2013 and earlier-Acura TL Prices Paid and Buying Experience

hbstiger

I will be signing on a 2000 3.2 TL with 45,000 miles, spoiler, all wood trim, nicely running car for $15,500 sale price. Is that a reasonable price.

I also plan to sell it in two years. How much depreciation will I incur on the car?

uga91

According to Edmunds.com's used car section, a 2000 Acura 3.2TL without Nav should be about $17k private party sale, $18.5k dealer retail and about $19.5k certified used. If edmunds is any indication, your price is very good. Of course, there are many other factors to look at. I don't believe the spoiler and wood add any real value to the car. Also, what does carfax say? Have you had a mechanic look at it? You might want to ask your questions on the Real World Trade-In Values thread. Terry probably knows what these are going for at auction, so a selling price is easier to determine that way.

kennyg8

Did your dealer (Montclair) throw in the pro-pack, which I believe includes wheel locks, splash guards and trunk tray? Many dealers throw this in as a freebie, as I understand the cost to them is about $100 to $125.

Congrats on your new ride, and it appears that you have gotten yourself a fair and reasonable deal.

a64marc

depends...here in Southern California we have a lot of competition...got a non-nav TL 12/03 for 31even and am aboutto get another one with current deal at 30,500...under invoice but don't forget dealer holdbacks and other incentives.

shoman93

$15.5k for that car is a hell of a deal. I myself was looking into a 2000 TL when my 2000 Civic EX coupe got stolen awhile back (unfortunately they found it and it wasn't totaled so it was repaired and returned to me). Anyhow, I have an uncle in the car business and he told me I was looking in the mid 16's for a good low milage one, maybe w/ a Nav. system. Because he's a dealer, he buys them for around that 15.5-16.5 mark depending on mileage and condition; even with my $100 over what he paid price still puts me around the 16k mark. Have the car checked out and make sure there's not some hidden reason for that great price. If the car is immaculate and in top shape, take it! I'm still debating on getting one myself.

waltercat

I bought my '99 TL (red, base equipment only) almost 5 years ago, the weekend the '99 TL first was offered for sale. I bought it from Curry Acura in Scarsdale, NY. In the face of intro hype, I (reluctantly) paid list price, which at the time was about $28K, I think. Aside from that - the buying experience was exceptional... the car was immaculate, the paperwork was finished before I arrived, and the salesman even set up the Homelink for me! The car has been essentially trouble-free for the last 102,000 miles.

stickyman

I just purchased a new 03 TLS in Overland Park, Ks. It is a Diamond White with the protection pkg. I paid $23,500 plus received the 2.9% financing. Two weeks later and 2,000miles, I really love this car; quite, smooth, power, solid, really neat car. No wind noise 135mph, just a solid ride. Thanks to everyone for the help. Stickyman

cjfairman

Stickyman,
$23,500? for the TL-s type? Did I miss something? Can you give me the name of the Dealer? I would fly down there this week. The Dealers in Michigan are giving offers in the $29k range. Any help would be much appreciated. thanks
cj

billyperks

Regarding the wind noise-
I get a relatively amount of wind noise when I am 100 MPH, I think it is impossible not to hear any wind noise at your alleged 135mph.

What is this Proctetion Plan you mentioned?

I know you made a typo stating that you paid $23,500.00.

ash213

I would also like to knoe where did you get TL-S for 23,500. I will go there. Thanks

djdez

the INVOICE price on a TL-S is $29053 ... the BEST deal I've seen is $1000 UNDER invoice, which would make the car around $28000 ... so, that would mean they are eating the holdback, and essentially making NO $$$ on the car !! Are we to believe that YOUR dealer actually sold the car at a $4500 LOSS and even gave you the $500 or so protection package ??? I think not !! You're not telling us something here !

And, WHERE were you able to drive 135 MPH ? Just curious ... lol

jratcliffe

"And, WHERE were you able to drive 135 MPH ? Just curious ... lol"

Clearly, you've never spent time in the Boston area.

skynet2500

Is $26500 a good price for 2003 TL??

cjfairman

DJDEZ,
Can you tell give me the name of a dealership please. I'm in Michigan and the dealers here are still staying $500 over invoice. I'm willing to travel a bit, especially for $1000 UNDER. Thanks
cj

dulnev

Couldn't be true. The dealer holdback on Acura is either 2% or 3%. At $1,000 under invoice they'd be selling the car at a loss. Maybe it was $1,000 under invoice but + $500 in junk fees + another $500 in markup on accessories. This I would believe.

stickyman

I apologize to everyone for my error. In my excitement of purchasing the 03 TLS, I typed in $23,500 and should have been $29,500.00. I apologize again for the error.
In Iowa, between the burp of Hamburg and Rt 2, (I29)there is a great stretch to lay the ears back. The speedo read 135 before I backed off and the wind noise was really low. With the big dig in Boston, I can't see how anyone can get up to 60 much less 70 or 80. Once again my apologies to all but, I love this car....

cjfairman

Thank you all so much, your advice has been very helpful. I'm about to wrap up my deal on an 03 TLS. I'm getting conflicting stories from 2 dealers. (I'm sure this shocks everyone here) Anyway, can someone tell me what the real non-negotiable fees are? I'm sure some of you think you didn't pay acquisition fees, or documentation fees, but they were rolled in somewhere right? Or am I wrong? One dealer tells me acqu. fee is $550, the other says $525. One tells me security deposit rounded up to nearest $50 the other says nearest $25. One tells me documentation fee of $160 is "state law".
They both tell me that their advertising fee is non-negotiable. This I really don't understand. Isn't advertising under "the cost of doing business catagory?" I advertise for my business too, but I don't tell my patients that I'm tacking on an extra $400 for my ad in last week's newspaper.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. The only fee I trust so far is tax, and plates because I know sales tax must be paid. These others just seem like miscellaneous additions. When the dealer says they are non-negotiable, can I tell him that's not true? Are these fees the same nationwide? Can anything be waived? I mean truely waived not just dropping the price and adding them back under another catagory.
Thanks board
cj

victord1

and my sister bought her TL-S w/nav for $31,000 which also includes rear spoiler, mud guards, and free oil changes for life. That was in March.

fredvh

How does she like the car after 5 months? Has she had any problems? How about mpg? If she had to do it over again, would she buy the TL?

pat

cjfairman, check out the discussions on our Smart Shopper board for some thoughts.

Lots of folks say just negotiate the OTD (out the door) price and don't worry about the fees.

Good luck!

djdez

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. But, I still think you can get a BETTER deal than what you are being offered. Remember, even if dealers sell AT INVOICE, you are still giving the dealer around $900 in profit (based on the holdback).

I can break down the lease fees for you, since we just completed a lease a few weeks ago.
- The $550 bank fee is the STANDARD AHFC fee. The $525 must have been another bank, or someone was just lying to you. We had the bank fee rolled into the monthly payment - so it became part of the 'adjusted cap cost'.
- The Security Deposit CAN vary, but ours was $350 - however, we chose the slightly higher money factor which WAIVED the Security Deposit .. standard money factor for this GREAT subsidized lease was .00092 - we used .00102 in order to waive the security deposit. This actually saved around $190, but of course, you DON'T get it back at the end of the lease -- whereas, you'd get the $350 back, hopefully!
- Doc fees are BULL no matter what ... only a few states have the fee amount set as a 'LAW' -- perhaps yours is one of them .. but I've seen them vary from anywhere from $45 to over $200 !!! Ours was $135, I bitched about it, they agreed it's high, but EVERYONE pays it .. it's about $25 AT MAX, worth of paperwork !! I still don't know HOW they come to a figure for this.
- Advertising fees are another LOAD OF CRAP ! YOU, the consumer should NOT have to pay for a dealership's advertising fees. We did NOT pay those fees! Your analogy holds true.

The only thing we had to pay UP FRONT, was the First Month's payment, Tax, Title & License fees, and that ridiculous Doc fee .. for a total of around $650 due at signing -- a pretty good deal !

Regarding the cars being $1000 UNDER invoice, you MAY only see that on the Type-S .. as there are MORE of these on lots than the standard TL (TL-P) ... But, we WERE able to get a deal of around $500 BELOW invoice on my a standard TL, and we thought that was a great deal !

I'm sure by the end of this month, you will STILL see some TL-S's and maybe even a few standard TL's on dealer's lots ... If one has BEEN there for a while, they may be getting some kind of incentive to MOVE IT OFF THE LOT -- this is the car you'd want to make a deal on. But, getting the car at TRUE dealer cost should NOT be out of the question - especially with all the $$$ that's being made on TSX's and MDX's right now ! Don't budge off your offer, especially with the NEW TL's coming out real soon. Even AT Invoice, it's a GREAT car for the $$$ -- but you CAN get it BELOW if you try hard enough !

If you want to travel a bit, Turnersville Auto Complex is the place to go - it's located in NJ .. check the website - www.turnersvilleautocomplex.com and ask for CAROLYN in the internet sales dept !!!

I know Acura is still offering the 2.9% financing on this car, but I am NOT positive about the LEASE deal .. it's no longer on Acura's website as it expired on July 31st, yet people are saying that you can STILL do this lease deal, so maybe someone else (Car_Man) can let you know !!!

Good luck !

cjfairman

Thank you DJ. You pretty much confirmed what I was thinking on the TL-S. The one I want has been on the lot for a couple of months now. What is funny is when we sat down and the dealer added up all of his fees, another fee I forgot to mention was the protection package $250.00. When the saleman was telling me about the car he mentioned that all of their Acuras "come with" the protection package. When the manager tried to add that to the price I said your salesman said it comes with and there isn't anything on the sticker saying it was an add on. Well guess what when i went back Sunday to see if my car was still there, there was an addendum sticker next to the sticker that listed the protection package for $250. Evidently Acuras that sit on the lot go up in price in Michigan. If I wait long enough I might be paying $32k for this car. What a joke. I wonder if Acura regulates this sort of activity? I think I've run across a shady dealership to say the least.

Thanks again for your help.
CJ

victord1

So far my sister and her husband absolutely love the car, especially the navigation system. In fact, they had just returned from Florida. They logged on more than 3,000 miles on that trip. There has not been any problems or glitches. Their only complain so far is the lack of clock. When equipped with the NAV, you have to keep the system on to keep track of time. As for MPG, they don't keep track of that either---the car doesn't have a trip computer.

dulnev

The dealer is trying to rip you off! RUN, DO NOT WALK, away from this dealer. There is no such thing standard on Acuras as "protection package". This is pure profit for the dealer.

djdez

Yes, the 'PROTECTION PACKAGE' IS just pure dealer profit ... you do NOT have to get ANY OPTIONS that you do not want. If it's already on there, tell them it's too bad, but YOU'RE not paying for it !! Actually, after we worked the deal, more fun usually takes place in the F&I office - but not necessarily with us, since I KNEW the sales guy AND the sales manager. The paperwork had the 'doc fee' already built in - so, like I said we couldn't get THAT waived. They also had the 'window etching' BUILT IN as well - but we refused to pay for it. They told us that it was already on the car, but somehow we got away with NOT paying for it. They said, well if you don't pay for it, the 'numbers don't get recorded', and we said, SO WHAT, the car is leased anyway ! That was a $209 charge. Then, there was a separate sheet for a 'lo-jack' system with various prices added in that would jack up the monthly payment. Actually, there was a work-up sheet with about 5 DIFFERENT 'aftermarket items', that if you WOULD have signed off on almost all of them, the monthly price would have gone up around another $25-30 !!!

STAY AWAY from these fees, unless of course, you really want them !!! There wasn't any real pressure to agree to any of these though.

If that car is STILL there at the end of the month, you CAN get it for the price you want ... believe me !!

ash213

Picked-up 2003 TL yesterday, $26,500+Tax+Tags= $27,971 (out the door). This included wheel locks.

fredvh

What area of the US are you in?

ash213

I bought the car in Maryland, 5% sales tax.

skynet2500

Did anyone buy the 10000 miles warranty when you bought the new car? I bought the warranty for $1500. Am I thinking whether to keep it or reject it. can you please give me some advise??
Thanks.

dulnev

In my opinion $1,500 is outrageously high. You shouldn't spend more than $900 on 100,000 mile warranty on the TL, if you want one. Getting an extended warranty on Acura is in general a bad way to spend your money. It's not a Chevy...

c182skylane

Is this a good price? Should I haggle for a better price? Invoice is $29,052.

kennyg5

That sounds like a good deal. Last September (New York metropolitan area) they were asking $28,200 for the TL and $30,000 for one with a nav. Looks like they have lowered the price by almost $2k in less than a year.

fredvh

How much for a regular TL?

dulnev

It's a great price, if it's the out-the-door price without any additional junk fees.

c182skylane

well, the $28,500 was an over-the-phone quote. not sure about additional fees.

not sure about regular TL pricing. given that the new v6 accords have 240hp, the regular TL may not interest that many consumers... but hp isn't everything....

phild_mason

Edmunds listed a $1500 dealer incentive on left- over '03's. They run until the end of Oct. so wait at your own peril to see if they get bumped up.

gwang2

We just bought our Acura TL last weekend, 3 days later Acura started the $1500 incensive
Wondering if we can get some kind of compensation from Acura, any suggestions?

ash213

I also bought 10 days ago and I receive 2.9% financing. Did you get 2.9% or not, because they are not offering that with $1,500 incentive, at least not on Acura web site, so it is a give and take for most part.

phild_mason

Acura is not going to compensate anyone who missed the incentive. Yes there is a trade off on low financing and incentive, but money is cheap right now.

c182skylane

Well, I went to the dealer on Saturday to pick up a TL-S, and they were not willing to incorporate the $1500 dealer cash into the sale. They explained that it was their money to keep and is not a "Rebate".

Guess I'll try another dealer...

phild_mason

Technically, they are right. It is theirs to use as they see fit. Most take it off the price. Honda does not intend for them to keep it. It is not like they are paying them a bonus to sell a car that is at the end of it's life.

Besides they are going to make good money when the new TL comes out charging sticker for that.

hofam111

Has anyone bought a new 03 TL after the dealer cash program? If so, can I get $25.5K for a base TL w/o NAVI?

xqu

YES!!! I bought my TL past Saturday, $1500 under INVOICE, free wheel locks, truck net, floor mats, first oil change for free. Free loaner for service plus free state inspection and emission inspection FOR LIFE. What a deal!!!

ash213

$1500 under invoice including the destination charge or without it. I paid $26,500+$1,350 Tax+$142 Tags=$27,992 out the door. What was your out the door pricing? I also got 2.9% financing.

xqu

I didn't get the 2.9% financing, I think that low APR offer expired on TLs. I applied a home equity loan through them for 5.25% which I think it's fair. $1500 off invoice then plus destination so the price of the car is $25,400. I live in VA so paid 3.2% tax plus $249 processing fee and $49 for title.

bassbonesso

I picked up a Type S for about $1100 under invoice, so I guess the dealer was kind enough to share some of their cash with me...tried to get all of it, but they weren't going for it and with supply of 03s getting short, I didn't really feel like getting shut out. Price before tax was 28K.
Picking the car up later this week and can't wait...

acura_fantacy

Congrat! What color?

bassbonesso

Thx

its Silver w/black interior...had to give up color selection in favor of price, but I can live with that.

djdez

last month I was trying to get a TL-S for UNDER invoice, and only 1 dealer would go there .. he was $400 under.

Then, ALL the other dealers starting calling me this month, saying they'd go $500 under invoice (beating my other deal) ...

In any event, they are still making almost $2000 that way .. since they get the $1000 plus the $900 or so in holdback ...

So, for those that can GET ALL THE DEALER cash ($1500), don't think they're not STILL making good $$$ !!! Most aren't even getting the full $1500 from the dealer anyway !

Invoice is right around $29k on the Type S ... if you can get the car for $27k or BELOW .. THEN, you got a great deal !!! However, the good LEASE deal is also gone .. they're using standard AHFC money factors now ...

It's definitely worth it to PURCHASE the vehicle, if you can.

c182skylane

I offered $27K for the TL-S on Sat and the dealer told me to pound sand. I explained that it was merely the same as his previous $28.5K offer prior to the $1500 dealer cash incentive. no deal. they were stuck on $28.5K.

niraj724

could anyone suggest a good acura dealer in Oregon? Any idea about the best prices for TL-S in OR?
thanks