SodaLuvr

Mike_TX

Soooo ... is this extended warranties, or what? And if so, does it mean they just won't sell them over the internet, or are they not selling them at all?

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SodaLuvr

You will no longer be able to purchase them on the internet. You must purchase them at a local dealership.

lland

Does it have to be a local dealership or can I give Tim at HondaAcuraWorld a call and do it by phone (as I have done twice) rather than strictly online?

LL

SodaLuvr

I just talked to Hondacuraworld over on AIM, and the person said that they doubt that they will be selling them at all after that date.

acurafox

My guess is that a lot of folks will not bother with AcuraCare in the future-I got mine mainly because I could get a good deal, not because I was overly worried about the long term reliability of the RL. Acura is now 0 for 2 (ie, 2009 exterior redesign + this decision). Wonder what the third strike will be?

dwboston

Acura car buyers will be required to sign a form stating that they will only post glowing reviews of Acuras on internet forums, make no remarks disparaging the company or its products, and in no way insinuate that the head of North American sales for Honda should be run out of town on a rail and forced to sell used Yugos.

TampaRLX-SH

A Advancing
C Coyote
U Ugly
R Redesigned
A Acuras

black label

I just read the 5 pages on this new policy. What they (claim) to be worried about is the lack of communication that may occur when purchasing over the internet.

They claim that internet sales of Acura Care warranties "undermine the Honda and Acura brands and reputations".

Dealers will still be able to set their own price on them, but without being able to purchase over the web, they won't have to worry about being undersold. It isn't likely for a person to drive from dealer to dealer to get a price quote on a warranty.

My guess is that it has nothing to do with images or reputations and more to do with 1 dealer killing the profits of the other 267 and Honda/ Acura's profits along with it.

They have been talking about the same type of thing with sales. Right now, every car you sell counts towards your future allocation of cars. What they are talking about is if you sell a car to someone out of your dealer area, it WON'T count towards your allocation. The goal here was to help dealers hold their profits. What happens now is when you have a customer who really shouldn't be buying from you because there is a dealer much closer to them, you typically blow the car out to "steal the deal" from there local dealer (and build your allocation). Under this new system (if it does happen), it doesn't make sense to do that. They think a dealer would be less likely to sell a car at invoice if it doesn't get them another car in return, and theoretically it would keep Acura dealers from competing with each other and allow us to focus on competing with other brands (of course they will have to build cars that can compete).

SodaLuvr

Wow.

If that happens, I'd never buy a Honda/Acura. That's just ridiculous.

neuronbob

This is bullshit.

I'd better get off my ass and get Hondacare for my wife's Pilot before April 1st. I don't feel Tim at Ray Laks was denigrating Honda/Acura's reputation when he offered competitive prices on warranties.

Likely I will forgo an extended warranty with future Honda/Acura purchases as prices will become exorbitant again.

ed111

I expect that someone will be looking at the implications of both of these policy changes under the anti-trust laws.

black label

The steal the deal part happens all the time (except maybe to Colin, it's like he's on an Island there, pun intended) and it's not just an Acura/ Honda thing, any dealer for any manufacturer will do it because you are rated against others in your district/zone/nationally. By "stealing the deal" you keep your competition (other Acura dealers) from getting the unit + you're getting a unit that never shopped against the Lexus dealer down the street, they were buying an Acura and they don't care if they have to drive an extra 50 miles to save $200. It's a win win situation in terms of volume for the dealer who got the deal (you can't do it on every deal or you'll soon by out of business).,

The other part about not giving dealers allocation for cars sold to customers out of their area....it will never happen dealer Principals won't let it. Fighting with the dealer 2 towns over is just the nature of the business.

ostrich

OK! I am so glad that I just bought it online a couple of months ago!!!

Now, I saved about $300 by getting it online, and since the local dealership treated me so poorly when I was shopping for a car, I have no qualms about not allowing them to make this money.

Gosh, what a week it has been for Acura owners! First, it's the RL Kitchenaid grille shock, then it's the TSX decrease in HP shock, and now it's the no more internet warranty sales fiasco... I think I might just let Acura "Advance" on their own!!!!!

black label

I don't think that will happen. The notice is very clear that the dealer can sell it for what ever price they want, just like they can now. You just need to complete the transaction in person. All this really means is a return to the telephone.

You can call all the dealers you want to see what they would do for a price, if they are close you could drive to them, if they aren't you can tell your local dealer what they offered you and say that you would drive to them.

In the end, all dealers pay the same price for the warranty, how much they choose to mark it is up to them, and that's still negotiable by you.

ostrich

Neuronbob, I know you're also in Cleveland, so I wanted to tell you that the Acura dealership (the original one) pricing for extended warranty was ridiculous. They quoted me one price, and then when I was about to purchase it, they told me that there was a mistake and it was several hundred dollars more. So I just told them that I was no longer interested and purchased it through Curry Acura online. I got the best price for it and no dishonesty to deal with either.

acurafox

Agreed-unless the warranty is grey market (which does not seem possible), the only thing undermined is the profits of the dealers that don't want to compete on price, which is as it should be. This sounds like moves I have seen in other markets (mainly consumer electronics) by manufacturers attempting to control the retail price by refusing to provide warranty service unless the item is purchased from an "authorized" (and usually much more expensive) vendor. Denon is one of several that do this, and although it doesn't appear to have much effect on discount sales (since receivers and DVD players are pretty reliable, many people take a chance with unauthoriazed dealers or open box "refurbs"), they do it nonetheless, probably to "protect" the profits of their authorized dealers. Since some of these authorized dealers also sell over the Internet, I can't see the advantage of an authorized one over any other (all other things being equal)-they both have the same overhead costs relative to Internet sales, both use commercial shippers, they both theoretically pass warranty work to the Denon service centers, and they offer the exact same products-where is the advantage to me as a consumer to using an authorized dealer other than a lighter wallet? I like Denon products, but I refuse to buy one at full retail simply to get access to their full warranty-my "roll of the dice" so far has saved me hundreds of dollars in costs, and I have the same product benefits I would have had if I had paid much more. I am wondering if Acura's legal pencilnecks will next turn to Internet sales of parts, which is much more prevalent than AcuraCare warranties and are potentially a much bigger dollar value for the dealers. Given the softness of the auto market these days, this would also seem to open Acura to competition with other brands that treat their customers better and don't have the appearance of squeezing every drop of profit from captive customers.

Maybe if Ray Laks or other current Internet vendors sell AcuraCare cheap enough, it could justify a plane ticket or a road trip just to piss off Acura on general principles.

acurafox

Sure seems like Acura is running out of toes to shoot off-they will have to start on other appendages soon. The head would be a good place for them to aim at next...their marketing and legal departments both need a brain transplant.

VOdoc

Yep. My local dealer quoted me $1800 for a warranty that ended up costing me $1070 over the Internet. The only damage to the "brand reputation" comes from the piratical dealers who try to RIP US OFF!! Screw Acura. I am done. Bye.

johnhayd

I was happy with purchasing my new 2006 RL from acura of pleasanton.

However, the only extended warranty they offered was one that was backed by the company that owned that acura dealer. It was comparably priced and seemed to have comparable benefits to acuracare. Like others, I bought my acuracare warranty from curry acura (thanks to the advice from this great group).

With this new policy, it looks like I wouldn't be able to purchase an acuracare warranty from the dealer I purchased the car from!

123456SPEED

Acura is becoming hostile to long time buyers like me. Not only did my local dealer offer a very high price for an extended warranty, it wasn't even the official Honda one but a cheap third party one they get for much cheaper, talk about a scam.
I too bought online.

If you think you'll be able to cross shop local dealers for a good price, get real.
they're gonna 'surprisingly' offer the same prices.

lumpulus

You bet they will.

Additionally, I'm confused...why do people need an extended warranty for a Honda product? Does it kick in after the 4yr\50k miles? If that's the case it doesn't addect me, since I'm a "new every two" kinda guy.

Chas2

Sigh, another disappointment from Acura.

neuronbob

I see. So basically it's a return to about 8-9 years ago, before the 'net became big in this type of business. I think I can handle that. It's inconvenient, but at least I still have a choice on where to spend my dollars. Thanks for the explanation.


With the new policy.....luckily, there are four dealers in NE Ohio to choose from for a warranty purchase. Or, since Buffalo is so close, we could use Ray Laks/Hondacuraworld. In my case, I never asked my dealer for Acuracare, I immediately went online as I assumed they'd charge me full price.

TampaRLX-SH

There are some interesting things happening with internet purchases. One obvious to most online shoppers, is the assessment of taxes. Feds are auditing companies with big ticket items availble through e-commerce, which is often sub-contracted to various vendors. Then with policies such as warranties, insurance, etc, they typically need to comply with state regulations, which again e-commerce practices easily circumvent.

Florida is a major reguator on insurance and warranty products. We cannot buy warranties out of state in many cases. And this move may be more a need for the manufacturer to maintain better audit information for regulation & compliance issues. Dealing with 3rd party vendors via the internet may be creating penalties the manufacturer is no longer willing to tolerate.

I deal with compliance issues in various industries, and I regularly see what appears to be the manufacturer screwing the consumer, when in fact it is the manufacturer being screwed by the fed, state or regulating agency....for the sake of protecting the consumer.

The internet has exponentially brought commerce to our desktops. The internet is also highly unregulated (another argument for another forum). I suspect more e-commerce habits we now take for granted will come under fire as itchy palms find opportunities.

static808

I just got my wife an 08 MDX Tech/Ent. I was going to get the warranty later this year to maximize the mileage. I can understand, somewhat, regarding the warranty and trying to give the dealer the business. They quoted me in Nov 2007 $2500 for a 7yr/100K warranty on a MDX Tech/Ent. I was like..no way.

I guess I'll be calling Tim soon to give him some of his last business.

With all the dissapointments as mentioned with the RL, TSX, TL (sure they will screw that up)...I have probably run my course with Acura.

With my 05 RL and 08 MDX, they should last a good many years and reevaluate...by then..Hyundai might be the "it" car manufacturer while Acura turns into Lincoln.

Its amazing how these jokers keep making mistakes

GoHawks

I am convinced this is the only reason why they're doing this.

When I bought my RL, I was initially quoted $3,200!!!! I ultimately negotiated it down to $1,700, but then backed out when I dfound out about Tim. The dealer begrudingly matched the price because they didn't want to lose the sale, but they were pretty pissed about it. My 7yr/100K mile $0 deductible warranty cost me $995!!

black label

It really only affects the long term buyer like myself. I've got 155K on a 97 Prelude and 66K on my 03 CL-S. Preludes warranty ended a long time ago (100K), The CL is still covered until 100K or October of 2010.

It will also affect the 20-25K miles per year folks who had the option of going to a 5yr/100K (from 4/50) to make there time limits and mileage limits expire at the same time. If you drive 25K per year, your out of warranty in 2 years.