New clarity owner here. Just wanted to post my purchase details/experience so that others could be benefited. All the discussion in this thread was very useful and saved me some $.
I went through costco auto program. It was surprisingly simple, effortless and smooth. They sent me Berkeley honda details. Someone from dealership called me and promised me to send the costco pricing but looks like they forgot. Next day (Friday) I reached out to Bret (his name was in email) and had a chat over the phone. He immediately sent me the pricing. Contacted other dealers in Bay area with costco pricing and no one was willing to beat/match it. They were at least off by $1000. Called Bret back on Saturday morning to inquire about silver base model. He said he got one that day morning. Reached the dealership at 12.30 pm and was out by 5 pm with the car. $0 out of pocket!
No haggling over anything in the dealership. They had installed wheel locks ($125), with 15% discount, I did not care much. That too was added to financed amount.
Here is the price I paid. 34700 OTD + 800 interest for 5 years. My purchase price, including destination charges was $31210. Price I paid is $3000 off of MSRP. Financed from Honda with .9%for 5 year term. Considering all the rebates, price paid excluding taxes is $21700.
Hope I did not do bad
I think CA has a high demand for these cars now and it is hard to find the required color/model at the dealership you want. I have heard that Anderson honda generally doesn't lose out because of price. In my case, even they refused to match/beat this. Bret was a nice guy.
So far, I love this car. Everyone in my family loves it too.