Guest

Has anyone had any good (or bad) experiences at any of the Houston area Acura dealerships? I am curious if any of the dealers are giving good deals?? So far, every dealer I talk to claims they will not negotiate the price since the car is in demand... is this true?

mikester

What color are you looking for? John Eagle Acura has a special on their website for $1000 off any Agean Blue TLS (They have a ton of blue ones in stock). If no one else is budging off MSRP, that may be your best deal. Also, a big area where you can negotiate are the dealer installed options. Those are usually marked up at least 100%, so you can get them to drop the price a lot, and a lot of the smaller things like window tinting, wheel locks, or pinstriping you can get them to throw in.

I bought my TLS w/ NAvi at John Eagle and got a pretty good deal. They knocked $700 off MSRP right away. They also gave me the rear spoiler and bodykit for about 25% off. And, I got them to throw in the window tinting, moonroof visor, and wheel locks. Overall, I saved about $1500 off MSRP. They also throw in the first 2 years maintenance free (for everyone, you don't have to negotiate it).

Don't believe these guys when they talk about the demand. If demand is so great, why do they typically have 10-20 TLS's on the lot? If the car were really in enough demand to justify not budging off MSRP, it would be like the Odyssey or MDX, where there are none on the lot and you have to wait weeks or months to even look at one. They can make deals - I did it in Houston, and I've seen people in other parts of the country that have made even better deals.

Figure out the options you want, make them an offer (heck, if John Eagle will go $1000 off the blue ones, you can get them to go that far off other colors too), and get them to throw in or greatly reduce the price of options, and you will get a deal.

UTChE96

The only dealer that was willing to deal at all was Gillman Acura. I got my 2002 Silver Satin TL-P for about $1000 for invoice.

John Eagle gave me this BS about how they had too few TLs to sell so they would not deal. Charlie Thomas was the biggest waste of time. They still have not called me back on my offer. Sterling-Mcall has a great service department but they wanted $1700 over invoice.

The honest approach does not work with any of these guys. Tell them that you have found the deal you want with another dealer and you want to know if they can beat it. They will not deal otherwise.

mikester

That's hilarious that John Eagle said they have too few TLs to deal. I was just there Friday to get my recalls done, and the entire front lot is TLs. They must have had at least 30 on the front lot, and they have a bunch more on their back lot.

Don't fall for that BS. Or, if you are too timid to stand up to dealer BS, try making a bid using priceline.com and see if anyone can match it.

Guest

If you don't mind travelling to Irving, you may get a good deal there from Goodson Acura. I got mine delivered yesterday. I used a fax attack to eight dealerships in Dallas and Houston areas. I offered an OTD $31680.00 for a 2002 TL Type S w/o Nav, all season floor mat, and splash guards. Only got two replies back. One from Goodson Acura to match my deal. The other one was a counter offer of $32800. Called the salesman Wade West in Goodson Acura twice to confirm the deal and the delivery date. Showed up yesterday to pick up the car. Very smooth transaction. The ride from Irving back to Austin was superb.