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Prices Paid: Buying & Leasing Experiences Honda Fit Prices Paid and Buying Experiences
2413 messages, Last post on Nov 05, 2009 at 7:34 AM
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After a little market research and a "quick-as-possible" test drive at the local dealer, we were essentially decided on the Honda Fit Sport with Manual Transmission. Car salespeople rank well below one-celled life forms but slightly above insurance agents on my list of respectability/tolerability and I didn't have time to visit and haggle with several dealers; therefore, internet buying was the only choice. ------------------------------------------------ First, I calculated what the car theoretically SHOULD cost: Cost of Car -Invoice, including destination = 15355 -MSRP, including destination = 15905 Sales Tax -Sales tax for the State of Arizona is 5.6% -Pima County adds an additional 0.5% -The cities in Pima county add an additional 2.0% (except South Tucson, which adds 2.5%) bringing the total in Pima county to 8.1% -Maricopa County adds and additional 0.7% -The cities in Maricopa county add an additional 1.5 - 3.0%, bringing the total in Maricopa County to 7.8 - 9.3% Title, Registration, Etc. (info obtained from the Motor Vehicle Division website) -Title in Arizona is $4 -Registration in Arizona is $8 -tire tax $5 -Vehicle license tax (VLT) on new vehicles: The assessed value of the vehicle is 60% of the base retail price. Assessed value of the Fit Sport Manual = 15905 x 0.6 = $9543. The tax is 2.8% of the assesed value = 9543 x 0.028 = 267.20 My calcuations: Scenario A) if you get the car for invoice -cost of car including destination charge 15355 -sales tax (8.1% assumed) 1243.76 -title 4 -registration 8 -tire tax 5 -vehicle license tax (VLT) 267.20 ----TOTAL = cost of car (15355) + all taxes, fees, etc (1527.96) = total 16882.96 Scenario B) if you get the car for MSRP -cost of car including destination charge15905 -sales tax (8.1% assumed) 1288.31 -title 4 -registration 8 -tire tax 5 -vehicle license tax (VLT) 267.20 ----TOTAL = cost of car (15905) + all taxes, fees, etc (1572.51) = total 17477.51 -Given the recent high demand for this car, and the fact that almost no one seems to be able to get the car for significantly less than MSRP (OK, sometimes they sell for less than MSRP but then add a doc fee to make up for it), I considered ~17,500 out-the-door an OK and realistic figure, although I had hopes of getting a lower price. -Anything above these prices (i.e. doc fee, vehicle theft registration [VTR], etc) is pure extra proffit for the dealers. -Antoher way to interpret these calculations is take the out-the-door fee you are quoted, subtract about $1550, and the result is what they are really charging you for the car [in Southern Arizona]...compare this number to the invoice and MSRP. ----------------------------------------- Second, I e-mailed a total of eleven dealers in southern arizona, both in the Tucson and Phoenix areas. I made it clear that we did not want any options or dealer add-ons. I asked for out-the-door quotes with breakdown of all taxes, fees, doc, title, license, registration, etc, and put all the info into a spreadsheet. It is amazing that three of the dealers gave quotes which did not add up correctly and some follow-up e-mail for clarification was needed. A couple of dealers did not give a breakdown of the taxes and fees, but a few follow-up e-mails fixed that. Three dealers never did respond and were promptly dropped from consideration -Right Honda (Scottsdale) -Earndhart (Avondale) -Lawley (Sierra Vista) Bell Honda (Pheonix) did respond, but after a lot of wasted time e-mailing, was never firm in their quote. They just gave MRSP and invoice pricing, and I could never get them to give a firm number out-the-door. I would suggest skipping them if you are internet buying, as the primary goal of their internet divison seems to be to get you to come down to the dealership. Seven dealers gave quotes - initial out-the-door quotes ranged from a low of $17,440 to a high of $18,320: 17,440-Tempe 17,500-Chapman (Tucson) 17,620-Arrowhead (Peoria) 17,660-Dobbs (Tucson) 17,800-Superstition Springs (Mesa) 18,040-Showcase (Phoenix) 18,320-San Tan (Chandler) Comparing the different dealers' prices side-by-side was an education. Of course, some would low-ball the actual car price, but then make up for it with higher documentation fees or by adding vehicle theft registraion (VTR), Automate or other BS add-ons. Price ranges from the above seven quotes: -Car + destination = 15,500 to 16230 (compare to invoice of 15355 and MSRP of 15905) -Sales tax = 1260 to 1320 based on local tax rate -Title/Registration/License = 270 to 310 (I don't know how they can charge 310 since the vehicle license tax is based on MRSP and title and reg are fixed prices!!!) -Documentation fee (pure proffit) = all dealers included this BS charge of 300 to 370 -Vehicle theft registration (pure proffit) = only two dealers included this BS charge of 200 -Automate = one dealer included this bs add-on of 180 ---------------------------------------- -Lastly, we took the lowest few out-the-door prices and played these dealers off of each other to get a lower price. Unfortunatley, these dealers would only budge by $50 to 150 off their original quotes. The lowest final quote we got was about $17,300. In the end, we decided to buy at Chapman Honda in Tucson at a slightly higher price, rather than driving a couple hours to save $150. -We also looked briefly into the Costco Auto Buying Program. San Tan in Chandler is the Honda dealer for Costco in Southern Arizona. The quoted price was competetive, and much lower that dealer's quoted internet price (which was the highest internet quote we got), but still was several hundred dollars above our lowest internet quote, and they would not budge on the price. [Note: the dealers must pay a fee to be part of the Costco Auto-Buying Program!!!] -Our final out-the-door price was approx $17,450 (or $15,880 [essentially MSRP] plus the minimum required in sales tax, title, registration, vehicle license tax, and tire tax) We did end up having to wait about three weeks for delivery of the color we wanted.
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Replying to: toyotapilot (Feb 29, 2008 2:11 pm) When we bought our Fit, no delaership in our area had a Fit available for a test drive. The system was, and still is, that you leave a deposit and when your vehicle arrives, you test-drive it. If you don't like it, you need not take the car, and the dealership refunds the deposit. Every dealership was selling the FIt at exactly MSRP, so we chose the dealership on the basis of OTD, which did not vary by even 50 bucks. This arrangement was not a problem for us because I had driven a Fit all day long when I was in Japan in 2005, meaning that the test drive had been done then. When we bought our Civic, we got the "bids" frist off the internet, test-drove one at the lowest bidder, haggled further, and then bought the car. I think that getting a bid first and then showing up to test drive makes the salesperson more serious about you, thus not wasting any time for us or him/her. |
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Replying to: jacksan1 (Feb 19, 2008 9:56 pm) also took a shitty honda civic in for a very good trade in.
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Replying to: sapient007 (Mar 01, 2008 8:01 pm) 16100 + 199+ tax = on the road price. the salesmen went below invoice. I was fighting for 500 below invoice of 16122 (carsdirect.com)
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Replying to: sapient007 (Mar 02, 2008 4:53 pm) But the clutch peddal felt like its place rather high. It felt more like I am pushing down on it rather pushing it in (more vertical movemenet that horizontal movement) was i just sitting kind of funny or has anyone else felt the same way? Other than that this was by far the easiest clutch to operate and lightest too. And kind of out of topic but does anyone know how to get rid of smoke smell out of the car? I am thinking of buying one used but it does smell like it was owned by smoker.
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Replying to: sunnyrodeo (Mar 03, 2008 8:31 pm) No, it's not just you. The clutch pedal position is awkward, and I noticed it on my test drive, but I bought the car anyway. I've had mine for a year on March 12th (love it!), but that's one thing that's never really changed - I'm still not that good at shifting because of the clutch pedal position. My Tercel was super easy to drive smoothly, and I had it for 22 years. I'm wondering how long before I'm good at driving my Fit. 
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I bought my 2008 sport through don Carlton Honda in Tulsa, OK for 15,632 out the door. They had several to choose from. I went straight internet with bids from 6 dealers ranging from $15,632 to a high of $16,579, all "out the door" incl all fees. An easy experience with the printed quote in hand I picked mine up the next week and saved almost a grand over the high price.
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Replying to: goviatt (Mar 06, 2008 6:18 pm) |
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Replying to: acm2 (Mar 01, 2008 7:35 am) Maybe re-read that website, because that seems waaaay off. |
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On 3/10/08 I purchased a new 08 Fit Sport 5AT (auto trans) in Milano Red color for $16,167 out-the-door (not including tax/title/license/registration, which is done at county DMV offices in Nebraska). This is $43 over invoice of $16,123 (MSRP is $16,705), and NO documentation fee. Selling dealer was O'Daniel Honda of Omaha, NE. I paid cash, no trade, and was in and out to do the paperwork in less than 30 minutes. I negotiated price via e-mail price quotes from 5 Honda dealers in Nebraska and gave each dealer one shot and did not disclose any other quotes to each dealer so it was a fair process for all dealers. Price quotes ranged from $16,167 to $16,594. A key factor any buyer needs to know up front when negotiating price is whether or not the dealer charges a documentation fee; in this case, the fee range from $0 to $199 among the 5 dealers in Nebraska that I contacted. This is my 2nd Fit - I bought another new fit, same car, in Blaze Orange, in Dec 2007 for $16,323 for my son - so that deal was $156 more than the 2nd one.
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