:begin rant:

If I don't want accessories "Every car" on your lot gets, I'm not paying for them.... I Don't care how many Honda genuine accessories you "have to" sell. If I don't want it, I'm not going to take it!

Maybe there were already certain accessories that I'd wanted.... and maybe I decided not to get ANY from you AT ALL, because you were all so inflexable with removing the ones that I did not want in the first place...

I walked out of four different dealerships in the past 6 months for trying that crap.... and when I finally find one with the car I want and the price I wanted to pay (after 3 hours of them trying to argue a more expensive price), they caved in and paid for all of the accessories, just so they wouldn't have to go back and tell Honda they sold a car without selling any accessories..... what kinda crap is that?
And for what? $299 for a trunk tray? $190 for a set of wheel locks? $500 for PIN STRIPING??

I love Honda cars... but I believe the dealerships are shooting themselves in the foot.

:end rant:

 

Wow!!!
I did not have your experience in buying my Fit (but had to talk with a lot of the same kind of idiots), but if I had, I would have exactly your reaction. I wish there were a "Jerk Season" for which we could buy hunting licenses.
The damned cars are so popular that they sell even with the rip-offs.

 

I don't know if it would have been so bad, if I was a sucker..... but I work in the car business (master mechanic for Lexus)... so I know a little bit about how things work. But hell, we only charge our customers $90 for a new set of wheel locks.... and we're freakin' Lexus!

 

My Fit Honda locks (McGard brand w/Honda label) cost $28.00 on Ebay.

 

if you are only a mechanic for a dealership, your understanding of the dealership is completely different then the sales department.

do you know a little more then the general public? barely. only thing you have going for you is have some idea what cost and labor for parts/service, and if you buy a lexus, one of the sales people giving you an easy sale.

but going to a different make dealership and hope for special treatment because you are a mechanic at lexus?? lets not kid ourselves.

 

Who is to say the poster doesn't network with the rest of the employees at the dealership they work for?

It doesn't seem unreasonable to have a working knowledge of the entire process regardless of your position within a company.

All you have to do is ask!

 

why dont you go ask??

so when you come back, with same blank dumb look you probably have on your face now. still completely clueless.

how about i laugh at you then...

p.s. next time you negative rep me, go post in that thread, dont make me find you to make an idiot out of you.

 

I was in sales long before I was a mechanic (for Honda actually, many many years ago).
I also like to keep myself informed about what customers actually pay for stuff.... may come in handy some day (like for referal bounuses).

My best friend is still in sales for Toyota, and even they don't pull that kind of b/s on customers... sure, Scion only makes a serious profit on the accessories they sell, but you can still pick up a bare bone tC, xA or xB with no hassle.

Don't patronize me just because you think I'm a dumb mechanic. You don't know me.

Funny enough, if I wanted to buy a Lexus, I'd get a better deal if I'd take my uniform off and pretend to be a regular customer (unless I throw my lexus master muscle around... but that's a whole other ball game).... not that I'd ever buy a lexus, but just fyi.

I don't go to another automakers dealership hoping for special treatment just because I'm a lexus employee. I go to any dealership as a customer, and I hope to be treated as a customer, and not just a dollar sign. My employement status never even came up until the credit app. was filled out.... I don't go up to a dealership in uniform and shout "I work for Lexus, give me a special deal!"

It doesn't matter what you think though. I'm still very turned off by the whole experience, and will be for quite some time. Kind of disappointing, considering the wife loves the Fit and wants one too... I'm not looking forward to the same b/s again.

 

if you really sold cars before, then you'd realize every single dealership have different pay plans. hell, each different sales people in the same dealership have various pay plans.

one salesperson whose payplan can depend a lot more on gross profit on aftersale, he would sell you wheel locks at 300, warranty at 2900, and the car at 500 under invoice.

another whose pay plan is based entirely on gross profit on the car, sell you 2000 markup, free wheellocks, no warranty, no security system, no anything. and these are just some of the most basic pay plans, and not even into bonus level % of grossprofit where the average sales person gets paid on.

you say you are not a dollar sign? really? you are a customer, customer are also dollar signs. if you didnt pay for the car, you honestly think any of the sales people would give a rat's ass you fix cars or you sleep in cardboard boxes??

scion is different. toyota scion dealers orders these cars, deal with very little flooring, that's why they can deal with light profit margins.

 

Whether the sales man, or the sales manager or even the dealership owner look at me as a dollar sign or not, I am the one with the buying power. I am the one spreading the word of mouth, posting the text about my bad experiences with Honda dealerships as of late.

The dealership employees would be the ones justify charging rediculous prices for worthless crap that I never wanted from the get go.

In the end, I got the car for the price I wanted. I don't care if they made money or not. I wasn't there to make anyone a profit. I was there because the Fit that I wanted happened to be on the lot right at that moment, and they were lucky enough I was willing to sit around an tell them NO to the accessories for 3 hours.

The dealership I got my car from has lost my future business though.


And if you work for a Honda dealership... can you tell me why there are like 50 silver 5speed manual Fit's on the lot at all times, and never any blue or white or black?.... it seems like Every dealership in Dallas always had at least 4 sitting on the lot at any give time, but never blue or white or black or even red. That's damned annoying when you hate silver cars.

 

you have the power of money you are spending.

they have the power of the popular car everyone wants.

it's not as one sided as you believe. reading online forums too much makes you think you are more in control then you actually are. on this forum, you hear how people walk out on 100 dollar under msrp because he/she wanted 600 under for invoice. they think they are hard shit and hold all the cards, in reality, you go into a dealership offering msrp, 9 times out 10, they tell you get out.

if you are willing to pay msrp for overstocked cars like accords or pilots, they'd be stupid if they try to force accessories on you.

you are buying an in demand fit for msrp, they will try to squeeze every extra cent of profit out of it if they are not charging markup, for the simple reason they can. they do that for a pilot or accord, they lose you, the only person willing to pay msrp for the fit. they do that for a fit, they lose you, 20 other people is in line to replace you as a cosumer willing to pay msrp for a fit.

as far as losing future business. let's not kid ourselves. it's not like you or anyone here is going to be willing pay msrp for the next accord or pilot or odyssey you buy. no one at a dealership is going to lose sleep over another shit deal from you.

as for so many manual fits in silver, there is only 4 manual fits silver 5 spd, and 6 fit sport manual in your state... and the only dealership with more then 1 fit silver manual in stock in irving with 2.

 

Most Honda dealerships in DFW just simply suck. I ended up buying my car in Houston for a far better deal. I travel from Houston to Dallas frequently and so the commute doesn't bug me at all.

Go Sterling McCall Honda! Easiest car buying experience EVER.

 

Phongs right, I dont like DFW Honda dealers either. Ive never had a experience at sterling mcall but I have at John eagle honda.

 

im very happy with my car... but the dealer i purchased from can kiss my ass... i bought from my "friend". im glad i could help make his car payment this month.