Honda responds to Civic Type R launch to dealers

TypeRMom said:

In my opinion, the old fashion "deposit" should be the basic criteria.

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I agree and I am not willing to pay ADM but I understand dealers doing it. The demand is there and we're willing to pay... at least for a short while. Guys like me have to get in line and wait. Not everyone is willing to do that.

What I think is abhorrent, is dealers changing the terms, adding on dealer upsell crap and making it mandatory, or worse; returning deposits because they can now charge a higher ADM than agreed originally. This shows they have no integrity. I would never buy anything from a dealer that did this crap. If they were upfront months ago and said it would be $5K ADM and you agreed, and they stuck to it, that's fine by me.

Wheel_Guy said:

I agree and I am not willing to pay ADM but I understand dealers doing it. The demand is there and we're willing to pay... at least for a short while. Guys like me have to get in line and wait. Not everyone is willing to do that.

What I think is abhorrent, is dealers changing the terms, adding on dealer upsell crap and making it mandatory, or worse; returning deposits because they can now charge a higher ADM than agreed originally. This shows they have no integrity. I would never buy anything from a dealer that did this crap. If they were upfront months ago and said it would be $5K ADM and you agreed, and they stuck to it, that's fine by me.

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I totally agree...that is technically breaking a contract. If the customer went in three months after placing a deposit upon a CTR (upon agreement of MSRP) then later went back and said, "ya know, I have decided that I only want to pay 28k now". The dealership would laugh.
After a verbal agreement with a local dealership, I was third in line at MSRP (I want red, but am in contract with a black). The first two customers did not want red...they wanted white. I was excited. This morning I email a check in, and get this reply:
This is bad, shady, unprofessional business. I will never do business with this dealership, nor will any of my associates, family or friends ... I guarantee.


Wendy James
CCCiaran-The Civic type R will be selling 10k over sticker for the Red one coming in, and he still have 2 persons ahead of you. If these persons fall through, I will contact you.



Senior Sales Consultant
Office: (314) 994-1400
Direct: (314) 858-5182

If you were a dealer, wouldn't you rather just sell it to the first person with a valid deposit than do the whole charity deal. Now they probably just wanna get rid of it and forget it. Hopefully I'll get an email from the local dealer asking me if I want it at msrp. As opposed to the +6k adm figure they quoted two days ago.

Vaders CTR said:

Keep in mind most of the dealers have not gotten their cars yet. Remember, not all dealers are charging ADM. According to our poll, most of the potential CTR owners are paying MSRP. Not all dealers are bad. We are just primarily hearing about the bad ones at this point.



I live in Ohio. 2 dealers in state and 2 out of state that I have talked to. I do not know what zone it is called, but I live in the Midwest

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Ohio , near wv ?

Well we all knew or I guess should have known that money brings out the worst in some. And while there are a lot of decent salesmen/dealerships some of the things going on with folks in the forum can really test ones faith in business practices. I think everyone here is getting an education on just how bad automobile dealerships can be and others are finding just how honorable other are. The bottom line is that calling a dealer or two and thinking one has found a car is a lesson in failure. I must have called over 40 dealers. I left my call back number with a pretty please call me even if they wouldn't take a deposit. And finally left a deposit of $1000 to $500 at 5 dealers. And out of that I (think) I'm first in line for a blue and red. I've asked and received for deposits back from 3 because of ADM or color. But do think I have a car yet.....hell no!

"Donated to charity".......yep to their pockets......

June 21st is what my dealer has indicated as well. Updated just today. He sent me a screenshot with the VIN and ETA, along with the note in the system, "Pre-Sold".

jonnys_honda said:

@RatedR care to chime in about the adm?

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He's on holiday until Tuesday.

Wizerud said:

If you were a dealer, wouldn't you rather just sell it to the first person with a valid deposit than do the whole charity deal. Now they probably just wanna get rid of it and forget it. Hopefully I'll get an email from the local dealer asking me if I want it at msrp. As opposed to the +6k adm figure they quoted two days ago.

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pdiizeru said:

He's on holiday until Tuesday.

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I was wondering why he hasn't chimed in, thanks for the heads up

This has to be an email for a regional Zone as the Hondas for the Pacific Northwest come out of Portland and are already there...

I'm pretty sure this wasn't the first time Honda warned dealers about selling the CTR with ADM. They knew this was going to happen.

The GMs met with Honda few months back and I'm sure this was hinted to the GMs. No doubt the GMs ignored this. Once the dealers started receiving the CTRs and could sell them, Honda warned the dealers once again.

The interpretation of this email is pretty straight forward IMO.

On the official sale date (6/14), news broke out about dealers charging outrageous ADMs.

This gave Honda and the dealers a bad reputation. It made them look like greedy scumbags.

On 6/15, Honda sent this email to all the GMs warning them to sell the car at MSRP and donate the excess amount to charity. This was a method to diffuse the situation as news about dealer mark up was all over the web already.

Of course, Honda can't legally force dealers to sell at MSRP, but if dealers continue to charge outrageous ADMs, they're hurting the Honda brand, and there will be repercussions for the dealers, i.e., not giving dealer a second CTR.

Talked to a dealership who is doing an auction. Acted like I was very interested in participating to get more info. Wouldnt give me an exact number but the guy told me that they are only donating around 10 percent of the profit to charity.

browncow said:

Talked to a dealership who is doing an auction. Acted like I was very interested in participating to get more info. Wouldnt give me an exact number but the guy told me that they are only donating around 10 percent of the profit to charity.

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10% of the profit or 10% of total?