Mega

I've been working with Gunn Acura since October to get my 2005 TSX Satin Silver / Ebony / Auto / Navi. I was very happy with my salesman, and he's been very helpful in answering all my questions, etc.

It's now finally going to arrive between Feb 1 and 3.

Here is the deal I am going to get:
$28,887.00 "one simple price" (they do not negotiate)
sales tax: $1,805.44
county tax $73.17
lic. title and inspection $127.05
doc fee $50.00
Total Drive Out price: $30,942.66

Other perks include preferred customer treatment.

But as any smart shopper, I contacted the Internet Sales manager at a number of other dealerships within 200 miles (Gunn is the only Acura dealer in San Antonio).

I got several bites, but none were even as good as Gunn except one. But now that I've been in contact with this one, it's looking pretty tempting. It's at Sterling Acura in Austin about 100 miles away.

Here is the deal they are offering:
Arriving Feb 1st.
$28,150
+ $1998.36 TT&L
= Total Drive Out price: $30,148.36

Other perks include free tires and free car washes for 7 years or 100K miles (if all service is done at the dealer).

Free tires is great, but to qualify I'll have to drive 100 miles for oil changes... etc.

But on the other hand, even without the tire deal, I'd save $794 getting it in Austin.

Anyway, I'm now weighing my customer loyalty to Gunn vs. saving money vs. preferred customer treatment locally vs. driving to Austin for all maintenance for free tires... etc.

Anyone else have anything more you think I should consider? Any experience with Sterling Acura of Austin? I know Gunn has an awesome reputation here in San Antonio. I personally know several happy customers.

DJDZ

If it were me, saving $794 is not worth the effort in driving 100 miles back and forth to get the car serviced. You will waste alot of gas and more importantly, time in doing that. If you're local dealer does indeed have a great reputation, then go with them. It makes more sense and you will have piece of mind knowing that they will take care of you and your TSX over the next few years.

Good Luck,

Dennis

jlukja

how about sharing the 2nd offer with the first dealer and see if he can match it?

batman

I got my car from gunn. Who are you working with? Those were a great bunch of guys. The one thing I didn't like is that "no hassle" thing. But you can do that if you are the only acura dealership in the city. MSRP is probably the best you are going to get out of them. IMHO It's definitely not worth going to all the way to Austin for $700 of savings. If they would throw in free service and oil changes for seven years then I would consider. Does sterling negotiate?

foolioness

Are you an AAA member? If you are, you'll be able to get discounts on the Acura of your choice at your participating dealer. To find out, go on AAA.com and look for the participating dealers. I was looking for 04 CG ebony int + NAV, the dealer was able to give me $29.6k out the door. Another option is also if you're a Costco member, they get discounts too. I think that'll be the best way to go. My

Mega

Hey, thanks for the replies. To answer jlukja, Gunn doesn't negotiate, but I did give them the Sterling offer in case they would consider it. They didn’t.

What I ended up doing is making a (refundable) deposited on the car at Sterling.

My rational is, $800 is significant, and I only have to use Austin for service if I want the free tires. So I can always use Gunn for service if I don’t mind giving up the tire deal.

Sterling expects my TSX 2/1. Gunn expects theirs between 2/1 and 2/3.

I arranged to be off work Thursday 2/3 to drive to Austin to get the car.

I then emailed my salesman at Gunn and told him I'd like to keep the car reserved until I know the Sterling deal doesn't go south, but to be fair, I authorized him to refund my deposit and sell the car if someone else tried to buy it.

However, he wrote me back, and said he’d already processed my refund. He sounded a little ticked. I really didn’t want to upset him.

If for some reason the Austin deal doesn't work out, hopefully Gunn will still have theirs, and I'll get it Thursday.

So I'm now doing the "I'm getting a new TSX Thursday dance." hehe

Considering I'm replacing a piece of crap 11 year old car, this is exciting!!

Only if I have extreme bad luck will I not get the car Thurs (i.e. Austin deal falls through, and Gunn sells it before I can get it there).

novatsx

I got mine same car for 1000 less out the door.

theoryzero

Mega,

I'm hopefully getting the exact same car this week as well. Early Congrats! Also replacing my 11 year old car (every mile is a gift).

Free tires sounds nice, but it makes me wonder what kind of crap tires they are going to put on there. I guess I would rather pay for some good tires myself but save the $800 anyways by buying from Sterling. If the other guys don't want to deal, they lose out.

TZ

Mega

Thinks for the congrats. Ditto to you.

I wondered about the free tires as well, so I asked and they put the exact same tires on it that the car comes with. My salesman said those tires retail for about $160 each (though I haven’t verified that).

If there is a catch, it’s probably going to be the minimum maintenance they will let me do to qualify for the tires. I read several threads here about 1.5K, 10K, 15K, and 30K, etc service that can run anywhere from $30 to $600. If they MAKE me do those, and charge an arm and a leg for them, it may not be worth it for the tires. But I’ve decided the $800 savings is worth it even if the tire deal turns out to be a scam. All I’m really giving up is the “preferred” customer status at Gunn. It’s not like I can’t use them for service… I just won’t have priority on appoint times and loaners.

Mega

Just to follow up for anyone interested...

I picked up the car today from Sterling Acura in Austin just hours after it came off the truck. Chris Tohill (an Internet Sales Manager) was very nice and there were no tricks, gimmicks, or anything. Everything I'd arranged over email and phone was exactly as stated.

I still have respect for Gunn in San Antonio as well, but saving $800 was worth it to me to get it out of town. Especially since Sterling turned out to be a really great place to deal with.

I posted my first impressions, and "Before / After" pics here: https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20205

JediMindTricks

congrats on your deal. i was in contact with both sterling acura and gunn too. wouldn't have minded driving to either dealership to pick up the car. but congrats and you'll enjoy the car.