Price What discount should I expect ?

[mrh339]

Getting the dealers to admit what discounts can be given is like getting turkeys to vote for christmas. If Honda were out of stock of uk spec civics I suspect that they would rather build some and sell them than put the factory on shut down.

[elegance]

Hi guys,

Thanks very much for all the feedback so far, it's very much appreciated. Just to add something else, initially I wanted an 08' Sport either in Tangerine Orange or Nighthawk Black Pearl to replace my existing 06' Sport by the end of January. I have been told by a couple of dealers, who apparently use an intranet called Hondanet, that enables them to look at all the dealer stock in the country, that there are only 7 or so 08' Sports in the country and none of them in the colours that I wanted. Don't know if anybody can substantiate that.

Therefore, I have had to look at the EX version.

Thanks again for everyones contributions and I look forward to hearing any other useful info. that you can provide.

Steve

[Wheelchair]

You chose the same colours as I wanted. Back in April last year I wanted to order a Tangerine or another NHB Civic. It was a 5 month and 4 month wait respectively. I had only a maximum wait of three months and could only choose from TWO colours for my new car!

Honda's stock of colours is poor at the best of times, I think they make a run at the factory of certain colours at certain times.

[CatherineJ]

Originally Posted by NickS

I thought that dealers were now getting £3000 "support" on 2008 models, in addition to any usual margins, which might explain how brokers can offer £4k off.

NickS

There was £1,000 of the Type S diesel in November. We did a deal on our car on the 30th November. This was from Bristol Honda, who I went to at the very last minute after my deposit was turned down by another dealer on the basis that they didn't know what the campaign would be from Honda for December (when the car was going to be delivered).

We were then told by the dealer who we originally dealt with that Honda had removed the additional support. Bristol then told me it was still available to big dealers.

We did OK overall, i'm not unhappy with the deal we got, although I know it could never be considered bargain bucket.

[NH Dan]

Originally Posted by elegance

Hi guys,

Thanks very much for all the feedback so far, it's very much appreciated. Just to add something else, initially I wanted an 08' Sport either in Tangerine Orange or Nighthawk Black Pearl to replace my existing 06' Sport by the end of January. I have been told by a couple of dealers, who apparently use an intranet called Hondanet, that enables them to look at all the dealer stock in the country, that there are only 7 or so 08' Sports in the country and none of them in the colours that I wanted. Don't know if anybody can substantiate that.

Therefore, I have had to look at the EX version.

Thanks again for everyones contributions and I look forward to hearing any other useful info. that you can provide.

Steve

Probably quite true bearing in mind you initially selected the two colours being removed (NHB and tangerine)and the model being removed (sport) from the 09 range.

[vtr1000sp1]

Hi All,

First post but been mulling around since getting my 2.2 Type s last month.
On the 15th of December we got the following deal from Stratstone Honda Horsfoth (near Leeds)

‘08 2.2d Type S with delivery miles
Alabaster Silver
Car mats
12 months tax
Full tank of fuel

Total cost was £12,700. Also recommended a friend who subsequently bought a 1.8 Type S so received a nice £100 cheque in the post!

I’m pleased with our deal and had no problems so far!

Edit ***Apologies, just checked invoice and it was £12,784***

Cheers
Phil

[CatherineJ]

Good grief that is very cheap. Mind you there a rumours that Pendragon could be the "big one" to hit the skids.

[vtr1000sp1]

Yes, so I hear. Stratstone were the cheapest I could find. Still have a couple of cheap ones when searching on the Honda used section of the Honda website. E.g.
http://www.honda.co.uk/cars/used/search/details/?id=3
You have to work hard for the tax/mats. The fuel was thrown in as when we picked the car up they could only find one key and we had to re-visit at a later date to pick it up.
Cheers

[NH Dan]

Pre-reg'd/ex demo car then. hence the huge saving.

[DeanFYoung]

Originally Posted by Mr JP

The key is, don't buy new. If you want a MY09, wait a couple of months.

Anyone that buys new has got more money than sense IMO.

If people don't buy new, people can't buy used...

There's nothing wrong with buying new. If its a long term buy and you know you're going to keep past 2 or 3 years then its a good investment.
As I see it, buying new is only unwise if you like to change every couple of years

[DeanFYoung]

Originally Posted by NH Dan

Pre-reg'd/ex demo car then. hence the huge saving.

Even so, I think thats a great deal!

[NH Dan]

Originally Posted by DeanFYoung

Even so, I think thats a great deal!

certainly is but didnt want that post to get confused with Mrh339's mystical stock of cars with their massive discounts and untold increased margins on new cars.

[Mr JP]

Originally Posted by DeanFYoung

If people don't buy new, people can't buy used...

Originally Posted by DeanFYoung

There's nothing wrong with buying new. If its a long term buy and you know you're going to keep past 2 or 3 years then its a good investment.
As I see it, buying new is only unwise if you like to change every couple of years

Of course there is nothing wrong, I did it after all. Would I do it now? No.

Regardless of how long you're keeping a car buying it 1 year old still saves you 40% in some cases irrespective of how long you keep it.

[Orschild]

NH Dan and Bassetshonda has pointed out 20% is probably wishful thinking.

Assuming that the margin of each sold civic is ~40% (probably too much)

Lowering the price with 20% will give a margin of 25% (assuming the price of a new one is 17k)

This means that they will need to increase sales with 195% to earn the same amount of money. If you reduce the margin from 40% to 30% the increased turnover needs to be increased by 300%.

Is it likely that sales will increase with 300% in a crisis like this, because you sell the cars 3,5k cheaper? Not likely I'd say...


It much more interesting to increase the price in a situation like this. As the ones that are actually buying new cars are going to regardless if it costs 17k or 13k - they are looking for good deal - and that is subjective.

If you increase price with 10% you can actually drop sales with 20-25% still make the same amount of money.

[NH Dan]

Originally Posted by Orschild

NH Dan and Bassetshonda has pointed out 20% is probably wishful thinking.

Assuming that the margin of each sold civic is ~40% (probably too much)

Lowering the price with 20% will give a margin of 25% (assuming the price of a new one is 17k)

This means that they will need to increase sales with 195% to earn the same amount of money. If you reduce the margin from 40% to 30% the increased turnover needs to be increased by 300%.

Is it likely that sales will increase with 300% in a crisis like this, because you sell the cars 3,5k cheaper? Not likely I'd say...


It much more interesting to increase the price in a situation like this. As the ones that are actually buying new cars are going to regardless if it costs 17k or 13k - they are looking for good deal - and that is subjective.

If you increase price with 10% you can actually drop sales with 20-25% still make the same amount of money.

Try dividing the margin you quote by 10 and you'd be much closer to the dealer margin for a civic.

[Orschild]

Originally Posted by NH Dan

Try dividing the margin you quote by 10 and you'd be much closer to the dealer margin for a civic.

I think 3-4% sounds low since a clear purchase signal with a reservation on the price often get 5% discount more or less without asking. But the margin may be quite different for different dealers - and of course different cars. A "cash cow" such as the civic will have much less margin on each unit than the S2000.

But the point is that I was intentionally very optimistic, as I wanted to be able to put 20% discount and still be able to show that even if you have a very large marigin you need to increase the sales unreasonably much to earn the same amount of money. If the margin is 22% you'll have to increase turnover with roughly 1000% to maintain 20% discount/price decrease without losing money.

Looking at the price list of options gives me the feeling that Honda make more money selling options than selling the car itself though.

[FWH]

Originally Posted by NH Dan

Try dividing the margin you quote by 10 and you'd be much closer to the dealer margin for a civic.

Then my dealer sold me my car at a loss which I kind of doubt.

[mrh339]

Originally Posted by FWH

Then my dealer sold me my car at a loss which I kind of doubt.

My discount was 11.7% in September 07 and times were not too hard then so a greater discount than that shoud be very easy to acheive in the current financial climate.