schuchmn

These topics have come up in a number of threads, so I thought I'd start a new one for my experience.

I live in northwestern New Jersey and the closest Acura dealer is Acura of Denville. I'd been talking to a salesman there since well before the release date and pricing were known and had put down a refundable deposit. The salesman called me from time to time with any new information (which I'd already found out about from Acura's web site anyway, but customer follow-up is a sign of a good salesman).

I test drove an RDX when it was available and brought my wife in for a drive as well. Any time we mentioned price, we got the "new car, big demand, no discounts" speech.

So I sent out requests for quotes on two of the automotive sites (Edmunds was one, and I don't remember the other one). I used my wife's name on one to see if the Denville dealer told her anything other than what they were telling me (they didn't).

We were contacted by four dealers. One, of course, was Acura of Denville, who quoted full list price via email. So did Acura of Clinton. I spoke to a gentleman there and told him that I didn't consider MSRP to be anything of a deal. He replied that he was selling as many as he had at that price and had no reason whatsoever to discount the vehicie

Fair enough.

I got a phone call from a lady at the Wayne, NJ dealership (Open Road Acura, I think it's called). She was willing to take $500 off the price, but after talking to her manager, amended that to a $500 credit for accessories, service, etc. And that was without even walking into the showroom.

Things were looking up.

On 8/19, we got a call from Springfield Acura who said they were doing deals that day, so come on in. So we went on over.

The saleman was George Marshall, a very likeable guy. He said they'd do $800 off with or without Tech.

Definitely looking up.

My wife an I conferred and I called Denville to see if they'd match the price. My salesman was away, but the one I spoke to talked about "has to be a legitimate deal" and "have to see it in writing". I took that as a "no". I wasn't going to go back and forth between dealers with written deals.

My wife asked me what would happen if we offered $1500 below MSRP. Well, they weren't going to shoot us for such impertinence, so we did. At that point the sales manager got involved as well. After talking back an forth, he offered $1200 off with Tech or $1000 off without.

Really looking up.

I had a list of accessories that I was interested in -- the cargo net, the cargo cover, the cargo liner (I think I may have a cargo fixation), and the autodim mirror. That added up to $579 MSRP, but I'd already found them online for about $470. So after a little more give and take, we got them all for $200.

So I decided to take it with the Tech Package. I wanted a taupe interior (black gets too hot) and the only taupe with Tech they had was in carbon gray. Carbon gray looks really nice and so does the taupe interior -- but not together. They had a carbon bronze/taupe non-Tech on the lot and I thought that combination was nice. George looked at his list of incoming cars and said that he had a bronze/taupe with Tech coming in, estimated date was 9/19.

We made the deal.

Afterwards, i was a little apprehensive. I know there's a dealer scam where they sell you a car at a low price, but if they can sell it for more before it comes in, they do it and tell you that yours was delayed for some reason. Now, my father was in new car sales for many years and I learned some things from him and I can usually spot the crooked salesmen. The feeling I had about Springfield was that they were not crooked and that they were playing it perfectly straight with me, and that all would be well. But the toughest crooks to spot are the really good ones. Bit my nails for a few weeks.

The car arrived at the dealership 9/11 and it was ready for me on 9/13. I picked it up last evening (9/15) and it's beautiful. I'll probably spend the next two weeks actually in the car (no breaks for food or sleep) with the manuals until I learn how everyting works.

All in all, my experience at Springfield Acura was excellent.

As far as Acura of Denville goes. after signing with Springfield I went over there to get my deposit back. I told the salesman why I wanted it back and what the deal was that I had gotten at Springfield. He conferred with his manager and told me that they could have saved me some momey, but not that much. It irked me that no one was talking about saving me any money before I signed a deal with someone else. If they'd offered something reasonable up front, I probably never would have shopped other dealers. BTW, I'm not trying to put down the Denville guys. Everyone I spoke to there was perfectly nice and I think that they were perfectly honest as well. And the car that might have been mine was probably sold for something closer to MSRP, so it made good business sense for them. But they did lose a customer.

Digits

Congratulations on your purchase and the great deal you got.

I wish there were more Acura dealers in my area to negotiate with, but there is only one and the next closest two are about an hour away, which won't help when it comes time for service. I could still probably purchase from the farther away dealers and get it serviced by the one nearby, but I'd rather try to build the relationship locally.

Post some pics if you can manage to tear yourself out of the car!

schuchmn

There is something to be said for dealing with the local guy. But as it turns out, even though Acura of Denville is closer to where I live, Springfield is pretty much between where I live and where I work so getting service there will be just as convenient.

I intend to rear myself out of the car some time in November at the latest.