Offical "Si Dealer Naughty List" thread

[marktex]

Honda Cars of Rockwall in Rockwall, TX

The guy said his best OTD price was 26k, then proceeds to add dealer fees, TTL, etc. Apparently OTD means something else to him because they wanted 30k total and were adamant that price is competitive and they don't need to come down to sell the car. I am now sitting at a dealer already on this list (David McDavid Honda in Frisco) and they gave an OTD offer of $25,207. I just sent the other dealer a picture of the offer. I'll post the redacted version in the correct thread here once I take delivery on the car (they have to bring it in from another dealer).

Man I know the pain. Picked up a new 2019 black Si Sedan up from Jack O Diamonds in Tyler today and they were great to deal with after having issues at Rusty Wallis. No dealer add ons but tint and they were up front with the whole process. I initially wanted to get a red coupe from Dallas and after they talked about the price of dealer add ons and all it was upwards of 28k+ because of that. Didn't have that much luck with the 2018 prices either.

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[zroger73]

Man I know the pain. Picked up a new 2019 black Si Sedan up from Jack O Diamonds in Tyler today and they were great to deal with after having issues at Rusty Wallis. No dealer add ons but tint and they were up front with the whole process. I initially wanted to get a red coupe from Dallas and after they talked about the price of dealer add ons and all it was upwards of 28k+ because of that. Didn't have that much luck with the 2018 prices either.

I've had good experiences with JoD. The GM is a neighbor of mine. This dealership gained worldwide attention last year over a Civic Type R sale.

https://www.civicx.com/threads/dealer-holding-type-r-hostage.12910/

 

[RobXsi]

Is there a dealer "Good List" lmao

6 Months ago i paid 21.8k + taxes/fees/etc at Spreen Honda in Inland Empire California.

 

[chandlervt]

Is there a dealer "Good List" lmao

6 Months ago i paid 21.8k + taxes/fees/etc at Spreen Honda in Inland Empire California.

Wow! I have never missed a time machine so much . No such thing as a good list for Honda. If I can't find an Si in next week, never buying honda again (although my wife is stuck on getting Odyssey if we have kids - guess time to get snipped just to get out of buying Odyssey )

 

[jjtheprince]

What would be considered a "good" price for a 2019 Si sedan? The dealer near me is offering me $23,500 out the door on a vehicle that stickers at $25,195.

 

[chandlervt]

What would be considered a "good" price for a 2019 Si sedan? The dealer near me is offering me $23,500 out the door on a vehicle that stickers at $25,195.

How much is your sales tax rate? Personally, I would jump on it if it was offered to me in Dallas. May be others in your state can chime in.

 

[jjtheprince]

It's high around here, like 9%, but I'll probably just pay for it outright instead of rolling it into a loan.

Going to shop around at some other area dealerships. I'd say the first one that could offer me $23,000 OTD will probably earn my business.

 

[analogman]

What is it with dealers bait-and-switch games? I'm shopping for a 2019 Civic Si Coupe. Got 3 written price quotes from 3 different dealers. Today, each of them in turn, as I went to try and close the deal, told me they made a "mistake" in pricing - and that the actual price was $800-$900 higher. Same story from 3 different dealers (I'll be posting their identities here).

Do their experiences show that most people will complain but will still go through with buying the car even if they tack on another $800-$900 to the price at the last minute? When someone pulls that crap on me, I walk out.

I don't think all Honda dealers are striving to hire accounting incompetents, and I don't think this kind of behavior - 3 for 3 in one day - is a coincidence. Much more of this and I'll just go buy another brand of car.

 

[zroger73]

What is it with dealers bait-and-switch games? I'm shopping for a 2019 Civic Si Coupe. Got 3 written price quotes from 3 different dealers. Today, each of them in turn, as I went to try and close the deal, told me they made a "mistake" in pricing - and that the actual price was $800-$900 higher. Same story from 3 different dealers (I'll be posting their identities here).

Do their experiences show that most people will complain but will still go through with buying the car even if they tack on another $800-$900 to the price at the last minute? When someone pulls that crap on me, I walk out.

I don't think all Honda dealers are striving to hire accounting incompetents, and I don't think this kind of behavior - 3 for 3 in one day - is a coincidence. Much more of this and I'll just go buy another brand of car.

When's the last time you bought a new car?

Unfortunately, this isn't just Honda dealers.

Also unfortunately, for every 1 person that walks out over something like this, 10 will complain about it, but still go through with the purchase since they're already there and they just want to drive away in their new car.

If you think that's annoying, wait until they try to charge you a diagnostic fee for a warranty repair. That's one of the latest trends in stealership tactics. More dealers are beginning to charge a ~$150 fee up front to diagnose a problem. Most will refund the fee if the problem is covered under warranty. If they determine the problem isn't covered under warranty or they can't duplicate the problem, they just made money.

 

[analogman]

Thank you for commiserating zroger73. I'm 'old' (60-ish) and have owned 105 cars in my life, about 1/3 of them bought new. I've experienced this before, but was rocked back by the intensity and frequency of it shopping for a Civic Si. The last new car I bought for myself was a 2015 Mustang GT, and a Subaru Crosstrek for my wife just a couple of months ago. Both of those were refreshingly painless experiences - I sent e-mails to several dealers asking for prices, most responded with prices that were at or even a bit below invoice, I showed up at the dealerships, and bought the cars with no games of any kind.

This recent Honda experience has thrown me for a loop. It's like the BS games they played back in the 80's when demand vastly exceeded supply for Hondas, and dealers were able to get away with all kinds of rapacious nonsense. This time I got 3 price quotes by e-mail, but each of them in turn gave me the exact same BS line - 'so sorry, we make a mistake, the real price is X ($800-$1,000 over what they quoted me)'.

You're absolutely right. This is learned behavior on their part. I know that despite my inviting them to do something anatomically very difficult and painful if not physiologically impossible with their 'correct price', as you say there are 10 other people who grumble and complain but still go through with the deal. It just royally pisses me off that they ALL play the same game. This can't be a coincidence. It's like the dealers in the area swap notes about how much they can get away with, or maybe even get this guidance from a regional manager - 'hey guys, you can soak customers for another grand and most will still bite'.

It's despicable, and makes me want to go buy something else. Like a Subaru BRZ.

 

[fenix-silver]

What would be considered a "good" price for a 2019 Si sedan? The dealer near me is offering me $23,500 out the door on a vehicle that stickers at $25,195.

If that's truly $23.5 OTD including tax, that's a great price for a 2019. Around here, $23.5 was the best anyone would do before TTL.

 

[jjtheprince]

If that's truly $23.5 OTD including tax, that's a great price for a 2019. Around here, $23.5 was the best anyone would do before TTL.

The price was excluding tax. I'll just cover the sales tax on my own.

 

[Hondaman_MI]

When's the last time you bought a new car?

Unfortunately, this isn't just Honda dealers.

Also unfortunately, for every 1 person that walks out over something like this, 10 will complain about it, but still go through with the purchase since they're already there and they just want to drive away in their new car.

If you think that's annoying, wait until they try to charge you a diagnostic fee for a warranty repair. That's one of the latest trends in stealership tactics. More dealers are beginning to charge a ~$150 fee up front to diagnose a problem. Most will refund the fee if the problem is covered under warranty. If they determine the problem isn't covered under warranty or they can't duplicate the problem, they just made money.

I wonder how many of the dealers doing that get poor reviews online. Can I charge them a clean up fee? For when they get dirt and mud all over the interior. Also, a fee for overfilling oil, not resetting oil life, not returning wheel lock keys, not torquing my lug nuts to spec. If they are going to get nit picky, their customers will return the favor, I know I would.

 

[EGrove99]

My dealership where I'm at sold me my 2018 Si (sedan) for only $400 over msrp which i thought was good if you guys are in the market come check out our dealership.

 

[rive]

Thank you for commiserating zroger73. I'm 'old' (60-ish) and have owned 105 cars in my life, about 1/3 of them bought new. I've experienced this before, but was rocked back by the intensity and frequency of it shopping for a Civic Si. The last new car I bought for myself was a 2015 Mustang GT, and a Subaru Crosstrek for my wife just a couple of months ago. Both of those were refreshingly painless experiences - I sent e-mails to several dealers asking for prices, most responded with prices that were at or even a bit below invoice, I showed up at the dealerships, and bought the cars with no games of any kind.

This recent Honda experience has thrown me for a loop. It's like the BS games they played back in the 80's when demand vastly exceeded supply for Hondas, and dealers were able to get away with all kinds of rapacious nonsense. This time I got 3 price quotes by e-mail, but each of them in turn gave me the exact same BS line - 'so sorry, we make a mistake, the real price is X ($800-$1,000 over what they quoted me)'.

You're absolutely right. This is learned behavior on their part. I know that despite my inviting them to do something anatomically very difficult and painful if not physiologically impossible with their 'correct price', as you say there are 10 other people who grumble and complain but still go through with the deal. It just royally pisses me off that they ALL play the same game. This can't be a coincidence. It's like the dealers in the area swap notes about how much they can get away with, or maybe even get this guidance from a regional manager - 'hey guys, you can soak customers for another grand and most will still bite'.

It's despicable, and makes me want to go buy something else. Like a Subaru BRZ.

I know every dealership plays games with pricing these days, but I cannot stand an outright lie or seeing them change their minds about the price and act like that's okay after a written offer has been made and accepted. The last time a dealer did that to me, I stated very clearly that I would not buy it if they would not honor the original price. They made several comments to the effect of "oh, well, that's actually the finance guy's job, I just tell you what it's listed at in our system." Now we all know that "the finance guy" is only there to sell you extended warranties, and works off the price you agreed with the sales team. In fact, that person's other job is to say your credit score is slightly lower than it really is so they can tack on a little extra interest that they pocket for themselves. Get pre-approved from a bank or credit union, then ask them to approve you through that same institution and watch the numbers come back inflated. It's funny how that works.

Anyway, I ended up initialing informal papers left and right saying I wanted the car at the price they offered, then took a week arranging financing, being "out of town," and generally stalling the deal just short of actually signing and paying. The sales manager finally called and asked if I was going to be able to buy the car and I told him "I can buy it right now, but I won't. I told you up front I wouldn't buy it if you wouldn't honor your original written offer. You got greedy over $800 dollars and I've managed to keep this car from being sold for the past week, coming into a new month where that car is still in your inventory and you're paying for it still being on the lot. I know at least one other buyer was interested because he was there the same day looking at the same car. So yeah, you'll eventually sell it to someone, but it won't be to me, and your dirty business practices have cost you money in the meantime." Was it petty on my part? Yeah, definitely. But I hate that these dishonest sales teams think this bait and switch stuff is okay based on the idea that nobody can hold them accountable.

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