keylay

Ok so my 1990 honda accord is on its last legs, it still goes but both the left and right axel need to be replaced, and it needs a brake job bad. I dont want to spend anymore money on a car that has 170,000 miles on it. I want a tsx bad, but i know im going to have to order the carbon grey, 6sp man, with nav bc i have called the ventura, calabasas, and valencia (CA) dealers and they dont have any. This is not so bad, but the other thing that concerns me is that i probably wont get any thing off the msrp either, all i really want is like $800 off. I know it seems stupid to gripe but this is the only way i can justify getting the $2000 navi.

Im in socal and i wanted to see if you guys had any recomendations on how to get any thing off the msrp and which dealer i should go to in so-cal. Im in santa barbara but i dont mind driving 2 hours or so. I can afford to put like 15k down tops and i was hoping this was enough to give me some leverage towards that $800 off or maybe some accessories at least.
WHat do you guys think i should do?

YBA

Now

STC

iTrader: (1)

deal w/ the sales mgrs directly!

Lung Fu Mo Shi

Whip out the e-mail and write every dealership within 4-6 hours for stock and price quote. Tell them that they are competing against other dealers.

You can also mention that in lieu of $800 off MSRP if they'll throw in the equivalent in options you'll take it (if you want $800 worth of options, I didn't).

chrisalberts

Putting money down won't enhance your deal any and gives you no leverage.

The problem you have is that you are on the brink of NEEDING to buy a car so you are not negotiating from a position of strength.
You need to be willing and able to walk away (and your target price needs to be reasonable) to get the best deal.

The suggestion of e-mailing dealers is a good one. Also consider calling. Being completely inflexible on color does not help you here. Make it clear to the dealer that you have funds available and are willing to complete a deal quickly and you should get treated seriously. Consider calling to ask the receptionist who the sales manager is, but not speaking to him/her. Then call back the next day or so asking specifically for that person and then tell them what you want and what you're willing to pay for it.

Nobody's getting incredible discounts off TSXs, but you shouldn't have too much trouble getting $500 off. It's up to you how much effort you want to put in to getting a couple of hundred more. If you can't afford the navigation don't get it. It's basically the same car either way and there are aftermarket Nav systems if you desperately need it later.

C.

keylay

wow, thanks guys

im breaking out the email and im gona see what the managers say, i guess i should just say hey this is what i want and i have the money to complete the deal quickly, how about $500 off and well call it a day. See who replies.
Thanks for the idea. ill let you know how it goes.

ecsw

Hmmm.... Didn't realize this is so difficult in US. But I got US$1500 (more than $2000 cdn) off easily. But back to my Mazda6 in April, I can hardly get US$200 off when everyone else in US getting $1000~$1500 off.

Yui

Wait till the end of the month too, that'll help... Actually if you're really willing to wait, wait till like Christmas - New Year's...

jumpper

Really? I got over $2000US off the MSRP on the Mazda6 with every package in Jan (6 weeks after it came out). But for TSX, I only got a trunk tray when I bought it in April .

Keylay, offer them a reasonable price and be ready to walk away. Do you have 2nd choice on color? A little lie like "Another offers me $500 off the MSRP, can you match or do better?" might help too . Good luck on your car hunt.

Santacruz

keylay...it won't hurt to say you've already got a deal going with another dealer but you're shopping for the best price before you commit. Also, let the dealers know you're buying now and by now I mean today or tomorrow.

BTW...you may luck out and find a dealer with a SSM so you won't have to settle for the carbon gray

Nachoman

Yeah definitely do the emails, it basically saves you the hassle of driving around price comparing. What I did is tell them what I want and if they match it, done deal, I'll drive over on the weekend and sign the papers. It's a 5 minute deal to them and a no hassle experience to you. Plus i am much more likely to give my business to a dealer who practices good customer service in all aspects of car buying, and that includes email response. And if you include the exact specs of the car you want (color, nav, transmission) they will let you know when they get it in stock or if they already have it.

ecsw

See, Mazda6 in Canada is very hard to bargain. But TSX is like every one got $1500 off easily, not to mention TSX is already cheaper than in US.

Walk out the dealer is a must. I walked out 5 dealers before I even got my M6. Bargain, bargain and bargain.

teombe

In most states (including Texas and California), this is no longer true. Basically, there used to be a bunch of antiquated state tax laws on the books that caused dealers to pay tax on inventory as of January 1st. Dealers used to have fire sales at the end of the year in order to keep their taxes as low as possible.

As I said, the end of the year thing isn't true anymore. The end of the month, however, is a good time to buy a car.

IdentityCrisis

$800 off MSRP should be in the ball park of what you can do. I just bought a non Navi TSX at Acura of Dayton (Ohio) and paid $27,200 for a Carbon Grey, Quartz interior, Rear Wing Spoiler, Trunk Tray, Wheel Locks, Chrome A center caps.

I hope that helps.

keylay

Ok im gona write my emails now, i have the list of dealers emails and im gona say something like this

Hi, im interested in buying a TSX and wanted to know what you can do for me. Im looking for a Carbon Grey (prefered) or black TSX, 6sp man, with navi, black interior, trunk tray, wheel locks, and mud flaps. I can afford to put 15k down right now. I am asking a number of dealers in so-cal around the Santa barbara area, and a few in Nor cal around the Sacramento area. If you tell me you can give me the car for $28,100 i will say done deal. This is the deal i want and if you can match it then you have my business. I will drive there on the weekend and sign the papers. I dont need the car on the spot and can afford to walk away or go to another dealer. I have the money for the car and was hoping to complete the deal with a professional dealer quickly.

What do you think?

larchmont

Congratulations. I think your identity crisis is soon to be over.

ryanc44

Sounds pretty good keylay.

I went to all the local (So Cal) dealers websites and sent out e-mails to about 8 of them using their "quick quote" feature. While I was only inquiring about availability, I did give the impression I was ready to buy within a week- surprisingly only 3 of them ever responded. I don't know if they just don't handle the internet side of the business very professionally, or they didn't bother because I didn't "appear" to be serious?

Anyway, please let us know how they respond- I'm planning on giving the e-mail thing one more shot when I'm "serious"...

Regards,
Ryan

keylay

Well what i did was go crazy and send emails to like 15 dealers, and see who replied, i have gotten 4 emails and 4 phone calls so far. Two emails say they dont have the car anywhere in the area but they can order it and they liked my offer of $28,400 . Think im gona stick to this and im going to send my offer to the ones who replied to me and say that i have gotten responces that my offer of 28,400 is good to go but the dealer that can order/get me the car first has my business. I emailed a couple of dealers up north (one in fairfield and one is marin) and they both said they cannot get the carbon grey or the black bc they are really hard to find.
Seems like they need to try harder huh?

Oh well, ill keep you guys posted.

Nachoman

What you can also do now is email the dealers farther away and tell them that you have multiple dealers that are closer to you that are willing to match your price of 28,400. Tell them that if they can offer you a lower price you will be willing to make the drive over there and complete the sale with them. Heck, you may get a couple hundred more bucks off, not bad for a slightly longer drive (plus you will get to enjoy the long drive back in your new car). Mention the other dealers you have offers from by name, there may be some competition between the two dealers that may work in your favor. Who knows, can't hurt to keep fishing for more $$ off.

dnb

So now you have more than one dealer who's willing to get you the car at the price you want. You might want to search this site for comments regarding these particular dealers' service departments and loaner car policies.

I know you're in a hurry to replace your car, but a delay of a few days in getting the TSX might be worth it if you end up working with the better dealer.

IdentityCrisis

I selected Acura of Dayton for several reasons although I had other dealerships offer to sell me a TSX at the same price.

1. Acura of Dayton was closest.
2. Acura of Dayton will drive a loaner car to my house, leave the loaner car and take my TSX back for service.
3. They have a detailing facility that they allow Acura owners to use for free.

So, checking the individual dealership's policy is good advice.