Anonymous wrote:Email 4 local dealers and ask them for an out the door price on a specific vehicle. Take that quote to them and walk out with car. Easy peasy.

Yes, do this. In fact, I recommend calling. We did no negotiating in person, just told various dealers the other dealers' quotes and took the lowest. Out of the 7 or so within driving distanct, this turned out to be Sport Honda out in Silver Spring.

It's important to get the final total payment including all taxes and fees. In particular, watch out for destination fees, processing fees, tags, and taxes - some dealers quote numbers which include these but a lot try to leave them off. These can also vary between DC, MD, and VA, so you need to include.

The final price variablity was a range of close to $1000. We probably could have gotten close to our final price with a little less effort, but calling all the vendors in the area saved us at least a few hundred off of just negotiating with the first one we talked to based off internet prices.

Yes, DC has recently changed the management company. The fees are now much lower, and are at least in the same ballpark as the best plans. Not quite as good, but close enough to not really matter.

If you don't mind the extra hassle of dealing with DC plans when you might want MD ones later, it's probably worthwhile. You can deduct up to $4000 per year (or $8000 if you are married and you and your spouse both have accounts.) At a 6-9% DC taxes, this saves a few hundred dollars a year. You have to keep the money in DC for a few years, but then you can rollover to another state.