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Prices Paid: Buying & Leasing Experiences Honda Ridgeline Prices Paid and Buying Experience
796 messages, Last post on Nov 10, 2009 at 6:21 PM
You are in the Prices Paid: Buying & Leasing Experiences Forum. Your Hosts are car_man & kyfdx
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Replying to: straussian (Aug 27, 2008 2:03 pm) For us, we just built a brand new 30 million dollar store. It's not cheap to build a nice facility that should last 30 plus years while also creating a warm and inviting enviorment that is up to Honda specs. Meanwhile, other Honda dealerships in Minneapolis have aged facilities with 25% (or less) of our overhead, so these dealerships can really offer better deals. The lower the overhead the less profit needs to be made. Less profit equals a better consumer deal. "The bottom line is that if I spend $1,000 to have a car sit on my lot, sell it to you for $25,000, then pay Honda $20,000 for the car only after I have received the money from you then I am making a very, very high return on my investment--$1,000 invested (the floorplan fee) returned me $5,000 in a few weeks or months." That really doesn't happen. If you think we're making $4000.00 on a car, you're WAYYYYYY off base. At least in Honda - Chrysler or GM, maybe. However none of this means anything to you. You are a consumer, looking out for number one: YOU. I don't blame you. As a consumer I do the exact same thing. Except I tend to pay more for good service. For me, it's not always about price. Anyone can cheap sell you something, that doesn't mean they have a right to earn your business. I'm more then happy to pay a bit more to buy from a place that is well kept, where the people are well trained and friendly. Again, thats just me. Good luck and happy shopping. Oh, BTW - I just bought a black RTX for $22999.00 plus TT&L AND got 2.9% for 60 months.
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Replying to: mplshondadlr (Aug 27, 2008 2:21 pm) You must occassionally (20% of the time?) make $4,000 (or much more) above "dealer invoice" on a car, right? And you seem to be conceding my main point, right? Let's say it is just $1,000 "profit" above the $1,000 floorplan expense; you make a 100% return on your "investment" (the floorplan cost) in a month or two. I'm getting 5% return or less on my savings account in one year. Yes, you built that beautiful showroom at great expense. Now why would you do that? Was it to lose money? Are car dealers not among the most successful and wealthiest people in any city? How is that? One of the interesting things about the car business is that we are not allowed to buy directly from the manufacturers (Honda, GM, Ford, whomever). Powerful lobbies create closed shops state by state and require that cars (among many things) be sold by local retailers. Why can't we order our Accords from Honda America instead of John Doe Honda of Dallas? The dealer lobby is EXTREMELY powerful because it is extremely wealthy. It takes money to make money, I guess. Texas used to have a law prohibiting branch banking. Consumers suffered for years, but the local owners of banks benefited from an artificially restricted market. Third world countries require you to have a local partner when doing all kinds of business. It helps the local partner, but it does consumers no good. FREE THE MANUFACTURERS! Okay, don't worry. I'm half-joking. By the way, congratulations on your new car. I like the RTX part, but black is a slightly less popular car color in Texas due to our wonderful summer heat. With global warming, I'm sure I'll be moving to your part of the country soon.
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Replying to: straussian (Aug 27, 2008 6:26 pm) That $1000.00 is called gross profit. On that thousand subtract 25 or 30 percent (depends on the commission scale). The on average you have about $144.00 per car in advertising. Then you have about $250.00 per car in admin expense (office staff, attorney fees because you have them on retainer, ETC...). Finally you have facility investment which is about $350.00 per car on a 30M building. That leaves about $6 in net profit. Everyone knows dealers have lost the margins in new car sales. But, the used car sales, F&I office, service, parts and accessories - thats the profit center. Speaking of global warming, we haven't had much of a summer here and a really bitter winter last year, so I might be heading south.
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Replying to: mplshondadlr (Aug 27, 2008 8:04 pm) It sounds as if new cars are the razors while used cars, F&I, service, parts, etc., are the razor blades--at least for now. Speaking of global warming, we haven't had much of a summer here and a really bitter winter last year, so I might be heading south. We all may need to set it up like my aunt and uncle: condo in Austin, Texas, for the winter, condo in Madison, Wisconsin, for the summer. I don't know how they decide on spring and fall. It helps to be retired, of course. |
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I just bought a Ridgeline RTX today (8/30/2008) in Dallas, Texas. SUMMARY $ 21,245 Truck $ _1,328 Tax $ __ 227 Title, etc. $ 22,800 Out The Door (OTD) I have no idea whether that is a good deal or not. I just know that nobody I talked to would take less than that, and tomorrow everything could be different. DETAILS The color is Silver. No add-ons to the car that I am aware of, and nothing is listed on the window sticker. (Several salesmen told me that Honda "requires" add-ons. So much for that.) This section is all information from the window sticker: $ 29,500 MSRP $ _1,000 RTX Discount $ 28,500 MSRP Less Discount $ ___635 Destination and Handling $ 29,135 Total Vehicle Price This section is from Edmunds.com: $ 28,500 MSRP $ ___670 Destination Charge [Please note the $35 difference from above.] $ 29,170 Total Tax on a car in Texas is 6.25%. Title, license, etc. varies but estimate at $177; anything above that is probably a dealer add-on fee (i.e. a phony "fee"). You could negotiate the add-on fees away, but since I was negotiating from the Out The Door price, I didn't care. This section is from the Bill of Sale: $ 21,245.10 Price (Vehicle and Equipment) $ ________ Trade In [I had no trade in.] $ ________ Rebates $ _1,327.82 Sales Tax [6.25% on cars in Texas] $ ___ 44.53 Vehicle Inventory Tax $ ___ 70.80 License Fee $ ___ 33.00 Title Fee $ ________ Road/Bridge Tax $ ___ 23,75 State Inspection $ ___ 50.00 Documentary Fee [dealer add-on fee, I assume] $ ____ 5.00 Deputy Fee $ ________ Luxury Fee $ 22,800.00 TOTAL [Out The Door (OTD) price.] The $22,800 is the number we negotiated by. I ignored MSRP, dealer invoice, dealer holdbacks, super-secret holdbacks, etc. I called every dealer within 75 miles and some in Austin. I asked for someone in "Internet sales." After getting quotes from everyone, I called back the best 4 or 5 to see if they could do better. I never gave away my favorite color; I just said "it depends on the price." I got prices for the RT, RTX, and RTS in order to be able to negotiate with flexibility. I visited two dealers with my checkbook fully prepared to buy immediately. Ultimately, I was surprised to find that the first phone quote was always firm--nobody would ever go lower even if I showed up with my checkbook and even after I walked away from two different dealerships. Still, I would again go through the extra work of negotiating and walking away because that is the only way I know of to be somewhat certain that you have gotten the dealer's best price. Someone (probably someone who works for a dealer) might say that of course they wouldn't go lower, you got a great deal. Dealers ALWAYS say you got a great deal--what else COULD they say? But not going lower is not what surprised me; what surprised me was getting the best and only price by phone just by asking for "Internet sales." It was so "easy" that I have to assume there is something wrong--like maybe I overpaid. By the way, I walked away from the first dealership when they wouldn't go lower than $24,500 OTD for the RTS. That OTD would be for a sales price of about $22,850. I walked away from the second dealership when they wouldn't go lower than $22,800 OTD for the RTX. After getting home, I decided to buy the RTX instead of the RTS; I would have enjoyed the upgrades, but I was happy to save $1,700. I'm pretty sure the first dealer would have had the best price on the RTX, but they were out of them as were numerous other dealers. There are lots of RTSs out there, but very few RTXs as far as I could find. Also by the way, I knew before they told me, but several salesmen told me on the phone, when they couldn't beat a price I quoted, that I would get to the other dealer and the price quoted wouldn't include add-ons and other fees, that the other dealer was using (this is my phrase) bait and switch tactics. I found that dealers DO try to use bait and switch to a greater or lesser degree. I tried to minimize this by covering that idea on the phone. For example, I might ask, "Does that price include all fees and everything? Is it the true Out The Door price?" Another by the way, I never had anything in writing at any time. All I had were my notes. I consider the whole "get it in writing" idea a distraction. If I show up with my checkbook and an offer, that is all that matters. A piece of paper from another dealer means nothing to the dealer I am talking to. His best price won't go lower just because some other dealer puts something in writing--why should it? All the dealers SAY they will beat the other dealers' best prices, however all but one of them has to be wrong. My apologies for the long post.
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Just had delivered a RT with Honda hitch and the upgraded wheels on the RTS/RTL. Ridgeline had 1700 miles and was perfect. Person to person sale (guy was laid off at work 2 weeks after getting his RL) so no sales tax in Georgia which saves me 7%. Paid $19,980.40 plus $645 shipping for a total of $20,625.40. Been driving the truck around town doing some shopping and just enjoying the change from my 1999 Tacoma base model with 194K miles. What a major upgrade!  T-bird |
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Replying to: ridgeliner1 (Aug 30, 2008 3:21 pm) You also give good advice on how to negotiate... In the forums, we need breakdowns of the total price, as taxes and fees vary between states... but, once you decide on what you want, then OTD negotiations are the way to go... It's hard to play around with the number that goes on the check! regards, kyfdx |
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Options and Pricing |
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| Honda is delaying the 2009 model release until January. The $4,500 dealer cash and the 0.9% financing incentives have been extended until 9/30/08. The 2009 pamphlet is available at dealers. What are the thoughts out there about this being a gimmick by Honda to move the 2008 inventory still on dealer lots. Anyone know if car manufacturers have used the tactic of planned release/delayed release/release early in order to move the old inventory? I was planning to get a '09, but do not like the idea of waiting four months. Any other financial items out there other than the $4,500 and 0.9%? | |
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Replying to: ida4128 (Sep 04, 2008 3:27 pm) |
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