Anyone Have Experience With Getting Online Car Quotes?

[Doug123]

My wife and I are looking to possible purchase the Honda Odyssey minivan. I've read a couple threads on another site (edmunds.com) in which people have successfully solicited price quotes online.

Apparently you can solicit prices through the Honda site directly. I've also learned that you can do it through cars.com.

Does anyone have any experience with this one way or another? I hate giving my name, address, phone number and e-mail address to the world of car dealers, but if it ends up saving me a lot of money, it might be worth the inevitable hassle.

Thanks.

 

[goin2disneyagain]

In 2001 I requested, and received, several quotes online for my Honda Accord before I purchased it. I even went thru the local dealers website where I had purchased my 1st Honda Accord. We started out negotiations online and then closed the deal over the phone. I felt very comfortable doing this because I had done business with the car dealership before and still took my car to the same dealership for service/maintenance.

P.S. Honda cars are awesome.

 

[disneymom3]

I have done this. I went to a couple of different websites and entered the info on what I wanted. We were buying a Chrysler Town and Country and had driven one on vacation so knew exactly what we wanted. I got quotes from 3 different dealers and then chatted with them on the phone to see who could really give me the best deal. They definitely competed with each other and I got the price down quite a bit just on my say so that the other agency would give me a better price. (Which was true.) I arranged for pick up and financing over the phone, went into the one who gave me the best deal, signed the papers and were out of their in about 30 minutes. The guy did insist that we take it on a test drive which I did basically to make sure it did run the way I expected.

I would buy a car again this way in a hearbeat! However, this was for a new car which is the only way it would be so easy. There would be a lot more investigating necessary for a used car.

I love Hondas too. Have a 96 Honda Odessey with 140K miles on it which DH drives 100 miles RT to work every day. Runs fabulously, never have had to do anything but routine maintenance on it. The Chrysler on the other hand.....let's just say that for our next car we are going back to Honda or Toyota.

 

[Doug123]

Julie,

What websites did you use? Any one better than the other?

 

[cynsaun]

We just bought our new SUV using this method. I did all my research prior to contacting the dealers directly, and had a price that would be fair. Many dealerships now have internet salespeople which makes it so much easier.

I contacted the three closest dealerships to us, in addition to a car dealer in New Jersey. Each one came back with quotes. I took the lowest quote and told the other dealers asking by how much they would beat it. I ended up getting a final quote for $5800 below MSRP on a vehicle that back in February consumers were paying full price for.

Good luck to you!

 

[loisg1]

We just bought an '04 Accord by contacting local dealers on the internet. First bought a copy of the Consumer's Reports car buyers pricing for the car ($12) which also gives tips on bargaining, etc, etc. But the pricing they give is the MSRP all the way down to the Dealer Invoice Wholesale Price which they suggest as the place to start dealing (and go up). Obviously, if you get something less, so much the better!!

In any case the dealer we are getting the car from on Saturday, made an offer just a couple of hundred dollars above the wholesale price and we took it. We had checked with other dealers and they were way off of it by $1000 - $2000.

And yes, we went through the Honda website for the email addresses.

Good luck with your new van purchase!
Lois

 

[barbeml]

We got ours through AAA. Because we had that info, we knew we were getting a great deal, even though we didn't actually use the buying service.

Any research is a good thing.

 

[goin2disneyagain]

After we settled on the deal, the General Manager of the dealership I decided to go with complimented me on how well I had done my homework. I knew how much they paid for the car and exactly what was standard with the model I wanted and exactly what I wanted added to it. I got a really good deal.

 

[Doug123]

Thanks everyone for your answers. I think I'll contact local dealerships near me directly though e-mail.

 

[crz4mm2]

I went to Edmunds too when I was planning on buying a honda accord. Great advise there. You can get some really good quotes on line. I would not worry about giving your name and addy. It will save you $$$$
Do it. you will not be sorry. And good luck with your new HONDA. I LOVE mine!