Just started as a Sales Consultant for Superior Acura, send dealer Q's here!
 

Alright so let me introduce myself,

My name is Corey Straker and I was recently hired on at Superior Acura as a sales consultant. I've been around Honda's/Acura's my whole life so I figured I should try and sell the cars I love. I've been floating around the forums for about 3 years and finally decided to suck it up and join. :thumbsup:

My purpose for this post is for anyone who might have questions about current incentives, dealer cash programs, or any Acura related questions. I have a good standing relationship with our parts department and our service department.

So if you want ***MOD EDIT** to know what a fair price is on an RLX, What the P-AWS servo motor looks like, What is good/bad, gained/lacking about new model ***MOD EDIT***, please don't hesitate to ask me. :wish:

What I'm not here to do...

Be insulted because I work for a "stealership" :annoyed:

Glad to be part of the forums! :patriot:

Acura claims the 2012 TL is two dB quieter cruising than the 09-11 cars. Can you comment on what Acura has done to hush some of the noise?

Also, if any members who've driven these cars, you're welcome to comment on any noticeable difference in road noise.

I'm currently shopping for an SH-AWD 6MT and I'm wondering if it's worth the price to pay for a 2012+ over a 2010/11.

2012+ goes to hard drive based navigation instead of the DVD. You'd also get the new nose with the less pronounced beak.

Thanks. I am familiar with the minor cosmetic changes but not the nav change. I'm surprised they started with DVD based. That's rather old school.

The beak nose job isn't much of a selling point as sound deadening/insulation is.

I switched from a fwd 2011 to a 2013 6MT SH-AWD. Not sure if I notice much difference in sound levels but with the 6MT the car is typically revving higher when I drive it compared to driving the auto. I can tell you there is no comparison between the 11 FWD and the 13 6MT in terms of driving enjoyment. Well worth the change.

Actually, starting in 2009 with the new 4th gen TL the system came out hard drive based.

HDD cars

RDX: 2013 +
TL: 2009 +
RLX: 2014 +
MDX: 2010 +
TSX: 2009 +
ILX: 2013 +

Thanks for the clarification.

Let me know if you get any pre-owned SH-AWD 6MT in stock! :D

Corey...Welcome to the forum and thanks for volunteering your time and provide insight on the cars we are all passionate about :)

Welcome to the forums Corey and congratulations on the new job. I actually bought my first Acura from Superior Acura about six years ago. I have since moved about two and a half hours away, so I had to buy my most recent car from another dealership. I will say that I was always treated very well there. I am still a Superior car club member.

Welcome.....great to have someone from the inside looking out for us common folks. Thanks and good luck !!! :)

Corey_Straker, will you also help us AZ members diagnose vehicle problems, disclosing related factory service bulletins and secret recall notes, too ?

Welcome to AZ and good luck with the new job.:thumbsup:

Corey, interesting story for you. I got both my 08 and 11 TL's from Superior. Always had great experiences with both sales and service. This past April I decided I wanted the 6MT AWD. Called and asked for the sales guy I always dealt with and was informed he no longer worked there. I explained to the sales guy that answered the phone what I was looking for and he told me "the TL does not come in a 6 speed". He did tell me he was new so I asked him to just have the sales manager call me back. After 3 days of no returned call I hopped on Acura's website and did an inventory search, found 2 6MT's north of you and the rest is history.

Other than the new guy being less than informed and dropping the ball I have nothing but good things to say about Superior. Maybe when it's time for a TLX I will come back and see you.

On a side note when I went to the other dealer to test drive the 6MT the sales guy was pretty young....he came back with the key fob and a sheepish look on his face and asked if I would mind driving the car off the lot because he did not know how to drive a manual. I guess manuals are truly a dying breed.

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your new job. I'm a long way from Ohio but will look forward to the information and insight you can provide.

Must have been one uninformed salesman! Some of them around here aren't the sharpest knifes in the drawer when it comes to product knowledge. I have learned much here that rather upsets me when it comes to ordering cars.

Our new car sales manager will NOT order anything Red, Blue, or an off color such as the Kona Coffee on the ILX/RDX. Second to that he will not order any 6-speed TL's, TSX's, or order any V6 TSX's. The only way for us to get one is to either dealer trade or special order it. This becomes a major inconvenience when more dedicated Acura buyers show up. :whyme:

If anyone needs me to search for a car I can search and see what's on everyone's lot, on it's way, or being built. Without you having to look at each dealership. It's part of our internal Interactive Network. :cheers:

My 2009 has hard drive based navigation, so you lost me on this one.

As for noise, my 2009 is still today they quietest car I have ever driven. Sometimes I question whether or not the engine is on. On the Highway I hardly hear any road noise and I am using OEM tires. When I have gotten a 2012 loaner I don't notice a difference.

I will be coming from a Subaru so I'm pretty confident it will be quiet enough for me.

Thanks for sharing!

That explains a lot. Everytime I have been to your dealership the lot looks like a sea of monochrome. :what:

Trust me when I say that after seeing it day to day you really do get sick of it and when you see a 3G TL-S in red or blue every jumps out of there seats and stairs. At least I do. :rolleyes:

Is this the position of the owner as well? If so, seems that one or the other (if not both) would be better served by selling Buicks, and not Acuras.

The superior dealership is huge. We own two massive hyundai stores, a Kia store, a Honda store, and mike albert leasing.

Our GM leaves the car ordering up to my new car sales manager. In his defense, it does show that these colorful cars and 6 speed cars don't sell very well.

Welcome aboard Corey.

I bought my TL from Keith at Superior. I actually just talked to him about two weeks ago about maybe looking at a new MDX. I have always been treated very well at your dealership. Now as far as the one to the north, I don't know how they even sell any cars. I can say they were actual rude and will never get my business. Good luck and keep us advised of any TSB's or special incentives.

Much thanks! I will defiantly keep you all advised. I've heard many horror stories from our competitors across town *cough cough Columbia cough *

Congrats on the job and welcome to Azine!

& ABDomega I use to have a 09 fwd and now have a 12 Awd, I can say the road noise difference is slightly noticeable but then again I'm ocd and notice the slightest details.. Also the 12s and 13s get better mpg. & I'm pretty sure you could get a better deal on new depending on incentives on a 2 if there's still any. Good luck.

Won't find any 12's left for sale. We sold our last one like 4 months ago. However their are outstanding deals right now. You can get a steal on one. :thumbsup:

Corey, I have a question regarding trade-in. Dealership always mentions something about other people "bidding" for my trade and they could give me more if they get a higher bid. Is this true or just BS? How long would a dealership keep a clean trade on their lot before it goes to auction?

I went there years ago and took a new '08 TLS for a test drive, it was just a weird second class operation there for sure.

The most ridiculous part of it all was when I came back from the test drive, my sales person was sitting on the main steps leading into the dealership eating his lunch! He was chomping on it like he hadn't eaten in a week! He asked me what I thought about the car, with food in his mouth. :ugh: After that he said, "let me just finish my sandwich and we can go inside and talk". I then went to Superior and bought the same car the next day.

I will never forget that as long as I live.

What kind of car do you have? Generally here after 90 to 120 days it goes to the auction unless its a really nice item. There really isn't an average time on the lot, some last 2 days, others last 3 months. It all depends on the car.

With the "bidding" I'm willing to bet that's a BS game so that when you say that's not enough they "somehow" find a buyer will to give more money. If there was any truth to that it would be a wholesaler.

Thanks. That's what I thought about the bidding.

The last car I traded in was a 2008 BMW sedan. I checked their website after a couple of days, they had it listed at a very competitive price. After 2 weeks, they went up by 2K, and 2 weeks after, it was gone. That makes me wonder if there was any period of time where the dealership didn't have to pay for any interest for that car on the lot and tried to make some quick bucks. Once that didn't happen, they decided to eat the interest and raised the selling price.

I don't believe they have any interest on the car. There are 3 ways a dealership can make money off selling cars.

1. Front End: This is how much they make above how much they have in the vehicle. ( Selling Price - Cost = Profit )
2. Back End: Unless your using Acura Financial Services for a new car the dealership can sometimes raise the interest rate ( with some banks) up by around like .5% to make a few hundred in interest. Most banks limit this to around $3-500 total though.
3. Trade In: It's no secrete you get less for a vehicle on trade but have very little hassle in doing it (if you go to the right dealership). For dealers to make money they must make the traded in vehicle cleaner and price it competitively. Sometimes there is as much as $5,000 in used car profit (I've never seen this but some other salesmen have from Honda):whyme:

Corey- welcome to the forums and congrats on the job.

As you can see, I had to do a minor edit to your first post because you/your dealership is not a vendor/sponsor here on AcuraZine and as a result unfortunately you cannot sell parts to our members for discounted prices.

Thanks for your understanding.

Oh, sorry. I was just trying to help out..

^ no worries man.

LOL. Interesting. Just a suggestion for you.
When I was shopping for my car I worked briefly with this young guy who was just starting as a salesman. He thought he had a car for me so invited me over and we went for a test drive. It was an '08 TL. The car was filthy by my standards. They had not even given it a quick wash. Needless to say, I was not impressed when they suggested top bucks for this filthy vehicle! The young salesman had no idea what he was doing and I presume the dealership had not given him even the most basic training. Bottom line, don't try to sell a filthy car to an old car guy!

Congratz to u man, you will have alot of questions to answer lol

I am another consultant here that prefers to lurk and help, and not call out my store. Nice to meet a few clients from the forums here, and even deliver a vehicle to one before.

Welcome, Corey:thumbsup:

Good, the more consultants the better, who can help out the AZ members.

Yeah defiantly. I'm not to worried about giving out the name of the dealership I work for. I have no problem answering any questions.

Hello and welcome Corey.

My Fiancee and I are planning to trade her 2006 BMW x5 for an MDX and my 2009 TL AWD for a 2012-13 TL AWD. She'll have about 4-6k in equity in her vehicle when we go but i will be 3k +\- out of equity. My thought was if we go at the same time I will possibly be able to 1) borrow some of her equity, 2) get a better trade in on an acura from an acura dealer and 3) Loyalty trade-in incentives.

Am i on point with my assumptions or should i be planning differently?

Welcome aboard!

To the extent that you can share, would appreciate any insight you might have on the planned "TLX".