Dealer Invoice - 2005 Pilot's

[airbourneone]

I'm a new member to the forums and would really appreciate hearing from the wisdom of other members on this subject. I'm located in Northern California and am looking for the best deal on a 2005 Pilot for my wife.

I used Costco's Auto Buy program to locate a dealer willing to have set a negotitated price with Costco on the 2005 Pilot. They are apparently one of few willing to do Costco pricing in the area on the Pilot. I've heard that the EX is $2K over dealer invoice which brings me to a few questions I'm hoping for some insight on:

(1) Any idea on the likely or approximate "Costco" price on an EX-L with Entertainment system? I'm expecting it to be "in-line" with the EX which I'm told is $2K over dealer invoice.

Any Costco members in Southern California, or Sacramento region with any experience with the '05's?

Consumer Reports has not released their "dealering" pricing information on the 2005 Pilot trim lnes so I'd be really curious if anyone has any ideas on the EX-L with DVD entertainment system as far as approx. dealer invoice.

I'm already driving about 100 miles to get to this dealer and don't mind driving for a better deal. Anyone know of any dealers with good (low) prices on the EX-L with DVD entertainment?

Many thanks!!

Airbourneone

[airbourneone]

Opps- sorry about that. I meant 2005 Honda prices are not yet available from Consumer Reports therefore I don't have any idea what the "dealer" invoice for an EX-L with DVD entertainment trim would be.

Thanks again!

Airbourneone

[mchan]

Hey There,

The route my friends wife went with their 04 Pilot was to go through Honda.com and request a quote through the web. The web sales people from local dealers then emailed quotes to her. They usually offer vehicles at a few hundred over invoice (in her case about $650), they are easier to deal with because you do it via email, and you can get many to out bid each other by suggesting a better deal at the other dealership.

I'm not sure how flexible they are going to be on a new 05' but I'm fairly certain that the Internet quotes are the best way to go.

Good luck to you.

[hop23]

90% of MSRP (excluding dest charge) will get you within a few bucks of invoice (excluding holdback - 3% of MSRP).

[airbourneone]

mchan and Hop23- thank you!

I actually did find the local dealer "quote" service on the site and used it. I'll let everyone know what I find as far as quotes in the area. Thanks for the suggestions.

When negotiating price, particularly when considering what it cost the dealer to purchase the Pilot, should dealer holdback be "subtracted" from the dealer cost, as a credit to the dealer, and effectively an item which reduces its overall cost to purchase the Pilot.

The salesperson I spoke with today said that dealer holdback was a credit to the "management" of the dealership, and therefore could not be used to calculate a reduction in the cost to the dealership for a specific vehicle.

Is dealer hold back a "legitimate" credit back to the dealership when considering what a cost the dealership to purchase a specific vehicle, and therefore fair game in negotiations?

Thanks again.

Airbourneone

[osteome]

You will find most dealers will very rarely go into the holdback on any vehicle, let alone a vehicle in high demand. When we bought our 2003, most of the dealers in my area were at MSRP. When asked about any potential discount, the reply was "I have a wainting list at MSRP, so I have no need or desire to discount to sell a Pilot".

You may see some dealers going into holdback on a 2004 in the smaller markets to get a leg up on 2005 allocation, especially as 2005s are at the dealers, but that is still the exception, rather than the rule.

Good luck!

[sungchang]

Originally posted by airbourneone
I'm a new member to the forums and would really appreciate hearing from the wisdom of other members on this subject. I'm located in Northern California and am looking for the best deal on a 2005 Pilot for my wife.


I'm already driving about 100 miles to get to this dealer and don't mind driving for a better deal. Anyone know of any dealers with good (low) prices on the EX-L with DVD entertainment?

Many thanks!!

Airbourneone

Typically you will find better deals from Southern Cal. The best price I have seen when I was shopping for my 04 was from Gardena Honda Internet Sales. Good luck.

[tuta]

also agree on the internet quotes.

I can't imagine buying a vehicle un-internet aided anymore. I would ask for ALL dealer fees be included in the quoted price (such as the dreaded VIN window etching and that ^%&!) that way you can better compare apples to apples.

Good luck.

Oh yeah -- take your time and try to buy towards the end of a month.

[mchan]

so what became of this? did you pick up an 05?

[airbourneone]

The following is our experience.

We shopped internet prices and got quotes from local dealers on labor- and used that to negotiate on the options she wanted. Got them to come down fairly well off the retail prices for those options and negotiated decent for the Bay Area (labor rates) to do the installation. We checked with Costco's autobuy program and even contacted a dealer who was not willing to go below the $2000 premium over dealer invoice that Costco's program afforded.

Armed with info from several sources we contacted a few dealers' fleet managers directly via internet and phone. Internet prices were all over the map. Ultimately we contact Livermore Honda and spoke with their fleet manager, Greg Boynton. We made an offer and met in the middle at $1700 over dealer invoice with dealer invoice including destination charges. My wife decided on the EX-L RES in Sage Brush Pearl with Fern Interior- a beauty.


We went in with financing from our local Credit Union- and they still made us fill out their "credit application." What made it worse was speaking with Finance after the fact having their finance manager, Kevin tells us that, even with our financing, he needed to submit the application through the "CUTL" system (direct to the lenders). Effectively they used their "credit appl" to try to sell us financing- and the best they could do was .12% off our rate but over an additional 6 months (66 months).

End of the day we had to send the contract, insurance, and driver's license information ourselves to our CU when we found out that Finance at the dealership didn't submit the loan they said they had to "through CUTL". Basically they get a loan origination fee from the financial institution. It is not necessary to process it that way. Lastly, he came across smarmy and untrustworthy- which came to pass as when he left he said he was going to send the loan through CUTL and never did. We only found out we needed to send our own contract, when we inquired with our CU to see if they had already received their paperwork; they hadn't. What pissed us off were the additional credit inquiries on my wife's credit history- unnecessary, and we were lied by the Finance guy. Sales later agreed that we had been "misinformed" and apologized. We also spoke with another "manager" in Finance and explained what had happened- they apologized too. We will also write to the dealership GM.

On the subject of the Pilot, it took the dealer about 7 days to get all the parts in and install them- however to be noted they were extremely urgent- bordering on pushing trying to get us to pick up the car (they already had 10K in deposit) and they options were not yet installed. Basically it’s because the contract, as we understand it, is not "official" until the buyer takes position. Effectively we were informed by another dealer, that some dealers "exhibit" this type of behavior it they're concerned for any reason that a buyer may change their mind- and this is particularly noteworthy when the dealer has written a contract and is readying a car with options. They often are concerned that they'll install them and the purchaser will back out (not pick up the car). We we're sure why they were concerned as they had $10,000 on deposit and we were in direct contact over multiple days proceeding to ultimately get the Pilot after the options were installed. Advice here would be to tell the dealer that you'll pick up the car (drive it off) when they've installed all options that were on the purchase contract, to your satisfaction.

The end of the story here is that we picked up the Pilot with all options installed and it looks just great!

We purchased:

Chrome accents (four corners of the Pilot)
Chrome side steps
Wood panel trim (dash and front section only)
Cargo cover
Cargo Net
Fog Lights

I'll post a picture soon- the lightening wasn't good on my initial shots so I'll post one soon

Purchase price:

$30,757.08 (dealer invoice)
1,7000.00 (prem. over invoice)
2,222.00 (options including install)

Plus sales tax (ouch- 8.5%)

Separate charges:
$282 Vehicle license fee
45 Documentation fee
5 Tire fee

Hope this helps anyone else looking in the Bay Area.

Lastly, Dublin Honda and Oakland Honda were way off the mark in their quotes (over MSRP)!

Enjoy!

Airbourneone

Very happy with the Pilot

[mchan]

Hey airbourneone

glad to hear you guys got a good deal on the Pilot. I haven't been car shopping in a number of years, and hated the idea of having to go and haggle for the Pilot. My last few cars were purchased from a fleet manager friend so price were set before I signed the paper.

I actually found it pretty humorous when I was haggling. I remember telling my wife... this is just like a video game, you have to negotiate your way around several levels while trying to hold onto your points (cash) to get to the final prize.

They tried to throw everything at us, extended warranties, alarm system, accessories, etc etc.. the salesman just wouldn't believe that I would be able to do anything myself, even after I told him that I am an airplane mechanic. It was actually pretty fun. My sister is in the market for a CR-V, so it's back to the dealership I go.

We have the sage brush with fern interior also, but in the LX model, my wife also loves the color combo.

[john802]

airbourneone - Congrats on your new Pilot!!! Don't forget to post some pictures in the Gallery section because...

[sungchang]

airbourneone, congratulations! Look forward to the pics, especially with all the options.

[yangtw]

From Anderson Honda

$26124 for 2005 Pilot LX ....
it's about $1000 above invoice (or $1740 off MSRP)
great price .

I'll stop by to ask for EXL price ...

[airbourneone]

I had actually tried to post the pictures but for some reason the system gave an error message about an over size limitation on the size of the files....although I don't think we were.

I will try again soon....my wife is really enjoying the Pilot.

Cheers,

Airbourneone