By Josh RosenbergForget the old way of car buying. To get the absolute best deal on your next Honda, you need to make dealerships compete for your business. In today's market, the smart move is to gather multiple price quotes online from various Honda dealers, compare their offers, and then negotiate further – all from the comfort of your home. It's also easy to set up, taking just a few minutes.
This strategy is particularly advantageous right now, as buyers are looking to purchase their Hondas before any potential tariffs cause prices to increase, leading to higher demand. However, this method will remain crucial even if tariffs do take effect, providing a valuable way to offset some of those higher prices.
Those Honda buyers who walk directly into a dealership to negotiate are very likely missing out on the best possible prices. That traditional approach is outdated and a mistake in today's savvy car-buying landscape.
By utilizing the power of multiple quotes from various Honda dealerships in your area (and sometimes beyond) through free car-buying platforms, you put these dealers in a direct competition for your business, knowing they have to put up or shut up to get your sale. Using the easy quote forms at platforms like Edmunds.com and CarsDirect.com, preferably both, simply greatly increases your negotiating power.
The Reasons Online Quotes Work So Well
1. Dealer Competition: As soon as they get them, dealers know they are now in a multi-dealer competition for your business and need to offer you the most competitive price to get it, often right upfront.
2. Increased Buyer Leverage: You can then negotiate further if you choose to because you have multiple dealers vying for your business. More "how to" specifics on negotiating online with multiple dealers can be found here at Best Online Negotiating Tactics.
3. Transparency: Requesting quotes from multiple dealerships encourages price transparency. Dealers are more likely to provide clear and competitive quotes when they know they're being compared to other options.
4. Market Price Awareness: By getting quotes from multiple dealers, you get a better understanding of the market price for the specific car you are interested in. And with this information, you can negotiate more effectively and know when a dealer's offer is above or below the market average.
5. Incentives and Promotions: It is not unusual for different dealerships to offer varying incentives, promotions, or discounts at different times. By obtaining multiple quotes, you can identify which is offering the best overall deal currently.
6. Very Little Stress: There's little or no stress because you are doing this from the comfort of your own home or office, so there's no sales pressure and the buyer is actually the one in control.
7. Access To Information: You'll have all the resources of the internet at your fingertips to study the offers you are getting or research any questions you may have as opposed to being more limited while sitting at a salesperson's desk.
Here's Where To Get The Best Deals:
My two personal favorite free quote services, both of which provide multiple dealer quotes from a single form, in no particular order:
I've found that CarsDirect.com has just massive dealer participation and is super fast and easy, with quick response times as well. And the process there is very self explanatory.
In addition, I also highly recommend Edmunds.com due to their quick and easy format as well. They also provide lots of vehicle research, if needed. There, just enter your make and model, then select the year, and then "Check Availability".
Doing both ensures more dealer competition ... and the more competition, the more prices tend to drop. I normally include dealers within 100 miles to be sure of a brisk competition, but you may have to go further if you are in a more rural area.
They also both have long-standing reputations for helping consumers in what can be a fairly "adversarial" industry. Plus, they require dealers to offer great prices right upfront. Many do. Some a little less so. But generally speaking, they are typically quite competitive right out of the gate.
And of course, you are never under any obligation at any time.
Again, if you like, there are more details on this technique here at Best Online Negotiating Tactics and how to interact with the dealers once you get the quotes.
So to get started, head on over to CarsDirect.com and Edmunds.com and I think you'll find car-buying has never been quite so interesting, and even fun.
When Is The Best Time To Buy A New Toyota? At "The End"
Just remember "The End" ... as in the end of the month, the end of the week, the end of the day, and the end of the model year.
Buying a car at "the end" can potentially be advantageous for negotiation due to several factors:
End Of The Month: Dealerships usually have sales targets and monthly quotas to meet. As the end of the month nears, they are often more motivated to close deals to meet these targets because significant bonuses may be at stake. If they haven't reached their goal yet, this can work in your favor.
End Of The Week: Similarly, sometimes buying late in the day on a Sunday can catch a dealership needing to reach their weekly goal. Again, this can create a sense of urgency for them to finalize a sale, providing you more leverage in negotiations.
End Of The Day: Going in to finalize a sale just a couple of hours before they close can also create a sense of urgency for the dealer. As the closing time approaches, they may be willing to bend more because they can't count on you returning.
End Of The Model Year: Dealers are often willing to concede more as the new model year vehicles are rolling out. They do this because they need to make room for the new inventory as well as selloff their remaining previous model year vehicles before consumers lose interest and focus in mostly on the latest models.
Remembering "The End" can be the final piece in the low new Honda or Acura price strategy, but it doesn't always work, depending on whether a dealership already has their sales goals well in hand. But it is something to keep in mind as you are evaluating and further negotiating your price quotes (if you choose to).
You can get the quotes anytime you want, but then, if possible, try to wrap things up by following one of "The End" situations just in case it leads to a further drop in price.
Well, I hope this has been helpful. Have fun turning the tables on dealers with this ... and let me know how you do.
All the best - Josh