This technique is for cash buyers. If you are planning on financing, pre-arrange it with your credit union or bank. Not the dealer.

Dealers typically make more money on used cars then new. New car managers DO NOT HAVE THE AUTHORITY to quote trade in prices, only the used car manager, so it really complicates things. My advice is do not trade in your car... Sell it privately, in advance if you need to.

As for ordering, dealerships like to sell cars they have on the ground. I have used the technique for negotiating a price on an inbound or special order car, but their motiviation for giving you a great price is reduced. Try to find a dealer that has the car you want!

 

SwisS2ki: the residual value is $18,600.

pfb: Although I didn't go through Fleet, I agree with you that it can save some time and hassle for an experienced negotiator like yourself. But the dealers still need to make money so they would be very hesitant to give you below cost--especially for a HOT item like the S.

May be the dealers you dealt with didn't allow New Sales to quote trade-in, but the one I dealt with was able to do that. So I guess it depends which one you go to.

I agree that Dealers' finance can rip you off, but if you're a good negotiator, you can get a good rate that's subsidized through American Honda Finance. Sometimes they have 3.9% promotion for first time buyers. Heck JShythehondaguy can tell this better than me. But of course he can't say things that may be "conflict of interest."

For those who don't know, the salesmen make money through:
1) increase the price of the car
2) finance you with a high interest rate
3) buy your trade-in below the value

Shop wisely.

 

Having just purchased an S2000 this past weekend, with great luck btw. The most powerful chips you have are these.

1: Find out what the dealer pays for the vehicle, lots of sites out there that will either give you or sell you the dealer invoice. Use them the sheet is invaluable. If you're buying a MY2001 then don't be a sucker and pay full rate if you can get away with it, the model year is ending and they don't want to keep it around for ever.

2: Don't let the closer bamboozle you, if they throw a bunch of sales people, the owner at you just treat them all the same and don't take any crap. Stick to your offer. Go in with a low ball and make them work it. Don't back down to a number you're not comfortable with. Make sure they make some money but they are in the business to move vehicles, if its sitting on the lot then its not the HOT car of the moment.

3: Walk the on the first offer, do not go back or call them back for a few days atleast, it is important to show them you really could care less if you buy this one or another one. Tell them you're shopping for a Porsche Boxster as well, or can wait for a MY2002, this appears to motivate them to close the deal quicker and not lose you to competition.

4: Deposit on a credit card, if things go bad you can claw it back without a lot of hassle.

Other than those things I think everyone else has made some really good valid points.

I picked mine up for a LOT under MSRP as the car was sitting on the lot for some time. If you can find a dealer in a state or province that has a low dollar demographic you can make very good deals on those vehicles.

Good luck

DM

 

Honda's website shows # of cars that is currently sitting at dealer's lot... though i can't be 100% accurate you can use
as a tool to find out which dealer have the car you want.

 

After printing out the dealer cost and MSRP for a Toyota 4Runner I wanted, I went to the nearest large volume dealer (after several trips looking/driving at other dealers), and found the exact one I wanted on the lot. I copied down the VIN number, added up the cost of all the options, added $500 and walked in and asked for the sales manager.
Handed him the paper, said I'd write him a check right then, do we have a deal?
He looked up the paperwork on that vehicle and agreed, all within 3 minutes.
Bottom line is to talk to the top, let them now you will buy Now, and walk if they don't meet your price (if it's a fair offer).
Oh, the stook I paid MSRP, I didn't even ask for a deal. (Sept. 1999)

 

The problem is that the S2000 is a very difficult car to negotiate and follow your rules. The dealer that I want to buy from does not keep any in stock. They only take orders. Others that do have it in stock, I fear that they let people test drive it and I would rather pay extra to get one that I am more confident that it has not been test driven. So what can I do?

Can I talk to the manager about ordering and still get a deal? And I need to talk trade-in.

 

If you're looking for the best deal then you may not want to restrict yourself to a specific dealer. I have a dealer that I really like to deal with, but they didn't have the car I wanted nor did they have the want to make the deal I wanted to make at the time. So you may want to spread your search over the country. I find more dealers than not don't allow test drives of this car. When I bought mine it had only a few KM's on it which is natural from the factory.

You may have a bit of luck doing the deal on an order, but don't count on it. They aren't really motivated to make a deal on something that doesn't sit on the lot, its just in and out then and not costing them yet...

As for a trade in, thats where the dealers get you, much harder to make the deal then.

DM

 

Thanks for everyone who posted a response to my question. Rather than go into a long explanation of the frustration I've had with N. CA dealers, I'll just say that I'm not very impressed with Honda salespeople--two weeks ago I couldn't get any local dealers to take a deposit on next years model. Everybody was trying to get me into an '01 model at higher than MSRP and one guy went so far to say that there wouldn't even be an '02 model. I'm going to wait till the '02 S2Ks are on dealer floors before trying again.

 

It would be interesting to have a poll of price paid for the cars - by the month that they were purchased. Obviously first orders of the car (mine is #1600 from the 2000 MY) are closer to sticker and by Dec 99 through Mar 00 the price seemed to jump a lot. I think that the MY01's are closer to sticker.

Is there anyway to do a poll on this price by month and publish the results so that the prices are anonymous and people will be honest. I know I paid a premium, but I was willing to to be the first guy on the block with one.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by S2KXLR8N
[B]It would be interesting to have a poll of price paid for the cars - by the month that they were purchased.