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I usually buy my cars because I usually own cars for 5+ years and RL is a sweet ride to own.
Good Luck !
DC area. I'd rather not mention which particular dealer but do a search within say, 50-mile, radius and visit each dealer's site directly. Alternatively, acura.com may offer such an inventory search service, similarly to that of infiniti.com.
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A few thoughts...
* As mentioned, dealers are inconsistent in responding to email. Some didn't respond at all and a number of those that did took days to get back to me. I think it is essential to tell them the terms of the deal (e.g., cash, no trade-in) and that you are ready to buy immediately.
* I was surprised at how much variance there was in pricing from dealer to dealer. I would strongly recommend communicating with as many dealers as possible to maximize your chances of finding one who is willing to negotiate on price. Given that my dealer got the car from another dealer, it doesn't appear that existing inventory factored into their final pricing. One interesting tidbit - the dealer told me they have sold about 15 RLs since its release.
* I might have been able to get a few hundred dollars more off the price, but I think that would have been the limit. The majority of dealers were not interested in selling at my target price (and based on follow-up emails with these dealers, I believe this was sincere rather than posturing on their part). While they might have matched a competing offer, they were uninterested in being the first to drop their price.
I switched from a 2000 Mercedes E320 to the RL. The E had better driver visibility and a larger back seat, but is otherwise inferior in almost every respect. Purchasing a comparably equipped new E320 would have cost me $10K more than my RL. I also looked at the AWD Lexus GS, but dealers appeared unwilling to negotiate on price.
At this point, I couldn't be happier with my purchase. Thanks to all the posters on this forum - the information here is what enabled me to get the car for this price.
Great to hear about your success with the email form of negotiation. You got a great price. Some notes to your notes:
* A particular dealer's inventory has absolutely no bearing on its pricing. They simply get on the phone and call other dealer's until they find your color RL and can have it within 24 hours - they simply have an employee drive an RL they have on their lot to the dealer that has your color and drive your color back, leaving the other one. Each dealer knows it has to agree because there will come a time when they need the same favor. It may even be in their dealership agreement with Acura. My dealer in central CT told me that the furthest he ever had to drive to pick up a car was Syracuse (4 hours) but rarely has to go outside CT (2 hours). I closed my deal around 6:30 PM on a Wednesday night and he had my color on his lot by 2:00 PM the next day.
* I found that if I started my price at 5-6% above dealer cost, almost every dealer (~ 12) replied with an offer. Only one came in at my price. This was in about 1 hour. I then sent a second email out about 4 hours (5 PM) after my first email offer and mentioned what the best offer was at that time and asked for "best and final" offers and got two offers at $1000 below my original offer price. They were not from my preferred, closest dealer, but I phoned him and gave him the courtesy of matching the lowest offer which he did. I then drove out and put down the deposit and filled out the paperwork. From start of my email process to deposit was 5.5 hours. If a dealer phoned me ( and I did not include my phone number but some figured it out), I had them put into voice mail. I may have been able to get another $500 or so knocked off if I kept it up for a few days or a week but it was not worth the hassle to me. My dealer told me that the price I got was $2000 less than the next cheapest price he had ever agreed to. May be BS, but it was the last day of the month and the quarter (which is very important in my view due to the incentives they get at both of those time points).
* I have had the car for 3 weeks now and love it. Just got back from a 6 day tour of colleges with my wife and HS daughter to parts unknown and had the nav system get us everywhere, and even recommend restaurants (using Zagat's), all of which worked out great. The nav system does have its strangenesses (as do all), and if you know a local area well, you will disagree with its routing, but it will get you exactly where you need to be, perhaps a few minutes longer driving then if you were a local. The quickness with which it re calculates directions is amazing.
* My bluetooth Motorola V710 has synced perfectly with the car, except that some of the phone's symbols do not show up on the dash (such as signal strength or phone number of incoming call). I was at my Verizon store today and talked to a knowldegable technician who said that even wiht the software upgrade for the V710, Acura RLs and TLs will not display all info on the car's dash. It is a Verizon/Motorala blue tooth issue; nothing to do with Acura.
I also thank everyone who writes on the board; it has been one of the most useful boards I have ever used.
From rainy CT (where I used my wipers for the first time today and drove intentionally through the deepest puddles I could find with no hydroplaning), drive happy and safely,
DIB
As an aside, have you gotten the AcuraLink working with your phone?
DIB
You got a good deal. Being in New Hampshire, I'd be interested in knowing where you were able to buy your RL, since I'm probably in reach of that dealership.
Thanks
Is the 2006 RL due out before the fall? Is it worth waiting to try and get a better deal on a 2005? Is there the chance that there will be significant improvements to the current model to warrant the wait?
Also, what is the best way to strike a deal before purchase on upgrades like wood steering wheel or wood shifter knob? Also I intend on doing a trade and possibly paying for the car as opposed to a lease or loan.
The RL just came out so I don't think there will be major changes.
In doing searches of dealer inventories Acura dealers seem to have lots of RL's in stock. They typically have more than they have TL's and yet they sell a lot more TL's. This makes me think they have too many RL's since inventory goals are usually based on days of sales.
Honda doesn't seem to offer customer incentives to move cars but they do offer incentives to their dealers. At present they have incentives to dealers on Accords for example. I believe this is because Accord sales are down and Toyota has rebates on Camry's.
I would have to believe that they will offer significant dealer incentives on the RL's as the new model year approaches and perhaps even large incentives if there is an inventory over-hang of 2005's with 2006's on the lots. You might want to continually check the Edmunds.com section on dealer incentives as the year progresses.
Getting quotes from multiple dealers always seems like the best way to take advantage of whatever market conditions exist.
I owned a Mercedes E class for five years. While there were many things I loved about the car, it had lots of problems. The blower was replaced three times and never worked properly. The AC was abysmal (which was in part related to the blower problems). The radio controls were unintelligible and the reception was comical. I actually wrote a letter to Mercedes about some of these problems and got a totally unsatisfactory response from the company. But the thing that really irritated me was the poor resale value. Had I bought either a Lexus or an Acura instead of my Mercedes I would have recouped a much higher percentage of the original car's value at the time I sold it. I have spoken with a number of other Mercedes owners who have had similar problems, many of whom have switched brands (typically to Lexus). The $10K more for the Mercedes seemed unjustifiable in my book. I can't say the RL will be better in all respects, but there are many ways in which it would be hard to be worse than the Mercedes. I strongly considered the Lexus, even at a higher price. I have had two Lexus's and loved them. I was put off by the fact that Lexus will be releasing the 3.5 liter engine next year. It seemed like I would want to wait a year rather than by the AWD GS this year. Had they been more willing to negotiate on price, I might have gotten over this misgiving.
Just to round out my research, I looked briefly at the A6 but felt that Audi had many of the same problems as Mercedes. While I did not consider the Infiniti M, I am aware of the positive reviews it has received and feel I probably should have taken the car for a test drive. As things stand, I couldn't be happier with my purchase (though I'm keeping my fingers crossed).
Ed Martin was the only dealer to actually respond over the internet with a price. The other dealers only wanted me to come in and visit. The buying experience was excellent as has been the service since the purchase.
Traded a 2002 LS430. Very happy with the RL. Only complaint is lack of rear seat leg room. The LS was flawless for 48000 miles, but at a $10-15000 lower price, the RL is just fine. Better handling, more features, and a much more sporting driving experience.
Anyone interested in RL would be advised to wait, I could buy at invoice (44k) right now, but it will get better. When Audi had to move their 2004 A4 models for the new body styled 2005 units, the lease rate went under 1%, the new rate could be under 2%? For those interested in a lease, the monthly payment could be close to a payment on a TL with a sub 6% rate. I am sure it will be a sweet deal for the buyers too... I like the idea you won't see many on the road either, slap some nice wheels on it and your'e set! This is a helluva ride~
All said and done, I think it is far better than the BMW or Benz. I have not test driven the new Lexus GS300 AWD which I'd like to test drive sometime. I'd recommend the Acura RL 2005.
Raja
The 130 miles on the odo. How did it end up with that much mileage? Used as demo? Someone took it on an extended test drive and noticed something he didn't like?
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Approximately: $620 monthly (36 months)
or
$500 if Acura drops the interest rate to 2%
Also, try 2% as an example of what the payment could be if Acura gets that aggressive when they try to stimulate sales to liquidate the excess inventory at the dealers. Hopefully it will be less...
I think very highly of my RL 2005. I'm not giving it up for anything. But....drive it without the sound system on rough roads. Mine had a clanky rattle due to a loose brake pad. Also, the Onstar phone (by Verizon) would not receive incoming calls...they had to replace it.
Raja
If you want one, I would wait since Acura has to get more aggressive with this car very soon ! They have no choice to offer better financing and leasing rates.
skew" what we think our deals are. Thanks in advance!
MikeV
What price were you able to get from Hubler? I live in Carmel, hene would use Ed Martin for service. Thanks in advance!
Mike V
Sales price of 05 RL = $46,500
Trade value of 02 Audi = $20,500
Trade value researched on Kelly Blue Book and NADA on my Audi was $19,500, and 3 other dealers (an Audi Dealer, a Honda Dealer, and an Infiniti Dealer offered me between $19,200 and $20,000 for the Audi as trade, so Rizza gave me the best deal on the trade).
This price also included a trunk mat, wheel locks, trunk cargo net, all-season floor mats, and a wood shift knob. They also threw in 3 years of "free" paintless ding repair. A company comes to you and will repair unlimited number of door dings within a 3 year coverage period. This is apparently a routine mark-up item on Rizza cars and although I was somewhat indifferent about it, they included it at the end. Plus, we got 3.5% financing from American Honda Finance to seal the deal. It was the best rate I could find on a conventional loan.
I estimated the price of the RL at $45,500 since I got about $1000 more trade value on the Audi, plus they threw in some options that had a collective retail price of at least another $500. They had about 6 RL's on the lot that day, and as soon as they saw we were serious, they got it done relatively painlessly.
1800 miles on our RL so far, and it is a very nice car.
Good luck!
Thanks
Price: $43714 (matched Edmunds listed invoice)
Destination: $570 (also matched Edmunds price)
Total $44284 plus TTL, no trade, brought my own money (no financing); dealer threw in splash guards and wheel locks. Didn't want trunk tray or all weather mats.
I think I did ok.
how much? This is the first move into moving 2005 inventory with 2006 creeping up.
Invoice price can be had probably anywhere now, just throw the deal down and walk and tell them to call if they have any interest. They even did an invoice deal with no financing, which is good! If you use their financing so long as it's good, you could probably work a better deal, although every day/week/month we get closer to 2006, the deal will only get better.
I am inclined to wait since we are only a couple of months away from saving a couple thousand more.
Absolutes such as "never" are usually wrong... (notice I didn't say always wrong..)
Leases have advantages and disadvantages.... At their core, they are just alternative means of financing.. Each situation and each car are different..
The fact that they are tax deductible for business, but not for personal use has no bearing on whether they are right for a particular situation.. Businesses that buy vehicles can depreciate the vehicle to lower their taxable income, but you never hear anyone say you shouldn't buy a vehicle because you can't deduct it.
regards,
kyfdx
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Good point. For some reason, many people seem to lose sight of that. In fact, Canadian tax laws are designed so that basically the tax benefits of leasing vs. buying are a wash.
I think under a best-case scenario, you will almost always come out ahead if you buy and sell privately vs. leasing or the trade-in route. But the difference is not as much as most people think. And if your car has been involved in an accident and diminished value is part of the equation, then it's a whole different ball game. And also, the hassle of selling privately cannot be ignored, even though it is difficult to quantify. In fact, at this stage of my life, I don't think I want to put up with the hassle of selling privately, of dealing with tire-kickers, test drives, low-ballers, mechanic's inspection, weirdos coming around to your house, etc. I did that when I was younger. Now I've got other things of higher priority to deal with than just to net a few hundred $$ more, if that.
In fact, my preferred mode of acquisition is now leasing. Problem is I own my current car, and I'm not sure there is a way one can trade it into a lease without getting gutted financially. If there is, an '06 X3 3.0 could be in my garage next year! :shades:
A. Make lease payments for x years...turn in keys and walk away.
B. Make car payments for x years...car is paid for (and you own whatever intrinsic/market value remains).
You lost me on why leasing, for an indivdual, is better than buying/owning...maybe I should drag out my old Ben Graham book.