The Phil Zone

Just got home from CA last night at 3 AM. The snow in the CO mountains was a pain and now my Silver TL-S is dirty. But what a ride and what a deal! Details to follow...

Charles

Guest

Now thats a motivated buyer!

Congrats!

The Phil Zone

Lets start at the beginning:

Chapter 1:

Once upon a time, Charles in Denver wanted a shiny new TL-S w/o nav, but the only 2 local dealers wanted list price and would not budge from 32k including muds and locks.

One day while surfing the web, he found himself in the fantasy world of Acura-tl.com.
While there, several little gnomes spoke to him about the great deals they were getting in SO CAL. The gnomes, TLSDave, EZTider, CraigR, BlueFrank, Meihk7, Scotty and many others said Orange County was the place to be.

So he packed his CDs, Radar detector, cell phone and set off to LA LA Land for $ 190 round trip from priceline. Hopefully he would not need the return ticket!

Upon arrival at LAX he knew this was real and not a dream, because had it been a dream he most certainly would not be renting a piece o' crap Ford Escort!

Dont miss the next installment when Charles negotiates price!

The Phil Zone

Chapter 2 The negotiation: (in first person)

(car is Silver TL-S, no nav, muds and locks installed and included + tax + tag extra)

Friday 4/27 EMAIL offer of 29,350 declined by John Huynh, South Coast. George said they were low on cars, not getting more for three weeks, "The super low deals are gone for a while now"

Phone calls: Metro Montclair, Yvonne 909 626 6000: $ 30,710 but will beat any offer.

Downey, Morelan 562 869 1111: $ 30,130 plus 300 for muds/locks

Weir Canyon, Kristin Greene 714 777 3300 cell 714 290 5939: $ 29,768 "but call me if you get a better offer and well see what we can do"

Friday Midnight: Emailed offer of $ 29,500
to another 10 or 11 dealers.

Sat afternoon 4/28: received the following responses:

Brian Hargrave,Peyton-Cramer, Torrance
310 539 3636 "I accept your offer" 8% tax

Acura 101 West, Sam Motamedi 818 222 5555:
"I accept your offer" 8% tax

Chris Martinez, Thomas Acura Covina 626 915 1602 "too low" countered at 29,942

I called back Kristin at Weir canyon, told her i had other dealers at 29,500, would they beat that? She said OK to 29,450 and only 7.5% tax. Sent me an email to confirm this price. I told her I'd be there 10:00 am Tuesday to pick it up.

I emailed the others "Thanks, but I have deal, I'l call you if it doesn't happen".

(Little did I know !!)...

Next up: Chapter 3: Weir Canyon tries to screw me! I forgot to bring KY jelly!

Guest

Waiting with great expectation

tgif

Got to give you both thumb up. You are amazing.

Congrat.

------------------
2002 Acura TL Type S
Nighthawk Black Pearl
Parchment Leather

The Phil Zone

Chapter 3: The day of the deal!

Tuesday 5/1: I zoom out the 91 in my super stylie Ford Escort(now lowered, tinted, and debadged!) to Weir Canyon for my 10 AM with Kristin. Look over my car, check the tailpipes, door alignments, test drive, go in to write it up...but then...

She writes it up at 29,450, takes it to Mr. Trini ? (sales manager), he says no, it's our last one, we need more money! Comes back with 29,945, says 495 is for muds, locks, tray, won't go lower than that! I said "Are we negotiating, This is crap, I'm outta here"

I should have said "Kristin: You're the weakest link, Goodbye!"

I called John Hunyh, said I'm in Orange county, but he had no Silver w/o nav to sell.

I called Brian Hargrave at Peyton Cramer, reconfirmed price and headed for "Tent in Torrance" While the showroom is being renovated they have their sales office in a big tent! By Noon Brian had me driving it up Crenshaw and we did the deal:

29,500 + 45 doc + 25 tag/tire + 2363.60 tax =
31933.60 out the door.

Brian is the best car salesperson I have ever dealt with. He in extremely enthusiastic, and very thorough. I followed him (he in the TL-S, me in my super cool chick magnet escort low rider convertible with nitrous and 6 inch tips) back to LAX to return the car, and imagined how the debadged tail will look.

We had a little struggle with the GM of the dealer (it's owned by Autonation) Barbara Kauffman who thought the price was too low.
But Brian, the sales manager Michael Norris, and finance maniac Steve kept the heat on her until it was approved.

Autonation Corporate wil hear from me about how this rude battleaxe tried to scuttle a deal the sales manager had already approved. She needs a new line of work!

Tuesday Evening: Dinner at La Scala and I'm on the road!

Next: The drive to Denver, the cars performance, mileage stats, lunch at the Rio and MORE! Dont miss it. Pay per view is available!

The Phil Zone

Here is the message Kristin sent me: feel free to let her know what you think of the value of ones word:

"Hi,

This is the e-mail I promised you, confirming the price of $29,450 for the 2002 TL Type S. If you have any further questions, you can

contact me via e-mail or for your convenience you can reach me at 714-777-3300 or 714-290-5939.


Thanks,
Kristin Green
Weir Canyon Acura
internetsales@weircanyonacura.com"

I know you guys will have fun with this! You might just send her lots of lowball offers, she is the internet sales person !!

8ball

Great story so far!
So glad to hear you walked out of Weir, they absolutely deserved to lose the sale (and more) for pulling that kind of crap. Even better to hear that you found somebody who was straight with you - that's the least you deserve for your efforts.
Looking forward to the rest!

power3dfx

Hey Phil Zone congrats on the car!!! Just one question for you though, when you say 29500, is that including destination charge, and how much % was the tax???

-Future-

Power, just READ the thread!
Great story, Phil!

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">[This message has been edited by -Future- on May 03, 2001 @ ]</font>

Guest

Wonderful narrative, Phil; congratulations on your purchase and welcome to this addicting board. Reading your story made me realize that now I must have two of these fine automobiles!

I think I will begin an e-mail negotiation with Ms. Kristen Green in a few days. Anyone care to join me?

(She isn't your ex-girlfriend that you are inciting us to slam, is she?)

MCD

Since when can you negotiate sales tax???

rockinTLS

Great story, Phil! Sounds like it was fun, certainly fruitful.

As far as MCD's question goes: Don't you pay the tax for where you actually live? When I was originally planning on buying the car in Virginia they would have used the tax rate for NC, where I live. It's 3% here.

The Phil Zone

I was told by several folks both in CO and CA the following. If I wanted to drive home, I had to pay sales tax in CA. When I get my CO plates I will not have to pay tax again as tax here is only 7.2% The finance guy said I would get a refund of the difference, but I'll believe that when I see it!

RE: Negotiation: It was only stated as fact. Orange county is 7.5 %, LA Cty 8%.
If you live in CA you pay according to your registration address but not so on out of state sales.

rockinTLS

Hmmmmm. I ended up buying my car in-state and so never actually tried it. Maybe next time.

Thnaks for the info.

bryce11

so phil, continue the saga............

The Phil Zone

Sorry about the delay, Ive been working quite a bit since I got back. I can honestly say this car has exceeded my expectations from day one and continues to do so! My friend owns an A8, and lets me use it, has miles left on the lease, but the TLS is better and more fun.

I've delivered a ton of pizzas in the last two days, and I'm getting a feel for how it handles in city driving. Its not as tossable as a smaller car might be, but a big part of that is the speed deception. It is so quiet and quick that its easy to go into city corners a bit too hot!

eztider

Congratulations on your great deal, Phil. I am a little steamed at the dealer though. I visited Peyton-Cramer in Torrance (which is only about 3 miles from my house)and had another salesman (not Brian)"be my friend" an insist that they would NOT discount from MSRP. I gave them four opportunites to come down even one dollar and they absolutely would not. I gave them a chance to match whatever deal I could get elsewhere, and the answer was NO, even though they had 8 unsold cars on the lot at the time. I sent them a faxed offer and did not even get the courtesy of an answer until after I bought my car at South Coast Acura.

Even then the "sales manager" who called me was not in the least interested that I got the deal I asked for from another dealer and had called to see if I was interested in buying a car at MSRP.

So I'm happy you got the deal you wanted, and at least someone down there came down from Dreamland, but I'm not going to set foot in the place again, unless it's just to show them my beautiful new car.

------------------
2002 Type-S Dark Emerald Pearl Non-Nav

8ball

Originally posted by The Phil Zone:
Charles!! Please tell me you're kidding about the pizza deliveries. You're totin' pies in a brand new TL-S?!?! Man, that's brutal. At least tell be you didn't have to put one of those big signs on the roof! And, if you don't mind my asking, how does one afford a $30k+ car on a pizza delivery job?
Those must be some premium pies!

BTW, you write very well.

The Phil Zone

EZTider: I dont know when you were to Payton Cramer, it's posssible that Brian was not there at the time. He was the internet sales guy at a Honda place prior. As I said he pushed hard for sale knowing there was going to be NO deal at a higher price.

FUNNY STORY: The person he replaced at Peyton Cramer was no less than Kristin Green who wasted my my time at Weir Canyon. Apparently hadn't sold many cars there! I can understand why!

So lets see: Peyton Cramer 1 Win 1 Loss
Weir Canyon 1 Win 1 Loss
South Coast Many wins, no major losses yet!

The Phil Zone

8BAll: Premium pies? You bet! Denver's Best Thin Crust Pizza award twice as well as a few others. I should know, I own the place.

I am, however, a pretty good pizza driver as well, and if I have to take some pies to make sure that my customers get em fresh and hot, I'm on it!

If only it would stop this rain/snow we've had for three days.

Darla

That's the finest pizza delivery service I've ever heard of.! Much good luck (and a great narration effort on your negotiations). It must have been difficult to let go of the Ford, however!

8ball

Charles:
I got to thinking (always dangerous with me) after my post about pizza deliveries ... hmm... I bet he owns the place, most pizza delivery guys aren't flying to LA to deal on a new TL-S. Anyway, very nice. Great pizza delivered steaming in a hot car. Our drivers here usually pull up in something akin to the Escort described in your story; that is, it's the car that's steaming.

I make it to Denver every now and then. I take it you're downtown. Should I just ask where to get the best thin crust in town, or look for the silver TL-S out front?

8ball

Had to add this because I was laughing so hard. Pizza guy just two minutes ago pulls in my driveway. 79 Camaro, "three tone" paint job, power steering belt singing a song all the way, purring like a coffee can full of lug nuts.

Charles, do you deliver in Missouri?

Guest

Story reminds me of my purchase experience!

My local dealers in Minnesota would not come down from MSRP stating that they have sold TLs at MSRP for the last 3 years, so my wife and I rented a 2001 Ford Escort (this thing was one of the loudest car at 70+ MPH I have ever driven) one way to Brookfield, Wisconsin (classiest car dealer I have ever dealt with, gave my wife a bouque of flower, sent me box of fancy cookies in the mail after the purchase and nice thank you card from the sales person. Also a follow up phone call to make sure I was satisfied with my new car. They didn't even try to push any protection package or extended warranties!) to pickup my car. I had negotiated my price and had them fax me a purchase agreement before I set out on my trip.

As far as tax, they didn't even collect tax from me and told me I had to pay it when I register in Minnesota but did provide me with Temporary license plate. (Still have not paid tax yet. Any tax lawers know how I can avoid paying this )

Congrats on your purchase!

The Phil Zone

I wasn't planning to plug...but since you brought it up:

Enzo's End Pizzeria
3424 E. Colfax Ave
Denver CO 80206
303-355-4700
Open Evenings only, Closed Tuesdays

If you send me your address, I'll mail you a refrigerator magnet!

PS: Damn, what a car! I can't get over it!

The Phil Zone

Driver: nice job, great minds think alike!

Have you posted your info, price and dealer for others? Chicago/Midwest folks seem to be having as tough a time as we are in Colorado.

Guest

I did back when I bought it (End of March). I have been told by the dealer that my post had cost them money since a customer that had bought the TL-S for MSRP had seen it and demanded discount. This all happened before I picked up my car and they still treated me very well.

Forget the magnet! Send me a pizza Your welcome to deliver it using your TL-S

The Phil Zone

I'll pass on the Minnesota delivery. The drive from Denver to Minnesota is about as boring as can be, even in a TLS!