I live in a small town in northern Louisiana and there is only ONE Honda dealer in town. (Other area dealers are 100+ miles away.) I left a check with the dealer in August in order to get a Silver LX-MT. Every couple of weeks I send an email, "Where's my car?" and get back squirrelly answers. The latest is the car is getting built next week and should be here end of the month or early next month. The whole experience is leaving a bad taste in my mouth. I am planning on paying cash for the car so I don't understand why I am getting the run-around. Do I need to order the car directly from Honda? What gives?

 

I have been told the wait time from an order is 2-3 months. So if it's early November and still nothing I would be concerned. But maybe others know more

 

get refund go to other dealer

 

You definitely have me beat on wait time. I've been waiting since Sept 09, but only got a VIN number and a tentative delivery date of Nov 3 to Nov 8 roughly a week ago.

 

Boys, boys, boys - a couple of months waiting is nothing compared to my pain!!!

Deposit and deal signed in FEb. Took delivery Sept.

Bring up the patience and you'll be rewarded with getting the model in the exact color you want.

You can always do what I did to pass time by - shop for accessories and add-ons!!!!
Definitely poorer but happy as hell.

 

My wife has been waiting since July the 5th for a yellow EXL with nav.The only information the dealer has is the car is in the system.



Suggestion: With your car in their system, they should have a VIN. Ask for it to make sure they don't make a switch. - rttby

 

minkbikini,

Sorry to hear about your experience with your dealer and the delivery wait time. While I believe the best practice is to only sell a vehicle you have on-hand rather than sell a vehicle that is not at the dealership, I understand many dealerships engage in the later. Vehicles are not custom-ordered but are allocated to each different dealership. Dealerships may have an idea on what is coming in or when it is coming but complications may arise during production all the way to delivery. This can alter delivery times greatly which the dealership has no control over.

Supply is scarce at the moment so it is difficult to find an ample supply of them on dealer lots. I really do hope you receive your vehicle soon despite all of the setbacks! In the event the vehicle is delayed, the dealership should provide you with your deposit back so you can continue your search.

I'm sure a lot of customers would like the idea of ordering through Honda directly but Honda cannot engage in direct sales as it is illegal due to franchise dealer agreement laws.


Thank you,

Jonathan

 

NEVER EVER pay up front for anything! It is not necessary at any time and especially with building contractors and automobile dealers.

 

like Jonathan said inventory is scarce. I think a lot of dealer to trying to take special order on specific trim / color / transmission when they are at the mercy of the dealer getting whatever is allocated to them.

so buy what's on the lot don't put down payment for special order.
if the dealer don't have it.. go to different dealer.

 

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I'm limited (hostage) to this one dealer. I put down a small deposit in the hopes they would actually order the car I want. (I want a LX-MT and they keep pushing me to settle for an automatic.) what is irking me is the double talk.They first told me it was on order and would be here mid-Sept. then the story changed to "it's not built yet but soon" now it's maybe November maybe never??? is the car business doing so well that you can P.O. your customers? seriously! I really want a Fit but may have to move on to a yaris or mazda.

 

Come to Cali where there is a bunch of them available!!!

 

Try cars.com search engine. Under "custom search", you can either select distance from your zip, or from a specific city. I just did a search for a a silver LX-MT, using New Orleans as the city, and while there were only 14 within 500 miles of New Orleans, one was Honda of Bay County ~ 267 mi. away. I know that is a drive, but that distance is measured from New Orleans, and your city may be closer to the dealer. 3601 E 15th St. Springfield, FL 32404
(888) 814-1085. VIN #3HGGK5G50FM729310. $16,315.00

You can get your deposit back, and the drive is not that bad. We drove 2 hours to get ours, but were searching dealerships up to 300 miles.

http://www.hondaofbaycounty.com/new-...onditions=true

 

I know about cars.com and there are 2 LX-MT within a 200 mi radius from my house but both are dark colors (a negative in the hot south) and i can't afford the time there & back.

 

I have *heard* (unconfirmed reports) that getting a 2015 Fit with MT, or not-so-popular color (like yellow or purple), takes a whole lot longer than getting the popular color (white, grey) with CVT. Maybe that is the case with your order.

Here in Canada, a normal waiting time for an order is around 5 - 6 weeks, but if you ordered a DX trim (Canadian lowest-end trim, only available in MT & no A/C) that might take forever, maybe 2 - 3 months, and the dealership won't know (can't track) until the status shows "in-transit" which means it has already left the factory. In that case, my gut feeling is that your dealer may still not know the whereabouts of your order, but they started to make excuses.

I ordered an EX CVT modern steel last month (September 19th), and the dealer said the car should arrive before this weekend. Got the VIN# already.

 

it's just a silver LX-MT, no factory extras, which is why i don't know why it's so hard to obtain.

 

My experience is similar to many others reported here. I thought I had "ordered" a Fit EX-L Navi in Alabaster Silver at the end of July and kept hearing the "any time now..." message from my dealer. Finally, 2 weeks ago, when pressed on the issue, the dealer offered to refund my deposit. Rather than "starting over" I chose to downgrade to the EX-L without the Navi. I ended up getting the car in Modern Steel Metallic. My wife liked the color better, even though I thought I was getting it in Silver. After the initial disappointment, I realized that I did like the car better in the Modern Steel Metallic color. Again, I'm very happy with the car, but disappointed with the buying experience.

Actually, I don't understand why Honda doesn't just offer the Navi as a dealer installed option. That seems like it would be easy to do, to upgrade an EX or EX-L to the Navi. It seems like it should be a simple swap for the 7-inch display head.

 

The big mistake is putting a deposit down. That seems to reduce, not increase, the chance of your getting the car you want.

Let's say the dealer has two customers that want a yellow EX-L A. has put money down, but B. said "my check is ready when the car is delivered."

Who is the dealer going to sell the car to when it arrives? A. is pretty much a done deal but B. might yet buy a car elsewhere. Better to sell to B. and keep the "deposit" customer A. on the hook for a while longer.

Now, folks will chime in and say "I put a deposit down and my car was delivered promptly." That may be true, but we've had so many people in a situation like minkbikini's that this seems to be the exception, not the norm.

I would suggest getting the deposit back and broadening your search. It doesn't matter where you buy the car as long as you get the deal you want.

 

I left a check (which to this day has not been cashed) because they wouldn't order the car otherwise. the only cars the dealership has received have been EX-CVT models. My last car purchase for a PT cruiser was fairly painless. I told them I wanted a light colored manual trans with dark tinted windows and the salesman found one within a week. This dealer doesn't seem to want to sell cars.

 

As the social media guy said, dealers cannot "order" a car. They are allocated cars by Honda.

In other words, that dealer was lying to you about their ability to have cars built to order.

They're just hoping that the car you want comes to them at random (unlikely if it is a small dealer) or that you get tired of waiting and take whatever car they get. In the meantime, your deposit deters you from working with other dealers who might get exactly the car you want.

 

so the dealership has been lying to me for months? that makes me even madder!!!