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Prices Paid: Buying & Leasing Experiences Honda Odyssey Prices Paid and Buying Experience
24267 messages, Last post on Nov 08, 2009 at 6:12 PM
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I couldn't find any mention in this discussion board about buying in San Diego county, and nobody seems to be buying LX's either. Here is my experience. I started out looking for a used low-mileage Ody, but the prices were so high, I decided to go with a new LX with no dealer-added accessories. The features I was most interested in were standard, namely the electronic stabilization control (new in 2005) and the other safety equipment, standard on all Ody models (except for the tire pressure feedback - I wish this had been an option on the LX). First let me say that all the dealers had a $45 doc prep fee, so I don't have to bring that up again. I asked for quotes via the internet. The first quote I got was from Cush Honda for $1500 over invoice (invoice is $23,186 incl. destination) plus over $200 for dealer-added muguards and wheel locks, even though I didn't want them. Poway Honda's e-mail didn't give me a quote. It said I would have to make an appointment. I decided not to call them. I test drove an Odyssey at Hoehn Motors and later talked to the salesman by phone. I told him about the Cush offer. He said that he wasn't authorized to give me a definite price, that he would have to get approval from his supervisor after we agreed on a price. That's the type of negotiation I wanted to avoid. He asked if I would buy it for $1000 over invoice, then $750 over invoice. I told him I was looking for a price close to invoice. He said "you'll never get invoice. That's just not going to happen." Then I asked for quotes (via internet) from a couple of dealers in southern Orange County. Family Honda didn't respond. Power Honda in Costa Mesa sent a quote of $750 over invoice. Then I got a call from Power Honda. They said no charge for mudguards or wheel locks. Plus they would pick me up and give me a ride to the dealership (at least an hour drive!). They had one LX in stock - in Sage Brush. I contacted Cush Honda again, and they said they couldn't match Power Honda, period. In fact, they couldn't come down from their initial offer unless I came in to the dealership. Then I e-mailed Tipton Honda in El Cajon and asked if they could beat Power's offer. I got a phone call back from a salesman who said if I had the quote in writing or an e-mail (which I did), he would beat it by $400. And no charge for mudguards etc. They had one LX, silver. Power Honda came back with an offer of $100 over invoice. Tipton said they would match it. But their shuttle service only goes 11 miles from the dealership. He said he would see if he could arrange a ride, but it would cost me (he didn't know how much) and he would call me the next morning. I went to a dealer that evening to see what Sage Brush looked like. I didn't really care for it, and I liked the silver. I called Tipton Honda the next morning. But I couldn't reach the salesman I had been dealing with. Finally I talked to another salesman, who said he would call me right back himself if the other salesman couldn't. But he didn't call back. I finally reached the original salesman after 1 p.m. (he had said he would call me that morning - I wondered if something funny was going on). He said he had been busy selling 3 cars. I asked him to add up all the charges and give me an OTD price. He hadn't done this yet, and I didn't want any surprises after I got there. He said first he wanted me to forward the other quote so he could show it to his manager. Then, before I had a chance to do that, he called back and said his manager told him the best he could do was $500 over invoice. Needless to say, I was not pleased and let him know it. He said the other dealer just wanted to get me to the dealership and then they would add extra charges. I called Power Honda back and accepted their offer. Unfortunately, the LX had already been sold (the night before), but the salesman said he could trade with another dealer. He called back within 10 minutes and said he had found a silver LX. About 2 hours later, someone arrived to take me to the dealership (extremely interesting conversation for an hour and a half). Everything went smoothly, and there were no surprises. I paid by check. I declined the extended warranty offers. I couldn't have been happier with the service or the price. Odyssey LX (with mud guards - no charge) Cash price: $23,286.00 (22,771+515 dest.) Doc prep fee: 45.00 Sales tax: 1,808.15 Lic & tire fees: 218.75 TotaI price: $25,357.90 Postscript: I got a call later from Tipton Honda from a different salesman. He apologized for not getting back to me and said that my original salesman had quit. He asked if I was still interested and I said no (I was waiting for my ride to Power Honda when he called). This was yesterday. I got another call from Tipton today with the same story. Hmm... |
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Replying to: drmonky (Jul 21, 2005 7:11 pm) |
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| Can anybody share names of good dealers along with the prices paid for 2005 odyssey EXL with Navi + RES in NJ, PA, NY area. My personal experience has not been good so far. Some dealers charge exhorbitantly high prices over invoice + destination + 1500 markup + taxes & title. This seems to be ridiculious given the fact that 2006 models are just right around the corner. I can understand the fact that, if dealership makes few hundred dollars above their invoice, But 1000 - 1500 above invoice is utterly nonsensical price. So if someone can share the price paid + dealership and the salesman name would greatly appreciate | |
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Ok, I also posted this message on another board (the Sienna vs. Odyssey board), but I thought I'd post here are well to maximize my feedback. So here's my cut and pasted post: As many others, we're currently torn between the 2005 Sienna and the 2005 Odyssey. Specifically, we're comparing the Sienna XLE, package # 7 (which includes the DVD and CD changer) with the Odyssey EX-L with the DVD (but NO navigation). My sister recently bought the 2005 Odyssey Touring, so we've driven the Odyssey more extensively than the Sienna, but we don't really notice a major handling difference. We're satisfied with how both cars drive (although I was slightly less comfortable in the Sienna's driver's seat -- shocking, given how adjustable both the seat and the steering wheel are -- you'd think I'd have been able to find a comfy position). To us, the major differences are as follows: we'd get a potential 8th seat with the Odyssey. Yes, I recognize that it's a tight fit for 3 people, and probably not a very comfortable ride. We'd only use the seat for carpooling kids or taking short local drives (to restaurants or sightseeing locally) when we want to avoid having to take 2 cars and we're with another family or member of our own extensive family. Going into the search, we'd decided we wanted the 8th seat (not realizing we couldn't get it on the Sienna). You cannot get the XLE with an 8th seat (incidentally, you can't get the Touring model of the Odyssey with the 8th seat, either). And if you DO decide to get the LE with the 8th seat, you lose the captain's chairs (and have to special order to get the car with leather, since that model doesn't ordinarily come with leather). Aside from the 8th seat issue, the XLE Sienna will have a power tailgate, and the EX-L Odyssey won't. The XLE Sienna has pop-out third row windows, and the EX-L Odyssey windows don't do anything. We shopped every dealer in the Philadelphia area to get prices and then called our local VA dealers to see the difference. Philadephia is cheaper -- our bottom line prices: Sienna XLE, package 7 = $32,000 (inclusive of all dealers costs -- we pay only tax and tags in addition to that price). Odyssey EX-L with DVD = $30,875. The Virginia dealers we talked to (and I talked to about 10 from each manufacturer) flatly told us they couldn't beat those prices and that we should buy the car in PA. Given that we don't see much of a difference in the cars (we're neither Honda nor Toyota loyal), we'd probably go with the cheaper car (you should have a reason you'd want to pay about $1500 more for a car, right?). But here's the rub -- it's coming down to the dealership. Our driveway has a really steep grade, and the Honda Odyssey has a very low clearance. My sister, with the touring model, makes it up my driveway, but it's REALLY close. The Touring model has 17.5 inch wheels. The EX-L comes with 16 inch wheels. The PA dealership is bending over backwards to convince me it's the same clearance (they measured 6 points under the car, and took extensive time explaining things like "suspension drop" to me). They cannot, however, locate official information from Honda regarding the clearance difference (if any) between the two cars. So, the obvious thing we need to do to feel comfortable is to drive the EX-L up the driveway. While I was still away, my husband went to Pohanka Honda in Fredericksburg VA and asked to test drive an EX-L up our driveway (we live 13 miles from the dealership). Because I'd put a deposit (refundable) on a car in Philly, my husband felt compelled to tell the dealership that (believe me, I had a lot to say about his decision to do that, but it's all water under the bridge now). The dealership told him he couldn't test drive the car -- that all 4 Odysseys they currently had in stock had appointments to be test driven. HA. Right. I realize that this dealer knew the profit wasn't going to go into his own pocket, but you would hope (1) they would want to please us to get our service and (2) they would show a higher loyalty to corporate Honda -- after all, I'm sure their franchise agreement requires them to sell Honda cars, not to first ensure that the Honda profit goes into that particular dealership's pocket. And of course, there's the fact that if they gave us the lowest price we probably WOULD go with them -- most buyers, you would think, test drive the cars and then shop around to get the best possible price. We just happened to know that they couldn't beat the PA price in advance (still, I wouldn't have been quite as forthcoming as my husband -- don't get me started). So here we are -- still not QUITE sure that the EX-L fits up our driveway, and pretty annoyed with the local dealership who would most conveniently service our car. The Toyota dealership here has been great (and is very conveniently located), but we'd still have to pay more for a car that, in the end doesn't really give us more. The salesperson sent my husband home with a Sienna and let him keep it at the house, try it up the driveway and in the garage. Ironic, really, since we were never really concerned about the Sienna clearance. But what good will that dealership has garnered, especially in light of how frustrated I am with Pohanka Honda. Does anyone have any solid information about the Honda clearance -- touring model vs EX-L? There's another Honda dealership a little further from us that we could try to hit up for a test drive . . . And how annoyed would you have to be to pay $1500 more for a car (don't get me wrong, I really like the Sienna too, it's just a bit more expensive and I'm trying to rationalize that -- I'm pretty angry with Honda . . .but $1500 worth of angry? hmmmm) . . . . |
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Replying to: batball (Jul 24, 2005 5:50 am) |
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Replying to: briley (Jul 07, 2005 5:05 pm) |
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Replying to: loveyalions05 (Jul 24, 2005 8:24 am) Mud. |
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Replying to: muddyriverduck (Jul 25, 2005 6:48 am) Moreover, I am sure that Pohanka's franchise agreement requires them to do their best to sell Honda products. So if you think there are ethics problems on my side, you should recognize that there are some clear ethics issues on the dealer side as well. I am shopping for a Honda product, and I haven't decided whether it's going to work for us. Why is it you feel that this salesperson shouldn't have serviced us? Because he (and we) knew his dealership couldn't give us the best price? You're basically saying that it's ok that the salesman is motivated PURELY by his self-interest. That's not right in my book -- he's been paid by Honda to sell Honda products. His salary and HIS business ethics should keep him from thinking about his pocketbook all the time. If you think I should be more concerned with the Honda employee's pocketbook than my own, your opinion of business ethics is simply more generous toward the salesperson. I'm simply not that magnanimous. Given that we are STILL deciding between the Sienna and the Odyssey, as a HONDA employee, that salesperson should have been doing his best to ensure we ended up in his company's product. A good salesperson should be doing whatever he or she can do to sell their product. Commission should hardly be the only motivating factor. A good customer is going to reward the salesperson who gives the best customer service AND who gives the best price. Pohanka Honda gave us neither, and went a long want toward souring me toward Honda in general. Did you miss the part where I said we're now seriously considering the Sienna when we really preferred the Odyssey -- I HAVE TO KNOW WHETHER THAT CAR WILL FIT UP MY DRIVEWAY, and from my point of view, Honda is not putting me in a position where I can get that done. Your personal insults do nothing to resolve my dilemma -- do you happen to have the information regarding the clearance difference between the Touring Ody and the EX-L?
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Replying to: loveyalions05 (Jul 25, 2005 7:17 am) |
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Replying to: batball (Jul 24, 2005 5:50 am)
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