really are no better then politicians when it comes to there "selling tactics". Politicians are trying to sell themselves to the general public and salesmen in a way are trying to sell a bit of themselves to the the consumers. A salesman who is polite and tries to do his best to explain to the consumer in lamens terms all the details of the car, the deal he can give them then chances are that he will make the sale not so much because of the price of the car but that he went out on a limb to give the customer the best deal he could and that he made that evident to the buyer.

But unfortunately there are only a handful of salesmen like that, most dont know crap about the cars there selling much less genuine selling tactics. More then 95% of all salesmen dont understand what truely attracts buyer's and its not there cheesey smile, pretending to care how your doing, pretending to care how your day is going. That is so old and doesnt work with today's buyers, at least not most of them but then again im not the average white guy who is gullible and believes everything he is being told.

 

Besides it's 'liars' If you are referring to someone whose speaks
deceitfully.


It's not

Liers
Lyers
Lears
Liras
Lycras

Maybe he was referring to something else
He was really actually referring to something called a 'Lier.'
Then I honestly can say I don't know what that is? (Sounds
Napolean Dynamite-esque)

So 'Buyers may actually be {insert undefined noun}'

Give me a break,
If you are going to pontificate and judge,
then at least spell your accusations and insults correctly.

(The stupid internet is going a create generations of
spelling and gramatical woes)

 

Honda salesmen are among the most unknowledgable and deceitful salesmen. Here is an example of the outrageous statements that some of them make to get a sale...

"And one of the salespeople told me the new Civic Si is faster than S2000. Then another salesperson came and supported his claim, and said someone traded in an S2000 (pointing me to this used S2000 parked in the lot) for the Si."

http://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=360859

 

I worked at a dealership in Escondido, Ca. The Honda shop was across the street, and not anywhere near Thailand. That was 1989, and I am pretty sure they are still in business. My friend might have been lying to me. He had been in the business awhile. See below.

Buyers may be liars on occasion, but salesmen definitely are. It's a part of their job to try to make as much money for the dealership and themselves as they can. That is why Mav had to negotiate for hours. It would be a much better world if Invoice was what the dealers paid for the car, and you could walk in and say I will give you x over your cost, and be on your way.

Kumbaiyah, my lord, kumbaiya...

 

you should try a toyota stealership. talk about no knowledge .

when i bought my mr2 spyder they told me it was faster than a supra!


i was able to buy for $500 under msrp. so i got ripped off but i love it.

 

Actually I had to negotiate for hours at that Nissan dealer because I was negotiating for my friend's mom. Everytime we had an agreed price, she wanted less and we went back and forth for a while.

 

Bottom Line: If you get a deal that you like on the car you want, it doesn't really matter that your neighbor is saying he got his car at 4000 under invoice and the dealer threw in the DVD entertainment system, 30" spinners and the fuzzy dice, because your neighbor is probably the one telling tall-tales. You are the one with the Spyder in your driveway. Did you really get ripped?

Mav: That must have been a really good friend. Had I been in your shoes, and reached an agreed price with the dealer, and she countered with something lower, I would have told her she was on her own and walked out. Would you come with me when I am ready to buy?

Emillkim: Sorry about the horrible sentence structure, but I was rollin'.