jt111

I'm looking at buying (from an Acura dealership) a 05 TSX auto with a little over 9000 miles on it. It does not have navigation. It looks to be in excellent condition. It is certified, so it has a longer warranty than a new TSX. I have no idea what's a fair price for this. The dealership has a bunch of these "program vehicles" that they're asking between 24600 and 26000 for (all non nav). I've read that the invoice for a new 05 is 26605. But I don't know how much the certification should factor into the price. I would greatly appreciate it if anyone can enlighten me.

Savio

That's a rip off...you can do way better than that.

LuvMyTSX

Certification will bump up the price a couple thousand dollars, but for a lot of people (me for example) it was piece of mind to have it. I got my '04 in May '05 non-nav with 16k on it, for $23,500 before TTL. There are several threads on CPOs, try the search button to find them.

svmtbman

I bought a new '05 6sp without navi a little over a month ago for $25999.

subdued

in CAL I bought an 06 6MT nonnav for 26,200 before TTL one month ago. so either get a slightly higher mileage certified tsx for under $24k like luvmyt or add a few hundred and get a new one. don't pay sticker. no way.

Vividi

I paid 22700 (below kbb trade-in) in 3/05 for a 04 with 9k as a cert used car used as a dealer loaner (as your car mostly was, the dealer will have you sign a paper stating such at time of sale) . Market pressures determine price so negotiate and if the dealer is willing to sell you the car, you could have gotten it cheaper (you will not know what the rock buttom price is until you go to dealers with an offer and are turned away) for more info goto https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21028

jwhite4

I think the edmunds.com site gives a decent price value of used cars. It also shows what the premium should be if it's certified. For an 05' Camry XLE (top of the line) I was looking at, it added about $1700 to the value of the car. I'd expect Acura to be at least as much.

Jeff

ninjamyst

if certificated cars has that high of a premium, why not just get brand new??

jwhite4

I just did an Edmunds search for an 05 TSX in Philly, no nav, 5MT, excellent condition, 10k miles. Dealer retail was reported as $25105, w/ certification $27344.

At those prices I'd definitely look into a new 06 model, for the little extra money I think it's worth getting a brand new car.

Jeff

Spy

Sometimes the certified has a better warranty. Maybe the certified is a better color. Maybe someone sees no reason to spend the extra couple grand.

Keep in mind if you are considering an 05 or an 06, the 06 has some extra features (memory seats, slightly more powerful engine, audio aux input, fog lights, and bluetooth(I'm not sure if the 05 has that)).

greendestiny

I bought my 05 brand new non-navi auto for $25,500. i bought it end of august 05 and hustled them until they had to chase me out the door to get me back in.. at that point we were just throwing numbers back and forth 50ft. away in the parking lot..finally my parents agreed and we walked 50ft. back in... and no my parents didn't pay for my car, they're just helping me with payments while i pay them back.


now here's the thing..... genearlly if I buy a 'Acura Certified Car' even with low miles..i would prefer that it 'isn't' a loaner becuase the thing is, 90% of people probably drive the #$@^!@$# out of it..... it wouuld best only if it was a 1-time owner trade-in or a reposession or something.... but thats my thought.. if i was ever shopping for ANY used ceritifed car and I was told it was a 'loaner'...then to hell with that.

one thing you have to know is that Acura's have high resale value..especially the TSX. Before I bought the 05, i was checking out an '04 TSX non-navi auto with 15K miles. The private owner wanted $22,500. KBB says it was worth ~$24,000 but thats bullshit, cuz for another $1500, i can get brand new 2005 right?!?!? But the car wasn't in too great shape even for being 9 months old, it already have 5 dents, couple scratches, and the back seat leather was kinda whacked cuz the lady driver had a baby seat. I offered $20G flat, cuz i stil had to pay tax to dmv. She looked at us like 'huh? tax?"... i was like, 'uh yes, u pay tax to dmv when you buy used cars'.

jt111

Thanks folks, seems like I should just wait and come up with a couple grand more for a new 06.

So let me ask you this - HOW LOW would the price have to be for you to buy an 05 certified non-navi with 9k?

subdued

for me, to even be considered it must be greater than $5k less than a new version of the same car (which would be tough) but that makes me comfortable. everyone has different break points.

kwp72

Last Friday I paid $22,000 even for a certified '05 TSX w/o Navi and Automatic in carbon gray with 11,000 miles on it. It is in absolutely perfect condition. From what I understand, that is below TRADE IN value for this car.

I was very satisfied. They even threw in mud guards and an OEM wing.

LuvMyTSX

Another thing I forgot to add, is that all the cars I looked at on kbb.com and similar sites had much higher prices ranging from $24999 all the way up to $27999 for CPOs, which is ridiculous when you can buy new for that much. Even my car, which I got for $23,500, was listed at $24999 on one site and $25999 on another. I just kept emailing around to different dealerships asking them if they could come down on the price. Finally one bit, and that's how I got my car. So just because it says one price doesn't mean they won't deal a little, you just have to ask.

jt111

Wow, thanks to everyone for their feedback. It's funny how the dealer hands you a copy of the kbb or edmunds value of the car that is 1 to 2 grand over their sticker price, then tell you you're "getting a steal" and "there's hardly any markup on these cars." I don't know where these appraisal websites get there numbers from. Maybe from the auto dealerships

jwhite4

As previously pointed out, there are probably a lot of people that buy cars without getting much discount. We're a passionate group of car enthusiasts here, but we're what, maybe 1/1000 of 1% of buyers (maybe less)? This discounted prices we get are I'm sure by far the exception.

The Acura dealership in Las Vegas is the only one within a 150+ mile radius. I doubt they were giving much discount on their cars (their accessory pricing was double MSRP).

Jeff

kwp72

Hey JT111

If you are in the Washington DC area by any chance, I can get you the same deal I got (Above in post) on an '05.

jt111

I'm in TX, but thanks for the offer kwp

bradykp

my friend just traded in his 2003 MDX and got 20k for it. they listed it as a CPO for 26k. so there's an idea of the markup.

they make a killing on used cars. there is so much profit in them it's insane. the CPO doesn't really "cost" them anything, other than future costs with warranty repairs if they need to. it's a brilliant program.

anyways, if i were you, i'd make some offers for around 22k. someone stated above they paid 25,500 for a 2005 brand new. it's 1 year later, with 3/4 of the assumed "normal" amount of miles for it. i'd knock of 4 grand there for it. i know they don't lose value like a normal car.

for CPO, add a grand or two. but if you;re in 22/23k range, you might want to consider a 2006 for...i think the non navi is going for around 26,500?

i guess for me to buy a year old CPO (without bluetooth?!!?!) it'd have to be 3-5k less. it's about $50 per month payment per $1,000 financed right? i forget how to calculate all that stuff now. someone check me on that.

Spy

Keep in mind new car loans rate are also usually better than used car loans.

LuvMyTSX

I got mine on special at 3.9%!

Check Acura's website for the special (it'll be a little green bill next to each car if you do a search in the CPO section). I had printed it out and brought it to the dealer with me when I went to sign. They had originally written my stuff up for 6.9%, but I whipped out the special and they had to give it to me. Glad I brought it with me!

jwhite4

Don't know if it's a pattern, but one of the reasons I wanted to buy my TSX last month was to get the Acura Upgrade program financing rates. My salesman first told me my approved rate was 5.94%, I just assumed it was because I didn't qualify for the lower rate. It was when my wife called up to add herself to the loan application, to see if that would give us a better rate, did the loan officer say, "Oh, we didn't do his application under that program." WTF! When he resubmitted it againt that program (not even using my wife's credit information), I got the lowest (2.9%) rate available.

Even though Honda financing is a separate division from Acura/Honda motors, I'm sure at some point the money all merges. If Acura can get someone to buy a car with Honda financing at 6% vs 3%, I have to think at some level that gets them some extra brownie points.

Jeff