Best place to find true car costs?

[LegendKiller]

We are looking to buy a new civic. Any good ideas for price discovery?

 

[The Boston Dangler]

there's a sticker on the window. expect to pay about that much.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Edmunds - See what others are paying.

Costco will also help you get a decent deal, then of course thre is shopping the weekend newspaper ads.

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: The Boston Dangler
there's a sticker on the window. expect to pay about that much.

lol, you may be content with that, but I certainly am not. Thanks for the help though. I'll have to talk to my FIL also, he's never paid sticker for a car in his life.

 

[Riverhound777]

Originally posted by: The Boston Dangler
there's a sticker on the window. expect to pay about that much.

Sucks for you.

Oh and I agree with using Edmunds. Worked great for me, got my Mazda 3 $200 below invoice.

 

[vi edit]

Edmunds or Cars Direct.

 

[jjanders]

I see you're in NYC, I am in CT (though Eastern side) and have gotten quotes from a couple different CT dealers (Schaller Honda in New Britain was lowest) of $200 to $300 below invoice on Civics.

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: jjanders
I see you're in NYC, I am in CT (though Eastern side) and have gotten quotes from a couple different CT dealers (Schaller Honda in New Britain was lowest) of $200 to $300 below invoice on Civics.

I'm going to be moving out to the Stamford area within the next 2 months, which is why I am looking for a car. How did you get the quotes? I have looked at the Edmunds price and come up with a decent benchmark, but I know there are the other prices, such as holdback that are figured in.

 

[jjanders]

Originally posted by: LegendKiller

Originally posted by: jjanders
I see you're in NYC, I am in CT (though Eastern side) and have gotten quotes from a couple different CT dealers (Schaller Honda in New Britain was lowest) of $200 to $300 below invoice on Civics.

I'm going to be moving out to the Stamford area within the next 2 months, which is why I am looking for a car. How did you get the quotes? I have looked at the Edmunds price and come up with a decent benchmark, but I know there are the other prices, such as holdback that are figured in.

I went to Edmunds, when you select a car you're interested in usually there is a pop up box with all your local dealers, you can then fill out your info and it will get sent to them. Some call back, some e-mail you back. You may have to put in a few different zip codes, there is only one real local Honda dealer so I put in a Hartford zip code, there are ~5 in that area.

Schaller quoted me $16,600 for an LX auto, and $18,200 for an EX auto....figure a 5spd would be about $600-$700 less.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

NSFW

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: The Boston Dangler
NSFW

I always loved the description on that video:

Before YouTube, we actually copied stupid videos like this onto VHS tapes and traded them around. We were idiots.

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: jjanders

Originally posted by: LegendKiller

Originally posted by: jjanders
I see you're in NYC, I am in CT (though Eastern side) and have gotten quotes from a couple different CT dealers (Schaller Honda in New Britain was lowest) of $200 to $300 below invoice on Civics.

I'm going to be moving out to the Stamford area within the next 2 months, which is why I am looking for a car. How did you get the quotes? I have looked at the Edmunds price and come up with a decent benchmark, but I know there are the other prices, such as holdback that are figured in.

I went to Edmunds, when you select a car you're interested in usually there is a pop up box with all your local dealers, you can then fill out your info and it will get sent to them. Some call back, some e-mail you back. You may have to put in a few different zip codes, there is only one real local Honda dealer so I put in a Hartford zip code, there are ~5 in that area.

Schaller quoted me $16,600 for an LX auto, and $18,200 for an EX auto....figure a 5spd would be about $600-$700 less.

16,600 is decent for the LX auto. That's certainly an idea.

 

[vi edit]

Just remember that with an economy car like the Civic there isn't a ton of markup. And with gas hitting $3.50+ a gallon that already thin markup is getting thinner.

This isn't a full size SUV with a $7,000+ sticker inflation.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Personally, I just ask to see the dealer invoice. If they won't show it, walk. Someone else will, unless you're buying some sort of rare or specialty car, or maybe a new model that was just released.

The "true cost" is on there. On a Ford it's called "Memo". Don't know about others, but it should be pretty obvious.

Personally, getting it for invoice cost should be fine. That's always been clearly marked on all invoices I've ever seen.