any of you guys have to deal with punk salespeople/managers when buying your S? i swear if i wasn't in the middle of buying this S from this certain dealership, i would tell this guy a thing or two about his attitude.

don't you ever wonder how some of those unskilled, hot tempered, stupid farts get up to supervisor or manager?

 

Damn that sux. Are you sure it was the guy? I know some of those managerial types have to deal w/ assholes all the time, esp regarding the car. There are alot of people out there that bullshit too much. But it sounds like it's just the guy. What an ass. You know, you could always file a complaint w/ a regional office. My parents have done that before. I don't know if it does any good. I know it'll show up on their quarterly report or something. Just a suggestion.

 

thanks, i dont want to incite anything before i get my car

 

Bobby from Manly Honda. Perfect example. Put potential customer (me) down and regreted (cuz the car was still there after a week) and he called back a week later and put me down again when I turned him down (haha). I told him I would rather pay another dealership $500 more than buying the car from him (In fact I did. ), pissed him off real bad.

 

I don't know if it's the same across the US, but it seems as though Honda (though not necessarily only Honda) trains their people in high-pressure sales techniques and also in making you feel less than worthy.

I had real concerns when I was shopping around a month or so ago that Honda dealers really weren't set up to sell a car like the S2000. I really wonder if back in the late '80s Honda set up the Acura network in the US just to have a re-trained sales force.

I'm sure when you go to buy a NSX, you get some respect and get treated like a human being. You probably don't get some damn fool telling you that "folks over here are paying 10K over list, but I can order something for you for less". Jeez,

Anyway, I got lucky and found a dealer in NY (not my home state) who was quite straight with me and kept me informed through the whole process.

Delivery is tomorrow a.m. I'm stoked.

Best wishes.

 

I always took it as a bit of an insult that Honda started the rebadging of dealers (Acura) over here again. I figured that the idiots running Nissan, Toyota, etc. made the same stupid mistake.

Then I bought an S2000. I wouldn't want to let the average Honda dealer try to sell and expensive luxury cars if I was running Honda. I imagine management thought the same thing at Nissan, Toyota, etc. The whole Honda / Acura thing doesn't seem so stupid any more. I wish they would have just fixed the Honda dealers, instead.

 

I had an experience when my dad and I went for a test drive and the car was steering to one side and my dad asked the salesperson why-the guy responded "could be the road"

What a joke!

 

I usually steer clear of the "stupid salesman" post since I have a bit of a bias on the matter. However, I will answer your question about "stupid farts becoming manager" Quite simply, they are usually a product of another time when that was the norm, and success on the sales floor, encouraged promotion. Owners wanted people that could "slam a guy into that car" to teach new younger sales guys how to do this. These guys are still in power. The car business (as we know it) is only 1 generation old, and some of the original owners are passing their dealerships off to their kids. We call these kids real "PHDs" (Papa Has Dealership) Unfortunately, they learned a lot of "bad" habits.

 

First off yes most honda guys are undertrained on simple car sales techniques. I have been at dealerships where I have taken over a sale, basically answering all questions in regard to the car and explaining how a lease works.

My technique is simple. I simply walk into the big office where all the managers are. Offer them a simple deal they take it or I walk out.

It took me approx 30 min to walk in and walk out with my car at msrp on a 2001 with payments that were within 1-3 dollers of what I calculated them to be. Regardless of the 10k over sticker on the window I got what I wanted. The best thing being that I bypassed the saleman's commission and got to the guys who could sign paperwork, its not there job to deal with looky loo's and when they know your serious they work very quickly.

Now the guys at the european dealerships have better trainging a staff that understands how to sell car and can treat a client right. I had a much more enjoyable experience buying my VW's/Porsche's then the Honda but I expected this. I really wish they had simply made the S a Acura so we could at least get some version on service as It is my main grip with the car as a whole. A small grip but one non the less.

 

Colin, Stormbringer, very interesting info. Thanks!

Otter, I was wondering if you would elaborate a little more... I'm having a little trouble getting your gist. It seemed to me like you were saying the Acura guys wouldn't be set up to sell S2000s because all they understand is luxury cars? Isn't that really the issue with Honda dealers (i.e., that they don't know how to handle high-end stuff)?

Lemme know what you think; I'm really curious.