I just want to provide an update on my deal with Hillside Honda. I picked up my car from the dealer on Tuesday, 2 weeks after I signed the contract. The car they delivered to me was different from the one they said I would get. The VIN was different. My guess is that they gave my car away to someone who paid a higher price and make me wait for the next one to come in. I waited an hour and a half to pick up my car. People in the waiting room were complaining about the service department. I would think twice before buying from them again. They have too much business and customer service is bad. If you can get a good deal from them, then I would say buy it from them, otherwise don't bother.
Just put a deposit down on an "inbound" Odyssey EX with Leather/DVD/Nav. After calling/e-mailing about 20 dealers in the Metro NY area, our best out the door price was $31,964 with Garden State Honda in Clifton NJ.
Now trying to decide between leasing and buying - any thoughts?
After trying to buy an EX-L (Dark Blue)in the greater Washington DC area (contacted over 15 dealers) they all wanted MSRP or over; or 500-1000 over invoice, and only one dealer had my color!! I came to a point wherein price was more important than color. I contacted Garden State Honda after I saw on their web site that they had my color in the EX-L trim line. I then called them and they immediately stated EX-L at invoice, no haggling, they then emailed me all $$$ numbers. They wanted no money to hold vehicle and helped me with special Honda finance rate (2.9%)on the last day of the special loan rate , no pressure, great to deal with. Now I am going up to NJ to pickup vehicle tomorrow, keep your fingers crossed that there is no bait and switch, but I do have a VIN number.
Price$27,548 (including transportation), add to that dealers fees and TTL for an Out the Door price of
can you give the official answer about buying the warranty? I am considering getting one, but would like to wait until closer to the expiration of the BtB one.
Is the price the same down the road (recognizing that the base cost could change), or do you pay a premium for waiting? And how long can you wait to purchase it?
The warranty coverage will be the same price, (barring an overall price increase which happens every 6 months or so), until you hit 12k or 12 months from date of purchase, then there is a small surcharge added to the total price. There is a larger surcharge added at the 24k, 24 month point, and again at 36k, 36months. Hope this helps. It really doesn't benefit you to wait unless you have AAA or whathaveyou, as you don't lose any coverage, and you run the risk of paying more later for what you could have had all along.
I will appreciate if I can get some advice with this deal.
A out of state dealer is offering me $500 over invoice + $88 doc fee for Odyssey EX-L. He is also suggesting that I can get 2.9% APR since he will make the contract with yesterday's date (1/5). I am not feeling comfortable with this for obvious reasons. Before I give him my ssn etc, I will of course get the VIN and written quote faxed to me. But even then, do you think this is worth persuing . I will have to fly (about $100) one way and drive the car back to Oregon from Idaho.
My personal opinion is that he won't be able to get it done. Honda Financial is a stickler for dates, and rightfully so, to keep scam type activities from happening. From my experience, I'd say get the price proposal faxed to you, find a local dealer with a good reputation, and take the deal to him. See if he can match it, or at least come close enough to rule out you:
A.) Falsifying Information, which is a criminal offense.
B.) Flying to a different state just to buy a car.
and C.) Keeping your money in your home town and helping that economy grow.
Is it really worth the time and effort, not to mention illegality, of this trouble? There's a very good chance he'll not qualify you for the 2.9 at this point, and by doing so you'll have wasted a plane ticket, and a ton of time and effort just for the dealer to say "oh well, since you're here, ya might as well take this deal..."
Well, I called my insurance co to add my new EXL R&N and they offered me GAP coverage. I was 100% against getting it but I wanted to be amused so I asked for the additional cost. To my surprise, the quote was an additional $5 "every 6 months," or $10 per year. Without flinching, I took it. For $10 per year, how can you go wrong? I'm in CA and my insurance company is Mercury Casualty. I don't know if they are nationwide but I would suspect that the amount they are charging is comparable with other insurance companies. They did not even ask if I put a down payment on the vehicle. Good Luck!
"I can tell you know who I am talking to (I read of this dealer on this board). Pohanka Honda in Md. on Salisbury (I live in Denver). They quoted me for our Ex-L with RES/NAVI $795 for a 7/75K $0 deductible and $1,100 for 7/100K. They are supposed to be e-mailing me details."
Hi denver5357,
Have you finally purchased the warranty yet? Who did you talk to? Can you please send me an email?
Newbie and/or Still interested in Buying? I am. I just found this site. Check out the free MS Excel spreadsheets. And navigate thru the whole site, especially the stuff on ' true ' invoice costs as opposed to what dealers and websites want you to believe. Am using this in my continuing search for the van Honda only made 3 of this year:)
Huh, I've visited that site before, and didn't find any actual car buying info, just links to sites that provide actual car buying info.
kirstie_h
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Was not pleased with their response to my online inquiry. Indicated that they had models in stock, which turned out not to be true. They will tell you they have models "available"; you need to press to find out when in stock or when will arrive. Even then, I received inaccurate info.
Just looking at the service manual of my Accord, it has a page for decoding the VIN, the color is not one of the fields. There is a paint code label in the door jam though.
We did a lot of calling around. Mostly to get the Ocean Mist in EX with cloth with no dealer options tacked on. Calling and waiting for a call back is the best way to work a deal, IMHO.
We kept offering 27K+TTL (1500 off MSRP). 4 separate dealers called back after a day or two and caved to this price, but only 1 had the ocean mist color. it was also loaded up with $900 worth of dealer options. So even though we didn't want to pay for these, we insisted they throw them in. They agreed to this over the phone, but after driving 3 hours to the dealership they TRIED to renig on the options (they had removed the options from the car). Took 2 hours of sitting there waiting them out before they honored the sweet deal I had over the phone, but they finally realized the parts which probably cost them $150, was not worth blowing the deal.
So in the end I got an EX with cloth plus few extra trim options for 27K+TTL and on the last day of the 2.9% finance deal honda offered. This was in Texas. Had to drive from Austin to Dallas but worth the drive because I'll save $500-$600 in interest and wanted this color.
Other dealers for some reason all were WAY to open about the fact there was only 2 Ocean Mist EX's in Texas and giving me there location. Made it very easy for me to call the locations directly.
a month before all this, when I started looking/test driving. Sales person actually printed out the TMV page for Edmunds. It showed TMV to be sticker price (I had known this going in). I think its odd how Honda uses this "consumer site" to THEIR advantage. I realized it was a little fishy the next day when they guy called and offered $500 off of this. This just made me hungry for more and I had to find how low the floor really was.
ody100 - Not much to report so far. The dealer sent me a couple forms to fill out to buy the warranty at the prices I posted. I asked for details on the warranty and she said it was a continuance of my Honda warranty. I still asked her to e-mail me details, and she said she would put it in snail mail. I await its arrival.
Thank you for your reply. I just called Pohanka Honda in Maryland. One gentleman quoted me the price as $1150 for 7/75K and $1350 for 7/100K. Sounds expensive? I live in San Jose, CA and bought my Odyssey in one of local dealers. I don't know if this matters. The dealer I bought the car from offered a 7/75K for ~$1650 with a money back feature. Is it possible for you to email me with the person's name you are talking to? Click my profile, you can get my email address.
If you enter the VIN# at the honda owner link site, it tells you all about the car, including exterior and interior color. I tried it when I got my VIN. You can get there from Honda's web page (Owner Link button) or go directly to
ody100 - There are actually two Pohanka Hondas in Md (I found when I googled them). The one I talked to is in Salisbury, and you want the financial manager. The prices you just stated are higher than what she quoted me. She said, for 0 deductible, $795 for 7/75 and $1100 for 7/100. Assuming your van has less than 24K miles on it.
I can attest to the usefulness of the Excel sheet. It can be more user-friendly but nicely done in many ways. Concise as well as packed with information. It is certainly one of the best tools I have seen on the web for car buying.
Just wanted to write a short note. We are from Northern Virginia... went home to NY for Holidays. We test drove a 2005 EXL Oddy (we have a 2001) and were very pleased... but the local dealer where we were visiting didn't give us the price we were willing to pay... (they also didn't have a color we wanted)... We called a dealership... Berlin City from New Hampshire... www.berlincity .com and they gave us a fab. price. I kept checking these boards to make sure the deal was acceptable... We finally negotiated a EX-L Black/with Ivory interior (my car of choice) on 12/31 (last day of year... I'm sure it helped) for $26,985. This was the price not including dest. fee of $515, and doc fee of $119 (which I decided not to negoitate because I thought the deal was pretty great).... The place we were staying was 4 1/2 hours away from the dealership... they delivered for $100 (a great deal I thought). We also recieved the 2.9% financing. The entire deal was negotiated over the phone.... SMOOOOOTH.
I just felt obligated to post... since your info was so helpful to me. Berlin City didn't even have my vehicle on site... but transferred it from Portland Maine to make this deal happen. They say they deliver vehicles most anywhere... and to most of the enitre New England area for 100$...... driving to Washington DC area... would be a little more... but we didn't discuss.... I would imagine you could get them down to $300... if you tried hard.
Since I was skeptical about the price... I signed nothing... they asked for NO money down... and had all papers faxed to me ahead of time. No money was exhanged until the car was brought to me for inspection... My salesperson stated to refuse delivery if we thought there were any issues..... Of course there weren't any....
Overall we were sooooooo pleased! We also were quoted prices $1000 under invoice for an Accord EX V6 we were interested in ... but decided against.... But we'll be back for it later!
Thanks. My insurer doesn't offer GAP coverage, and my wife's credit union only offers it (at $175) if we finance through them.
A company called Certified Car Care (Drivers Select) offers it online for $299 (purchasable up to 90 days after car purchase); I may get it through them.
Or I may just skip it altogether; comparing the amortization table of a 2.9% loan w/kelly blue book trade value for 2004 odyssey seems to indicate that blue book value will surpass loan amount within a few months--prob no more than a year.
I checked with Walnut Creek sales person that they did sell EX for invoice + 500 + Tax/Title/License. They are out of stock for now. I think this is reasonable for north california/bay area market. Let's hold on the money for now and tell what dealer you are negotiating that we want that deal.
I would say don't be too excited about this since they don't have car in the lot.
I was cheated by Fremont Honda on Jan 2. I called them first to see if they would accept a EX deal for $1000 above invoice. The sale person agreed on the phone and ask me to go there. After show me the car and they copied my driver's license and try to get my social number before show me any numbers. I told them that I only would buy this car if it is $1000 above invoice. Then the manager comes and show me a ridicules number for a EX odyssey, $33245. And told me how hot this car is and they would like to sell it only $1000 above invoice. I decided to leave and was stopped in front of the door by a assitant manager. We talked again for almost 1 hour but they still don't want to sell me the car at $1500 above the invice. I told him about the number was agree by his sale person on the phone but he said that all car sales will lie on the phone...
So don't trust any number on the phone unless they signed and fax to you.
I picked up our new 2005 Oddessey EX-L in black today. The price was $27,000, $3810 under MSRP.
Joyce Honda in Denville, NJ was more than good with us and the salesman spent alot of time going over the car with my wife and I. All in all we were very happy with the sales and especially the price. Most dealers in New Jersey are not willing to cut to the bone, but they did at Joyce Honda. The deal is right around invoice I believe.
The best way to make sure that such dealers mend their ways is to make such information public in as many forums as possible like this one. I have heard many such stories about Fremont Honda. Frankly, I wonder what makes them think that it is worth their time to lie to a customer on the phone, and spend hours with them after they show up trying to increase the price only to have the customer walk away. I guess they figure that they win even if they manage to convert one sucker.
I would any day respect a dealership that set the expectations of an invoice customer by saying - "Unfortunately, market reality is that we are able to sell the Odyssey only closer to the MSRP price - but please do visit us and we will try to earn your business by providing a pleasant buying experience." It does not cost them anything to do this given that Odysseys practically sell themselves.
It is sad that the system is not setup to punish lying, cheating and other such behavior by sales people and dealerships with a record of poor customer experiences. In some ways it probably rewards such behavior.
Does anybody know if Honda handles dealership complaints and does something to remedy them? If so how does Honda handle a complaint received about a dealership? Do they have the power to pull the plug on a dealership if the dealership has consistently underperformed with customers? Or do they figure that it is not their responsibility since people will keep buying Hondas no matter what, because the product is good?
If not recently posted, I paid Curry's price for a 7/100K $O deductible Hondacare warranty (i.e., $1,225 after extra email discount). The dealer originally asked for $2,400+. After the deal was done, I was shown the Honda pricing book which indicated cost was $1,050 so $1,100 sounds like a good deal, in my opinion. You win and the F&I guy can make a few bucks.
Yes, that included the destination fee. We had to pay Tax (which everyone pays) and motor vehicle fee/ documentary fee of $300 (which was a littel high) but the deal was good enough for me not complain about it. We negotiated the deal on Monday night and picked it up yesterday. Our Salesman at Joyce honda told me that the owner has been complaining that their place in the NY/NJ Honda rankings had slipped a couple of spots and they have been rolling out quite a few flat(small profit) deals.
You did pretty well. The deals are few and far between around the NC area. I'm waiting on an EX-L (Ocean Mist) to be delivered at the end of the month. Got it for $28,470 (including doc fee) + TTL, but the dealership is 4 hrs away in Virginia.
We have similar stories. We live in Arkansas, but my wife is from Bartlesville Over the holidays, we bought a 05 Oddy EX-cloth for $495 over the invoice. We were also very pleased by Mark Roberts. Great folks.
cadub49r - I responded to another poster a week or so ago with a similar question but Edmunds pulled it. I guess I indirectly referred to the name of an internet rep and how it was part of the name of some city. I will try to respond again without violating any rules here so I hope Edmunds posts or just takes out the offending piece(s). ALL are based on my experience / opinions from late Dec., 2004 on an EXL Nav/Res (RL3875KW) - MSRP $34,610 inc. dest charges.
General Observation - old line Honda dealers and GM Franchise/Honda dealers seem to be the best as far pricing/sincerity.
Orange County - forget it - no deals that I found and no inventory.
Dealers with the most promise:
Goudy - Alhambra - supposedly 2nd largest dealer in CA behind Norm Reeves (no deals at Reeves - MSRP but you probably can get a vehicle). Goudy will deal and meet other local quotes from what I have been told. In later Dec. while in for service, I saw three silver Nav/Res under the tent in the red carpet delivery area. Had several other Ody's on the lot.
Robertson - North Hollywood - best internet quote - $2K over invoice ($32,964) but didn't have what I wanted.
Miller - Van Nuys - not the lowest internet quote but willing to work with me if they had the vehicle.
Kasier - near Staples - good quote but no product.
Community Pontiac Honda - Whittier - no product but they would discount - don't get far enough with them since they did not have my car.
Other ideas - their are 3 large car delearship chains that are all publicly traded companies. Autonation (Power dealers locally), Sonic - Carson Honda & Buena Park Honda), and Group 1 - Miller dealers. If you are still wating for a car at the end of this month, try these dealers as they will deal to increase their monthly sales #'s. The rep at Carson flat out told me that if he has 10 cars on the lot at month end, they will deal aggressively. If they have 2, no dealing.
You will see posts elsewhere in the country with lower prices but, for the exact model that I am referring to, I didn't see that here. Again, we have more dealers out here but many more Honda buyers. CA is the land of Honda & Toyota - domestics are usually rental cars out here. This may change in the next several months but who knows. I have a neighbor with a 911 turbo, 540, and an SUV in his driveway - $200,000 + worth of cars. This is not unusual - CA is just car crazy and people out here just spend lots of $$ on cars! Good Luck in your search.
PS -dealer cost on Hondacare 7yr/100K $0 deductible warranty is $1,050 so, if interested, offer $1,100.
I purchased a 2005 Odyssey EX from a dealership near New Orleans a couple of weeks ago. I got a good deal through their internet dept. - $26,890 plus tax, and they gave me several dealer-add-on appearance items for free. I was thrilled with the deal - except for my dealings with the business manager. The deal was done entirely over the telephone, without my ever setting foot in the dealership, and my salesperson delivered the van to my home free of charge. But here's where the "bad" part of my experience comes from:
The day of the sale, the business manager called me to discuss loan details & gave me the same line I've read about here - 4.5% (over 60 months) if I don't get the extended warranty, or 2.9% if I do. He told me the difference in my payment would be less than $10, which would pay for the extended warranty (7/70,000), so I'd be wise to get the warranty & the lower interest rate. I quickly added up the warranty price in my head ($9.60 x 60 months = $576) and said "ok". When we got the paperwork & saw the actual cost of the warranty was closer to $1000, we decided against it and felt we had been really misled by this guy. They did end up letting us have the 2.9% rate for 60 months anyway.
Honda called me about a week later to do their customer satisfaction survey - I rated everything about the dealership very highly, except the business manager, explaining that I felt he was dishonest about the warranty cost & the loan. Well, this guy just called me today, accusing me of slandering him! He said he got into trouble with his manager, but since the conversation was recorded, his manager knew "what really happened". Yet, he wants me to go to the dealership to talk to him & his manager about this. I told him I'm not interested, since I know what I said & what I heard (I took notes & even asked him to clarify the monthly payment for the warranty in our initial conversation). He got somewhat ugly with me, going on about how I slandered him, until I finally asked to speak with the manager. After being put on hold for about 5 minutes, I hung up & have yet to hear further from them.
I think I should send a letter to the dealership manager & to Honda about this. Is that going overboard? I just feel like what was really a good buying experience has turned very sour now, and I don't like being treated like this when I've just spent nearly $30,000 with them. Ugh, it just makes my blood boil to deal with people like that.
If you could re-post your message in the Dealer bribes and Satisfaction Surveys that would be best. While it is associated with this discussion, you can have a more focused discussion about your experience and suggestions on what you can or might feel like doing next.
Re: sending a letter to the dealership and to Honda...ABSOLUTELY. This guy is already steamed, perhaps enough to do something drastic, so covering yourself in writing referencing that fact is only smart. Also make a note of the date and time of the phone call for phone records.
Comments
Now trying to decide between leasing and buying - any thoughts?
Uh.. that was one hell of deal. Is $31,964 the OTD price or is it the car price. You need to pay TTL over this right?
Thanks
Venkat
Price$27,548 (including transportation), add to that dealers fees and TTL for an Out the Door price of
OTD=$28,873 and 2.9% for 60 months!
Now I think I got a GREAT deal!!!
Is the price the same down the road (recognizing that the base cost could change), or do you pay a premium for waiting? And how long can you wait to purchase it?
The warranty coverage will be the same price, (barring an overall price increase which happens every 6 months or so), until you hit 12k or 12 months from date of purchase, then there is a small surcharge added to the total price. There is a larger surcharge added at the 24k, 24 month point, and again at 36k, 36months. Hope this helps. It really doesn't benefit you to wait unless you have AAA or whathaveyou, as you don't lose any coverage, and you run the risk of paying more later for what you could have had all along.
Good luck!
I will appreciate if I can get some advice with this deal.
A out of state dealer is offering me $500 over invoice + $88 doc fee for Odyssey EX-L. He is also suggesting that I can get 2.9% APR since he will make the contract with yesterday's date (1/5). I am not feeling comfortable with this for obvious reasons. Before I give him my ssn etc, I will of course get the VIN and written quote faxed to me. But even then, do you think this is worth persuing . I will have to fly (about $100) one way and drive the car back to Oregon from Idaho.
Any suggestions/advice?
thanks,
-R
A.) Falsifying Information, which is a criminal offense.
B.) Flying to a different state just to buy a car.
and C.) Keeping your money in your home town and helping that economy grow.
Is it really worth the time and effort, not to mention illegality, of this trouble? There's a very good chance he'll not qualify you for the 2.9 at this point, and by doing so you'll have wasted a plane ticket, and a ton of time and effort just for the dealer to say "oh well, since you're here, ya might as well take this deal..."
Good luck, let us know how it works out for ya!
Hi denver5357,
Have you finally purchased the warranty yet? Who did you talk to? Can you please send me an email?
Thank you,
Max
http://www.carbuyingtips.com/
If many of us approach the dealers with this and stick to it, it will benefit all.
thanks.
kirstie_h
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BUT !....The Chapters on Buying,
http://www.carbuyingtips.com/carintro.html?x=0tekxgl_eoyyqkz_ttky- 3&y=Tue%2525252520Jan%252525252004%252525252013%252525253A03%- 252525253A53%25252525202005
have been at least for me, extremely informative and the Excel Spreadsheet
http://www.carbuyingtips.com/download.htm?x=0tekxgl_eoyyqkz_ttky3- &y=Tue%2525252520Jan%252525252004%252525252013%252525253A03%2- 52525253A53%25252525202005
VERY helpful
We kept offering 27K+TTL (1500 off MSRP). 4 separate dealers called back after a day or two and caved to this price, but only 1 had the ocean mist color. it was also loaded up with $900 worth of dealer options. So even though we didn't want to pay for these, we insisted they throw them in. They agreed to this over the phone, but after driving 3 hours to the dealership they TRIED to renig on the options (they had removed the options from the car). Took 2 hours of sitting there waiting them out before they honored the sweet deal I had over the phone, but they finally realized the parts which probably cost them $150, was not worth blowing the deal.
So in the end I got an EX with cloth plus few extra trim options for 27K+TTL and on the last day of the 2.9% finance deal honda offered. This was in Texas. Had to drive from Austin to Dallas but worth the drive because I'll save $500-$600 in interest and wanted this color.
Other dealers for some reason all were WAY to open about the fact there was only 2 Ocean Mist EX's in Texas and giving me there location. Made it very easy for me to call the locations directly.
a month before all this, when I started looking/test driving. Sales person actually printed out the TMV page for Edmunds. It showed TMV to be sticker price (I had known this going in). I think its odd how Honda uses this "consumer site" to THEIR advantage. I realized it was a little fishy the next day when they guy called and offered $500 off of this. This just made me hungry for more and I had to find how low the floor really was.
Looking at Honda's stock, I noticed an article about December incentives. http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050106/auto_incentives_2.html . Guess that explains why it wasn't too hard to get a good deal.
I didn't notice any mention of these incentives in www.kbb.com, though.
Thank you for your reply. I just called Pohanka Honda in Maryland. One gentleman quoted me the price as $1150 for 7/75K and $1350 for 7/100K. Sounds expensive? I live in San Jose, CA and bought my Odyssey in one of local dealers. I don't know if this matters. The dealer I bought the car from offered a 7/75K for ~$1650 with a money back feature. Is it possible for you to email me with the person's name you are talking to? Click my profile, you can get my email address.
Thanks again,
max
http://www.ahm-ownerlink.com
lzk
Let us give credit where it is due.
I can attest to the usefulness of the Excel sheet. It can be more user-friendly but nicely done in many ways. Concise as well as packed with information. It is certainly one of the best tools I have seen on the web for car buying.
I just felt obligated to post... since your info was so helpful to me. Berlin City didn't even have my vehicle on site... but transferred it from Portland Maine to make this deal happen. They say they deliver vehicles most anywhere... and to most of the enitre New England area for 100$...... driving to Washington DC area... would be a little more... but we didn't discuss.... I would imagine you could get them down to $300... if you tried hard.
Since I was skeptical about the price... I signed nothing... they asked for NO money down... and had all papers faxed to me ahead of time. No money was exhanged until the car was brought to me for inspection... My salesperson stated to refuse delivery if we thought there were any issues..... Of course there weren't any....
Overall we were sooooooo pleased! We also were quoted prices $1000 under invoice for an Accord EX V6 we were interested in ... but decided against.... But we'll be back for it later!
Good luck everyone... thanks for your help.
A company called Certified Car Care (Drivers Select) offers it online for $299 (purchasable up to 90 days after car purchase); I may get it through them.
I was cheated by Fremont Honda on Jan 2. I called them first to see if they would accept a EX deal for $1000 above invoice. The sale person agreed on the phone and ask me to go there. After show me the car and they copied my driver's license and try to get my social number before show me any numbers. I told them that I only would buy this car if it is $1000 above invoice. Then the manager comes and show me a ridicules number for a EX odyssey, $33245. And told me how hot this car is and they would like to sell it only $1000 above invoice. I decided to leave and was stopped in front of the door by a assitant manager. We talked again for almost 1 hour but they still don't want to sell me the car at $1500 above the invice. I told him about the number was agree by his sale person on the phone but he said that all car sales will lie on the phone...
So don't trust any number on the phone unless they signed and fax to you.
When the eager buyer arrives, the story changes or the car they wanted just happened to have sold an hour before.
I know I couldn't/wouldn't sell cars in California. That is one miserable marketplace.
It must happen all the time given the number of such tales related here.
What a sorry state of affairs.
Joyce Honda in Denville, NJ was more than good with us and the salesman spent alot of time going over the car with my wife and I. All in all we were very happy with the sales and especially the price. Most dealers in New Jersey are not willing to cut to the bone, but they did at Joyce Honda. The deal is right around invoice I believe.
I would any day respect a dealership that set the expectations of an invoice customer by saying - "Unfortunately, market reality is that we are able to sell the Odyssey only closer to the MSRP price - but please do visit us and we will try to earn your business by providing a pleasant buying experience." It does not cost them anything to do this given that Odysseys practically sell themselves.
It is sad that the system is not setup to punish lying, cheating and other such behavior by sales people and dealerships with a record of poor customer experiences. In some ways it probably rewards such behavior.
Does anybody know if Honda handles dealership complaints and does something to remedy them? If so how does Honda handle a complaint received about a dealership? Do they have the power to pull the plug on a dealership if the dealership has consistently underperformed with customers? Or do they figure that it is not their responsibility since people will keep buying Hondas no matter what, because the product is good?
General Observation - old line Honda dealers and GM Franchise/Honda dealers seem to be the best as far pricing/sincerity.
Orange County - forget it - no deals that I found and no inventory.
Dealers with the most promise:
Goudy - Alhambra - supposedly 2nd largest dealer in CA behind Norm Reeves (no deals at Reeves - MSRP but you probably can get a vehicle). Goudy will deal and meet other local quotes from what I have been told. In later Dec. while in for service, I saw three silver Nav/Res under the tent in the red carpet delivery area. Had several other Ody's on the lot.
Robertson - North Hollywood - best internet quote - $2K over invoice ($32,964) but didn't have what I wanted.
Miller - Van Nuys - not the lowest internet quote but willing to work with me if they had the vehicle.
Kasier - near Staples - good quote but no product.
Community Pontiac Honda - Whittier - no product but they would discount - don't get far enough with them since they did not have my car.
Other ideas - their are 3 large car delearship chains that are all publicly traded companies. Autonation (Power dealers locally), Sonic - Carson Honda & Buena Park Honda), and Group 1 - Miller dealers. If you are still wating for a car at the end of this month, try these dealers as they will deal to increase their monthly sales #'s. The rep at Carson flat out told me that if he has 10 cars on the lot at month end, they will deal aggressively. If they have 2, no dealing.
You will see posts elsewhere in the country with lower prices but, for the exact model that I am referring to, I didn't see that here. Again, we have more dealers out here but many more Honda buyers. CA is the land of Honda & Toyota - domestics are usually rental cars out here. This may change in the next several months but who knows. I have a neighbor with a 911 turbo, 540, and an SUV in his driveway - $200,000 + worth of cars. This is not unusual - CA is just car crazy and people out here just spend lots of $$ on cars! Good Luck in your search.
PS -dealer cost on Hondacare 7yr/100K $0 deductible warranty is $1,050 so, if interested, offer $1,100.
Discovery Honda in Moses Lake, WA. Ask for Internet Sales Manager.
Very pleasant buying experience. All done via email/phone. Spent 2 hours at delivery and that was the only in-person contact.
Worth 200 miles drive. Just say Thai sends you. I don't get anything from them... that's how much I think they deserve my and your business.
The day of the sale, the business manager called me to discuss loan details & gave me the same line I've read about here - 4.5% (over 60 months) if I don't get the extended warranty, or 2.9% if I do. He told me the difference in my payment would be less than $10, which would pay for the extended warranty (7/70,000), so I'd be wise to get the warranty & the lower interest rate. I quickly added up the warranty price in my head ($9.60 x 60 months = $576) and said "ok". When we got the paperwork & saw the actual cost of the warranty was closer to $1000, we decided against it and felt we had been really misled by this guy. They did end up letting us have the 2.9% rate for 60 months anyway.
Honda called me about a week later to do their customer satisfaction survey - I rated everything about the dealership very highly, except the business manager, explaining that I felt he was dishonest about the warranty cost & the loan. Well, this guy just called me today, accusing me of slandering him! He said he got into trouble with his manager, but since the conversation was recorded, his manager knew "what really happened". Yet, he wants me to go to the dealership to talk to him & his manager about this. I told him I'm not interested, since I know what I said & what I heard (I took notes & even asked him to clarify the monthly payment for the warranty in our initial conversation). He got somewhat ugly with me, going on about how I slandered him, until I finally asked to speak with the manager. After being put on hold for about 5 minutes, I hung up & have yet to hear further from them.
I think I should send a letter to the dealership manager & to Honda about this. Is that going overboard? I just feel like what was really a good buying experience has turned very sour now, and I don't like being treated like this when I've just spent nearly $30,000 with them. Ugh, it just makes my blood boil to deal with people like that.
Thanks!