Honda Expert

Buying and Selling Honda Cars, Trucks and Vans

Month: August 2017

Can I Negotiate to Drop a Dealer Admin Processing Fee?

If you have been to a Honda dealership to buy a new or used car in the last few months, you have likely be quoted a price for a vehicle. Whether it is an Accord, Civic, Odyssey or CR-V you must understand that this is simply the price for the vehicle and not the price you are going to pay. When all is said and done, you are going to end up paying a lot more unless you negotiate other fees such as the dealer admin processing fee, title, tag and taxes. You may have a quote for a Honda Accord at $21,000 and find that you are being charged for $23,500 when you finish up the paperwork. How is this possible?

Remember that the price of the car is simply the price of the car. This does not include all the added fees, warranties, insurance, etc. You will find the dealership will try to sell you GAP insurance, tire insurance, warranty packages and even extra oil changes. You never know what they will try to throw at you to get the price higher. Instead of falling for this, we suggest getting a walk away price in which you will walk out the door at a specific price. If you want to walk away at $21,000 you are going to have to negotiate that.

If you are a great negotiator you will be able to get the dealer admin processing fee waived or dropped. Your goal should be to get this fee to $0. A dealer admin fee of $500 or more is beyond ridiculous. Sadly, most car buyers won’t even notice this because they are so happy to drive away in a brand new Honda Civic or Accord. Try not to get too excited about your new vehicle and recognize that you can save quite a bit of money by getting the Honda dealer to drop the admin fee.

Look at the total amount you are going to have to pay and start negotiating from there. They will be fine with dropping the price of the car because they know they can get money out of you elsewhere including a bigger down payment or a higher interest rate on the car.

Should a Dealer Admin Processing Fee Be $649?

Recently, someone asked us about dealer admin fees. Please understand that these fees are quite variable. In fact, you can talk the dealer completely out of he fees if you are a good negotiator. In essence, these are just fees that are tacked on to the total cost of a vehicle. This is just a way for the dealership to make a little bit more money. If you want to save money on a vehicle purchase, negotiate a “walk out price” in which you see a price that you can walk out the door at.

If you want a Honda Civic at $17,500 you need to tell them you want to walk out the door at that price. If you don’t you will find you end up paying close to $19,000 with the fees, taxes, tag and title. They will also try to sell you on GAP insurance, wheel insurance, warranty packages and some type of oil change package. When all is said and done, you may look at a price that is around $20,000.

This is why it is so very effective to search around for the best Honda prices in your area. You can often negotiate a walking out price via email or over the telephone. If you give them your telephone number, they are going to call you all the time. We suggest doing all the business through email as you will then be able to make demands or simply walk away.

If you find your local Honda dealership is trying to charge you $649 admin fees you should quickly talk them out of this. Not only are you going to have to pay these fees, but they will add it to the financing at whatever interest rate you are being charged. If you have bad credit and are being charged a 10% interest rate, you will pay the 10% on that $649 as well unless you pay it the day you buy the car.

What admin processing fees have you seen when shopping for a new or used Honda? Should you buy a car on Craigslist or from a private owner to completely avoid these admin fees?

Does Honda Have a First Time Car Buyers Discount Program?

The answer is yes, but only at specific dealerships. You will need to scour your state to find out which Honda dealerships offer a first time car buyers discount program. You can do some quick Google searching or you can call up some of your local dealerships to see if they can knock off some money on the purchase or help with the financing. Financing is a huge part of the process for first time car buyers as most of them do not have the best credit or they haven’t built up credit.

Getting a 720 credit score or better can take years and possibly decades for some recent college grads; especially if they have taken out high interest rate credit cards. Allow Honda to help you with the financing through their first time car buyers discount program. You will find there are a number of great ways to save money. If you can get a low interest rate and you are just starting your first real job, it is a good decision to take this low financing now.

Many investment gurus state that you should take any financing under 5% you can get. The other extra money you earn can go towards your investments or paying off other high interest rate debts such as credit cards or high interest student loans.

What state are you in? Do you know of any first time car buyers programs at Honda? Comment below with your location and we can help you find the best deal in your area.

Best Honda Military Discounts in 2017

Honda dealerships often have a number of different discounts and specials. We all know they love their Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day specials. What about military discounts? There are quite a few Honda dealerships that are in the heart of “military towns” and cater to those in the Army, Navy, Coast Guard or Marines. So, how much money can you save with a Honda military discount and what is the best offer?

It is important to note that almost all Honda dealerships cannot disclose their “military discount” on their website. At different times throughout the year they may state you get $1000 or $500 more on your trade in or you can get $750 off a new car, but those are changing on a monthly basis. In fact, they may change on a daily basis depending on what incentives Honda is offering them.

Before you assume that your local dealership has the best military discount, it is best to pick up the phone and call. If you don’t do this, you are only guessing at how much money you can save. Also note that you may want to discuss other deals as well. You could get $500 over cost or could get the administration fee waived by doing some negotiating.

Don’t let a Honda dealership or salesman tell you that they are getting you the best possible military deal only to find out they are hitting you with other fees and are pushing GAP insurance and other types of warranties. If you get hit with these types of fees, you might as well through the military discount out the window.

If you are looking to save money on a new or used Honda Accord or Honda Civic purchase with a military discount, comment below and we can help you find what you are looking for. There is no reason to overpay for a Honda when there are so many dealerships throughout the United States.

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