Hey guys,

I was wondering if anyone here has bought a leftover car from the previous year before and what type of discounts should I expect. I'm trying to help a co-worker of mine try to score a deal on a 2018 Honda Civic Hatchback, but it seems that none of the dealers want to play along. The best I've gotten is a few hundred below invoice and some are even saying more than invoice. That hardly seems like a deal for a car that has already depreciated more than that and since you can get a 2019 for not much more. I'm not even talking about some hard to find unicorn Type-R or something ultra rare. It's just a mid-level EX or EX-L. Am I wrong to expect a decent deal on a car that has been sitting for several months? I'm thinking $1500-$2000 below invoice would be reasonable, but I guess not.

For example pricing for a 2018 Civic Hatchback EX:
MSRP: $23,250
Invoice: $21,600
Tax Rate: 8%
My ballpark figure: $21-22k out the door

 

Back in the day, before the internet, I usually found dealerships were more 'flexible' at negotiating, in person, on the last day of the month a few hours before closing time.

Now, I've had friends tell me that they usually send out multiple inquiries to dealership 'internet pricing managers', regarding the exact car they want, and then they proceed to play each one against the other for the best price.

Mind you, selection of 'leftover' cars may limit you, when it comes to selection; however, it beats running around because they (the internet managers, if they are good) usually will tell you whether or not you will find your exact car or not when they check available inventories.

Good Luck!

 

That's exactly what I'm doing. Just emailing a bunch of internet sales managers and pitting them against each other. But seems like no one is biting. Co-worker is flexible on colors and there's quite a few still available in the area. Too me my pricing doesn't seem far from reasonable, but what do I know. Seems like Honda dealers are harder to deal with than Acura dealerships. I got quoting on my TLX and our MDX immediately and they went directly to their best prices. Figured people would be more willing to get rid of these sitting ducks.

 

If there's minimal changes between the model years, there's probably not going to be much room to negotiate. The new year just started. They may be speaking a different tune if Oct 2019 rolls around and that car is still on their lots.

Dealers barely make anything on new cars these days. The bulk of their profits is service and used cars.

 

Yeah I think all those dealer ppl know about the email price war strategy that everyone is recommending. I've heard lot of them actually want to do the deal in house and not over emails anymore...or bait and switch stuff over email.

current gen Civics are still pretty good demand so guess not much incentive. If your friend has time, that is your best weapon for price reduction...patience...

 

In that case, give the 'old school' approach a try. Even though it may involve a little 'labor' in actually going to the dealership, pick at least two of the one's 'available in the area', start your 'in their face' negotiating approach, like on the 26th of this month, show them you are or your co-worker is a serious buyer, and see what happens. If the first dealership doesn't treat you fairly, walk out and go to the next.

Sorta like George Costanza's walkout:

 

Tried that out when we went to test drive the first Civic. Asked the sales guy for some numbers and the guy basically gives us msrp plus tax and then proceeds to run a credit check. I'm no chump and not gonna let this guy take advantage of someone who is a noob in the new car buying process so I immediately stop him. Plus we both work as software engineers at a finance company and know better about hard pulls. The guy brings over his manager and he asks me what I think the price should be. Why should I tell him first, he's the one selling the car? I guess some of these are just bad salesmen. Honestly, if it's the second month into the year and you still have a bunch of 2018s on the lot, then that dealer is bad at selling cars. No one in there right mind is going to take the older model year if it costs the same as a 2019.

 

The longer something sits, the more desperate the dealer will be to see its taillights leave the lot for the last time. My 3 had been on the lot ten months to the day when I bought it and I got $4500 off just because they wanted it gone.

 

Chevrolet had sales incentives when I worked there. Additional discounts for the oldest x% of inventory. Can't recall if there was a sales bonus on those, I wasn't in sales.

 

And people wonder why car salesmen get a bad rap.....

 

Patience is key. If you wait them out, you'll be fine.

 

 

Yeah agreed. I think the longer they sit the more likely they will be willing to make a deal. The dude's not in a hurry to buy a car so I guess it works out. He was originally going to buy a used one but I mentioned that he could get a new one for not that much more. Just found this whole thing to be strange. For the most part, car buying for me has been pretty easy for me and tried to help out a friend this time. Guess I just got a string of the stereotypical sales people. Just don't understand why anyone would buy these "old" cars if there wasn't an incentive. Seems like a lose lose. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Dont know if there are any other sites like Carjojo.com before they shut down, but on their site you could search and view by how many days the news cars had been sitting on the lot. So once it started getting over 250 days the more likely you would get a bigger discount

 

I dont have the patience for this kind of shit. I find what I want and go make a deal.

 

I find the haggling in person to be a hassle. I would rather sit on my ass and send out some e-mails from a template and be in and out within a couple of hours or less, instead of being stuck at the dealer for 5+ hours.

 

$21k out the door = $18xxx selling price + tax/fees

I dont know how you came up with $5k off (22%) on a $23k MSRP car, even if it was MY2018.

Usually the cheaper the car is, the less room there is for negotiation as far as $$ value.
If we are talking about some 2018 RLX, then 22% off might be a real possibility. On cars like Civic, CR-V, Accord, - 22% off is very very unlikely, especially when it is not the top of line trim.

Also is your co worker paying cash? if he/she is planning to finance, you might wanna check the rate. Maybe that is where he/she will save some $$ buying 2018 vs. 2019.
Do you know how much discount they are giving out for the same car but MY 2019?

 

Try out TrueCar to get an idea of what you should pay. I agree with oonowindoo that you're not going to get 22% off of a Civic, that's nuts. Around me TrueCar is saying that a 2018 Civic EX-T sedan with MSRP of $23395 would have a good selling price of $21215 which is about 10% off of MSRP. You may be able to do slightly better but I don't think you're going to get $21k out the door.

 

 

And you had a crazy deal on the Charger.... Man, why go from the Charger to a Civic?