I bought a new Fit, last week, at full MSRP, with some rubber mats, 2 mudflaps and a 1st service as "goodies" ...big deal ! The salesman told me Fits are made in Ontario, Canada ! I only bought the car to pacify my wife, who was afraid I'd drive my beloved VW for 14 more years ! Then I get a call from a young lady at the dealership this morning, asking me to rate the salesman 1-5. I ended up letting her know eaxactly how I felt, and I doubt any of that will be passed on ! Then a very much younger girl, from Honda Canada, just called, wanting me to rate "the first greeting I received when I walked into the dealership" ! What has that got to do with dealers taking advantage of short supply to demand full MSRP ? I really hate these silly corporate "feel good " surveys that try to simplify my experience into a 1-5 scale that will, undoubtably, appear on some expert's laptop in the form of a pie chart or coloured graph. If you really want to know how I feel, ask me in plain English...have someone on the other end capable of responding, or at least able to take notes, and DO something about problems if you hear them. I don't care about these fake customer strokings that are supposed to make me think they actually care. It's a good car. I could have risked a marriage breakup to not purchase, but don't need to waste my time on these silly surveys. I'm NOT impressed with the high pressure sales proceedure, don't need to find out my scanty "extras" are not in stock when I pick up the car and think a salesperson should know where the car is made...why...because I don't EVER want to buy a new model from an inexperienced factory ever again. I've worked at car dealerships in the past and have lots of tall tales, but if a dealer wants to impress me, be knowledgable, deal fairly and be outright honest. You can't lose in the long run.

Please rate this post on a scale from 1-5 and I'll make a pie chart, in colour, and then hit "delete".

Burned out, fed up and BS'd to death.

Steve

 

No offence, but lighten up. Considering the amount of people who are still waiting for their cars, the insane markups being charged for them in many places, and the scarcity of cars that are available, you got a deal whether you like it or not. Not only that, but no one twisted your arm to buy the car and you could have easily waited for the prices to mellow out if you're so worried about what you paid. And so what if the salesman didn't know jack about the car? You obviously knew enough already about the car to know he was wrong, so what does it matter what he knows? You don't don't like consumer surveys, fine, then decline to participate which is your option instead of wasting the forums space with this drivel. With so many people here who would give their right arm to own your car instead of having to wait for theirs to come in, you have a lot of nerve complaining about much of anything.

 

Scub you have blown it!

Honda Canada takes those surveys really seriously, so seriously infact that I have heard on many occasions dealers adding more incentives in hopes of recieving a higher score from the buyers.

As for your rant about paying MSRP, I don't find that unreasonable at all. In the end it was your final decision and you decided to pay MSRP. It's simple economics, supply and demand. The supply is low and you were in demand of it. That's the opportunity cost of getting it as an early adopter, but look at the bright side, You're one of the first people to own it and have a happy wife as a result.

 

my salesman asked me quite politely to give him fives, 'cause if he gets one 4 or below, he won't get his bonus. i would have given them to him anyway, though, 'cause he was supernice and didn't pressure me...'cause he knew the car wouldn't last a day on the lot.

 

I was hoping for a discount from my Honda dealer, merely on the fact that my parents purchased a CR-V SE brand new from them only 2 months prior to my purchase of my fit (pre-order for color). I didn't get any discount, and was I a little dissapointed, yeah maybe, but I am buying their least expensive model and understand that I am buying into something new, that few people will have before me. I could have gotten a civic with a 7% discount, but I didn't want a civic or another car, I wanted a fit. I found that I knew way more about the fit then my saleswoman, but she actually enjoyed me being able to fill her in on information she didn't have/know about it. You have to understand that a MSRP is that, the Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price, and if demand is high for a certain automobile, then yeah you shouldn't get upset that you must pay MSRP for it. If you think that a company is charging too much for what you are purchasing, then you take your business elsewhere, to another company that you feel is being more "fair" with their MSRPs and discounts. I would say by getting a few accessories (mud flaps and floor mats) plus a free service, that they made you an offer for it and you accepted. They made me an offer without any incentives, and I too accepted. If I didn't feel that I was making a wise investment, I wouldn't have done it.

 

I think someone needs an anger management class! I agree with the other replies to this post. It was your decision to buy the car at MSRP. No one forced you to do it; you could have walked away. And if you had, I'm sure the saleman would have had several other people right there willing to purchase the car at MSRP.

 

Steve, I actually agree with you on this one.

I sold cars in the past.

I am very familiar with my local dealer. While they don't use high-pressure tactics on me, I've certainly been exposed to it, and have seen other treated in that manner.

I've been "asked" to give high ratings on the calls before, and I tell them the same thing every time, "I'll be honest, nothing more, nothing less."

I really mess with them when they ask about the initial greet thing. I usually enter through the service department, stop at the parts counter, then go the back way to the showroom. The parts and service folks always wave and chit-chat with me about various things. So my initial greeting is most always a warm one.

I usually take some time with a couple of the sales folks and give them a walk-around demo with new models. One guy even takes notes.

One thing I can say about my dealer is that they are always honest with me. They know me and know they can't BS me about anything. I guess you could say that I've taken the time in the past to ensure that we have a good relationship.

My last purchase, prior to the Fit, was a 2005 CR-V, and when I gave them the price that I wanted, they told me that they wanted to make more than that on the vehicle, we sat down and looked at the numbers (invoice, holdback, MSRP, taxes, etc.) and came to an agreeable number together - where they were making a small percentage, and I was getting a pretty good deal. No fighting, no going back and forth, runng the sales person to death, just taking 10-15 minutes to discuss.

In short, I know the sales mgr, used car folks, parts mgr, service mgr - they all know me by name when I walk in. We have a relationship, and work together. I would give my dealer high marks, and they treat me fairly.

Other dealers have been real jerks, and when the survey time comes, I relay exactly what my experience has been.

Just my $0.02.

David

 

I paid MSRP on a bagel and coffee this morning. Tim Hortons sucks for not giving me a free donut while I was waiting in line. (that’s what I’m hearing.)

Sorry to hear you didn’t want to by the Fit, especially at MSRP with a few bonus items less than a month after it was released. You can either be bitter for no valid reason, or be happy you got one as quickly as you did.

If you loved your VW so much, and most of the anger seems to be around that, maybe you could have dropped by a VW dealership instead.

Here’s hoping you soon realise what you got, and that the price was reasonable. No point ending up with high blood pressure or into marriage counselling over this.

 

The best part about the survey is that it is no tolerence, meaning anything that is not a 5 is a fail. Only 5 passes. At least that is what my salesman told me.

 

I guess you've never met a dishonest salesperson in your life???

 

I still don't see where the dealer Steve is referring to was dishonest. Just because he didn't know some aspects of the car, that does not make him dishonest. The dealer I dealt with was very low pressure but, then again, I made no secret that I REALLY wanted this car. Since I had done my homework, I probably knew almost as much as my salesman. But instead of thinking of this a negative, I tried to use it as leverage to get a better deal. While I, too, ended up paying full MSRP, I don't feel I got taken advantage of in any way. I got the car I wanted at a decent price.

 

Scub,
Unfortunately you've committed a serious crime. You said something bad about Honda, and that's not allowed here.

According to Consumer Reports, MSRP is never a good deal for a mainstream, B-segment sub-compact.

 

Actually on the contrary, your ability to say something bad gives you more leverage towards getting a better deal or some accessory. I would advise someone to use that to their advantage.

I agree to the MSRP price never being a good deal for any mainstream car. The only problem is that when there is a high demand for them, the dealers have the ability to sell them at or above MSRP prices. Worse yet, it's the general public that fuels that ability. I would never pay MSRP for a fit and as a result went around until I found a dealer that would sell it for much cheaper than MSRP.

 

I think I may not have made my point clear. I paid MSRP knowingly and had a choice. My irritation comes from post sale silly questionaires asking how the salesman greeted me on a scale of 1-5, etc. It's like when you pull into an Exxon station, pay a high price, while knowing the president just got a $400 million goodbye present and then having Exxon phone you to ask how the attendant greeted you, 1-5. I don't really care about that. I had a choice to not buy the car, but my wife was smitten and so the deal was done. Dishonesty comes by not telling me the parts were not in stock when we came to pick the car up...thus making us make a 2 hour return journey. Not knowing the product doesn't impress me...if I can know more about the product by looking on the internet, why am I paying someone to hand me keys ? I don't mind questionaires if they allow discussion and act on any problem. But cornering my experience with fluffy questions that don't relate to my experience, wastes my time and doesn't change things at all. How many people really care if the employees at McD's are required to do this "have a nice day " thing, or whatever they say ? Mandated sincerity doesn't mean a thing to me. And saying I need anger management says to me that unless one provides responses that don't show any unhappiness, you stand the possibility of someone presuming you have a problem. NEWS FLASH...anger is a human response. The degree you manifest it can be a problem. Venting frustration via these forums is, to me, what they are for. And saying Honda values these phone surveys implies some insider knowledge . If they do value input, then it seems my frustration should be of value, and if I find the survey fluffy, do they care about that ? It's a good car, but I don't appreciate dealers taking advantage of short supply to fix prices. One distant dealer told me, over the phone, to buy locally and save gas as none of them were dealing.
I'd say more but I need to vent some anger by beating my computer with a mail survey I just received.

Steve

 

the Honda Fit is NOT manufactured in Ontario...

its all in japan right now, if anything, BC would get 'em first, ur closer

 

Funny how you mention that none of the dealerships were discounting anything at all. If you go through a salesman, who will earn comission off the sale, the manager will likely reject any offer.

OTOH, if you went through a manager like I and a few others did, a discount is doable. I had 4 offers from the GVRD alone, within 24 hours at 250 off.

And the Fit is made in Japan, so us BCers do get them first. Saw one outside my workplace this morning, as a matter of fact (not relevent at all)

 

Customer Service does matter, and I'd be sure to spank my dealership for their sorry group of salesmen if they were to survey me.

When I walked into Honda, I went over to the Fit, where at least two salesmen were chatting nearby, grabbed a brochure off the window, and started poking around in it. They never turned to talk to me, salesmen passed me repeatedly...I felt like I was invisible. I wasn't going to walk up to them; if they wanted my business, they were going to have to walk up to me. So I got annoyed and left to look at other cars for a bit. I walked over to their Hyundai lot to look at Accents and was immediately approached by a nice, unassuming dealer. Eventually, (after a test drive and some poking around at the Accents on the lot), I dragged him over to the Honda lot to sell me the Fit.