jzinckgra

Hi all. My 1st post here. I test drove a 6MT TL last wknd. here in Mass and really liked it. I currrently have a 2002 wrx. Anyways I'm seriously considering purchasing this car in about 3-4 months and wanted to hear from people who bought their car through an internet manager, without going to the dealer and haggling. I've learned a lot by reading many of the posts here and have heard that the best I might be able to do on the 6MT/Navi is $1500 less msrp. I went to the acura sight and found a couple dealers near where I live. I dropped them an email and for the hell of it, offered $33500. Needless to say, one of the dealers turned my offer down. Haven't heard from the other guy, which is the same place I test drove. Did you guys even bother making an offer through the internet or did you wait till they contacted you? What's the best way to get a fair price? Sorry, I've only bought a car th old fashioned way-going to the dealer and haggling. Thanks.

Ken1997TL

Do a "blast fax" basically send a fax to 10 dealerships. Put the names and numbers of all the contacts at the top so that they see what you are up to. The more serious dealers will contact you.

The same can be done with e-mail.

mitchdeerfield

Best way is to call the dealership and ask for the Internet Manager . . . that way they can give you a price over the phone. . .

nickpoore

I called every dealership in the area, and told them what I was looking for.
I made it clear that I was calling every dealership.
I refused to put down a deposit, but told them to give me a call when they had what I wanted in stock.

When the first dealership called, I told them what was the "going" price in the area, saying $1000 to $1200 off of MSRP.
The first dealership refused to deal, and I ended up walking away (well, hanging up anyway)

The second dealership agreed to the $1000 off of MSRP and I bought the car that day. (When I got to the dealership, they also included the protection package, which we had not discussed.)

Simple rule is to be honest and up-front, and remember that you dont' have to take the first car that becomes available.

Good luck.

-=Nick=-

wheelsetc

Palm Beach Acura knocked $1000 off the MSRP on my new TL for being initially contacting them via the Internet. Great dealership for sales and service. Our fifth Acura.

clutchcargo

I agree with Mitch, just call the dealership you are interested in using.

Clair will quote over the phone.

I used the quote from Clair to negotiate at Acura of Boston.

The $1500 off list for a nav car is about the best around here for the moment.

jzinckgra

Yes, I heard Acura of Boston has a large inventory. Actually I think they have 4 TL's with Nav. I haven't contacted them yet.

waacow

Who or what is Clair ?

clutchcargo

Waacow,

Sorry about the incomplete post as I was responding primarily to a local (Boston) member.

Clair Acura is a local dealer known for being straightforward regarding pricing.

I got a auto non nav car off the lot at Acura of Boston (the dealer 2 miles from my house) for $2295 off list with the all season mats thrown in.

Acura of Boston was also a pleasure to work with.

You folks in California have too many high income customers and the dealers continue to charge higher prices than other regions (it was worse in 99 when I bought my S2000).

Lore

QUOTE]Originally posted by clutchcargo
You folks in California have too many high income customers and the dealers continue to charge higher prices than other regions (it was worse in 99 when I bought my S2000). [/QUOTE]

Ain't that the truth! None of the dealers in the Northern California region wanted to discount their navi units much, and when they did, they were still in your face the entire time about how much of a deal they're cutting you, etc. Bleh!

waacow

There are a lot of deperate people wanting to buy TL in Southern alifornia. Demand is much higher than supply, keeping the TL price high.
I just called one of the Southern California Dealership, he told me he has 6 Anthracite and all of them already have deposit on them.


Funny thing is that I still have not see much of TL on the road, maybe I have not gotten out much.

ndabunka

I don't know of ANYONE on here getting a 6MT Navi for $1,500 off MSRP. I think you have your information wrong. A few have gotten up to $1K off a NAVI 5AT but the 6MT's are fewer so NAVI + 6MT best is probably around $600 off. Some on here are adding in and subtracting their bodywork. If you just slim it down to the CAR itself, the discounts are not that steep.

Z Factor

I got mine through an internet sales manager, and basically told him my best offer from other dealerships, and asked if he would beat it. He returned my email with an offer that was better, but I let him stew a few days. After he emailed 5 or 6 times, I replied that I had since been offered a better deal, therefore I didn't get back with him. Needless to say, he had a "little more room" to work the deal, so I asked him to send his best and final offer. He did, and it turned out to be better than I could get even face to face, so we made a deal.

I highly recommend it because it save you time, grief, and effort.

fuque

I haven't seen many TLs on the road, either. What's really funny is that one of the TLs that I did see was EXACTLY like mine - right down to the dealership where it was purchased - and the owner lives about a block away from me.

jzinckgra

So if you don't mond me asking, what was the final purchase price?

rhalvers

I agreed to $40K otd (includes tax and licensing and prep) for a 5AT Navi, under spoilers all around and a deck lid spoiler. I could have done better for any of the 6MT models on the lot and they were begging me to consider a non-navi unit because that had those in almost every color combination. My wife wanted the NBP/Ebony so I paid a small premium to get what she wanted.

I’m no expert, but I used the Internet method just to get the ball rolling. You have got to narrow your choice so you know what you are bidding on. Line out the options and if you want an extended service contract. Set a price limit with yourself and if you can secure your financing ahead of time do so so that it doesn’t complicate the final deal. Do your research on Edmunds.com and Consumer Reports to find out what the dealer invoice is, and the dealer’s hold back and any other incentives that the dealer may get on the sale of the car. Use this as your starting point and not the MSRP. Let the Internet dealer know that you have done your research and he will need to be aggressive on the price and work the relationship angle for after the sale. After he has made some commitments on price, generally $500 off MSRP and a package that the dealer puts in all of their cars, you will still need to go to the dealership and work a better cost. It has been my experience that the Internet manager, or most sales people for that matter, will not be willing to deal on the options/parts/extended warranty. There is high markup on the part options such as the spoilers and rims and an enormous mark up on extended warrantees. Only the sales manager will be willing to negotiate on these items as a package, so itemize the cost of the car from the Internet sales manager and use that a starting price and then work out the cost of the parts and warranty (if there is any). Now, with that said, I should have been able to get a better price on the TL at the time I came in for the buy, but I lost my advantage when I needed to special order the color and interior. Make sure you get a delivery date if your model is not on the lot or near by, or you could be waiting months to get behind the wheel, by which time you should have been able to get a better price based on the laws of supply and demand and market saturation.

rh
04’ Navi NBP/Ebony
And Still! waiting on delivery.

technogeek

Do your homework!
Lesson 1, don't work down from MSRP, work up from dealer cost.
Lesson 2, get the real dealer cost. Note that the dealer gets roughly $1K dealer holdback ($980 w/o NAVI, $1045 w/NAVI).
My starting point was roughly 2K below MSRP, and went down from there. Also got wing spoiler and body side mouldings significantly below original price quoted.
Pay to get real pricing information from Consumer reports or other reputable source.
Also, don't fall for the dealer prep charge = dealer profit charge. My dealer originally wanted $500! I did agree to half that, but only because I got the high side of what I was looking for on my trade.
I did get pretty much the exact car I wanted. As luck had it, it was on the lot still with shipping plastic. Anthracite, 6MT NAVI.

The internet sales office will already know you are more knowledgeable. When you show you have done your homework things go even faster and smoother. The sales office may not even know about the dealer holdback (my sales guy claimed he didn't have that info). The sales manager certainly will though.

Check out http://www.carbuyingtips.com he has a lot of good advice.

Neither the Lexus or Acura dealer wanted a copy of a driver's license for a test drive. BMW tried to get it, but still gave a test drive when I refused. This is a trick they pull to get a credit report on you while you're on the test drive. The BMW dealer was part of the reason I now own a TL.

I figure that I got the car at about 5.5 to 6% above true dealer cost. 4-6% is a fair profit range. I think I got a good deal.

It also doesn't hurt that I bought the car between Christmas and New Years. Dealers are VERY motivated then. I put off my car purchase for several months and had planned to buy in that time. In S. Florida it is non-stop car ads on radio and TV that time of year.

I did start with the Internet sales office. I do have to admit that the Lexus Internet sales in a nearby City was a lot more agressive. To bad I didn't like the car.

Z Factor

I'd be happy to tell you, but I didn't buy it, I leased it instead.
Regardless, you can use the same method to get the best purchase price.

Oh and by the way, welcome to the forum.

Oswald Vater

Z Factor:
Do you mind telling us who your dealer was and what you paid on your lease figures?

AirlineMuseum.c

Looking for a little advice here.
I tried the method of sending out emails to about 10 dealers. I'm in Richmond, VA and I sent the email to the one dealer here, 2-3 in the Norfolk and Va Beach area and 5 in the Northern VA, Maryland area. I made it clear that I was sending the same email to about 10 dealers and said I had no problem driving 100+ miles out of town for the best price. I told them I wanted a 6MT with Navi in Anthracite and Ebony. I got one reply from a dealer in Chevy Chase, MD saying he had that exact car coming in, but the price he quoted me was basically MSRP plus Destination ($35,100). I wrote back and told him he'd have to do better than that for me to come all the way up there and he said that's the market for the Navi models because of the low supply and high demand. Has anyone had a better experience seeking a 6MT Navi? What are the lowest prices people are getting on this car? I'm a little flexible on the color - I'll take a Black, but prefer Anthracite. For interior, I'll take the gray or camel, but prefer Ebony. These are not non-standard colors.
Oh, the other thing he told me was that there were only two cars matching my specs in stock or on order in the VA/MD area, and he has one of them. Is this just a line of BS? how would he even know? Even if it is true, considering I'm not looking to take delivery until April, shouldn't that change? If I end up ordering the car through my or another dealer, they should be able to just get this car from another dealer or the factory, right?

Thanks!

Oswald Vater

Airline:
Don't know if the dealer was giving you a line or not but I know that my dealer recently showed me a list of what he had coming in the next month and it was complete right down to the color. My guess is that he wants you to jump quick. If you have until April, I would think that inventories would be greater thus giving you more bargaining power. Personally, I wouldn't order the car as to do so will put the BP back in the dealers hand.

AirlineMuseum.c

Oswald,
Thanks for the info. I'm actually going to try to get a look at my local dealer's allocation sheet. When I went to test drive, the salesman told me even if I wanted delivery in April, I might want to order pretty soon, but he wasn't sure because the sales manager was not there at the time and he had more info on what they already had coming in. I think the salesman was more sort of trying to cover is a$$ to avoid telling me I could order in April and be assured to get exactly what I want right away, but I would like to get an idea of delivery times too.
Anyone have a longer than 2-3 week wait for a 6MT Navi in a relatively common color?

thanks

criss

I was looking for a Red/Ebony 6mt/navi this month and was that if I ordered it by the 15th it would arrive in March.

Seems this is a rare combo and there are very few out there but it's what I want.

jzinckgra

Well I've gotten a couple emails back from some of the internet managers I contacted and both have said "Nope. Only going to sell at msrp". Screw that. I'll look out of state if I have to. Am I missing something here? I can understand dealers charging msrp if each dealer were only allocated a certain # of TL's for the year. But if I order the car from the factory, how is it that my ordered car becomes "hard to get" and therefore justifies paying full price? More supply and demand,no?

rhalvers

That’s exactly what the problem is; High demand, limited supply. Basically there are four flavors of this car AT/MT and Navi/Non Navi. The interest in the Navi version was a bit of a surprise (according to the dealer I bought mine from). They had quite a few Non-navis 5AT and navi/non navi 6MTs on the lot. He was willing to deal aggressively on the cars on the lot ($1K-$1.2K off msrp), but when my wife wanted the NBP/Ebony then I was back to MSRP because the car had to be ordered. I’m sure that by this summer you will be able to get a couple grand knocked off, but I didn’t want to wait any longer then a few weeks to get behind the wheel.

rh.
and sttiilll waiting!!!!