At first glance, this seemed like it was going to be smooth sailing. They happily located the color Fit I wanted and traded a car with another dealership to get it. Over the phone, we agreed to $200 under MSRP.

I get to the dealership to buy the car and they tried to get me to pull down my pants and grab my ankles for my trade. When I told them no, the salesman got angry and spewed nonsense about how the car market is doing well. (Um, last I checked sales are down dramatically.)

I left and they haven't even followed up.

They got what they had coming to them though. They traded cars with a dealer 120 miles away and paid a driver to go to and from the other dealership.

EDIT:

Well, Gilroy Honda redeemed themselves. I received a call from the Sales Manager a few days after the above incident, and he asked what he could do for me. I told him my initial experience was beyond bad, and that I would have a really hard time returning to his dealership. I asked what he could do for me, and why I should return.

He offered me the car for $100 above invoice, and a free full detail in the future. I couldn't refuse and picked my new Fit yesterday. They agreed to detail my old car while I finished the purchase.

(While used car market is bad, two other dealers had over me $2,500 and $5,000 more for my trade than Gilroy Honda. I ended up selling it privately.)

 

Good that you avoided the screw job. It isn't too far of a drive for you- go to Val Strough Honda in Seaside (Monterey). They had at least 4 Sport Fits when I bought mine there two weeks ago. They don't mark their cars up, but they might not discount down from MSRP. No "mandatory" overpriced accessories either. See Troy O'Shann.

 

The trade in market is horrible right now. My wifes 05 Mazda3 (with low miles/great condition) dropped about $800 in trade in value over about the last 3-4 weeks....