What good is an MSRP on a car if the dealers demand more?

debodun

debodun

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Location
way upstate in New York, USA
According to an AI search, the MSRP on a 2026 Honda Civic LX is around $24,000. I looked at a local dealership online inventory and didn't see one under $26,000. I emailed the dealer and asked why their sticker price was way more than the MSRP. The reply was that the MSRP is only a national average and it can very by location and the demand for the car which is high right now for this model.

That was news to me. The last I heard, new car sales were way down since people are keeping their cars longer these days and those buying are getting SUVs.
Anyway, I have a suggestion what they can do with their "suggested" price. My 23 year old Civic still gets me where I want to go.
 

Why does the same brand of bread or beans have a different price at every grocery store in town. 🤷‍♀️

All we need to worry about is shopping for our best value/deal.

Even if every dealer had the same model at the same price a person would probably end up paying a different out of pocket at each dealership based on the way trade ins are valued, different financing options, dealer prep, etc…
 
debodun said:
According to an AI search, the MSRP on a 2026 Honda Civic LX is around $24,000.
Click to expand...

I googled for places near me and it is weird that the MSRP price is shown different for the same car. I did see one that was in a very far out suburb that had a thousand dollar dealer discount (price 24,700-ish).

Used ones (approx 5 years old) were advertised for 20,000-ish, which makes the new price sound pretty good.

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I pick out the car and features I want, then search eveything I can find on the internet about that car, but any information I find just as a reference. It may be helpful, it may not.

Then I search all the dealers nearest to me until I find one that has the car I want on sale, or at the best price, then I go to that dealer to negotiate further. I do look at the window sticker while I'm at the car, and question any options I don't understand. It's not as easy these days to expect the dealer to deduct a certain dollar amount from the MSRP, so it's not helpful if you say something like, "I want $2000 off the sticker." [That shows them you aren't really informed, and they can dismiss that statement in a heartbeat.]

Before going to buy a car, I do a lot of research on my trade in so I'm certain what I want for it, but I will plan to ask a bit more from the dealer. If the salesman shows me paperwork with prices and figures on his car that are not in a format that I easily follow, or if he's "jacked up" the amount he's giving me on my trade in just for show purposes, and he has other things down on his paper complicating the sale to make it seem I'm getting a great deal, when I'm not so sure of that, then I would be very suspicious and ask for a different presentation made to my own specifications.
 
debodun said:
According to an AI search, the MSRP on a 2026 Honda Civic LX is around $24,000. I looked at a local dealership online inventory and didn't see one under $26,000. I emailed the dealer and asked why their sticker price was way more than the MSRP. The reply was that the MSRP is only a national average and it can very by location and the demand for the car which is high right now for this model.
Click to expand...
It can depend on The styling remember when the mustang came out? There was actually a dealer that had bidding wars on the model that they had in the showroom. Some of those cars went for several thousand dollars above what the sticker price was.

Garland, Texas, a Ford dealership saw 15 people bidding for the single showroom Mustang model. The winner was so determined to secure the car that he slept in it overnight to prevent it from being sold before his check cleared the next day.
 
debodun said:
According to an AI search, the MSRP on a 2026 Honda Civic LX is around $24,000. I looked at a local dealership online inventory and didn't see one under $26,000. I emailed the dealer and asked why their sticker price was way more than the MSRP. The reply was that the MSRP is only a national average and it can very by location and the demand for the car which is high right now for this model.

That was news to me. The last I heard, new car sales were way down since people are keeping their cars longer these days and those buying are getting SUVs.
Anyway, I have a suggestion what they can do with their "suggested" price. My 23 year old Civic still gets me where I want to go.
Click to expand...
My son in Calif had something of the same sort of thing going on. So right in front of the salesman he did a search on the same car in Nevada and sure enough it was cheaper and they would deliver it free to his local dealer if it was within so many miles. I can't remember what make it was but may worth checking out if you really want one. Of course the Nevada dealer got the contract to boot and the salesman there had to do the paperwork. Win/win for my son.
 
It's called the Law of Supply and Demand. I have it and YOU want it. I can ask whatever I want for it.....of course, unless it's an emergency and "price gouging" laws are in effect for necessities.

I can remember when the Miata first came out and my brother-in-law paid $5000 over asking price (which was a decent chunk of money back then) to be one of the first in the area to have one. To each his own....

My cousin's ex-husband once paid $5000 to get on the waiting list to buy some luxury car (can't remember what). When he got near the top of the list, he sold his spot on the list for $20,000 to a pro basketball player.
 

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