Sorry for the long post, I've been lurking and waiting until I came to some sort of conclusion before telling you guys about it.


So after shopping around the Massachusetts area for a little over a month, I'm finally going to sign the paperwork tomorrow at Sunnyside in Nashua, NH. Car price is $28,500 with all-weather mats thrown in. I forget the exact doc fee he told me a while back but I think it was around $60 (he's going to MA to take care of the TTL, etc himself so I don't have to pay for it).

Sunnyside was no nonsense since my parents bought a 2005 RL from them last year I stopped by with my mother a couple months back (she needed touchup paint -oops!-) and asked about the RSX, he just gave me the keys, no questions. I guess when you buy a $50,000 car people trust you! Same thing when we stopped by a few weeks later and wanted to check out the TSX.

I spent about a month calling different places about a new TSX w/nav. Stock has been very limited everywhere and after playing them all against each other they all came to $28,500 but no one would go lower. In addition to Sunnyside, I worked with Clair (Walpole), Auburn, and Boston.

After letting things sit for a week or two, I decided this weekend was it. I was about to head off to Clair (good thing I didn't since they had sold the PWP I had in mind) when Peabody called to let me know what they had (I figured it couldn't hurt to check).

Well this guy told me that they had a PWP/parchment and if I bought it and took delivery before Monday (end of the month) he could give it to me for $28400. I doubled checked that it was w/nav and checked on random fees they might try and spring on me. The deal sounded good so I figured it was worth a drive over there.

Well, we got there and were told to wait. Half an hour later with no signs of him coming to talk to us OR any sign of the car he told me they had we asked if we could at least look at the car while he was so busy.

Turns out they didn't have the car. They claimed they had just sold it two hours ago (BS) even though I had just talked to him less than an hour ago. What an @$$hole. He made us come all the way over there on a Saturday to sit and be irritated for while.

Before we even left the parking lot, I called up our pal at Sunnyside and they happened to have just gotten the car I'd been waiting on and it wasn't sold yet! So after all my waiting, I didn't get much of a deal even though it is the end of the month. I'm just happy I got a PWP, I may have almost let one too many slide by!

Guess I went to Peabody to sit in their lot and buy a car from Sunnyside

 

congrats i got the same as u at Clair Acura

were u talking about test driving for the RSX? Clair Acura does the same too!

 

I had an average to mediocre experience with Clair in Walpole. That is where I initially test drove the TSX but the kid didn't appear too eager to work with me. He was always fumbling around and didn't even seem to care that he didn't have his act together. He also got a little bit aggressive on the phone because he seemed to think going on a 15 minute test drive is enough to "earn" my business. Sorry kid, I'm more interested in getting the exact car I want at a good price. And being easy to work with doesn't hurt either! He didn't seem like he wanted to work with me.

I think the fact that my parents bought the RL played a big factor in how easy things went with Sunnyside but I think Mike Keane over there is just a really good guy to work with. He never pressured me or bothered me in anyway. Let me test drive whatever for as long as I like. His starting quote was 2% over invoice (that's actually what he said to me instead of playing the numbers game). Very straightforward, easy to work with guy. Although, he does tend to give my parents a hard time when they show up with the A6 instead of the RL

The internet manager over at Acura of Boston seemed pretty laid back and helpful as well.

If my experience today with Acura of Peabody is in any way indicitive of how they do business, I recommend that everyone stay away! But in case it's only the jerk I talked to, I believe his name was Sean.

 

I dealt with Acura of Boston and had no complaints whatsoever. I did the whole pricing game through email, and when they were first taking orders for 06s, Acura of Boston was the only one willing to talk price at all. Both dealerships in NH wanted MSRP with no throw-ins. I was a bit turned off at first because the internet manager (can't recall his name off the top of my head) passed me off to a different salesman. But the salesman I did end up with was great. I'd recommend Acura of Boston to anyone.

 

I too had issues getting the particular car I wanted in New England; checked just about every dealership.

Finally, I am picking up my CGP w/Nav today from Acura of Peabody. I worked with Sean and Vanessa on the deal; they were always upfront with me and kept me up to date on my delivery. Its unfortunate that they told you a vehicle was there; I do know however that they were swamped yesterday with end of the month sales appointments which is why I am going today. Sorry to hear about your experience in Peabody, and with Sean.

I posted previously about my Acura of Boston experience. They were horrible. It got the point wehre they did not return my 6 phone calls and 4 emails. They refused to honor their "beat anyone by $299 offer" that I got in email. They low-balled my trade by $2000 (compared to everyone else); and besides they were the most expensive out of all dealerships.

Glad you were able to work it out at Sunnyside.

 

Interesting... I guess it's all just a bit of luck. Why buying a car is still so different from buying anything else, I don't know...guess some things are hard to change.

t_in_maine - The internet dealer who passed you off at Sunnyside very well could have been Mike. He passed me off yesterday to sign the paperwork as well but I didn't mind because I've never felt like he was trying to put one over on me and it turns out he was just promoted to Sales Manager! No wonder he seemed like he was running the show from the start.

Even the Finance guy didn't bother me at all. I was mostly just bored because they have to offer you all that crap. So I sat and listened to him for about 15 minutes and then said "Yeah...I don't think so." and that was all.

One other thing, we get something like 2% back when we use our credit card so I asked to put as much as possible on the card. Their limit was $2000 but when I went to write the check he said $25,610....so I wrote it down! To correct their mistake Mike authorized putting $3000 on the card (works for me!). Oh, and yeah...that was a personal check which the new salesperson said we wouldn't be able to do but as soon as we mentioned that my parents had bought an RL from Mike and he hadn't said anything about not taking a personal check it was no problem.

They're going to the registry and insurance office in MA for me and I can pick it up on Thursday!

 

I had a similar bad experience with Acura of Peabody. Spoke with Vanessa over the phone and email. Told me they had the exact color/interior I was looking for in stock. So I set up an appointment and get there.

First of all she was not even there that day so I was handed off to Sean.
He was pretty nice when we were test driving but after we sat down, things fell apart.
The car Vanessa told me was in stock (by the way their internet inventory listing is completely wrong) just the day before, was apparently sold a week ago according to Sean.
But if I was interested, they could sell me what they had on the lot which was a color I guess nobody wanted to buy. Couldn't negotiate too much on price since it's a hot selling car. The price that Vanessa quoted me on the phone (she was careful enough not to put in writing over email) was also incorrect. They finally agreed to be "generous enough" to find the color I wanted for 400 dollars more but couldn't guarantee it. Although they wanted a non-refund deposit. Forget it.

Went to Acura of boston. They were honest about what they had inventory (although their web site inventory is also wrong since it shows cars that haven't arrived or were already sold). Got me a decent (not great price) on exact color and they provided an accurate delivery date.

Clair seemed okay as well although their inventory is somewhat limited.

My two cents

 

I bought my TSX at Sunnyside and was generally pleased. My sales rep was a straight shooter, very knowledgeable, and treated me with respect. No regrets.