We are buying a very popular car, the Honda Accord, and I was wondering what we should expect to get the car for, based on the fact that they sell so well. I asked the dealer to sell it to us at invoice. The sales manager did lower the price from $18,500 to $17,400, but invoice is well below that. We even asked him to meet us halfway, and he refused, stated that these cars sell at almost full price because demand for them is so high.
What should we do? Is there a really good online service where we can find our car at a certified rock-bottom price? Thanks. - JonTOM: There are several things you can do, Jon. First, go to the www.cars.com home page and look up the Honda Accord. When you click on pricing, you'll see not only the "list price" and "invoice price," but also the "target price."
RAY: The target price is an attempt to combine all of the variables that affect the real "street price" of a given car. These include the invoice price, any dealer and customer incentives currently available, customer demand, manufacturer's supply and other factors. The target price attempts to combine all of these things and estimate a price that a reasonably good negotiator could expect to pay for such a car. And guess what? For the Honda Accord four-door LX, that price is about $17,400 (that's for a 1998 model in September 1998).
TOM: That target price may vary from region to region, but it should give you an idea of whether the price you've been given is in the ballpark.
RAY: Another thing you can use the Web for is to go straight to the dealers. If you go to Car Point (www.carpoint.com) or AutoByTel (www.autobytel.com), you can submit your request for the car you're looking for, and that request will be passed along to the participating dealer or dealers in your area, who will then contact you.