Rastafarian

Hey folks,

I'm in the Bay Area and after calling/faxing around, the best price I can seem to get is $31,600 for a TLS w/ nav. They're telling me they can't go lower, but I know of 2 people that got it for $31,000 in the area. What can I say to get the price down further if they're holding firm? Any other dealers I should talk to? Only Marin Acura and Los Gatos have been working with me over the phone.

P.S. I'm buying this week.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

Take a business card from one of the dealers you went to and write "$31000 with Nav. TL Type S" on the back. Then go into another dealer with that business card from the 1st dealer, and show it to them. Tell them if they can beat that price (or at least match it), you'll buy from him right them and there. Good luck!!



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1998 Acura CL 3.0 (Iced Blue) ** Some mods, but who cares,
I want a Type-S... (CL or TL)!!

Moderator - 1st Gen Forum @ www.acura-cl.com

DocCat

31,500 seems about right to me. That's what most have been paying, especially for the models with Nav.

If you know of people who got it for less, the only thing that might work is to actually get hold of a copy of the sales agreement and take it with you during negotiations.

thejavagod

I paid $31,700 2 months ago when they were selling at MSRP so definately it should be lower than that now.

bbjones

Rasta,

I got mine from Stevens Creek Acura. DEP Type-S, no navi, $30,000. They threw in the wheel locks and mud guards; I didn't even ask.

I had been talking to Sunnyvale Acura, and getting the runaround. I called S.C., and talked to Adrian, the general sales manager. I told him exactly what I wanted, and what I'd pay, and he okayed it over the phone. Went down there, and there was no funny business. When there, I dealt with Dave Treadway, who was also very good.

Make sure you talk to the right people at any dealer -- you want to talk to someone with the authority to say yes.

email me if you want more details.


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2002 Acura TL Type-S Dark Emerald Pearl
1986 Pontiac Fiero SE V6
1994 Ford Explorer 4x4

Rastafarian

Dolemite what color was your TLS? They're telling me that $31 is impossible for a Silver, which is what I want.

thanks

edgalang

I got mine for 30,848.50 without destination (dont count it in negotiation since the price never changes). I basically walked in, took the invoice price (without destination) and said I'll give you 3% above that. Oakland Acura was the only one that pretty much agreed to it right away. The 6 other dealers I went to pretty much whined about it. Ask for Robert Munoz if you dont want B.S.


Good luck.

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2002 3.2 TL Type S with Navigation
Exterior: Aegean Blue Pearl
At 3% over invoice, who can complain?

Dolemite

I got 31K with nav at Los Gatos Acura...

I just walked in, told them I had 31.2 at stevens creek and asked them to beat it. They pondered - I walked, they said let's do it.

good luck to you.

Jacobian

Interesting.. In the San Francisco Bay Area, I haven't had much luck getting below 32530 for a White Diamond w/ Parchment interior... I keep getting told that the color combo is in high demand and I'm luck not to pay MSRP. Any Bay Area buyers with any advice?

Thanks,

Erik

StanMan

why is everyone so hyped about getting thee best buy ever?!?!?!

the prices that people have posted are not current. supply, color, market, etc have a lot to do with how much you pay. if you have tried all around in your area, then that is probably your best price since the sales agents do their own homework too.

if you don't mind traveling down to socal to buy your cal, then give our dealerships/agents a call. you know whom these people are since their names and dealerships have been plastered in a lot of posts.

i know i didn't get the lowest, but i also didn't get gouged by paying towards the msrp value. they had the car (blue w/navi at that!), i needed it, they were local, and it was only hundreds more than the lowest price posted on this site for my area.

Xorg

Supply, color, and market have absolutely NOTHING to do with the price. Any decent dealer can find you ANY car you want, in ANY color you want, with all the options you want, at a fair and reasonable price.

The only question is whether or not you as the customer have the patience to wait for your car, and if the dealer wants to do their job and make some kind of effort to find you the car you want at the price you want, rather than just pushing the cars they just happen to have on the lot at the time.

Dealers play on emotions and are taught to do anything and everything to get a deposit from you before you walk out the door, and having them "work" to get a car from other dealer or the factory takes $100-150 off their bottom line, which is why some dealers are too lazy to make the effort (they don't win prizes for moving cars of their competition's lot!)

The oldest dealer trick in the book is making you believe that everyone and their cousin wants the car you want, half the people in town have already bought the car you're looking for even before it got off the truck, and gosh darn it, the factory is on strike and they won't have another one like it for 14 months. Sound familiar?

Yet ever notice how as soon as you pick up that "rare" car you want at MSRP, the next week a hauler shows up at the dealership and unloads five more just like it? :-)

The only time this argument works is if you're buying a truely rare car - like a BMW M5 where they may only offer a thousand in the states every year AND have to get the car from overseas.

Even then, a reputable BMW dealer won't gouge you, they'll offer a fair price if you're willing to go on the waiting list.

In the case of our TL/S model, I'll bet Acura sells a few thousand of these every month nationwide. It's not that rare, nor is it hard to order.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

I actually have an appointment with my dealer tonight to look at a TL-S. I went to the dealer I bought my CL from, told him the price I want out the door, and asked him to call me with any questions. 5 min. later he called and said come in Thursday night and we'll discuss this. If they don't give me what I want, I'll walk and try another dealer, there are a bunch in the area. My dealer seems smart though b/c I'm Acura loyal and a repeat buyer. If he does right by me now, my fiances MDX will come from there too....



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1998 Acura CL 3.0 (Iced Blue) ** Some mods, but who cares,
I want a Type-S... (CL or TL)!!

Moderator - 1st Gen Forum @ www.acura-cl.com

Jacobian

I have to agree with Xorg. I was all set to buy a BMW 330Xi when I test drove the TLS. I got a price of about 4% over invoice (BMW doesn't have a 2% holdback like Acura, so the price was even better if compared directly to Acura). And the dealer didn't freak out or try to charge more because he had to order the car from Germany. Patience? The car wouldn't have arrived until September.

I'm more than prepared to do the same with this TLS. But apparently Acura dealers are used to buyers who are less patient.

Erik

bbjones

This "rare combo" thing is a load of hooey. They tried to claim that my DEP no navi was rare (and actually, I think it's one of the rarest). Sunnyvale Acura went on and on about how they are not producing that many, yadda yadda yadda. I looked the guy in the eye and said, "Boloney. I just saw in Autoweek that Acura is making 100,000 2002 TLs, and that 30-40% of them were expected to be type-S." He stopped, then said, "Well, I see we both know what we are talking about." Basically, that's an admission that he was just making stuff up about rarity.

White and silver are not rare. Most of the TL-S's I saw on lots were white, silver, or black. A few blues, and not many greens. But in any case, there are plenty of all of them -- 100,000 vehicles is a lot more than they produced last year.



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2002 Acura TL Type-S Dark Emerald Pearl
1986 Pontiac Fiero SE V6
1994 Ford Explorer 4x4

MBA

I also have to agree with Xorg. Based on his info, I was able to get my silver S this past Tuesday. Other, more local dealers, wanted 1700 more for the exact same car.
Smart dealers know, that since the internet and the spread of info, the gravy train ride is over.
Once you arm yourself with info and become a smart shopper, they'll deal or lose the sale.


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2002 TL-S Satin Silver - no NAV

KJ32

When all you guys mention the price you paid, do you mean before dest. charge, sale tax and options? I am so jealous of you guys because i bought mine at the wrong time when the dot com boom and stock market were still, well, booming. I went to 3 dealers, they were all very firm on price, one even put mark-up on. Now, you can do it with 3-5% over invoice plus many options. Man, I am so tempted to buy another 2002 TL-S. Also, i have to admit, I was too eager for the car. That was my fatal mistake. Don't ever show you care much about this car, let them know you have many choices and from different dealers. Bottomline, willing to walk away without looking back. They will call you within 5-10 days if they can't sell it.

edgalang

It definitely pays to do a little homework. I did a 50 mile search of dealers within my area and found 12. I came in with a deadline on when I want to purchase the car (2 weeks) and made 7 dealers bid for me. No BS talk...here are my numbers, and if you need to feed your family and cant sell me the car at that price, then don't. Call me by next Thursday at the latest to make an appointment for the weekend.

By this time I had already signed a deposit with Marin, but Oakland came reeling me in. 3 dealers called me too late...so I guess they learned their lesson.

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2002 3.2 TL Type S with Navigation
Exterior: Aegean Blue Pearl
At 3% over invoice, who can complain?

bbjones

Or, to copy off someone else's homework. Thanks, edgalang! After seeing the deals he got, I did pretty well with a lot less legwork.

Does this mean the teacher is going to come back and tear up my contract and give me an F?


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2002 Acura TL Type-S Dark Emerald Pearl
1986 Pontiac Fiero SE V6
1994 Ford Explorer 4x4

MBA

The best part is when you stop at the high priced dealers to show them the sale they could have had! The watch how friendly they are... big difference, right?

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2002 TL-S Satin Silver - no NAV

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

BTW guys, the guy who started this topic got the car!!
http://www.acura-tl.com/ubb/Forum14/HTML/001956.html

Xorg

One other thought, all this stuff works best towards the end of the month when the Sales Managers are hounding their dealers to close sales :-)

edgalang

Damn good point. I forgot to mention I bought mine at April 28...right at the end of the month! The sales manager in Marin even admitted that he would rather get my sale before the 1st.

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2002 3.2 TL Type S with Navigation
Exterior: Aegean Blue Pearl
At 3% over invoice, who can complain?

edgalang

I totally dont mind at all. Now, since you bought it, why dont you help me out with some more homework and buy the Comptech Springs, Phantom 2 Radar Detector/Jammer, spray paint your calipers a different color, over size your tires with the factory rims say to 235/45/17 and do some hard cornering to see if the tire stays on, and tell me how it goes

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2002 3.2 TL Type S with Navigation
Exterior: Aegean Blue Pearl
At 3% over invoice, who can complain?

Xorg

MBA hit it right on the head, and this is also where a lot of people fail at dealerships - you MUST walk in having done all your homework ahead of time.

Know the exact car you want with all the options you want, know what a reasonable mark up is (usually 3-4% over invoice), know exactly what you want to pay, and know exactly how you want to pay (cash, lease, finance.)

If you hand this to a dealer and make it clear that you've been through the mill before, know everything about the car you want, have been on the Internet (and this newsgroup!), know what you're doing, and clearly say "I'm not here to waste your time, and I don't want you to waste my time", the vast majority of the time all the games will stop, and both dealer and customer will walk away happy and with the papers signed.

You may not get the car the same day you walk into the dealer, but you WILL get the exact car you want at a reasonable price.

Worked for me, worked for MBA, and its worked for dozens of other happy TLS onwers here as well. The folks that end up paying MSRP are the ones who don't follow the rules above, let dealers play on their emotions, and believe all the sales nonsense they're fed.

The only caveat to all this is that if you only have one Acura dealer within 150 miles of you, they may hold a lot of cards, but in that case you can still use the Internet or some kind of buying service (i.e. AAA, Sam's Club, Motor Trend, etc.) and still get a better price.

CarFreak

I can't believe how you guys got your cars for so cheap! My friend paid MSRP (because he got it when it came out) and I paid $32,400 for mine (incl. destination). Oh well...can't do anything about it now. I guess things are different here in NY.

MSRP: TLS w/NAVI= $30,430 (inlc. destination)

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2002 TL TYPE S
SATIN SILVER/EBONY w/NAVI
[img]http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1212504&a=8950241&p=50260985&Sequence=0&res =high
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