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Comments
Though we went to the dealership, I happened to match up Gabrielle Oelbracht, who is responsible for their internet sales. She started at the dealership in November 2000 and began establishing their internet presence. Anyway, she has done a number of internet deals, including an Odyssey picked up by Michigan buyer and an S2000(?) shipped to California. Unlike my experience in 1999, this one was straightforward, and I sense that their internet process is straightforward as well.
Information is as follows: www.hondaofmentor.com; e-mail: hondaofmentor_1@ureach.com.
Do you know if one of the local San Diego dealers has a SS or MB EX available for immediate delivery? I am looking for one at MSRP or below, and wouldn't mind driving to San Diego if its available. Thanks.
Cary
Contact Dennis Jenkins at Jay Honda in Bedford Ohio. Jayhondadj@aol.com. He hooked me up with an Oddy w/ no bs and he delivered when he said and for what he said it would cost. I was on a waiting list for five months before I wised up and purchased out of state. Took me 30 days to get one delivered, start to finish from Ohio to California. I am now a happy Oddy driver-this van is fantastic! Its worth the wait and the price and then some. Good Luck.
How did they ship the car from OH to CA(any problem in the shipping process)? and how did you register this car in CA DMV(what kind of document you need to prepare)?
Much appreciated.
Registration was simple. Make an appointment with the dmv (you can make an appointment on line). You'll need to have the ownership certificate and you will need to get the car smog checked (get the smog check before you go). The DMV will visually inspect your vehicle to make sure the vin number matches, that the car is tagged with appropriate smog equipment label, etc. YOu will be in and out of the DMV in under 30 minutes! You'll have to pay California registration and sales tax. They will issue you the new license plates while you are there.
After a ton of online research, we are about to join the ranks of you Odyssey (EX) owners and I want to pose one question to the group.
My wife and I are a just a little concerned about the safety of the auto sliding doors. We have a two year old daughter and have any of you tested the safety of them? Should we be at all concerned. I just hate to think about her little arm being in the way of the door as it closes. Does it sense obstruction via resistance or beam of light?
Thanks
Jeff
From day one I have told my 4 year old - stay away from the doors, don't play in or around the van (or any car).
I was concerned at first, but now I don't how we ever lived without power doors.
Best of Luck.
Only glitch was the delivery date... we went from 'it should be built next week' to 'it's here' within three days. But, better early than late!
Spreen Honda in Loma Linda. Dale Rose was the dealer. Wait was about 3 months.
San Diego dealers were scum. Especially Cush Honda.
Has anyone heard of dealer's beating $1,000 off MSRP in the NYC Tri-State Area?
Wondering if anything has changed for 2001. Curry Honda is only dealer I've visited and they are attempting to get $2,000 over MSRP. The $895 "appearance package" had a paint sealer and the salesman told me it was not optional and that Honda would not warranty the paint for more than a year without it. HMMMMM??? Honda repainted my 91 accord 4 years after I bought it because the clearcoat was coming off.
The other "non-optional" options included a cassette player, cross bars for the roof rack I'll never use and $149 plastic cargo tray liner.
My guess is I'll waste a lot of time in the metro area so I'll venture out and try Boomershine in Cartersville or elsewhere and report back.
If anyone's had good experience recently purchasing through internet please post.
Posted my request via Cars.Com to 4 different dealers. Select your vehicle, with options, and send it out to the dealers (that you choose) within X number mile radius. Two of the 4 dealers responded within 12 hours...One of them sent a BlueMountain Thank You card - very nice touch...Visited both of these dealers. Dealer #1 (in Montpelier - State Capital) did not have any Ody's available for a looksee let alone test drive. He stated they never have and it hasn't hampered sales. Price is straight MSRP and wait is into March.
Dealer #2 (that sent the eCard) maintains an Ody for demo purposes. They suggest scheduling a time to look it over and test drive. This ended up being wise as in the 3 times I visited - there were many people looking it over. No BS from this dealer: $500 deposit down (refundable) will get you an EX at 2% below MSRP (the holdback amount???) = $26,303. Options are not discounted but after looking at the handa-accessories.com website, I'll being going straight there...
Bottom line - I could have a Granite Green EX in 10 days...I could have a Silver EX or Gold EX by mid to end of February....I opted for the Silver EX as it's the wife's first choice.
Very good experience with the 'net and this dealer - Automaster in South Burlington. Very pleasant experience with no BS or pressure...Ask for Lisa Murray or Jim Rowley...
Good luck all
My dealer did tack on the accent stripe and "protection packate", but other than that the car was MSRP. Total price (including destination charge and extras) $27,276
The dealer is Townsend Honda in Tuscaloosa, AL if anyone is in the region.
Can anyone advise if this is true?
Thanks
As far as not selling you the Honda Care for $895 because it's against the law to sell below RETAIL then why did he sell you the van below retail? Sounds like BS to me.
How much did you paid to ship it? The dealer always tell me it can come in anytime since Xmas. Would like to consider buying from KY/OH instead.
-Alex
I paid $25,840 (plus taxes & title) three weeks ago for my wife's 2001 Silver EX. You could probably save $1200-$1400 by shopping around.
Personally, I wouldn't do this deal unless it has leather or the nav. system.
Please don't offend the Honda sales folks team that log on to this board on a regular basis. "Pin stripe, wax job adn cans of fabrics" are options that are available on Odyssey and these folks have to feed their kids and send them to Harvard like everyone else. Leather,Sun Roof, remote key less doors and other stuff that ordinary folks are asking is by no means necessary and only make this wonderfull van look ugly. Its a blasphemy to pressure Honda for not providing them. The MSRP is extremly reseanoble price and as you can see the market shows that.
Viva Honda Marketing!!!
If the dealer can't tell you within a couple week window when your Odyssey will be there, there's a problem.
First the dealer gets a list of cars assigned to your store, so you know what colors are coming.
Then you get a list with a 4 day production date range. At least here in Ohio, we know the car will be here within 14 days from the production date.
Honda works on "turn and earn", not the price the cars are sold at. The more you sell, the more you get. That's why I don't understand all the dealers that you guys talk about on here that "force" options, or some overpriced paint and fabric package.
We sell Odysseys at a couple $100 off MSRP, (we don't even offer the paint and fabric packages)and only install the options the customer wants.
This way we "turn" more cars, and get more cars from Honda.
And to MrAlexLi
I shipped Kalajian his car, the shipper charged us around $900, door to door.
It's interesting hearing these stories of dealers holding Odysseys hostage. These are the "old school" dealers that did the same thing with Accords and Civics in the 70s. They just don't get it. With the Internet, you can buy a car from anywhere across the country.
We are turning in a leased 98Accord in Feb so we waited ail the last minute, as usual, to find another car. My wife new she wanted an odd so off we went in December making phone calls, visiting, and more calls. We thought we could use the end of the year pressure to buy a car cheaply and that just don't work with a high demand vehicle (which will change when production goes up)
Some highlights/low lies of the adventure:
This was our first new car purchase but what I have learned is using your gut instinct in rating' a dealership for whatever reason only goes so far(their customer service, pricing, reservation, deposit' rules, etc) In otherworlds, being happy' about the deal has so many chances to be screwed up. For us, using our gut instinct to choose' to deal with a dealership was about 90% correct.
For example, some dealerships said "come on in, we can get u one at msrp" means you get to pick from dealer add on package a,b,c or d ($800-1200). ..So what I guess i'm trying to say is, stick to YOUR bottom line, goals, desires and DON'T feel like you are 'stuck 'with a particular situation. Many if not all of the salesman tried to make it sound like that in one form or another--that WE gotta live with what we get.(price, options price, extended warrenty price, waiting time, etc) And that's the farthest thing from the truth....even my salesman brother will openly admit that.
So we settled on the color, SS, but couldn't decide on the ex vs. lx because of the long term mechanical repair concerns/safety of the electric doors. (we could really care less if the car had a better stereo or power seat, honestly). We decided on the ex b/c our cousin/friends have these and couldn't say enough about them being great.
So our bottom line was: MSRP or less; NO dealer addons unless we wanted it; a good price on a hitch/trans cooler. that's it.
In calling around we got all the usual replies to our questions, good and bad. (about half sold dealer add ons like $150-200 splashguards, $99cargo trays). If a dealer says something like: 'You are going to wait 4 months and pay a premium anywhere else'--run as fast as you can from these people and don't look back. There are good salespeople, but considering the average turn over of salespeople is anywhere from 6months to 2years, AND the fact that they are making fat bonuses on selling this model at msrp plus, i guess they are used to being the king of the hill and get a little proud about this (one car salesman even said: 'this van is more than just a van, you don't understand sir'....i said, "look, it's a vehicle, not the space shuttle')
We ended up on two wait lists....one took a refundable deposit and other didn't. We ended up giving our name and number to four others and said: if a silver ex comes in, msrp, no add ons, give us a call. About the other 15 dealers I called, I wouldn't want to deal with them ever. One dealership didn't keep a wait list at all and sends them right to the leather shop or tv/vcr shop and that's the only way they sell them because they can ~$31,000+. That's fine....it's a free country.
As it turns out, I got antsy one nite last week and called Jay Honda in Cleveland and they had one for adoption. I gave him my criteria, he agreed. Credit card deposit and two days later we flew there and 350miles later it's in our driveway. We saved over $500 on the car/hitch add on. For all u need to know people, he knocked a couple hundred off msrp and gave me a sweet deal on the hitch and cooler. (In contrast to my local 'midwest largest' honda dealer that wanted $599 for the hitch installed and $399 for the trans cooler--yep $1000 for a hitch install that would cost half that at an aftermarket place...we opted for the honda hitch b/c of warranty concerns).
did i hear someone say 'extended warranty'??
good people, lemme say this--you think you get a 'good' deal on a car and then it's 9pm, yur signing paperwork to complete the sale and this comes up....this is where they get one last jab in you. almost ALL the dealerships in the Chicago area would tell us that the extended warrantys would be $1100-$1395!! One dealer even told us 'all three or four we offer are about the same price, ~$1200 it just depends on yur driving habits'. Ok, here's the skinny: first off, don't be disolusioned-the warrenties are aftermarket and are not 'honda'. In other words, MANY companies offer them, including your Credit Union. there are various flavors, but mostly fall into: 5/75, 6/75, 6/100, 7/75, 7/100.You can go $50 or $00 deductable. the best part? Our salesman at Jay gave us retail price AND what his bottom line price was on their three flavors....very upfront and did not pressure us at all except for to say if we bought one from him, we'd have to do it at time of purchase. They were prices hundreds below the Chicago area prices.
We got our financing thru my wifes credit union at work and i think it was 7.8 for 60mo. They happened to mention that they offer a new car extended warranty and when we picked the 7/75 with zero deductible...i think it was $850.(the warrenty company from the credit union will let u add the warrenty even after you bring it home and buy it within 2 weeks of purchase...we even got 2000 pricing before it went up). THe only reason we got the extended warranty is for the electric door horror stories, of which i'm shur there aren't many, but how the hell can anyone find that info out anyway?
have i put you all to sleep yet? Yur probably all saying: yeh, they had to fly and drive to cleveland. yeh, we did and it was worth it. (we had bonus mile passes but southwest does it for like 59bucks in advance). Jay honda will also 'drive it' and deliver it to yur door for $250 or so but we didn't want anybody driving it. we picked it up and it had 4 miles on it.
Why are we happy with our purchase at Jay?
because we saved alot of money, we get to pay $60 bucks instead of $100 for a cargo tray (hondaaccessories.com), got a great deal on the hitch/cooler installed, they were nice, upfront, answered our questions without offense, PAID for our cab ride ($30) from the airport. (no, i'm not gettting referral fees for this endorsemnt, just trying to convince some of you sales people that this works and yes, you are all God's gift to Honda car sales). We didn't have to wait til feb/mar but we would have. We were treated like customers.
i'm gonna go out on a limb and say the dealerships I felt very happy with dealing with on the phone or in person:
Jay Honda, Bedford OH
recommend: Dan or Mike.
Lujack Honda, Davenport IA-Dee(they have one today 1/27 ex ss)
Motorworks, Barrington, IL- Jeff Omatt
(the most impressive de
(most impressive dealership, next to Honda of Lisle that i saw...Motorworks will even sell u a porshe and they treat their customers like royalty)
Worst?
Grand Honda, Elmhurst, IL
total bait and switch. after driving thru a minor snow storm accross the chicago suburbs to test drive one, we sat down to talk price and they said msrp +$2000! salesman told us over the phone that they did msrp price, yes. I guess they don't yet realize that customer's time is valuable.
we didn't want to wait for the plant to start production in the U.S. nor were were we gonna pay over.
other questions - when you buy out of state - do we pay the sales tax for both states ?? and what about all of the title stuff ??
It is interesting that the dealer (La Pointe Honda in Charlotte) we have our order with called me back the next day after I posted #707 with a EX that has become available and the possibility that a Silver LX might be in next week - I don't know what to think at this point and am very disappointed that we might have to travel out of state to get an honest salesmanager and an honest deal. I also suspect that our "ordered" van could have come in the last 3 months and was sold to someone else willing to pay more - Actually, we are considering going back to the other brands of vans just because it is such a hassle- So, we will be making a decision in the next week - my spouse is concerned about the cost of buying out of state (title transfer etc. etc.) Any suggestions or experiences??
As far as the warrany I haven't done anything yet but I got some phone numbers, from previous postings, of dealers willing to sell the 7/100/0 for $895.
Chris Scifield at Honda of Princeton (609)683-0722
David Winnie at Upstate Honda (518)587-9300
Rusty Wallis Honda (214)348-7500
Good luck in your search
Coming into the State, they are pretty bold about penalties for not paying the tax and getting tags within a 30 day time frame.
thanks
Bay Ridge Honda, 91st Street and 4th avenue, Internet manager Frank Balldassare, You can get your SS or GG EX Ody for MSRP+tax+tags, no add ons
couple a week wait,I was told, have yet to do business myself, but I have been in contact via E-mail since spring 2000, still procrastinating myself. Best of Luck!!