ToddL

Terse -

I wouldn't suggest filling out loan documents until you are ready to purchased. You are already pre-qualified so you know your credit is fine. Since interest rates are most likely to go up before you are ready to purchase (4 months I think you said), all the numbers you get today will be useless.

Once you are ready to purchase, check around and see which financial institution will give you the best rate. Take that into cerritos and see if they cant beat it. If they can good for you and if they can't you already have a good alternative...

Tree Frog

Cerritos Acura actually beat my credit union which had me pre-qualified at 3.99% for 60 months. Sweet! I'm saving $300 over the life of the loan. (That will pay for gas for about 2 weeks.) The financing is with Chase Manhattan.

And to follow up on the conversation from earlier in the day about tax. I did pay different tax and license amounts than ToddL quoted because I live in San Diego: $2732.11 for the tax and $284.00 for the license. The $45 doc fee and the $5 CA tire fee were the same though.

Cerritos didn't push the extended warrenty (which I did not want anyway). They did push the active alarm. They said something about installing it on all the cars on the lot. I only wanted Lojack so they disabled the alarm. There is still a "blinking" alarm light on the dash when the doors are locked though. That is probably more valuable than an annoying active alarm which most people tend to ignore anyway.

PG2G

Is the light blue? That might be pretty cool

pcinoc

Completely agree!!

Plus, you can probably get the $3K your mom wants for the car but you'll have to sell it yourself. I sold my Civic in less than a week through the recycler. I got about 2K above what the dealer would have paid for the car as a trade in. Everyone knows the dealer will give you a low ball value for your trade.

Honestly, I suggest you get the max out of that Accord by selling it yourself. Negotiate your new car without the trade in the picture. The deal with Cerritos is the best value in town. I just picked up mine (WDP/Quartz 5AT Navi) last night and my experience was EXCELLENT with both sale/financing - options.

I'll update on my fabulous experience on a post later today or tomorrow!

PG2G

Arg, I'm waiting 3-4+ months for the same combo in 6MT. I'm *this* close to calling them and asking them to switch me to the 5AT list What # were you?

pcinoc

It's all based on your credit report - if you have good credit you will be offered a good rate. I suggest you shop around, get the best rate you can get and Acura - wanting your business - will try to beat it. Isn't competition good?

terse

should I take into consideration TTL for the loan when I do buy the car? or just do the blank check thing?

fuque

Only a moron would give his SSN to a car dealer unless he plans to finance there.

Car dealers do things like "shotgun" your credit report - they pull your credit report, then they submit a loan application in your name to a dozen or so lenders, each of which pulls another credit report on you. Every inquiry lowers your FICO score.

If you gave them your SSN, I hope you're already approved for your REAL financing, otherwise, you could be in for an unpleasant surprise.

tlram

Since Cerriots said 3-6 months, I shopped around and found another good deal at Santa Monica Acura. Bought a 05 AM/Ebony 6 speed @33995 (no protection pkg). Picking up the car Saturday.

Good luck to you all and Todd, good work!

terse

I decided to get out of the power buy...I just ordered 05 TL Black on Black 6sp MT from Keyes. it should be coming in on the 31st or before...Paid a good price, but I think APR is going to kill me...i signed all the papers and everything, but is there a way around it now? or am I just stuck...?

ike01

What rate did you get? I had a 4% ofer from Capital One and Tutsin Acura beat it -- 3.5% for 60 months. A dealership will sometimes give you 5-7 days to find a better rate. With Prime being as low as it is, and assuming you have good credit, I wouldn't go with anything over 6 - 6.5%. 5 years at 6.8 is better than 6 years at 8%.

Also depending on your time I've found that trading in my car at a dealership is easier than selling it on my own. Not only are taxes less but I'm not taking time out of my already busiy schedule to sell my car. Just my $.02.

PG2G

Eh, so why did u get it from Keyes when they had the same car at Cerritos?

sparksteam

I just picked up my black/black, 6MT, with NAV today at Cerritos. The deal went as advertised, and I detected no rattles anywhere during the entire ride back down to San Diego. Awesome car!

One thing I discoverd was the deal to get accessories at cost was not such a great deal, at least for the accessories I was interested in. Definitely not worth it for me to the drive back up to Cerritos.

When dealing with the finance guy, he tried to push 3 options.

1. the active alarm which was already installed.
2. the extended warrantee (100,000 miles, 7 years)
3. some fabric protection program which covered the carpet, leather and paint.

I don't remember the exact prices for each, but they were around $895, $1795, and $695, respectively.

I thought the guy was kind of pushy so I got turned off and declined all of them. He came down a couple of hundred bucks on the extended warrantee, but I figured if anything goes wrong, it will probably happen within the 1st 4 years, or 50,000 miles.

I also declined the active alarm, which is basically a motion sensor. The guy claimed that WITHOUT it, someone could essentially break the windows and hotwire the car, and the alarm would not go off. Also, and this is kinda weird, if the car is stolen within the next 5 years, the company would pay the difference between what your insurance pays you and the cost for a new replacement car. I thought this was strange because this has insurance fraud written all over it.

At any rate, I told the guy I could probably get an OEM alarm installed for a fraction of his price. He agreed, but he said that if I did that, it would invalidate the warrantee on the cars electronics. This scared me, and the guy knocked off $100 bucks off the active alarm, so I ended signing up for just that.

So, just a heads-up for you Power Buy guys. Keep in mind that there IS some bargaining available for these options.

Oh, and BTW, I was able to charge $5000 bucks of the purchase. This is good if you have a credit card which gives a percentage back.

Now I have to spend some time going through all the manuals for the car.

terse

i got 6.89...I think I'm just going to pay it off faster..

terse

first off, the redheaded chick I talked about in earlier post was a bitch...when I asked for a test drive, she gave me some lame ass excuse like, "I'm busy with another customer," even though she was just helping me like...2 minutes earlier.....when I went to keyes, the people were friendly, no pressure...and at least tried to work with me, they even offered me something to drink unlike cerritos and although it doesn't seem like that much, it's better than nothing...

Ron A

Welcome to the forum, and congratulations on your purchase.

Thanks for the good write-up.

What a great attitude. Going through the manuals will certainly increase your enjoyment of this fantastic automobile.

PG2G

sparkstream, did they manage to trade for your 6MT or something? They must not have ordered it. Ugh, damn 3-4+ months...

jasonwrites

Sparkstream, thanks for the detailed write-up about the sales tactics. It's nice to know what I'll be in for. I'm going to start practicing now. "No, no, and no. But thanks anyways!"

ToddL

Here is what I found for Tint and Clear bra installation...

https://acurazine.com/forums/ramblings-12/10-943-reasons-france-support-u-s-98924/

BTW - I am picking up my car today.....

PG2G

Lucky :P

sparksteam

When I first did the pre-qual, they told right off I was 1st in line for the black/black 6MT because nobody up to that point wanted that configuration. But last week, while I was perusing the board, I read that the allotment of 6MTs per dealer was very small so I called to check because they orignally told me mid-November.

At first they (Yvonne) said 60-90 days. I said, "What happened to mid-November?". She checked and got back to me with November 25th. So I was thinking what a great Thanksgiving gift. But still not convinced of their conviction, I called again looking for Randall. I got Eugene instead and he said I got lucky and the car was coming in next week. This was last Friday and he said he would call me on Monday. Then, about a half an hour later, Eugene calls me back and asks me if I can come in at 1:00PM Saturday (yesterday). I said sure, if they really had the car I wanted. He confirmed that the car was already in the lot and would be available on Saturday. This all happened in one day!

The rest was history.

I'm not sure what the story is with all these dealers. I've got Cush in San Diego still waiting to find out when their allotment is coming in so they can give me pricing. The Cush guys claims he's even able to search all dealers in CA. And I've got this broker who deals with fleet managers across CA, AZ, and NV. He's still clueless because everytime I call him, he always says none are available. And he claims he deals with Cerritos a lot.

So it's hard to figure. I guess somehow, if you keep calling them, the car magically comes in quicker. But you make make all the calls on the same day. I shaved off 2-3 months!

If you're in a hurry, and if Cush ever get's one in like they anticipate, I can let you know if the car is really slated for me. They're in San Diego.

PG2G

There was actually a 6MT Blk/Blk Navi at south bay on friday last I checked. Unfortunately I have to wait another month to purchase in order to save up the down payment my credit union wants.

ToddL

Hello Everyone,

I spole to Randall last week and again today about those who have 6MT on order. He confirmed that they are on heavy allocation across the US so there has been delays... I guess each dealership is getting about 2-3 a month...

I would suggest that everyone who is have ETA questions contact Randall directly. It might take him a day to get back to you - but he is the director of special programs and knows when to realistically expect delivery. He very responsive and wants to keep us happy...

jasonwrites

Has anyone else picked up their Powerbuy car? Or is everyone like me, waiting til their early December estimated delivery date?

benkei

Still waiting. My ETA is around mid November.

ToddL you mentioned you picked up your car. How did your experience with Cerritos turn out and what do you think about your new TL?

zima76

FOLKS!!! don't be surprised that I was told from Cerritos that my car would not arrive until late Nov and Dec time frame last year. But, I got a phone call next afternoon which is 10/31/04, and got my 6MT/Navi/ Anthrocite/ Ebony arrived.
Don't get surprised if you get the phone call from dealer. Just make sure you have your Money avaliable by the time they call.

ToddL

My experience was great. I was even offered three bottles of water terse

Randall took me from start to finish, except for the 15/20 minutes I spent with the finance guy. It was shorter than most because I paid cash for the car. $5,000.00 on credit card (for the points) and the rest was a check. Remember the finance people will push you for options (Alarm, extended warranty and seat protection), which are not included in the dealer options... Though we are getting the dealer options at cost, there is room to negotiate if you are interested in any of these...

When you pick up you car - plan for a couple hours. They will go over every option on the car from the door locks, to the navigation, to programing several car functions. You wont remember everything, but at least you will recall going over it... Overall I would rate the experience a 9 or of 10 (Nice but pushy finance guys).

BTW - I got my tint and clear bra today and I am very happy with the results...

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98924

I will post pics as soon as I get a digital camera.

ToddL

Benkei - I love this car. This is a huge upgrade from my 1996 Nissan Altama GXE. I have already set aside $1500.00 for speeding tickets and the resulting insurance increase....

TL

PG2G

They don't even reply to my emails

ToddL

Send your request directly to Randall. If you still don't get a response in two days, PM me your information and I will take care of it personally... Also - you might want to give them a call if you haven't already done so. They are much easier to reach that way....

Regardless I feel somewhat responsible since I set this up... So if anyone is having issues - feel free to PM me and I will try to get it taken care of...

PG2G

I actually did send it to Randall directly :P It's only been 2 days now. I'll probably call him if he doesn't get back to me this weekend.

AL47

PG2G I called Valrie this afternoon, and although nothing has changed regrading my position on the list, she was very responsive. I would suggest if Randall doesn't respond reach out for her or Kellie. Good luck

Todd what's the deal with the alarm system. I understand it's already installed on the cars, so what options do we have?

PG2G

I emailed Valerie a week ago Haha. I did just realize that I called her the wrong name on accident, maybe that kind of thing pisses her off.

ToddL

AL47 -

From my understanding, the Acura TL has an passive system alarm standard. This means that the car disables itself if somone trys to steal the car or any of the electronic equipment (like navigation) - but there is no alarm that will sound. I guess theives have learned this and know they can break into the TL to steal the personal items in the cars without an alarm sounding.

To counter this, Acura set up an Active system which is already installed, but it is an option you have to purchase seperately. If you choose not to purchase, they will disable the 'active system' by damaging the chip which means it would cost several hundred of dollars extra to replace if you decide to do so down the line... Of course this is the way they will explain it when you speak to the finance guys....

I hope this answers your question...

ToddL

PG2G - call Randall or one of the girls today... The weekends is when they have the largest staff and you should be able to get through to one of the three with no problem...

Again - PM if you still have any issues that you want me to get involved with....

PG2G

Talked to valerie today. She said to contact her at the below email address because she checks it even when she isn't in the office.

vshubin@browning.dealerspace.com

ToddL

Are you still looking at mid-November/ December for the ETA. I know those who signed up early have started receiving Their units...

If you have any other issues - please let me know and I will see what I can do to help...

PG2G

I actually don't have a ETA date. I'm not really worried about it though. She said Acura alots them 2 6MTs a month, and that 3 out of group wanted manuals. 1 of which (zima) got his already :P So I don't really think it should take THAT long. While I'm on the list for a WDP/Quartz, when I emailed randall, I told him that I'm willing to take any non-wood WDP/NBP/ABP/SSM.

Thanks for the help, but don't worry about me How's your car doing?

ToddL

I love it - I just got the tint and clear bra and went out today to purchase a few DVD-A to listen during my commute to work...

Next weekend I am going to take those Zaino 101 instructions and detail my car

https://acurazine.com/forums/ramblings-12/no-best-wishes-fathers-day-72443/

AL47

Thanks again Todd for the info. so did you end up getting the system on your car. I know someone else said you could negotiate the price around $100.00 off or so.