Hello Honda Tech! It's been a while.

I am looking at buying a 2012 Civic EX for the wife to replace her 11 year old Ford Escape. I have gotten quotes from a few different dealerships and have reached the point where it is time to start haggling. The best quote I have gotten so far was $20,864 otd for a base EX. I was wondering what some of the other members who have EXs have paid....especially 2012 EXs. If you have extra options on your EX please let me know. Thanks for the input!

 

Have you ever used true car http://www.truecar.com/ and see if it can save you a few dollars for your area.

I use them when I'm looking for the best local price then get the best price off my local dealers.

 

Everything I have read would make that fair, but they are so close to an even 20k. I would see what they could do from there, ie tax/title included for 20k. The average is 21k depending on options.

 

Pick the car you want,tell them the price you are willing to pay and leave, when I bought my new toyota truck I didn't make it to the door.

Try doing this as close to the end of the month as possible, they need to sell a set amount of cars by the end of the month, to keep there interest rate at the bank that finances there floor plan.

 

Thanks for the input. I think I will shoot for $19,500 otd and see what happens. I will also play dealers against each other.

Two of the dealerships I have been to offer a lifetime powertrain warranty. The way they described it was it would kick in after the 5 year/60k mile honda powertrain warranty ran out and would cover any powertrain problems for a $100 deductible. Sounds like a pretty good deal but I'm wondering if there are any catches. I have heard that this warranty only covers internal parts and only breakage (normal wear not covered). Anyone have experience with this kind of dealer warranty?

 

Any word on if that warranty is for real?

 

I was finally able to get a copy of the contract for the lifetime warranty that the dealership is offering. I will be reviewing it and posting my findings soon.

 

If you are the kind of person that keeps a car forever a lifetime warranty might be a good idea.

If you just plan on keeping the car until it's payed off and then moving to another, a warranty like that is a waste of money unless it can be transferred to the next owner at a reasonable price.

I recently bought a new chevy truck and I took the extended warranty because it was transferable, this is a very good tool for attracting a buyer in about 2 years when I get another truck.

 

Sounds like a typical aftermarket extended warranty.

Wear is never covered, under any warranty. Breakage is the only thing ever covered.

Powertrain coverage without electrical doesn't seem all that useful to me. That's a fairly high deductible too.

For reference, I got 70k miles bumper to bumper with $50 deductible thrown in for free when I bought my GSR used.

 

If that dealer is bought out, typically it is null and void. Also, you can only get repairs there for the powertrain work.

Also, you might have to get every single maintenance required done by the service manual or it will nt be valid, those 30k 60k services are expensive.