Gentlemen (ladies if out there),

This post is in response to the TL with Navi thread... since a few people asked me maybe I oughta give some advise or simply opinion on how to deal with Acura Sales reps and managers. Well... I don't have a whole lot of theory behind HOW TO BUY A CAR.. I just remember a few things before I went into any dealerships.
1) Never talk too much, talk as little as I can
2) Never let them know how much I am willing to spend
3) Let them be desperate instead of me
4) TEST drive TEST drive, make them tired.
well... here was my experience
I went into Acura Dealership saturday noon and I told the saleman, I want to test drive a TL. I didn't go in and sit down and talk BS, just told them "HI, show me a TL, i wanna take it out" and so I did, I test drove 3 of them, 6MT, and two different colors of TL (because of interior difference), makes me feel good Afterwards, i went in, sat down and told them, " I see that the MSRP you listing here for TL is around 33500 and 36700 w/navi, now I'm not paying that much, what can you do for me?", of course... the saleman immediately say what they always say.. "what monthly payment do you have in mind? and what is your price range?" what did I do? I laughed right away and replied "I asked you what you can do for me, not for me to ask me another question" so he said "$500 off w/ or w/o navi. Then i pulled out a sheet of paper I printed out from KBB and showed them that the INVOICE for a navi is $32,120.45 and $30,299.64 w/o navi..then i said "i know this is for CUSTOMERS, you spend a whole lot less for buying this car, especially as a BULK cuz you're a dealership", so then we started to play <who's the better BSer>, he told me "well, we have expenses, we need to clean this, fix this, overhead money etc, etc", then I told him "well, what about the times you rip customers off at selling $500 over the MSRP? I'm sure you did that? Or what about the financing APR you ass rape the folks? I'm not stupid, here is what I want, I want $32000 even with tax/title/destination/etc, I don't want BS"
What did they do? They pulled the MANAGER SCHEME, came out, asking me what they could do to make me buy the car THAT day... and I replied "sure! $1 and I got CASH right here!" He thinks it's a joke but I wasn't... So he said $33000 with navi, that's the best I can do. So I stop arguing with him and said...it's 2pm and I'm hungry.. I going to the local mall and grab something to eat, now if you decide below $33,000, you give me a call, it's end of the year, nobody wants 2004, 2005 is coming out next month, you let me know" I left.
To my prediction, 15-20 minutes later, the saleman called.. "Jeremy...I got good news for you! Stop in!" I replied "no, that's what cellphone is for, you tell me the news here" , so he said "my manager is really breaking my balls, but he's willing to do it for $32500, and that's the best offer with navi..." So i said, "well... tell you what, why don't you think it over with your boss this weekend, and call me if you decide to sell me $30,000", of course he laughed, and so did I, the conversation ended with me saying "why don't you think it over, I'm heading over to Lexus dealership now to look at an ES330, so before I change my mind, you should think about my offer"
Monday morning (yesterday), around 10am, I get a call, and guess who? Acura! Suprised? NO.. "good news Jeremy! if you come in , we can offer you $31,500", I laughed, and think to myself "$36,700 listed price and now this guy is going down to $33,500, to $33,000 to $32,500, to now $31,500.. I got his balls now... he's not going anywhere.. so i replied "I dunno Lexus has great customer service when I went saturday around 3pm and they're giving me an offer I don't think I can refuse...so I dunno, I will get back to you"
After work, I stopped by Acura, and looked for the saleman and told him, "what you got, last chance, i'm heading over to buy ES330", the saleman said "well... 31,500 is the lowest boss can do, sorry" so i said "ok, it's end of the month, and i guess i'm a Lexus kinda guy, good seeing ya"... as I was walking out "i hear, HOLD ON HOLD ON", THE BOSS came to play games... he said "you are one hell of a guy, $30,800, final offer for the WDP w/Havi", I said "no! $29,500, done!" he said "can't, how about $30,100 BEST OFFER!" I said, "i'll take that number if you give me spoiler" and the deal was done.
Sometimes I still think what if i played more games... would I have gotten lower? or even Aspec? But then I said to myself... It's good enough, A-spec is impossible to get for free and 30,100 is good.

well, that's my experience with Acura... I can honestly say SUSSMAN Acura has bad customer service, but price was good.

 

 

Holy shit, that's awesome! Where were you when I bought my car in June?

 

All the dealers on LI are offering invoice $30,300 right off the bat. Island Acura actually said they would sell me an '04 for $30,000 even. Hillside Acura laughed my ass right out of the dealership ... their best is $31,000. They basically told me that somebody will buy the remaining TL's for $31k.

 

I was just thinking the same thing. Next time I need a new car, I'm bringing you!

 

I'm not buying it. That's a thousand less than what it cost the dealer to get the car, even after holdback. You might as well have walked into the showroom and asked them to cut you a check for $1000, and throw in a free spoiler, too...

You're either leaving something out, or there's a really big rebate nobody here knows about.

Dealer paid $32145 for that car, plus at least $500 into some sort of advertising co-op. He's only going to get $1039 back from Acura. So after giving all that up, we're supposed to believe he's going to also pull $1000 out of his own pocket to give you the car -- and this for a car that's selling like hotcakes?

To say I'm skeptical would be an understatement. Somebody please tell me what I've missed, and I'll gladly eat the whole crow.

 

great story by the way.

 

I got my non-navi for 30,700, but not from Sussman. They wouldn't go that low when I bought my car.
You got a great deal. But if I were the salesman, I would have let you walk...you sound like a punk.

 

To be honest Jeremy, YOU ROCK BRO!!! I may need to contract you out when I'm going to buy a 40" LCD HDTV from Best Buy. I'm shooting for under $2k.

 

Good reading, but there's no way you bought a Navi for under $31k.

 

 

can you post a pic (copy) of your invoice.

 

I consider myself a fairly good negotiator/price hunter. As others have said, this is almost too good to be true.

So, I would you to scan a copy of your sales contract (invoice) showing the agreed upon price with specificaitons and stuff like that.

If you really did get this price then you should be able to post this (of course you can hide your personal info and dealers name if you want). ALso, if you got this price you are one HELL of a great negotiator.

But until I see proof, I have to file this thread in the BS section. I just cannot believe a dealer would go that low.

 

I second that agree.

 

it's unclear to me what the true dealer cost is for navi option. i've seen people who got navi thrown in for less than 2k, and others more than 2k. obviously dealer playing the # game on the "deal" as opposed to haggling the cost of navi.

2004 non-navi 5at was selling around 31k when i got mine in may. so even with a 2k navi cost the deal would have been about 33k. the dealer no way paid 32145 for the car. it would be un-ethical for any Acura sales guy to post here their true cost, so i don't believe any poster who says "i'm a dealer guy and we make only this much". my best estimates (in knowing how Toyota works) is that the dealer makes around 3k (or more) on the sale then they get back the holdback at a later time.

however, i do understand their business and 4500 per car is not alot to make the business run.

 

Edmunds.com -- Their figures are reliable.

Dealer invoice on the '04 6MT w/Navi, incl. destination = $32145. Somewhere on the invoice will be an additional line-item for some sort of regional advertising fund, which is probably over $500.

Acura pays dealers 3% of the base MSRP as holdback -- which is $1039 for this car.

Assuming the dealer makes absolutely NOTHING on the deal, it still costs him $31600 to get that car onto the showroom floor. That means he'd be losing money to pay salaries and interest on the car even if he just gave it to you "at cost." But this alleged deal is even better than that -- after paying salaries and interest the dealer is now subsidizing the deal to the tune of an additional $1500? I don't think so.

Either somebody else is subsidizing this deal, or it didn't happen. A dealership that's losing money at this rate is not going to be selling cars very long.

 

 

Sweet move Jeremy. I did the same thing with my gf's car when she bought her's. I downsized the salesman and the manager to the point that it looked like they were about to cry. I just love being a dick when its needed. Ah, reaping the fruits of success.

 

Nice story but IMHO complete BS.

 

If this is true, congrats on a GREAT purchase. However, I do agree that the dealer would not take a hit on selling you a car at cost or below cost. They would not do that on any car let alone the TL that they cant keep on the lot.

 

only way to prove it...show the paperwork from the dealer.

 

hahaha, you guys crack me up... making such a big deal out of my buying experience. I am not in court... prior to posting this topic, I did thought about those who will greatly oppose me regardless what I say either way, I just gave you my experience... I did get ripped off when I purchased my 1996 Honda Accord EX V6 way back then, I bought it at $28,000 and couldn't believe I was ripped off that much later on... in any case.
Thanks for the comments, let me see about that posting of my paperwork
Jeremy

 

This is hardly believable. Especially since dealers around Atlanta are quoting $33800 for a 2004 w/Navi, and doing it with a straight face!

 

guys, I'm not here to make enemies... take me to your dealership , I'll bargain the shit out of it for you. We're all buyers, not sellers. I hate saleman and I love this forum

 

Yea right, we're all sitting here thinking...could he really have gotten it for that
good of a price? What convinces me that it's BS is the 96 Accord deal - you over paid
a few $K or so for that Accord and then instantly an A-1 negotiator? If that's
true...you're almost broken even now!

 

fantasy or enhanced reality. doesn't ring true.

 

Jeremy you come across as being cocky. I think the truth lies somewhere between your story and what actually happened. Certainly the price you said you paid is truely fantasy.

 

Jeremy, please just save yourself the possible flaming and post your invoice. If you really did get this price this should be no problem for you to do.

I'm not calling you a liar but if this story is true, I would be shocked. This sounds like a claim of "I saw a UFO".

Either post the invoice, and prove all the the "nay sayers" (and increase your reputation)
OR
don't post it (probaly because you do not have it) and you will be flamed and your story deemed BS.

Ball is in your court.

 

haha, looka here smr2112 (Tyress accent from Chapelle's Show), 1996 accord was 8 years ago, I've bought many cars since USED, or NEW. How about I tell you that I bought the car for $44,000, would that make you feel better?

::sigh:: I knew I shouldn't have post this crap, always know a few haters out there. I said chill before, cool it off, this topic is over.

 

As an Acura Dealer in the Philadelphia Area, I find you to be completely full of ****.

 

insmanblue,
I did not come across cocky, If I did, I would have said "look here, none of you know how to negociate but me." But instead I gave my opinion and many started ramming on and on about lies and BS. Now if I find a Scanner and post it, what's next? People going to say "looka here, he edit the paperwork, etc etc"
IT's rediculous, would the moderator please cancel this thead? It's getting rediculous.

 

no one will claim your invoice is "edited" unless it looks like it is.

I am not personally a "hater" but I do REALLY want to see this invoice.

 

You don't have to like salesmen to be a civil negotiator. The salesman/dealers are in business to make a profit just like you are trying to get a fair deal. When the guys at Sussman couldn't beat the price I got, it was over....I went quietly on my way and bought elsewhere. I didn't need to make a big stink about it....they wanted what they wanted and that's fine....I got what I wanted in the end by simply shopping around! No need to be a jerk; just say thanks, but no thanks.

If I took a page out of your rule-book, I'd go back to Sussman and spike my invoice in their face....NOT!


And BTW, In my previous post I didn't even realize the car you supposedly got at that price had Navi....I'm with the others, and I don't believe it.

When I was at Sussman they did have a few TLs on the lot they had been uing as loaner cars for their service customers. Perhaps this is what you bought for that price....

 

Interesting. You must have been doing really well at the age of 17 (Your profile says you'er 25 and you purchased the Honda 8 years ago) to have paid $28K for a car back in 1996. I'm with the others here. Show us the invoice.

 

I think we have read all that needs to be read here, so I am closing this thread.

jeremyhuang13: If you want to post the invoice (or the Motor Vehicle Purchase Order, which is what I got showing each amount exactly as charged) showing the actual bottom line price you paid, send me a PM, tell me what time you want to get in the forum and post the invoice, and I will open the thread long enough for you to do so.