Honda Dealer Experience #1 - FAIL

[Brivis]

Originally Posted by Crucifer

Hasn't Arrived yet again it wasn't at the dealer they have to have it shipped over.

Not to be a dick, but why are you complaining that a man who makes his living by selling cars whouldnt let you(a person 100% NOT buying a car) drive one??

I know i wouldnt waste my time. I worked at the honda in freehold for a while(years ago) granted there were a few dicks that worked there but overall they were VERY nice to customers. Also i've seen countless people in their early 20's come in and claim to be buying a car outright, and let me tell you I've never seen them follow through. Cant blame people for relying on their experience.

I look young as hell but when i go out and im expecting to be treated like an adult i dress/act like one, it has never failed me.

[civicracer32]

i understand both sides of it. I sold cars around here near a marine base. Max an e-1 or e-2 could get financed was $8k at the time. We didn't even have any cars on the lot typically that were less than $10k. If you went out and greeted the "customer", that used up your "up" (your potential customer) and you had to go to the back of the line for the next walk-in customer. In the offseason, or non-weeknd shifts, you may only get 10 or so customers that even walk onto the lot on the entire shift, split between 6 salemen. So, everytime a short haired young kid would hit the lot, all the salesman would go inside and pick up the phone and pretend to be on the phone. That way, when the sales manager started yelling at us to go help them, we'd look like we were busy.

If you as a customer drive on the lot in something too new, we'd run and hide because you probably owed more on the car than it was worth having just bought it. If it was too old, you're probably broke. Perfect demographic for a car buyer is someone in their late 20's to late 30's, pulling up in approx a 5-7 year old car in good shape. Too young, and you probably don't have the income to qualify, or the rationale to know what price range you should be shopping for even if you could qualify. Too old, and the concern from the saleman's point of view is that you're going to hit every Honda dealer this side of the Mississippi river over the next 3 years before deciding on a car to buy!

Life as a car salesman sucked. Especially for me. I like talking to young motorheads about cars. Unfortunately, as a salesman, you're supposed to sell them one, not just talk about it! I could never pressure people, or lie to them. You kinda have to do both to be a succesful car saleman.

[Special Ringpop]

With the Chevy Employee Pricing Event, you can get a 2008 Cobalt SS/T for $20,000.

That's insane.

[packers04]

my salesman never lied to me or pressured me to do anything. as a salesmen, its most important to know what car it is you are selling.

[Crucifer]

Let me clear some things up

Originally Posted by Leonard1818

sorry man, it seems thats the way the game is played. It's their (wrong) way of "weeding out" the people who just want to abuse a car on a test drive. I 1/2 don't blame them. the other 1/2 hates them for it but having sold a used car, I can understand that they have to have SOME way to try to filter out the flakers.

What kinda car are you arriving in? When I pulled up to the Honda dealership in my 02 RSX-S that was just fully detailed, they gave me the keys to their only Si coupe on the lot and said "have fun". I was probably 22 years old at the time but I'm sure if I had pulled up in a beater-ass car they would have ridden with me. They've since gotten to know me and will pretty much let me test drive anything I want w/o even having a salesman in the car with me.

I realize that's a shitty thing for them to do cause who's to say I don't have money just based on what car I pull up in... but hey, that's the game.

Try another dealership... one will take you seriously eventually. Not sure what kinda clothes you wear or what your demeanor is when you go into these places but if you want to be treated differently, you may consider these things if you haven't already.

1. I drive a 2004 TL fully mint exceptionally clean. I dress extremely well because I am materialistic. I wear a nice watch, nice clothes and I show up with a Honda employee in his uniform. Do the math. It has nothing to do with how I looked clothes or car wise its who he thought "had the money" in the situation.

Originally Posted by melomood

give him a break guys he is from Jackson. If you live in jersey you know what i mean.

No fing clue what your emplying here. Jackson is one of the most well respected townships in New Jersey. Our football team destroyed everyone for the better part of this decade and due to how overpopulated our township is for being the "place to live" in NJ more people from our schools go to colleges.

So you should watch what you say.



To the other people it has nothing to do with the 1/2 and 1/2 I walk into a Honda dealership I'm not looking for my health if I wanted to just "browse" cars I'd fing go to a Lexus/Mercedes dealer and scope something actually nice. I was there to test drive a car I've been talking to a salesman about getting for upwards 3 weeks.

The people in this forum really need reading comprehension skills =/

[dualdiagnosis]

Originally Posted by Special Ringpop

With the Chevy Employee Pricing Event, you can get a 2008 Cobalt SS/T for $20,000.

That's insane.

Yeah, please just go buy the Cobalt.

[SapphireRaven]

Honestly i know what your saying. The honda closest to me is Buckeye honda and they completely ignored me when i looked around their lot. (I'm 20 but look more like a 17 year old i guess). While looking at cars the only dealership that actually offered a test drive was Dodge on the Caliber. I pretty much had to bring one of my parents with me just to get them to take me seriously. Insane! They need to learn that even a younger person can be a serious customer. 3 dealerships lost my business cuz they were jerks about my appearance/ age.

[Yankees2519]

Originally Posted by dualdiagnosis

Yeah, please just go buy the Cobalt.

[Yankees2519]

ill even find you a nice cobolt forum where you can tell EVERYONE how money isnt an issue

[ryker]

Should have test drove the Moogen, Redline then drop the clutch.

[Crucifer]

Originally Posted by ryker

Should have test drove the Moogen, Redline then drop the clutch.

On and engine that isn't broken in...would be dick always have respect for the car before yourself.

[Phalanx]

Originally Posted by Crucifer

always have respect for the car before yourself.

based on what you plan to do with the car... clearly you have no respect for it.

[Crucifer]

Originally Posted by Phalanx

based on what you plan to do with the car... clearly you have no respect for it.

Giving it a facelift so it can be best at show? Yeah no respect.

[4motion]

I had quite a few cars in my day, from various dealers in Phoenix here. I got treated like that at all of them, and it was mostly because of my age at the time. When my Nissan took a shit, and Nissan tried to deny a warranty claim on a vehicle that was 7 months old and unmodified, I got pissed beyond belief. I told them I will never buy another Nissan again, and the day I got my car back (2 months later and they never provided a loaner) I took it in and got a GTI (this was in 03). Since then, that specific VW dealership has gotten my business 4 more times, and all of my friends who have bought cars there have had a great experience. They even sold my friend his used Si there that they took on a trade in, and the sales manager contacted a local Honda dealer and got the car certified for him. Every time I go there I get awesome service. All my oil changes are quick, and if they are backed up, they have ALWAYS given me a car to use to do whatever I gotta do for the rest of the day. Every time I have bough a new car, I did it with no haggling, or bickering or having to talk to 12 people, and I have always gotten the best financing and the car was always sold to me between $500-$3k under invoice. The other thing that nice about it is that all the people that worked there 5 years ago, still work there. They have a very low turnover rate, so I pretty much know everyone and everyone knows me.

Before I got my GTI, i stopped at a Honda dealer to look at a few cars (accord coupe v6/MT) and I was stopped at the gate by some guy, so had me fill out a questionnaire, and after I handed it to him he said "You're not here to **** around and just test drive are you?" He was rude as hell, and I didn't even feel like looking at any cars there, so I left right away. Plenty other car companies that are willing to do business with me, and the one that treated me the nicest had made about 120k on me in the last 5 years. Customer service goes a long way, and because of that one asshole that I had contact with, Honda lost out on a chance to have a fanboi added to their collection. My friend bought his Si at that same dealer that pissed me off, and he got treated very well, and the guy at the front gate even offered us bottled water. All dealerships are hit and miss, no matter the brand. There are people that loathe certain VW dealerships here for having 1. rude staff 2. people who don't know shit working there 3. abusing customer's cars 4. trying to deny legitimate warranty claims or TSB from VW.

[Crucifer]

Originally Posted by 4motion

I had quite a few cars in my day, from various dealers in Phoenix here. I got treated like that at all of them, and it was mostly because of my age at the time. When my Nissan took a shit, and Nissan tried to deny a warranty claim on a vehicle that was 7 months old and unmodified, I got pissed beyond belief. I told them I will never buy another Nissan again, and the day I got my car back (2 months later and they never provided a loaner) I took it in and got a GTI (this was in 03). Since then, that specific VW dealership has gotten my business 4 more times, and all of my friends who have bought cars there have had a great experience. They even sold my friend his used Si there that they took on a trade in, and the sales manager contacted a local Honda dealer and got the car certified for him. Every time I go there I get awesome service. All my oil changes are quick, and if they are backed up, they have ALWAYS given me a car to use to do whatever I gotta do for the rest of the day. Every time I have bough a new car, I did it with no haggling, or bickering or having to talk to 12 people, and I have always gotten the best financing and the car was always sold to me between $500-$3k under invoice. The other thing that nice about it is that all the people that worked there 5 years ago, still work there. They have a very low turnover rate, so I pretty much know everyone and everyone knows me.

Before I got my GTI, i stopped at a Honda dealer to look at a few cars (accord coupe v6/MT) and I was stopped at the gate by some guy, so had me fill out a questionnaire, and after I handed it to him he said "You're not here to **** around and just test drive are you?" He was rude as hell, and I didn't even feel like looking at any cars there, so I left right away. Plenty other car companies that are willing to do business with me, and the one that treated me the nicest had made about 120k on me in the last 5 years. Customer service goes a long way, and because of that one asshole that I had contact with, Honda lost out on a chance to have a fanboi added to their collection. My friend bought his Si at that same dealer that pissed me off, and he got treated very well, and the guy at the front gate even offered us bottled water. All dealerships are hit and miss, no matter the brand. There are people that loathe certain VW dealerships here for having 1. rude staff 2. people who don't know shit working there 3. abusing customer's cars 4. trying to deny legitimate warranty claims or TSB from VW.

Same with me and my TL when I buy another 30 days of Carfax I'll post up my TL's carfax from day 1 to 4 years later because of how EXCEPTIONALLY awesome the service is as Acura here I get EVERYTHING done at the dealer. And each time I show up I'm greated like I'm 40 and treated like I'm golden. I brought it in actually Last monday for 2 recalls, a Door connector piece swap and an Alignment asked if he could have it done by lunchtime he looked at me (mind you theres some 15 people already there) leans over and goes since I see your record here I'll put it in now.

I walked outside and he handed the keys right to the service guy and my car bypassed people there actually waiting on their cars to get serviced. And I wasn't even due back till after lunch. Dick as that may sound that goes a long way in my book.

Just don't get it how Honda can own Acura and yet the sales people are entirely different in each shop.

[brazilianguy]

what were you wearing?

[Crucifer]

Originally Posted by brazilianguy

what were you wearing?

Nice Jeans/Button Up casual fridays at work :P but still dressy. Work appropriete. I mean I think they knew I was serious they were going to let me test drive the Mugen at 9pm (closing time) on a Friday night (with all the idiot drunks on the road)...

Its just they focus'd on who they thought had the money in the equation.

[greenroom1988]

i got my si at the dealer in old bridge. you mean dch acedemy honda. you will do well buying the car there. but their service dept sux. i take me si to open road honda in edison. just some useful info.

[Crucifer]

Originally Posted by greenroom1988

i got my si at the dealer in old bridge. you mean dch acedemy honda. you will do well buying the car there. but their service dept sux. i take me si to open road honda in edison. just some useful info.

Thats the one. Your like the 5th person to recommend them.

[EagleEyez]

Heres a tip, grow a beard. LOL JK

now you know how a lot of asians feel. =)