Sunday, December 19, 2010

Introducing the new toad…

crvAs I had mentioned in a previous blog we have been in the market for a toad.  After we test drove one of the Honda CRV’s at a local dealer we pretty much knew this was the car we wanted. We had contacted dealers and inquired on the internet about the Honda CRV and got bids from four car dealers.

4wdWe had asked each of them for their best written “drive out” offer We also told them what we were expecting to pay based upon our research. As I mentioned before the costs from our research stated that the average paid price was about $24,791 (before ttl). Further research suggested that these cars were highly demanded thus I didn’t expect much of a discount like I had experience on other cars I had bought on the internet before.

crv frontSo the four bids from the Honda dealers ranged from 26,265 to 26,430… wow not much difference at all and this really surprised me. Not much of an incentive to drive the 100 miles to Houston to save a couple hundred dollars. However, one Houston dealer had an additional incentive of a $500 gift card to Academy (which could come in handy in our future lives :) ). So I sent emails to each vendor except the lowest priced one. I told them each where they were in this “bidding war” and asked if they wanted to make a better offer since they were still in consideration. Not much changed after this round of emails but after notifying our local dealer that we were going to go to Houston to make our purchase he submitted a new offer about $700 lower… so can you say SOLD!!!!!

We now own a new Honda CRV EX all wheel drive. The dealer brought the price down to 24,000 making the total drive out about 25,700 and we didn’t have to make the trek to Houston. The CRV is hiding out in our garage until we sell our 2007 Toyota Camry.

One more thing off the list…

12 comments:

  1. You drove a good bargain there.

    I noticed yesterday a question on RV Dreams forum about our possible home swap. It is very much on hold right now for various reasons .... mostly financial.

    The swap we were considering was with Betty and Rich, "RVnIT," who live in the area of Austen Tx. We're keeping it open, hoping for a financial miracles on both sides of the Pacific.

    Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your family.

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  2. Wow, you are a good bargainer! I love dickering with car dealers. In the age of the internet, there are no surprises :)

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  3. Congrats on the CRV, even if it is a wee shy about coming out of the garage! :) I can hardly believe you have only 71 days left in your countdown! Exciting times!

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  4. A nice Christmas present for both of you.

    71 days and counting!

    Excited for you!

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  5. Well done! That's a big item to check off your "to-do" list. Congratulations!

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  6. Looks like a great car. You did good. Congrats!!

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  7. CHECK Grats! Grats! and double Grats. That's the culmination of lots of reasearch. I'd say you made a great decision. Would have been my toad if I could afford it (my toad ended up costing $12,000). Enjoy, they are great vehicles and should serve you well.

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  8. Oh what a nice present to find in your stocking! Oh well, the keys can fit in the stocking, right?

    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    Karen and Steve
    (Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/

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  9. What great news and you did a good job negotiating an excellent price. One step closer to living your dream.

    Merry Christmas!

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  10. I added myself to follow your blog. You are more than welcome to visit mine and become a follower if you want to.

    God Bless You :-)

    ~Ron

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  11. I think you will really enjoy your CRV. In 2003 we bought one as our tow vehicle and I drove it back and forth to work as well. We are still driving and towing it. It has been a wonderful vehicle. Never had any repairs until just recently ($500 - not bad for 7 years of excellent service). I suspect it will be around a lot longer. Now, get that motor home!

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