Buying Honda CR-V before Tet, customers are forced to buy additional 60 million accessory package?

Introduced in Vietnam since late 2017, but it was not until early January 2018 that the 5th generation Honda CR-V had official prices for each version. Specifically, the prices for the two versions of the 5th generation CR-V (7 seats) will be 1.136 billion VND (E version) and 1.256 billion VND (L version) respectively.

This price surprised many customers who had booked the car in advance because the expected price when it was first launched was under 1.1 billion VND.

According to a survey, at some Honda car dealerships, currently, if customers want to buy a new Honda CR-V and get the car before Tet, they not only have to buy at the listed price but also have to pay an additional 40 - 60 million VND (depending on the dealership) for accessories. If the customer does not agree, the dealership will not sell to customers who want to get the car right away.

Specifically, at a Honda car dealership in Hanoi, if customers want to buy a new CR-V L version and get the car before Tet, they have to pay 1.256 billion VND plus an accessory package of 60 million VND. That means the price of the car will be 1.316 billion VND. If they buy the E version, they have to install an additional accessory package of about 50 million VND, the price of the CR-V will then be 1.186 billion VND, not 1.136 billion VND as listed.

According to sales staff at some Honda car dealerships, if customers do not close their car purchase early, they will not be able to get the car delivered before Tet because the number of cars is quite small but the demand is high. They may even have to wait until June 2018 to buy a car. Because currently, each dealership only has about 40-60 cars for sale from now until June 2018.

The higher-than-expected price has made many customers who intend to buy a new CR-V reconsider. However, customers who accept to buy at this price are feeling uncomfortable because they "naturally" have to spend an additional 40 - 60 million VND to install accessories that they do not like.

Mr. Nguyen Manh Quan (Cau Giay, Hanoi) said that he also went to a Honda car dealer (Hanoi) to buy a new CR-V L version to serve his travel needs. However, if he wanted to get the car right away or before Tet, he would have to install an additional 60 million VND accessory package and buy insurance as specified by the dealer.

This made Mr. Quan feel uncomfortable, "because there are unnecessary items, why buy them and then throw them away!"

Mr. Quan also said that when asked if he did not want to get the accessories, could he get the car early? But the salesperson always answered "no". Therefore, Mr. Quan decided to look for another car model instead of the Honda CR-V./.