2025 Honda CRV Sport Hybrid purchase experience (December 2024)

Just sharing this info in case it can be helpful to anyone else looking to buy a new Honda CRV.

SUMMARY:

  • Date of negotiation = December 30, 2024
  • Car = 2025 Honda CRV Sport Hybrid
  • Dealership = Honda Windward
  • Dealership's initial offer = $39,265
  • Final price = $37,000 out the door (after $250 trade-in value for 2010 Honda Fit)
  • EDIT TO ADD: I know the trade-in value was super low but the air conditioner wasn't working, one of the windows wasn't working, and the car had a rattling noise. I'm sure there are others who can negotiate a better deal, but I was just sharing my experience to try to be helpful.

DETAILS:

  • Did not shop elsewhere for pricing.
  • Dealer website showed this model in stock: MSRP $35,105 and $34,650 before taxes/fees.
  • After choosing car, salesman #1 had us wait in their office for over an hour while he got initial offer of $39,265.
  • We asked why their offer breakdown had the base price as $35,287 (more than either MSRP listed on their website). Salesman said dealership has right to adjust price.
  • We asked for $37,000 out the door (after taxes, fees, trade-in).
  • Salesman #2 came out and offered $37,465.
  • We stuck to $37,000 and also presented a $500 bonus trade-in coupon for signing up for their mailing list. Salesman said we were supposed to present that before negotiations started. We said we only just signed up for the coupon while the first salesguy was taking so long to get the initial offer.
  • Salesman #2 agreed to $37,000 after trade in.

EXTENDED WARRANTY:

  • When we went to pick up the car, finance manager offered 10-year/100k-miles extended warranty for $3,909.95 (Base price $3,734 + tax $175.95).
  • However, the manager had to play around with how the numbers were entered into the system so that she could account for a few down payments we made, and we ended up paying only $3,124.61 on top of $37,000. This suggests that the warranty price is not necessarily set and might be negotiable.
  • If you do not use warranty at all, they refund this entire amount at the end of 10 years/100k miles.

THINGS I WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME:

  • Do better research on Reddit to see what other people negotiated.
  • Check mainland pricing plus cost of shipping car to see if local dealers can match offer (or reduce their offer by more than they otherwise would have).
  • Explicitly ask to negotiate the extended warranty price.
  • Ask to include accessories like all-weather mats and a safety sticker mounting plate (so that you don't have to stick the sticker directly onto your bumper).
  • Clean the old car we are trading in.