Need 4 Speed

Hi guys, I'm new here, well, newly registered. I've been a lurker for probably close to a year now, doing my research. I just want to start off by saying what a tremendous help this site has been! Thanks for all the advice given. Now.... on to the point.....
I've been planning for awhile now to purchase an '06 TL, manual trans., with navi. The time finally came, and we started going to the dealerships in the Houston area. We got to John Eagle Acura in/around Houston and that's when it went bad. The sales guy was very nice; sales manager was NOT. He was extremely rude, very condescending about us having done research on the price of the car. He basically said I was lying when I told him I know there are people who pay in the $32ks, and definitely less than the $34,400 he wanted. Then he asked us if we didn't "have anything better to do with [our] time" than go around to the Acura dealerships looking for a good deal.
We walked out, and didn't even go to any more dealers. He left SUCH a bad taste in my mouth that I'm not even sure about getting the TL anymore.
Anyway, just wanted you guys out there looking to buy to beware of John Eagle Acura in Houston!!!!

Riu

Dont let him ruin your purchase. Call Acura direct and complain about him and then go somewhere else.

2k5_AcuraTL

try Gillman. Sterling McCall is a no no. I bought mine from Champion and they were O.K.

wackjum

John Eagle Acura is ridiculous. It's the dark horse of the Acura dealerships in Houston. I regret it because I bought my Acura from them. I played a part in keeping them in business.

Jrbn2g04AcuraTL

I bought my car at Gillman Acura and dont have any problem with the salesperson there and in fact I LOVE how service advisor treatin me... his very nice and understanding.....

Formula 350

If Gillman is the one on the North Freeway... I agree... they were nice the whole time... now, they did not want to go down on the price when I bought back in 2004... but finally matched a good price I got from Dallas...

I had a problem with John Eagle also... they were doing the normal things trying to sell me the car.. the 'how much can you afford per month', the 'we can give you only X for your trade in'... etc. etc... kept the keys and I had to insist they give them back to me NOW!!!

BUT, I never had a problem with test driving with them... Gillman did not want me to drive that far... probably so miles did not add up on the car... but I was at Eagle a number of times and they would just throw me the keys and let me out on my own!!!

SloMo

I bought mine from Champion Acura. My saleperson was David. They were really nice people, and they found me a good interest rate on my loan. When other dealers were asking for .50% to 2.0% over prime, they got me an interest rate that was UNDER prime.

They took good care of me, and the manager (I think his name was Nam) was a really cool. Give them a try...

2k5_AcuraTL

^^ Hey, mine was David too. lol.

SnowDale

When I was going to buy my TL, I just used the internet and made my deal that way. I knew what I wanted, so I emailed the internet manager for Gillman, John Eagle, and Sterling McCall. Got the best price from John Eagle. It took about a week for the model I wanted to come in. There were others around town, but they had some demo miles on them. I already had my financing, so it took about an hour for the paperwork and I drove home.

lonestar

I'm looking for a 05/06 TL next month and as I'm living in Clear lake, this info. is really helpful...
Will go to Champions first, and never think about John Eagle ....
BTW, can you guys give me your deal with Champions and Gillman? I'm gonna need some weapons ... If you don't want to post it, pls mail it to me at eric dot lonestar at gmail dot com.
Thanks a bunch

TL Jones

Didn't have that kind of experience when I bought my 04 at John Eagle. Friendly and a friendly service dept, as well.
I went to the other dealers in Houston, who didn't have much to offer and couldn't match the deal I got.

morninglight

I got mine from John Eagle - 05 non nav, mud flaps, tint, wheel locks plus 2 years free oil changes. My walkout price was 31,200 (tax included)

The best time to buy a tl is 2 weeks before the end of the quater.

Why? Because when you get that initial price, and you "haggle" - and DO WALK away - they WILL keep calling you and knocking off a few hundred left and right.

Its part of there game.

They even gave me a loaner car for a day as a take home test drive to convince me to buy...... and i took it back saying " i couldnt afford this car"

They call me back October 1st, and say "hey - look - come get your fucking car for what you wanted to pay, BUT you gotta be okay if we date the papers back to 9/30

I was like "ill be there in an hour"


If you want - Call Mike Frolick with Gillman Acura - he was nice. I just didnt want to drive to Tomball for my car.

morninglight

John Eagle gave me the best price too, and also living in katy - it is very convienant for me.



Remember - screw the manager - you only have to deal with him for "one day" in your life.

Your TL is yours forever.

morninglight

Call Tim Walgamuth at John Eagle - he is somewhat nice - and didnt pester me3


John eagle had the best price for me, i faxed my "buyers order" presale contract to all my sales guys at the other dealerships and none of them would touch the deal. I think my trade is what screwed john eagle over - they made nothing on it

morninglight

ohh yeah - stay away from sterling mccall - hell look them up on the beter business bureau - they are HORRIBLE

morninglight

David was a bit of a dick with me - he wanted to give me to little on my trade

xedap1998

where do houston ppl to to get their TL serviced in Houston.....i am not too satisfied with steerling mc call service

TLGirl4

Interesting how people have different experiences with these different dealers. We were very unpleased with Gillman, but very pleased with price and service of Sterling McCall.

sducotey

I bought my 06 in December and found that all the Houston dealerships were at least $1,500 higher than dealerships in Dallas. I ended up buying my TL from Goodson in Dallas. All dealing was done over the internet and it took less than an hour to sign all the papers. I would highly recommend Goodson.

txathlete

I recommend doing it over the internet too. You save alot of headaches and you get a really good deal. You're basically in and out with your new ride.

morninglight

where do u you all go?

John eagle "promises" loaner cars...... but somehow they are always out? Even if you book your service a month out, and have a loaner pre-booked......

Rocket_man

Houston area dealers don't seem to give a rats @$$ about doing any deals over the internet. Most acura dealers in Houston will respond with MSRP to your request. I've found this to be a total waste of time. If someone else has had better luck (in houston) I'd like to know who you talked to.

kilroy

We bought my wife's MDX at John Eagle in early 2001. At that time they were a hot commodity and they had none on the lot, so we ordered it and waited. John Eagle was the only dealer not charging over sticker, so naturally, we bought it from them.

You can have entirely different experiences at the same dealer on different days of the week, and the managment tends to change pretty regularly. I think running a car dealer leaves these people souless after a few years - nothing a good meth habit won't pull them out of. Hey, no one graduates from college and says "I want to be the general manager of a car dealership!"

lonestar

Rocket, you're right. I emailed ask them for the price of 06 TSX & TL, and Gillman sent me a list of MSRP So I replied to them, and said I've done my research and I know the price range of TSX & TL. I want a quote ...
Anyway, only Sterling McCall give me a real quote (actually it's still high, but it's just a quote to start)...

05ATL40

I purchased my TL at John Eagle also there customers service needs a real good fix up. I've complained numerous times to acura about them.

equity

They were jerks.

I ended up going to Austin and buying from Sterling Acura. Got a much better deal than I could get in Houston.

Austin219

Honestly, if you can do the 2.5 hour drive, go to Sterling Acura in Austin, TX. I bought my 05 TL there Oct. 31 of 2005. Not only are they one of only a few dealerships in the country with some prestegious acura award, they are the nicest people I have EVER seen at a dealership .. Plus i get perks, like: free carwashes, 7 days a week.. FREE TIRES FOR LIFE. I can go do a burnout in my MT and they'll replace the tires. The free tires are worth it for me. Hell, need tires? Drive to austin and party on 6th, catch some live tunes.. make a weekend out of it.
Clayton Young was my sales guy.. The guy is a super nice guy and will work with you to no end. I'd give them a 15 out of 10.

invincible569

Im in Houston too.. I shopped through the Internet and made the deal through email. I went in, signed papers and that was it. I went through Sterling and never had any problems. Even with my last TL.

I did go to Gillman just to see what they had in person and they pissed me off. The Finance guy was a ***! I dont think he works there anymore though if you guys are getting good people now. I really went far in line and took my time to get as much as I could to getting this guy fired.

Need 4 Speed

Great suggestions..... we're going to be sending a letter to Acura today (hopefully) about the sales Manager at John Eagle. Then, I think any other wheelin and dealin we do will be over the internet and/or phone. It's just TOO stressful in person, for me anyway.

We were in the Shreveport, LA area this weekend and went to the dealer up there (Orr???).... they were very nice, but not wanting to deal. In fact, they told me that since I want a WDP acura, they can't really deal as much b/c that color is in high demand, but that they could come down more off the price if I went with another color such as black or blue...... Never heard THAT before!

I'm gonna start checking into Dallas and Austin dealers....

wilsel

We couldn't even get any local dealers to give us quotes thru the internet.

A_UFO

I was at my dealership a month ago having the A1 service performed and I was talking to my Salesman that sold me my car. He asked me how do I like my car (I have WDP) and then mentioned that the WDP are getting hard to get and that Acura is limiting dealerships as to the number of WDP they can get on their lot.

Therefore, it does sound like WDP must be popular.

CBR1100XX

Watch your paperwork with John Eagle. They had some questionable items on my wifes TL. It turned out they added 3K in negative equity to the sale price after saying there would be none. Sneaky bastards for sure. I would buy from Gillman or Champion Acura again. Both were good experiences.

J.Edward

Same here. Gillman's sales representative struck me as abrasive and condescending. Moreover, there were many small facts he seemed to overlook or brush off.

For example, I mentioned I preferred lighter or white colors to which he furrowed his brow, typed something in on his computer, shook his head and said I had come to the right place as Gillman was the only dealership in Houston who had any white TL inventory. Being as I had pulled the entire inventory for all the dealerships in the Houston area before hand I knew this was not true (McCall had three and Champion had four) but I decided to stay and keep talking.

While I cannot say with complete accuracy, he seemed perturbed when I asked him for a quote. He waffled but finally relented and said he would have to "get a manager". The finance manager returned with the representative, introduced himself and than pulled up the national average for TL sales. After looking at the number (about $34,700) he said he could go ahead and knock off $400 on the spot. I politely declined stating I was a) not interested in what others had paid and b) was interested in paying a few hundred above retail.

After saying that, the finance manager left leaving me with the now sulking sales representative. He reminded me how Gillman had won the prestigious Acura Service award - and then went on to tell me how lower back pains were placing him in constant agony, how he was making less than minimum wage, the "commission was unfair" (and that's a quote) and finally how "buyer's are liars" (another word-for-word quote). By this time my patience was running thin and began to collect my belongings to visit the next Acura dealership on my list.

Well, I guess that got his attention as he than proceeded to ask me to write down a number on a sheet of paper. "No big deal" I thought to myself and than wrote down $33,200. He looked at it, sighted again how he was going to have to quite working at the dealership as it paid less than minimum wage and than asked me to hold on for one second while he collected some forms. He than came back a few minutes later with the Honda Credit App, Contracts, etc. which struck me as odd as we had not yet even agreed on the price. He than asked me to sign beneath the price I wrote so his sales manger would "know I was serious".

I would of thought showing up at the dealership with a greater knowledge of TL inventory in the Houston area (to say nothing of the actually specifications of the car) and making it clear that I planned to close that day on the car would have clear enough... but whatever. Anyway, asked if my signature would be binding (bear in mind this was on a blank sheet of printer paper with just a number written down). The representative danced around the question and only when I asked him directly did he tell me yes. By this time, I had enjoyed my fill of Gillman. So I pushed back my chair, thanked the representative again for his time and headed out for Sterling McCall.

My experience at McCall was a good one. Their sales representative was courteous, knowledgeable about the car, personable and very upfront. I let him know I wanted to pay no more than $300 over invoice to which he agreed. The process was straightforward, I got what I want and he then introduced me to the service manager. If I had to buy again I would certainly go back to McCall*.

*I have not yet been in for service so I do not have an objective opinion of them yet. I'll post back I do and let y’all know how it turned out.