Jack Ellena Honda in Lawrence, Kansas is a class act. We bought our Element there on Friday the 29th and it was quite a satisfying experience, especially since I was able to get the “out-the-door” price down $1,300. Now I will say right here that when buying new cars I follow this advice:

He whosoever can walketh away,

Controls the deal.

-From the gospel according to Bif

Every time they would lay a figure down I would say “sorry” and start putting on my jacket. It took them four tries but they finally got down to the figure I wanted to pay in the beginning. Now most people would be put off by this but I thought it was kind of fun. I told the salesman after the first drive that I liked the Element but wasn’t in love with it. I told them I didn’t need to buy one but neglected to tell them that I desperately wanted to get rid of my 95 Ford Clubwagon Van gashog. I had a good idea of what the Clubwagon was worth as a trade in (Edmunds.com), added $1,000 and subtracted that from the MSRP of the 08 Element LX AWD 5MT. The resulting figure was my “out-the-door” price. So we played the game, danced the dance and every one went home happy. The reason that I think the people at Ellena Honda are so great is that nobody got upset when I refused their deals. In the past I’ve had new car salesmen get huffy when I refused a deal and made to leave. At Ellena the salesman simply said that he would talk to the sales manager again. Through the whole thing he remained perfectly calm and didn’t get upset with me (which looking back he had every right to do-but then he wouldn’t have sold a car). These guys have got me as a customer for a long time even though they may cringe when they see me coming.:)

OBTW- The wife, aka grandma, is inventorying the camping gear as I type this.

Welcome to the Group Gary
Post some pictures of your _itchin' new ride!
Toe-Puk-Ah is not that far away

Hey, it's just an Atomic Blue LX. Here is a picture I took Friday night after we got it home. The white blob is my 1990 Mazda Miata autocross weapon.

Yup, haggling is all apart of playing the game. My salesman (who was very nice and low pressure) had to go "talk to the boss" four times before we came within $300 of each others prices. My salesman asked if a $300 dollar difference would be a deal-breaker. I said the dealership in Kalispell had 3 of them and was willing to haggle, he went with my final bid. The really funny thing though is that my salesman became even friendlier after I bought the E. He gave me the loaner car deal for when I get repairs (only for new car buyers), gave both my GF and I nice Honda hats, and told us how he hated selling Pontiacs too. In order for him to his commission he had to sell one GM car a month. Anyway several people I know have bought cars at this dealership recently and have had a similar experience.

WELCOME to the cult, err, I mean, club!!
I've done the same thing many times. On the 06 Ody I bought before I "upgraded" to the E, it was "Honda Clearance" time. They kept coming back with a ridiculous price and I said (SEVERAL times) that's NOT a clearance price! Like you, I said that I like it, but don't NEED it, so....... :rolleyes::cool:

Congrats on sticking to your guns and getting the price you wanted, and getting the best car out there in the process...... :rolleyes::):cool::lol:

LOOKS GREAT!!!! :D

Congrats on sticking to your guns and getting the price you wanted, and getting the best car out there in the process.

It helped that I was there on the last day of the month (always the best time to buy a new automobile).:)