Hey guys what's going on... I need some advice on getting a Hummer H3. I am active duty Air Force E5 and don't make squat for money... I have been saving money and have amassed 14g's for a down payment. I plan on buying a new H3 in Sept, when I move to Cheyenne Wy. What I was planning on getting was an Adventure package with the front guard, under guard, side steps etc... my question, should I just get the H3 with the adventure package and towing hitch and buy the front and under guards, side steps ect later and put them on as I go.(to save money and keep my payment a little lower) It looks like the under guard and the side steps just bolt on. How about the front bumper? Or is it more of a pain in the *** and should I just get the H3 with all the extras? Also I have never bought a new car, but would adding that stuff void the warranty would it?

Any other inputs would be appreciated

Thanks!
Shaun

 

Hi Shaun...BTW, Thanks for serving our country..[sm=americanasmiley.gif]

I would buy the Adventure package..Most H3s already come equipped with the trailer/tow hitch package...But the rest of the stuff can be negotiated at the dealer or thrown in with the deal..all depends if you are the better saleman..But a lot of the stuff you want, is cheaper going after it through aftermarket retailers..Dealers put a hell of a mark up on these extra goodies..Plenty of retailers here on this forum that sponser our forum and offer discounts to us members...Good luck!

 

one thing I found from buying previous trucks, if you have to order it with what you want on it you lose almost all your leverage in haggle price on the options, if you find one in a lot with what you want already on it, then you can negotiate the price of the options better. My h3 had chrome nerf bars for like $500, I told the dealer that I didn't want them and to take em off, he came back and offered to give them to me for $100, his service dept was to usy to remove them.

I second what Dennis said...THANKS FOR SERVING OUR COUNTRY!!!! I lost a few friends in the Twin Towers...God Bless You!!

 

If you want to tow, it's best to get the factory hitch already installed. It's integrated really nicely on the H3 and doesn't take away from the departure angle at all. To install this later is a real pain because the rear bumper has to be cut. Otherwise, you'll have to get a lower hanging aftermarket hitch.

All the rest of the stuff that you described just bolts on so you can easily add it later.

My recommendation however, (if you like the factory parts better that what's on the aftermarket) would be to just order it with your new truck already installed. That way there is no doubt that it will be covered by your car insurance and you can also just fold the cost into your lower interest rate monthly car payments.

Good luck with your new truck! The H3 rocks!

 

If you buy the parts from the dealer parts department and put them on your self, that will save a lot of cash compared to purchasing the vehicle with them already on, and they would still be covered by your insuance if that was even an issue. I've never had a claims adjuster want to see the window sticker to make sure the parts were on the original purchase.

 

Its also a good idea to just order the H3 you want with the parts already installed. That way you will pay the same price as advertised on the Hummer website (parts only). If not they will try to add on the labor charges at the dealership... Even if you don't want to special order it, at least threaten to do just that. In my case they were happy to wave those labor fees

 

I agree with importkiller, pick out a hummer h3 that you like and try to talk him down, I got a base model, wish i got the adventure, in my case, dealer wouldn't budge on price but offered parts, I also suggest not putting down as much, and saving a couple thousand, for aftermarket parts, most parts you can do yourself. I'm sure either way you'll enjoy your hummer, mine's been a blast since i got it.

 

Wow you guys are fast on the replies! Thanks for the inputs on my buy... I have another dumb question on buying a new H3 lets say I go to the lot and see what I want, I go to hummer.com and put it in there "build your own" and it comes out to 35,000 as the MSRP When I haggle with the guy "typically" what would a final price be?

Hey, as for serving, thanks guy I love what I do. I repair the systems that have the black and white video you see on TV when our planes(c130, F15,16 & 117) are blowing stuff up on the ground. Has the cross hair in the middle and a laser designator boar sited to it and they drop laser guided bombs and missiles. Make me feel all warm and fuzzy knowing what I do kills scum bag terrorists... Boy do I love my job[sm=happy046.gif]

Here is an example of my system at work….
http://www.nata2.info/war/AC-130U_gunship_video_lo.wmv

enjoy...

 

What I did took awhile to do but in the end it saved me a lot of money. I am lucky enough to have 5 hummer dealers within 100 miles of me. I went to one and found an h3 I liked and haggled him on price for almost an hour. He gave me a written amount so I could go home to think about it. I took that written amount to another dealer, found a similiar h3, showed him the figure from the first guy and he beat it and wrote down his offer. I did this four times till the final dealer I went to had knocked close to $6000 off of sticker and gave me free oil changes and car washes for 4 years. Like I said it took me 3 days or so but in the end well worth it. Good luck on your buy bro...your gonna love it!!

 

Shaun,

First off, thank you very much for serving our country. We wouldn't have such a great country today without all the sacrifice made by our people in uniform.

You've gotten some great ideas here. I'll give you a couple more. My technique is to go to kbb.com (Kelley Blue Book), and carefully pick out all my options. I research this very carefully, so I know there are no changes that need to be made later. Then I pick a price close to invoice (usually a few hundred above if the vehicle is not on allocation), and call a dealer. I tell them I want to order a car, and I have all the optins picked out. I fax the dealer my option list, including the colors, along with my price, and say "Will you order this for me?". I don't know if I have ever had one turn me down. It is very easy for them, because you have done all the work, and not wasted their time.

A friend of mine, did something similar, but just said, "Give me your best price." Then after they gave them their best price, he said, "I'll take it if you knock $500 off." We'll he ended up getting the best price I have ever heard of on a new Corvette doing this.

Finally, here is another trick. Some of the dealer advertising on the internet have some good prices. Even if the dealer is not in your area, you can still order from them, and have the truck "courtesy delivered" to a dealer in your area. The dealer in your area gets a delivery fee of about $300.

Also, I would recommend lining up your own financing ahead of time. Unless the manufacturers are running special financing offers, the dealer financing is often expensive. They can also use the financing to sweeten the deal for them by upping rates or load document fees. USAA often has pretty good rates.

Good luck!

Michael

P.S. The shopping is half the fun. Enjoy!