OTT-TSX

As I had mentioned in a previous thread a good friend of mine was shopping for a TSX. She tried the local dealer here in Ottawa and was not impressed so she decided to shop around. Since both she and I are back and forth from Toronto quite often, she contacted a dealer there and inquired about buying a car from them. Well the strangest thing happened; she just received an email from the local dealer here in Ottawa saying (and I quote exactly from his email)

“My Manager just receive an email from Toronto that you are shopping in Toronto.
Acura Dealers don't compete against each other
We want to sell you the car and we will give you the best price that we can.
So please call me at the dealer”


Does this seem odd? I have been off this board for a while but has Acura gone to a no-competition model?

STL

That's total BS (at least here in the States). She should respond to them by telling them that she'll find an Acura dealer that will compete -- that is unless they are willing to sell it at her price.

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

WTF?? That's ridiculous. Are the two dealership owned by the same entity (the only reason why this could possibly happen)?

curls

Kinda BS, yeah, but I'd say its an invitation for you to bargain hard with them. As I mentioned before, try Montreal (don't mention ANYTHING about you being in Ottawa... just call 'em up or email). Once you get a price, bring that to Camco/Casino and see if they can match it or come very close. If not, out you walk, drive to Montreal, and buy yourself a new Acura.

Ishakir

That is very strange...

I bought my 06 TSX about three weeks ago and I had three dealerships at eachother's throats trying to out-do the others. My guess is that they are owned by the same person / group. For instance, in Chicago we have names like Ed Napleton Acura and then we have Muller's Acura, these guys were more than happy to compete with eachother.

jpt

The Acura dealers around here compete with each other (even Radley and Karen Radley, which are owned by the same person). I could see if two dealers in different towns but owned by the same person refused to compete (although it's beyond me why you should have given them enough information to figure out you're the same person who went to the other one before getting a quote) but other dealers surely will. Expand your search radius if you have to (although ask yourself, if you have to drive 200 miles to save $2000, would you?)

derbaff

Same sort of thing just happened to me the other day. I started pitting dealers against each other and a few got really pissed off. My local dealer told me he didn't appreciate dealerships stealing customers out of their "zone". I reminded him that the US is a capitalist country and competetion is healthy. He still refused to compete however, only lowering his price by a token amount. Maybe Acura's been giving dealers pep talks about not compteting with each other? Part or their plan to improve their luxery image?

acn684

lol note the argument in the dealers statement. "Please call me at the dealer" NOT "please contact me or the other dealer, we will work something out with you"

jerzpwr

i agree... i think its total BS.

bignips

I know that this is BS first hand...I have been a loyal acura customer at one dealership; 4 cars and soon to be a 5th. Before going in for our 4th car, I contacted a nother dealer in the area...they went as far to tell me the deal i was getting was one of the best they heard, but they were willing to go a $1/month less just to get my business. Obviously I went back to my other dealership...

Do dealer's compete with each other? Its actually probably more so the salesman competing for business/the sale which in turn makes the dealers compete.

"A true sales person praises his competitor's products before selling you his."

kipsy

happened to me also. i emailed crest acura in syracuse, and they told me to deal with a dealer in my hometown, which was ray laks. the rochester dealer (john holtz) offered a better deal than ray laks, which ray laks ended up matching to get my business. the syracuse general manager emailed me back and cc'd ray laks and said i should deal with a local dealer. i was pretty surprised.

BlacknBlue

Who was the salesman out of curiosity?

I'm sure that these guys must chat back and forth and may drop customer names to one another when they're bored...

You can be sure that the different dealers are in competition for your business. I would be annoyed from a privacy standpoint...

5o9

small states are trouble

just ask the folks from hawaii

over the border state raiding is where to locate your dealership

a dealer can write the sale in one location and deliver the car at another

i can write the sale at an (acura) dealer in one state, and deliver the car at a sister dealership (nissan) in another state

dont worry these border snipers know how to deal with the peculiarities of your state, that is why they located there

drunkenbuda

Hmmm, i got quote from one dealer, went to the next and got a better deal, by 1k.

ivtec33

Ray Laks and Crest do their best not to take each other's customers.

It's a little different with Holtz and Laks though. Not an all out bidding war but they do compete a little more.

Who did you buy your car from?

Did you deal with Mike Perry at all?

OTT-TSX

Thanks for the replies guys.

The other thing someone mentioned to me is maybe the dealerships are owned by the same people or family.

bignips

I guess that could definetly be a possibility...if that were the case, I dont think people working for the same company would compete with each other...or would they?

Twisteds2k

don't believe everything or anything from the dealer