badboy

I went to drop off my car for some minor issues today:
sunvisor replacements with the new one which apparently do not rattle
and some other rattles

I made the appointment prior to 2 weeks in advance so they promissed me a loner. Well, I go in and to my surprise, they are going through AVIS for loner cars now....from my previous visits they always had acuras for loners.

So the service advisor tells me the car will be in the shop for two days, I didn't understand why, its very minor issues. But I agreed.

So I go over to avis, which is a couple of blocks away, and they give me a 04 altima 2.5...they didn't have a 3.5....and while he is doing the paper work, I ask him how long has the dealer been working with avis, and to my surprise he say two days. He also told me the reason why they made this change....apparently the acura dealer got robbed two days ago...they broke in all their loner cars and who knows how many cars that were in for service...and as many of you guessed, the job was done for the headlights. The avis guy told me there were 40 cars that got their headlights stolen in less than half an hour...I don't know how he got this information, but I trust that he is telling me some truth....


Next thing I did, I called acura dealer and told them i am taking the car back and I do not want to leave it for two days...

comment away...I'll be here to answer any questions that arise, thats if i know the answer...I am just surprised about hearing this...and a little worried being a 04tl owner.

6mtV6

Which dealer was this?

badboy

Open road acura, also known as ryan's open road acura...east burnswick, NJ



I just realized something I noticed when I was waiting for the service advisor....a couple of the acuras, 2G, didn't have their headlights....and I am making this connection as I type....wow

Jinen

could it be open road acura? bridgewater acura? springfield acura?

i think it might be open road acura...

do you know which car the lights were stolen from?

I would assume that it should be the TL, RL and TSX

Don't see a point in stealing MDX's lights since they are not HID's (correct me if I am wrong)

RSX lights are not HID's as well, so that would be pointless


wow, that's really scary...but i am sure that if your lights got stolen from their lot, they would replace them for you free of charge, so you really shouldn't worry about leaving your car there for a day, two days or even three days...

ONAGER

o4 tl lights are much harder to steal because of their design. the fender covers the light. on older cars the pried the hood to get at it... not able to do that now....

not saying they cant be stolen, just that it is less likely.....

most of my dealers loaners are older 03 models... there lights were easier to steal. either way the dealer insurance would repair any damage. and im sure they are taking added precausions to protect the lot now

badboy

you are correct, the 04tl headlights are a bit harder than the 03/02 lights....
one thing the avis guy mentioned was that its easy to pop the hood open for the 04s....I know you guys are saying how this avis guy knows all about tls...turst me I am saying the same thing....but I do want to mention it anyway...

aw1

this not that uncommon. before I bought my TL, I dropped by a BMW dealership in Brooklyn, NY. I asked one of the sales guy if I could see a 05 330i. He said that they didnt have any becauase all of their cars are at their repair shop. I asked why, the guy told me that over the weekend (sunday night), someone broke into the dealers lot and stole parts from their cars. Its not just Acura's, but also BMW's, Lexus, Infiniti, etc...

Badboy, I wouldve done the same as you in getting your car back.

ONAGER

i dont know about easy.... but a crowbar can make easy work of anything if you dont car about the damage it will inflict..... with the older cars you pried the hood, pired both side of the headlight from behind (accessable with hood open), the fasteners would break, cut the wires and your off....

even if you pop the hood on the new tl, you have to work harder to get at the light. the intake and battery are in the way. and trying to cut all the wires? much more difficult in such confined spaces.... it can be done. it just takes more time and effort. both of which smart theives avoid if at all possible

rbf351

yes it's true they stole headlights out of 40 of their cars, i was there last night signing the paper work and taking my 05 TL home last night when my sales rep showed me all the cars

it was ryan's open road acura

I10O0I1

iTrader: (1)

holy sh!t!!!! when did this happen... this is my dealership where i purchased my tsx and put a down payment on my tl... hmm this is probably why they havent had time to call me and tell me how my tl order is coming... im having goosebumps as i type this... scary shiit... cant wait till tell my mother see how she reacts lol.. thanks for the info..

Nitrotiger

Wow that sucks i bet it was an inside job to get so many cars. And they have a security truck there at night. So it has to be inside job

J RIDE 81

Damn that's pretty crazy. Sucks for the dealer. I thought I might mention this. Back when I had my Mitsubishi Eclipse, I took it to the dealer for repairs. I had these cleared out corner lights and a radar detector that were both stolen from the car. The dealer refused to pay for it since there was a sign saying that the dealer is not responsibable. I sure hope Acura is not the same.

ericajackhannahjamie?

WTF, that's my dealership!!!

crazymjb

On the acura web site show room it says something about the headlights being in an anti-theft bracket. Also, how hard would it be to install a sensor for your security sytem on the headlights? You should need a key to open the hood!

I10O0I1

iTrader: (1)

lol same here scary shiit huh...

Shoot2Thrill

What is the newspaper that covers this area.

cliff

went there today and TRIED to get my warrenty work done but i was denied.

the lights that were stolen was mainly 2nd gen TLs and a couple of old RLs. they had whats coming to them. they are the worst dealership in the whole united states. i purchased my car there. all they do is give me problems and blame that my aftermarket parts was the cause of the problem when it clearly wasnt. service manager jeff yatzko is a complete DICK. showed no respect, lied in front of my face, just so they dont have to work on my car. ive had enough

from now on my new dealer is acura of ocean

sorry for hijack, i just wanted to rant

BTL05

Damn!!! I almost bought a car there...good thing that salesman I worked with was a jack and pushed me away to another dealer...

cliff

let me tell ya, you are one smart person.

Jinen

i bought my car from acura of denville but i live in edison so i used to get my car serviced by ryan's open road acura...and i swear the service people are such pricks...i wanted to speak to jeff for 1 minute and the assistant manager said that he didn't have time for that...i was like "okay"...and then i went back home and contacted Acura Client Service and then they called the dealership manager and then I ended up speaking to the dealership manager and then Mr. Jeff was soo "willing to help me out"...

I swear, some of these fuckers need to get fired...they really don't know how to treat customers or just be DECENT HUMAN BEINGS IN GENERAL...i mean if you hate your job, then don't let others' pay for it...go find something else to do with your life!!!

at times I get soo angry/frustrated with this shit that I wish that I could just open up my own dealership and show people how to run the damn business!!! people need to know JUST ONE MAIN CONCEPT ABOUT BUSINESS...

CUSTOMER SERVICE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR IN A BUSINESS!!!

castre

That dealer is full of shit. I went in for a service that took 4 weeks for them schedule an appointment and was given a Ford by Avis last October as a loaner. So don't feel sorry for them...

cliff

i dont feel sorry for them either, you are right jinen, they are all a bunch of pricks and i regret it so much that i even purchased my car there. even the jeff was being a dick.

it took me 2months to get an appointment in and they denied it. went to acura of ocean right away and the appointment is for next week. i just realized i have wasted so much gas driving there and back so many times

J RIDE 81

I agree, Customer service is number 1 in business!!!!

BTL05

what kind of work? and why did they deny you?

ONAGER

if memory serves me he is trying to get his 04 seat covers replaced/swaped out with 05 covers

they told him they would only warrent 04 covers in an 04 car. he even took an invoice where another member got the upgrade, they advised him it at the dealers discretion. which it is.... but other dealers are doing it, they should, from a consumers standpoint, follow through....

Nitrotiger

yhea thats the worst dealer ever they are the biggest rip offs

F23A4

For the record, Ryans Open Road Acura has been a big target for theives for a while. I still recall going there back in the 90s when every Integra in inventory was broken into and their airbags snatched. :shakehead

That said, HID thieves hit my dealer (Acme Nissan) and snatched the HIDs off several 5.5G Maximas parked in the service lanes overnight.

Bridgewater Acura s/b pretty safe as Bridgewater police use the dealership driveway off hours to eyeball the inventory (HID theft on 2Gs) AND snag speeders on Rt22; kind of a dual purpose. If I were a car thief, I wouldnt spend too much time around there.

NFLblitze1

i heard about that...there was something in the paper that like 15 some odd cars got there xenon headlights stolen a few months ago...all in east brunswick and new brunswick area

bluenoise

Man, that sucks. Makes me glad I park in a garage at home and at work. Makes me dread taking my car in for service, though.

NJ Aegean 03

Key words are "should be" I bought my 03 TLS there back in 2002 and the sales rep that I dealt with also said they had a problem with people stealing headlights from cars that were parked behind the building. The police have stepped things up and Bridgewater Acura has "swing out" metal gates that make it hard for somebody to park remotely close to the lot without being considered conspicuous. Thieves are everywhere these days.... I bet most of those HID's stolen will be on ebay soon!!!

cliff

first off, it took me 2 months for me to make the appointment. like onager said, i tried to replace the seats with 05s, which wasnt even the biggest problem.

another issue is that i had a rattle(sounds like something is tied to a string and knocking against the plastic panels). it comes and goes away. so i had it checked out, took the tech for test drive, and i showed him the noise even before we left the lot. dropped the car off, couple of hours later, they call me back and said, "we need $100 diagnostic fee to check where the noise was coming from because you have aftermarket suspension and it seems like its coming from there"

so i angrily told them no and picked up my car, they said the service manager wont be back until tuesday. went back today, HE HAD WORSE OF AN ATTITUDE. he lied in my face a couple of times, he even said "ive been to court for this so i know the laws"...what a load of SHIT. he also said if i want to bring him to court he will gladly show up. i asked him if he knew about the magnuson moss act and he said yes. i asked him if he can take it out and he said its in his "safe" and he has nothing to prove to me. so i went to my car and used the internet on my phone to find the magnuson moss act. came back in with the document on my phone. he says"i just took my out of my safe and ill read it to you" somehow he turned it around and used it against me..smart guy, but still a prick. i asked him if i can see the paper, and guess what, he didnt take it out of his "safe" because it had todays date on it.
at this point i was boiling, but there was nothing i can do. so i told him that im never coming back there again(they lost sales too because a couple of my friends are looking at acuras). i find this kind of service unacceptable.

so i headed off to acura of ocean and i have an appointment next week, a lot faster than the 2 months wait at open road. i dont mind driving the extra 15 mins if they treat their customers like human beings.

sorry for rant again
Cliff

badboy

I went to pick up my car today late afternoon and saw just how many cars were affected by this incident. I saw most 02/03 tl's some old rl's and cl's, even spoke to the advisor there and he confirmed that 41 cars were involved....

it was a truely horrifying picture....I drove around the entire lot and saw the damage up close...only the headlight corner of the hood was bent open and the light assembly were gone, on some, there was nothing left in the headlight assembly, some had the cases left but no hids, and on others there was evidence of the highbeam lamp...

I think I am going to change dealers, not because of this incident, but because of past experience with the service department, they aren't all that good, and going out of my way to go to that dealership does not make sense...

cliff

smart move!!!

soljc

I wonder if we'll see a bunch of HIDs on Ebay.....

castre

I dont have a problem buyin them... especially when they are supplied by Open Road Acura!!!

Yoda117

Okies... let me get this straight:

Dealership in Jersey that doesn't have physical security on-hand at night?

Must be lovely to be that dumb.

Find another place for service.

rets

When trying to remove 3G TL's headlight, it's not easy to get them out in minutes without bashing the hood and bumper. This proves it's "HARDer" (much more difficult) than other TLs/vehicles. If thieves like to steal some 3G TL's, they should bring many of experienced guys or spend double/triple time to do so.

The good thing for this is Acura makes 3GTL's headlight hard to be removed, however, the downside is to makes us pay more labor fee while we need to replace them in the future.

F23A4

That's terrible. And they have some good lease deals on those same used TLs.

cliff

i shoulda took some pics with my camera phone...didnt think of it at that moment

DopeTL04

WOW THATS MY DEALER!! I have an oil change appt with them next week, might have to change that to someone else