StuartMMVITL

iTrader: (1)

I'm curious if anyone has come across the dealer adding a market adjustment price bump on the new 2010 6MT?

I recently purchased a 2010 SH-AWD 6MT, and the salesman quoted MSRP + $2000 "Market Adjustment" to the price at the start of negotiations. I told him there was no way I was paying over MSRP, and eventually they did the deal for $500 over invoice.

I just find it strange that with the trouble the auto industry has been having that instead of incentives to buy, this dealer was trying to tack on even more profit. They had done this on all of their 6MT models on the lot.

I'd be interested to see if anyone else has come across this, or if it's just an isolated case here in Colorado.

Bearcat94

Even though they started $2000 over MSRP, you still bought the car didn't you (or at least agreed on a price)?

IOW, they didn't lose anything with a "Market Adjustment" and if it were someone else negotiating, they might have got, say, MSRP or $1000 over invoice.

CraigMacDTA

Wow, weak salesman! $500 over invoice for a car that is in low supply??? Good job Stuart!

Kandiru

If you are good at poker, you will be good at bluying a car. They call them stealerships for a reason

chaiwala

I would call acura corporate and show them the proof and then report them to the BBB and Attorney General. I would then call my local news too. I actually carry a hidden camera WITH microphone to any car dealerships so if or when they claim to never have said something, I can show them the audio/video to see what their reaction is. I have used this once and it was hilarious, especially on the 11pm news.:angryfire

Pete2010

Wow, nicely done, now...

Colin

Why? They call it a Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price for a reason. When a vendor to 'forces' a selling price on a retailer, it is called Price Fixing and is illegal.

In some cases, it is illegal to raise the selling price above the price posted on the car when negotiations start. If you find out halfway through that the guy is $5000 buried in his trade in, you need to markup to 'un-bury' him.

chaiwala

It is also called price gouging. If you go to a supermarket and a bag of doritos is priced at $2.49 on the bag by frito lay but the store is selling it at $5, what would you do? Heck not only would I not buy it but I would be making some phone calls. The one sad truth I have learned as I have gotten older is that no one cares about nice people but everyone remembers the guy who is a jerk because you know not to piss him/her off again. I have a couple of clients who go off the wall if we don't have certain items for them. They raise hell, so we make it a particular point to make sure those items are in stock. If these same people were nice and didn't care if it was in stock or not, we wouldn't necessarily go out of our way to always keep it in stock.

ggesq

iTrader: (1)

meh.

Other makes do it. If the dealer can actually get some poor sap to pay it, so be it.

Sincerely doubt that the AG's office will do anything about it because it doesn't fall under the price gouging definition under the law.

Krashdoc

Puhhhhhleeeeez....... take a chill pill.

Bearcat94

It's called "Supply & Demand". That's NOT the same as "Price Gouging".


AND it happens with a LOT of cars. Usually higher end stuff (Shebly GT500 Mustangs, or certain Corvettes, for example).

The dealer can basically charge whatever they want. You don't like the price? Buy another car.


http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=Define%3A+Price+Gouging&l=1

rondog

iTrader: (1)

remember the price "markup" on the GT-R when that first came out? It was in excess of something liek $20k over MSRP, and they still sold.

1075

DON'T PAY IT!! IMO, that's highway robbery, dealers trying to take advantage of something that is being hyped as being "rare". It's a mass produced car with a manual transmission for cryin' out loud! No way that it should command a premium price to be paid to the dealer that the buyer will NEVER recoup. Sure, you can't blame the dealer for trying I guess, it's the poor gullible sap who pays the extra money for nothing who is really at fault.

Ford dealerships were suckering some people in on this with the release of the "new" Thunderbird when it first came out. A year later you couldn't give them away.

I ordered a new Corvette in '00 in a color that was only 5% of production, with a long waiting list and still paid $1,500 BELOW MSRP. I guess it all boils down to whether you want to keep your money or give it away.

chaiwala

LOL, thanks for doing the leg work for me! I still disagree but I am content of agreeing to disagree.

Colin

I agree with your last post 'agree to disagree' but as a funny aside. In my neck of the woods, a box of cereal (Frosted Flakes for example) costs $6-8, which I believe, is much more expensive than most places.

Bearcat94

That's cool.

But the point is "price gouging" means the thing in question is not available elsewhere. You can buy a car anywhere.

And it's not like it's some basic necessity that you have an Acura. Milk, Bread and Baby Food is one thing, but a particular brand/model of car is another.

Six Shifter

Don't forget the NSX when it was first introduced. My servicing dealer boldly displayed a sticker on their showroom model which stated "Dearler Mark-up $30,000" ... which at the time was the price of the RL.

StuartMMVITL

iTrader: (1)

Thanks! Haven't had chance to take any good pics, but here's a couple from in the garage. It's been crappy weather since I picked it up and still have the HPT on. Waiting on the other set or rims and snows. It's too bad the 18" A-Specs hanging on the back wall don't fit...

StuartMMVITL

iTrader: (1)

I agree and didn't pay it. Not sure if I would classify it as price gouging as some, but it did seem a bit unusual as it's not a limited edition "super car". Just goes to show that you need to do your homework before buying or end up being that poor gullible sap.

chaiwala

joys of living in hawaii I can relate to your pain.

nearwater4me

Nice!
It would be fun driving in the snow with the AWD and snow tires.
Looks like you're missing a hole cap in the front bumper for the plates.

Dan

Kandiru

Correct, and it looks like the boy is well equipped, judging by the racing jack by the wall. Dunlop M series are my favorite winter shoes.

BTW, the second photo looks very artistic, if photoshopped with removal of background it would almost look like the car was speeding through a storm.

Pete2010

I agree, that 2nd photo has some serious artistic style...

StuartMMVITL

iTrader: (1)

Sharp eyes, I'm missing the one on the driver's side. I think the salesman dropped it when he handed over all the manuals. I can't wait to get the rims and snows installed. Could have used them today as we've gotten over 2 ft of snow and still coming down.

Thanks! I did have to make some minor exposure adjustments in Lightroom as the lighting isn't the greatest in the garage.

I had the Dunlop WinterSports on the '06 I traded in & those are Dunlop SportMaxx's on the 18" A-Spec rims on the rack. I'll be going with the Dunlop WinterSports again as they were great on the '06.

Thanks as well! It was just a quick adjustment. Maybe I need to go back and play around with it a bit more

nearwater4me

I agree. Dunlop M3 is probably the best sport winter tire in the market.
And yeah, the pics are very nice. It makes me shiver though, thinking how cold this winter's gonna be.

BTW, looks like you got pretty good taste in choosing cars.
Those are some nice cars you had!
I also had an '04 R32 and I loved it. Lost it in an accident though.
I LOVED the S60R, but couldn't afford it at the time.
How did it drive? Compared to the SH-AWD TL?

Dan

samplemonster

'

My god are you serious, that is frickin hilarious

Kandiru

Thanks!

The S60R's Achilles heel was the variable (3 buttons on dash, go-kart to granny's Caddy) suspension, made the rear wobbly in high speed cornering, Mitsu Fuso like turn radius, and dim halogens. Was a blast to drive, i really landed a great lease on it, but i was lucky to be able to sell it well when one of 600 ever imported Turbo X came along. Lets put it this way the TL beats the S60R by far, but is a lot more tame than the Turbo X. I am biased but the Turbo X is a raw car, it throws itself into the twisties and XWD and passive rear steering do their magic on the narrow wheelbase, the center of gravity of the engine is in the front of the axle, so once the car grips a corner it oversteers oh so sweetly, with the eLSD doing its magic, BTW 40/60 rear biased AWD.

The UberGolf was a total blast, too bad they messed up the 2008 with no 6MT, but now the 2010 will get a turbo 4-banger and MT, there is even talk of a 5 door. I hope and pray they keep production in Bratislava, Slovakia instead of the gastarbeiter effort in Wolfsburg.

I just hope and pray that Honda/Acura keep this 6mt run going, because Honda/Acura can run circles around the Teutonic brands when it comes to reliability IMHO.

BTW are Acuras made in my home state of Ohio?

cp3117

I think its probably isolated.

The 6MT is definately not rare in my area. I just test drove one today and the dealer i went too had 5 in stock with more on order and in-transit. He was eager for me too sit down and negotiate and even mentioned the $3000 rebate that would be taken off the final negotiated price.

Sounds like in the end you got a great deal and BTW nice color choice.

Congrats.

George Knighton

I was surprised to find a few 6-6 in stock when I went shopping, too.

When the manual transmission cars were first arriving, many dealers in my part of the world also had market adjustments on the stickers, but they took them off within a month.

At the dealer where I purchased my car, they had my silver car on the lot since October without selling it. The black car they'd had on the lot since September without selling it.

Between the economy and the controversial styling, these great cars are not selling as well as Acura needs for them to sell, making them really tremendous buys for some of us, luckily.

:-)

BEAR-AvHistory

At the Marysville Auto Plant

Six Shifter

Only one thing kept me from getting an S60R, and that was the incomprehensible hi-beam set-up on the car. The idea of rotating the low beams a few degrees higher and calling them hi-beams would be of less than no use to me driving in the deer infested areas I go thru just to reach the Interstate each/every morning. The seats are by far the most comfortable seats I've even sat in, and I've not auditioned a better stock sound system in any car ... even better once you accessed the "hidden menu" for the EQ.

Colin

WTF? We've had a grand total of 1 6MT that sold in 2 days! How can the distribution be so screwed up?

winstrolvtec

^It's Canada and for the most part people say Acura is not selling well there. In the NE US region the most I have seen at one dealer at one time is 2. On average most higher volume dealers are seeing about one a month and the smaller will either order it for you or perhaps a swap but most don't want to trade an AT for a 6MT unless they are in the same auto group or jointly owned.

Maybe Canada gets more production of the 6MT, they also do not put as much restrictions on color and combo there. I would think that the bigger market is in the US right now overall, not necessarily for the 6MT. Maybe that's why they do it, who knows?

Six Shifter

There's also the mindset in the eyes of the manufacturers that the American driver does not want a manual transmission. Hence the overall reluctance of Acura to provide one (only the '03 CL had one in recent history prior to the TL-S) ... Mercedes boycotting of mannies in this country (save the SLK) ... etc. Only Audi and BMW seem to realize that there is a demographic in this country who wants the 3 pedal set-up, which explains why they continue to buck the trend.

greg99

Not in the SF Bay Area. Very common, very stupid. I won't buy from a dealer that posts dealer mark-up stickers on cars that clearly don't warrant an upwards market adjustment. On a car that's arguably in demand, I have (once) but I still wound up at below sticker.

Greg

Colin

It's well deserved. IMO, those that want a MT are a very vocal minority. I don't really think we need 10 at a time, but I think we could use a few more than we have. Also, a little 6MT advertising wouldn't hurt.

MENACINGTL

i do not suggest going into dealerships to negotiate. get them to agree to no more that a couple hundred over invoice before you go in. makes life alot easier.

George Knighton

Getting a good price seems to be a hell of a lot easier if you start with the Internet and requesting a quote for a specific car.