We're all set to buy a new Recon - we own a 99 now and it's been perfect for the way we ride. I know the 06 has a msrp of $3599. One dealer my husband talked to gave him some figure of around $400 for delivery (from Honda to the dealership I presume?) and set up (is this assembly?). Then there's the sales tax. We don't want to get majorly suckered - so in your opinion, or based on your buying experiences.....how negotiable is the out the door price?

We live just outside Chicago and tax for us will be around $275, so that brings the grand total to around $4275. Am I shooting way too low if I tell the guy we've got $3700 in our pocket and we'll take it home that day if he agrees to that price (tax, those BS fees and all included)?

Thanks for any input!

 

I say go for it. That setup fee for $400 is a ripoff, don't pay that at least.

 

I'm with ajd on this one. Tell this is what you got, and what you'll walk out the door paying.

 

Too bad you're not in Tennessee. Ritchie Power Sports Recon 2x4 is $3,027, no add-on fees! I'm in Washington, also no discount dealers. You might try Tousley Motorsports, I've been talking to them. They ship out of state. They are in Minnesota (how far is that from Illinois?) There address is Tousleymotorsports.com.

 

Whenever your buying a new atv or anything power sports, they usually get you in the door with a good msrp (eg $3,599) than once your all hyped up and ready to buy they hit you with all those b/s charges (freight,prep,handling,etc...) the same thing got me when I bought my Raptor the MSRP was only 4,999+tax than once they added on all the extra's it was like $5,000.

 

All the extra's were only one dollar?

 

if they are gonna try to hit you with the setup charges say thats ok give me the wheeler in the crate. apparently all it involves is fueling it up doing the handlebars and wheels and brakes very easy work. the only thing after msrp i expect to pay is tax.

 

I agree, freight and set up are dealer speak for "markup".

I learned an expensive lesson on this dealer crap. I was browsing for my first ATV (man, wish I had found this forum back then) checked some prices on the mfgrs. websites then went to a local dealer. This wasn't exactly an impulsive purchase as I had looked at websites but it was the first one I looked at, Yamaha Beartracker (don't laugh) I didn't want to break the bank cause if I didn't have much fun with it that would have sucked. WELL, I ended up paying MSRP+tax+freight+setup....not only that but this slick dealership talked me into a service contract (which I found out later was not needed for this quad) by telling me that if I had ANY problems within the first six months and did not get my quad serviced by them within 10 hours my factory warranty would be voided, this was one of those warranty/service contracts (all services covered for three years). Well this dealer was full of BS, $700 bucks for this service warranty which would cover my first service but from what I found out this quad would require very little maintenance as it's very basic and been around for a while.

I spoke with the owner and said they BS'd me into a service contract (which couldn't be canceled btw). I got into her ear enough she wrote me out a check for $700.

That's not the worst part, after driving the Beartracker I had an absolute BLAST but it was severly lacking in size/power. I attempted to bring it back and upgrade after two rides but they gave me the standard"your trade is only worth $1500" to us. I explained to the owner that the salesperson COULD have talked me into a larger quad IF he had explained that the Beartracker is more of an entry level quad for 16 year olds and that I MIGHT not feel totally comfortable on it. This kid was a brand new salesperson who didn't know a LOT, he was more focused on making the sale then he was in selling me a quad that fit my needs.

I also challenged the owner on the freight/set up fee......She claimed there was about 6 hours of labor in each ATV they receive (TOTAL BS I found out later) in prepping it for sale.

Regardless, after a few rides, this thing has sat parked in my garage for almost two years, except for my buddy using it for that ATV safety course. He is now going to buy it for $500 plus $100 a month payments for a year.......My net loss? Minus the $700 they gave me back for the contract....... -$2,300.........An expensive lesson to say the least. Hey, at least my buddy is getting a hell of a deal and his two kids can ride it as well.

Oh, the owner never removed my warranty/service contract from the service department's computer so techinically it's still available for those services at no charge...BFD, It'll prob. never need them.

 

I feel your pain. I've bought a lot of new cars during my life and I made bad mistakes on almost all of them. I wasn't until just the last one or two, I finally got kind of smart. Impulse buys are the worst. About a year ago, a buddy & I went to a local dealer and I test-drove a 450 Kodiak SE in their parking lot.
I got a quick price from the freindly salesman while I was there. He added "freight & set-up", also. By the time he was done, he was about $1,000 OVER MSRP. My buddy tried talking me into buying it right there, but I resisted him too. When I got home, 20 mins. on the internet, and I had the dealer invoice amount, etc. I figured at the end that they would have made about 25% margin, or $2,000 profit on that one unit. I feel that I dodged a bullet.

The customer/buyer has to become edumacated. The system is against us.

 

The customer/buyer has to become edumacated. The system is against us. >>>>>>

Get this. My buddy was in the market for a YFZ450, since he knows I've bought and sold a few quads the past two years he asked my advice. I told him not to pay over MSRP out the door. Well he goes to Roseville Yamaha and their sticker price was MSRP+tax+freight+set up...In all it would have been like $8100 OTD, he called me and was kind of irritated he drove all the way out there, I looked up a dealer about two hrs. away and the exact same quad was $6699 OTD listed price on their website. Needless to say, two hrs and $60 bucks in gas is a very small sacrifice to save $1400 bucks.