derryck

Just wanted to see if others have similar views on this. I live in Florida and being the 'Sunshine State' makes it virtually impossible to get an S2000 at MSRP. When I bought mine, I called every dealer in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina until I found a dealer that would sell at MSRP. I have recently come to realize that this seems to be common practice for Honda dealers on other cars as well. My parents bought an Odyssey (sp?) EX a year or so ago and the only reason that they didn't have to pay the $3000.00 ADM (additional dealer mark-up) charge is because the idiot salesman pulled their credit w/o their permission, so the sales manager sold them the van at cost. I went to the same Honda dealership (where my parents bought their van) to help my brother find a new Civic. As he was test driving a 2000 Honda Civic LX w/ no bells or whistles, I glanced at the window sticker and saw a ADM charge of $1895.00. I couldn't believe that this dealer was tacking on almost 2 grand on top of, basically, an entry level economy car. Where will this end?

charlie

Its no different than anything else supply vs demand dictates price. Capitalism at its best and worst depends what side you are on.

Zippy

It will end when people stop paying it. When I bought my first Prelude in 79 some of the dealers wanted $1000 on a $6500 car (a much higher percentage than most of us have seen). I found a dealer that sold me the car at MSRP then and I did with my S. As long as people are willing to accept the ADM, then the dealers will charge it. It's a simple supply and demand.
There are always a number of posts in the groupbuy area that talk about cars at list. There is a member on the board who works for a dealer in Ohio that will sell the cars at list.
Paying over list simply gives the dealers a license to continue, and it's not just Honda dealers that do it.

derryck

I understand that it's not just the Honda dealers that implement this practice and I actually understand why they do it with cars like the S2000. However, there should be ne shortage of base model Honda Civics which would lead me to believe there should be no ADM charge on such a vehicle. I was actually surpriesed that the dealer had the cojones to display an almost $2000.00 ADM charge on the window sticker.

David

When I bought my car (bought it out of state) the local dealer had an ADM of $10,000. Ha! Ha! Ha!

S2000 Owner

All the dealers were told at the roll-out meeting in Sept. '99 that this car is to be used as a reward to their most faithful customers. They were told not to add to the MSRP, because it would undermine dealer-customer relations.

Well, now a lot of us know where our "dealers" stand with relation to "service to the customer".

Strike

Ya know, I'm not defending the dealers per se because I think they should sell them at MSRP. However, let's say the S2K had been a dud and Honda couldn't give them away. If you wanted one and saw an ad for one at 5 grand UNDER MSRP would you go in and say "well I know you're advertising at below MSRP but I want to pay MSRP." Of course not. In that case the law of supply and demand would force Honda and/or it's dealers to lower the cost because they weren't selling at MSRP. In the real world demand exceeds supply so some dealers are adjusting the price accordingly. If you don't like it you can keep looking and maybe you'll find a dealer who will sell you one at MSRP.

STL

[QUOTE]Originally posted by derryck
[B]As he was test driving a 2000 Honda Civic LX w/ no bells or whistles, I glanced at the window sticker and saw a ADM charge of $1895.00.

David

Welcome to the capitalist system.

Why are people who want gratification immediately and have the means to do it stupid? This happens all the time in our capitalist system. If some people are willing to pay MSRP for a car, there is going to be others who are willing to pay above MSRP. Look at a lot of us who bought the car last year. Are we all stupid? No I don't think any one of us wanted to wait. I didn't feel like paying the $10K markup locally and so I went out of state but still paid above MSRP. (This was inspite of seriously considering a Boxster S which I priced out at $62K with all the options I wanted.) I know some people paid MSRP or close to MSRP last year but they probably had to do a lot of work or travel. There's a cost to that.

I'm not defending Honda dealers but as long as people are willing to pay the ADM, dealers will charge them.

By the way the ADM on M5s are running around $20K in my neck of the woods. I also read in the local newspaper that some guy actually paid someo other guy $10K to get his place in the queue for the new Porche Turbo. I guess some people just have too much money.

derryck

I also read in the local newspaper that some guy actually paid someo other guy $10K to get his place in the queue for the new Porche Turbo. I guess some people just have too much money. - from David

I was on the waiting list for the M3 last summer and accepted an offer from someone to take my place in line.

Anyway, I understand the laws of supply and demand and maybe I should have been more clear in my initial post. How many others see ADM of almost $2,000.00 on a baseline Honda Civic coupe in their area?