From: rao@tree.egr.uh.edu (Jagannatha  Rao)
Newsgroups: rec.autos
Subject: Bought a 93 Civic LX 4-door....(long post)
Date: 16 Dec 1992 17:52:00 GMT
Organization: University of Houston
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: sysmod.egr.uh.edu
Keywords: Ransom for the buyer's order........



Thanks to everybody who wrote to me regd. a new car purchase that I was  
assisting with. 

We wanted to get a decent 4-door small sedan with reasonable options for about  
$12K + TTL. 

We got many suggestions; the Sentra, The Mazda Protege, Saturn, Geo Prizm etc.

We finally bought a Civic because: we were in a hurry (car rental charges were  
adding up), I have a Civic of my own, the Protege was a very nice car but there  
were questions about the resale value of an Escort-similar car, Sentra's were  
our next best option but air-bag was not standard and foldable rear seat was  
available only in higher trim models, the Saturn SL1 felt (very much)  
underpowered and SL2 was a bit out of our price range. 

The Civic LX  has moderate power and has many power options which are nice in a  
sedan (power locks, windows and also cruise).

Now, let me relate my own little "dealer from hell" story. Note that I have  
read Remar Sutton's book a few times, so that helped.

I figured the  total dealer cost on a 93 Civic 4-door LX with a/c and floor  
mats to be around $11,500. This after making an educated guess about the  
infernal "dealer installed a/c option".  My credit union approved a 6.25% fixed  
apr, 48 month loan if I were to cosign, to which I   agreed.


So, after a week of test driving   different cars, we descended on our first  
Honda dealership last Friday. After the usual protest about why the buyer had  
to bring  me along, I made a firm offer of $11,900.  After some hesitation, the  
salesman took it to his manager, who turned it down. He came back with things  
like "you are close, etc. etc." but we walked out.

At the next place ("dealer from hell"), we walked in and offered a firm price  
of 12,000. Told him that on that price, we would buy immediately. The salesman,  
who did not seem very experienced, took this to his manager  who turned it down  
also. We were on our way out when the manager accosts us 
and rudely tells us what he thinks of us and our offering price.  I asked him  
if he was prepared to give us a firm, final price that we may consider on our  
way out. No way.
 
	"My list on that car is $13615.  $12K is below my cost."
"No, that is not true, I believe you are making $500-600 profit on my offer."
	"who told  you that?"
"My bank did."
	(very abusively) "You believe your bank? How many cars do they sell?  
Which  is your bank? Who did you talk to?" etc. etc.. (more shouting, more  
rudeness, and all other salesmen are now watching the manager scream at us).

"Listen, you keep this up for 5 more seconds and I am walking out of here"
and we did, saying that "you just lost our $12K business". We get into my car,  
and are half way out of the parking lot when we see the manager-oaf come  
running.  He was all apologies, smiles, and asking if we would reconsider  
walking out. I told him that I would not get out of my car until he agreed to  
my $12K price.  We sat in the car until he came back and said "I can't do floor  
mats in that price. My cost on them is $48, so for $12048, you can have that  
car."  I did not believe him, but thinking that he wanted some sort of victory,  
I agreed to $12048. What a worm.	

I thought our problems were over, but that did not turn out to be the case.  
After the usual protest for a phony $25 documentation fee, and turning down all  
of $1200 worth of fabric protection, paint sealant, underbody coating etc., our  
horrors began.  We had signed a buyer's order and they wanted a cash deposit.  
No problem, I put down a check for $200. I demanded both a copy of the buyer's  
order (to take to my credit union) and a receipt for my deposit.  The deposit  
receipt appeared after some protests (I don't know why) but they flatly refused  
to let me have a copy of the buyer's order, saying they won't let me pass the  
firm price on this car to others, and they <<promised>> to fax it to my bank  
themselves. 

THIS THEY DID NOT AND WOULD NOT. What jerks..

They knew that we were renting a car and so they kept delaying, lying, and not  
faxing for 3 more days until we got mad and asked what was happening. They said  
thay wanted to  arrange the financing themselves and we should visit the  
dealership again. I asked him to tell me the financing terms over the phone and  
he said "you are not the buyer, you are a cosigner who is not needed on our  
(exhorbitant rate) financing, so jump into some lake". I put the buyer on a  
conference call, and now the finance-worm got very upset, and  he hung up on  
us, saying that he would not fax it to my credit union and if we wanted to buy  
the car, we had to pay him a visit. Otherwise, the limbo continues. 

Finally, I called my credit union to complain about this dealership, and asked  
them to get involved by requesting the buyer's order themselves on my behalf.  
This they did and we finally took delivery of the car. The sales critter said  
at the end that the dealership was very upset with us because they "literally  
gave the car to us" and wanted to make some profit on the back end of the   
financing. I don't believe this. 

However, I am still a little satisfied that I got this dealer so aggravated and  
riled up about this deal. 

BTW, if you are in Houston, the dealership is McDavid Honda on the Gulf  
Freeway.

  

--
Jagannatha Rao				E-mail:rao@tree.egr.uh.edu
Department of Mechanical Engineering    Tel   :(713) 743-4535
University of Houston                   Fax   :(713) 743-4503
Houston, TX 77204-4792