So I bought a Honda Accord Sedan Touring today! I went to Autonation’s Honda of Valencia website and saw that they had the Accord Touring car actually in stock which is one of the cars I’ve been looking at. They were also one of the only dealers I’ve encountered that were very open and upfront about their markup listing it on their website in plain view. They add $1898 worth of blessings(floor mats, door edge guards, cargo tray, and cup holder phone accessory). It’s not ideal, but for comparison, I went to look at a Civic Touring at Keyes Honda on Van Nuys and they were charging 5k ADM and 3k of blessings. I walked out without even test driving it.
I’ll post my deal specs to SIGNED! later but the meat of it was: 2022 Honda Accord Touring 2.0T
MSRP: $39940
Blessings: $1898
Total: $41838
Now I don’t know if the following was all sales tactics but I called today to find out if it was actually in stock and they told me that it had just arrived and was supposed to be reserved but the buyer had backed out. I set an appointment to come test drive it. Apparently, someone else had come in while I was driving there (it’s about an hour away) but because I set an appointment I had first dibs at driving it and chance to buy. Could be blowing smoke up my ass, but there was literally two other people who were waiting around the office eyeing the car, one of them came up to me before I drove it to ask if I was buying it.
One nice thing was that since it was an Autonation dealer they honored the estimate I was given for my BMW lease and I was able to roll the 9k equity straight into the purchase so no money down required.
I did ask if they could take out the weather mats etc, but they didn’t budge and I didn’t push too hard since like I said there was literally a customer in the office waiting for me to pass on it.
A slight wrinkle was that I was texting with Jeff from Beach Cities who advertises on this site. He was really helpful. He texted me about a Camry XLE he had at MSRP while I was driving to the Honda dealer, but it didn’t have the option package I wanted so I let it go. He also handles Honda and told me that I was looking at 3-4k mark-up minimum on a Honda so felt more confident in paying 1800 over was a “deal.” Ended up financing with Bank of America since I had a pre-approval from them and it was 2% lower than what HFS was offering.
Some post purchase thoughts: I feel pretty good about the buy. I don’t think I got a steal, but it was the best price I found on a Honda and it’s a top of the line trim. For what I paid, I probably could have maybe negotiated down a BMW 330i base, but I feel kind of wary of buying one of them as opposed to leasing. My new accord has more bells and whistles than my 2019 330i which is to be expected, but there are some things I miss. The Honda infotainment system is a bit lackluster and the screen is small compared to the BMW’s. I’m also surprised Honda doesn’t have an app. Even Hyundai has an app now that can unlock and start the engine, etc. In fact one thing Kia and Hyundai do real well is pack their cars with tech that you have to pay a lot more for in a Toyota or Honda, but Honda and Toyota have the better reputation so…
Great deal given the market, if anyone else is in the market, a friend of mine picked a hybrid accord from DCH honda of mission valley at MSRP. few days ago, financed through Credit union at 2.19% give em shot if you are in the market
Toyota still has a better reputation yes, Honda, no. Honda quality has been down for the past decade. I would not buy a Honda anymore over a Hyundai or Kia. Hyundai is going to be the top dog competing against Toyota in the upcoming decade or less.
JD Power Brand ranking ranks honda BELOW the industry average in terms of issues per vehicle.
This is my first finance and I’m looking over the contract and there’s a few things I don’t understand.
The cash price is 41837
Sales tax is 3982.66
Doc Fee, Filing Fee, Gov Fee: 690.75
I also bought the Honda Pre Paid Maintenance: 1875 (actually going to cancel this)
Subtotal: 48,386
Trade in: 36500 - 27382 = -9117.48
Amount Financed: 39,268.91
I’m trying to understand what I owe on my car as of now and what my down payment actually went to. Bottom line I owe 39,268 on the car since that’s how much I owe the bank?(Should be ~37K once I cancel the Sentinel plan)
I thought if the car is being sold for $41,837, and I’m trading in ~$9200 then I’m buying the car for $32637. It doesn’t seem like my down payment went toward lowering the principal of the car itself though, but to paying off the sales tax and other fees? Sales tax in my zip is 9.5% which seems to align with what I paid($3982).
Maybe I’m misunderstanding how it works, but it seems crazy that I could put 9k into a 41k car and still owe the bank 39k?
OP you did good man. You got $9Gs out of your beemer and they didn’t beat you up too bad with blessings. The Accord is a great car, especially the 2.0 Touring.
Just an fyi, the redesign is just around the corner so if you’re one of those dudes that wants the latest and greatest, then this might be alittle disheartening.
I paid 41k* for a Honda that’s available now. Your tone makes it clear you have no idea what the market is like now. There ain’t some surplus of 22’s on lots that nobody wants because the 2023 is coming out soon. Given they can barely keep the demand up for 22’s I wouldn’t be surprised if the 23s get delayed.
If I had been able to wait I’d likely just have been paying even more for the new model.
Does it matter if the down payment lowered the principal and then the taxes and fees were added back to the principal or if the it went to pay the taxes and fees directly? In either case, you have to pay the taxes and fees upfront, so either you pay it directly or the bank pays it and adds it to your loan. Theres no free lunch.
But when you wanna calculate the resale value of a car please use MSRP. In your case, your car should be worth about $23,964 (best case scenario) in 3 years with about 45K miles. ($39,940*.60)
So in CA what’s the benefit of trading in as part of new purchase? I always thought the main point was to reduce the price and taxes. Without that, is the only benefit convenience of not having to do a separate transaction? E.g., to have the dealer match Carmax so you don’t have to it with Carmax or another third party.
