thanks for the idea man. i actually did go down and speak with the sales manager. cool ass guy, he hooked me up. and even remembered the other most recent s2k i sold, by word of mouth, and friendly test drive.
late dave

 

I was in car sales for a few years before I went into grad school and we used to have some customers we called "birddogs" becuase everyone they knew, they would send to our dealership. I dont know what kind of deal you made with Honda West, but I remember I was paying some of these guys $100 per customer that bought a car that came from them.

I also wanted to thank you for the post on this car. THis is truly exactly how this website can help. My car is great and I would have never flown to Vegas to buy a car...sight unseen...before. Thanks Dave, I owe you one. Anytime you are in the LA area, I owe you a beer.

Ben

 

no prob. glad that you picked up that car. it needed a good home. later, ill mail ya when we are down next time. later. dave

 

Uh oh.

I went to get the car aligned yesterday and there may be a problem. I will report more as I find it out.

A wise man once said "if it looks too good to be true..."

 

Watch this space. There will be some info posted soon that you may find interesting. Supposedly, this will all be settled between Honda West and me on Tuesday and then I can tell the true story.

Bad news....

 

I dont know what it is, but I see that you now have an 05. Sounds like something happened.

 

Dont you mean that the ride had to find you?!

 

luckily you saw me walking home from there.

 

so what's the scoop???????????????????/ can't leave us hangin.

 

Alright. I dont think that everything is finished with this debacle yet, but I am in a sharing kind of mood and just keep it on the s2ki DownLow for a bit yet and I'll spin you a yarn...

First, a little background. I am a designer for Mercedes Benz and work at the advanced design studio in Irvine, California. I graduated from the ARt Center College of Design in December of 2004. I managed an Audi/Volvo dealership for 5 years before I entered grad school in 2000. When I moved to California, I had a Corrado and really liked it. Because of my financial situation, I had to downgrade to the $1000-$2000 cars and drove an old accord that belonged to my father in law and then a 92 Maxima when I was in school. Basically, I drove pieces of crap while I was in school. When I got hired by MB, I decided that I was going to get a car that I liked again.

I bought a 2001 GPW/red S2000 from CarMax in June. The front bumper was a bit off-shade from a stone chip repair and they promised if I bought it, they would fix it. To make this part of a long story short, 1 month later, they had painted the hood and fenders to match the bumper that still didnt match, plus the ghetto body shop that did the work had painted the slats in the front air intake white and I got them to agree to buy the car back.

The day that they took it back, I saw this thread and flew to Vegas to pick up the car in question. Firstly, HondaWest was asking 24900 for the car. Once we addressed that, I mentioned that the steering wheel was off center and they needed to align it. They said that if I would take care of that myself, they would take some money off of the car. I also mentioned that the interior was a little ratty for a 20K mile car and they ended up taking more money off. By the time we were done, I drove off for 21500 in a car that I thought just needed an alignment. On the trip back to LA, I noticed that the top roared so loudly on the freeway at any speed over 70 that I couldnt hear the radio. It was actually quieter with the top down than with it up.

I took the car to Santa Ana Honda in Orange County the next week to have the top adjusted and an alignment done. They called me and said that they could not align the car because the frame was bent, and the top was an aftermarket piece that couldnt be adjusted to quiet it down...it just didnt fit the frame very well. Needless to say, I went ballistic and called the guys at HondaWest to ask them what we were going to do about it. My salesman stammered around a bit and then said he would have his manager call me. HondaWest is part of Sonic Automotive, which is a huge...and I mean HUGE dealership conglomerate that has dealerships all over the country. The next person that called me was one of the buyers for Sonic that had purchased my car from the Honda Finance auction when it was turned back in from leases. He told me that the car had been inspected at the auction by Sonic's Honda techs and had been cleared to be sold as a certified used car. I told him that the aftermarket top, not to say the bent frame, made it unable to be a certified car and he needed to take the car back and refund my money. He told me that he would call me back. He didnt, so I called Honda to complain. Lo and behold, the General Manager of HondaWest called me first thing the next morning. He wanted me to drive the car back to Vegas so they could inspect it. I told him that he had a better chance of catching lightening in a jar than me taking a day off of work to drive out there in this car that I didnt want.

The used car manager at HondaWest knows the General Manager at Buena Park Honda out here near LA and told me to go see him. We looked at the car and he said that at the least, they would have to put a new top on it...at HondaWest's expense, and if the frame was bent than they would take it back and refund my money. I took it to a body shop in Irvine and had the frame measured and it was tweaked. So, I left the car with Buena Park Honda and went a bought a new '05.

So, what did I learn from this experience:

1. I do not think that anyone should buy a used s2000 from a dealership. So many of these cars are driven hard by people who dont understand what the car is about that the most important thing we should do to protect ourselves is only buy a used one from an individual that you can meet, evaluate, and find out how he takes care of the car.

2. Just because it is listed as a Certified Car, dont think that the 150 point inspection has been done. If it has, dont assume that the car has been put back in the condition that Honda, or any other manufacturer is promising.

3. I bought that car because I did not have another one and felt like since I had flown to vegas, I needed to close the deal and get it. I talked myself into it and convinced myself that it was a great car. The interior was a bit iffy, the back window was horribly wrinkled, there had been some paint repairs done on it. But, I decided that I was being too picky, that it was a used car and I needed to get over it and this would be a great car for me. Your first feelings on the car are what you need to listen to. If it doesnt feel perfect and just like what you want, get back on that plane to LA.

4. There are some honest people in the car business. Rick Gallagher at Buena Park Honda was professional, understanding, and let me know from the first time that I met him that he was going to be my advocate. I wholeheartedly endorse that dealership and appreciated all the help he gave me. Would HondaWest have bought the car back if he hadnt called and told them that it was truly damaged and they needed to just get me out of it? I dont know, but I suspect it would have been much more difficult.

I am not relaying this info to slam HondaWest in any way. I suspect that they never ran the car through their shop for certification. I think that Sonic told them that it had been done at the sale and just clean it up and sell it. At the end of the day, they did the right thing and took it back. The whole experience just left me feeling really pissed and taken advantage of. I rushed it and payed the price.

I sure do love my '05 though! It all works out in the end sometimes I guess.

sorry this was so long, I just thought ya'll might find it interesting.