Hello, everyone,
I am new to this forum...I've got a deposit down on an 02 with touring/nav at Sterling Acura in Austin, TX. Clicking through this forum has been a great way to intensify my anticipation (as if that were necessary), and will obvously be a great resource once I've officially joined your numbers.
I've got a story to share about the buying process at Sterling, and I'm curious to know if anyone has had a similar experience with this dealership.
I'm trading up from a Honda CR-V to an MDX. Since Sterling only wanted to give me $9000 in trade for the CR-V, I figured I can do better selling it privately. They can do something called an "in-and-out", where the dealer processes the paperwork for the private sale, and the buyer (in this case, me) gets the tax advantage as if it were a trade-in.
The first Acura guy I spoke with was one of Sterling's two sales managers (I'll call him "B.") who told me that Sterling charges $300 to handle the in-and-out. Fast forward two or three weeks, when I begin working with the other sales manager ("A.") to buy the MDX on which I currently have a deposit.* After some negotiations, he'd come down from $29K to $27.5K. A couple of days later, I tried to get him down to $26.5K, and he split the difference and came to $27K (an add'l $500 off). I'm absolutely NO GOOD at buying cars, so that worked for me. Then I said, "and how much do you charge for the in-and-out?"
A.: "It's $750."
Me: "$750? That's weird...last week, when I talked about this with B. and J., they told me it would be $300."
A.: "No. It's $750."
Two days later, on the phone, B. hesitantly confirmed that the standard fee is $300, but explained that it could be as much as $750 depending on the credit risk of my buyer (and the buyer's creditworthiness only comes into play IF my buyer got financing thru Sterling). Without knowing my buyer, A. couldn't have known that it would be $750 (so he just made back $450 of his $500 "price reduction").
Next, a talk with A.: He was all apology, saying if B. told me $300, they could do it for $300. He explained that he was just trying to give me the "worst-case scenario", not make me think I was getting a price reduction that I'm not getting. Yeah, right. I'll remind him that a scenario can only be worst-case relative to another scenario, either stated or implied. None was offered.
I've now given A. an opportunity to work me a better deal, but I haven't heard from him in three days. I'm going in Monday to start climbing the power-ladder until I get some results. Then, if necessary, I'm off to the TX Attorney General's office and the BBB.
Anyone had an experience like this specifically with Sterling in Austin? If nothing else, I wouldn't mind having a couple other stories to relate when I talk to them again...I'd be surprised if this hadn't happened to someone else.
Thanks for reading!
pcconrad
*Note: It was never my intention to be working with two different sales managers...I was first contacted by salesperson J., who brought in sales manager B. to answer some of my questions, including the cost for the in-and-out. Weeks later, I was contacted by a different sales person (J.'s replacement, "D."), who had found a vehicle that matched what I was looking for. He brought in sales manager A. when I wanted to negotiate price.
I am new to this forum...I've got a deposit down on an 02 with touring/nav at Sterling Acura in Austin, TX. Clicking through this forum has been a great way to intensify my anticipation (as if that were necessary), and will obvously be a great resource once I've officially joined your numbers.
I've got a story to share about the buying process at Sterling, and I'm curious to know if anyone has had a similar experience with this dealership.
I'm trading up from a Honda CR-V to an MDX. Since Sterling only wanted to give me $9000 in trade for the CR-V, I figured I can do better selling it privately. They can do something called an "in-and-out", where the dealer processes the paperwork for the private sale, and the buyer (in this case, me) gets the tax advantage as if it were a trade-in.
The first Acura guy I spoke with was one of Sterling's two sales managers (I'll call him "B.") who told me that Sterling charges $300 to handle the in-and-out. Fast forward two or three weeks, when I begin working with the other sales manager ("A.") to buy the MDX on which I currently have a deposit.* After some negotiations, he'd come down from $29K to $27.5K. A couple of days later, I tried to get him down to $26.5K, and he split the difference and came to $27K (an add'l $500 off). I'm absolutely NO GOOD at buying cars, so that worked for me. Then I said, "and how much do you charge for the in-and-out?"
A.: "It's $750."
Me: "$750? That's weird...last week, when I talked about this with B. and J., they told me it would be $300."
A.: "No. It's $750."
Two days later, on the phone, B. hesitantly confirmed that the standard fee is $300, but explained that it could be as much as $750 depending on the credit risk of my buyer (and the buyer's creditworthiness only comes into play IF my buyer got financing thru Sterling). Without knowing my buyer, A. couldn't have known that it would be $750 (so he just made back $450 of his $500 "price reduction").
Next, a talk with A.: He was all apology, saying if B. told me $300, they could do it for $300. He explained that he was just trying to give me the "worst-case scenario", not make me think I was getting a price reduction that I'm not getting. Yeah, right. I'll remind him that a scenario can only be worst-case relative to another scenario, either stated or implied. None was offered.
I've now given A. an opportunity to work me a better deal, but I haven't heard from him in three days. I'm going in Monday to start climbing the power-ladder until I get some results. Then, if necessary, I'm off to the TX Attorney General's office and the BBB.
Anyone had an experience like this specifically with Sterling in Austin? If nothing else, I wouldn't mind having a couple other stories to relate when I talk to them again...I'd be surprised if this hadn't happened to someone else.
Thanks for reading!
pcconrad
*Note: It was never my intention to be working with two different sales managers...I was first contacted by salesperson J., who brought in sales manager B. to answer some of my questions, including the cost for the in-and-out. Weeks later, I was contacted by a different sales person (J.'s replacement, "D."), who had found a vehicle that matched what I was looking for. He brought in sales manager A. when I wanted to negotiate price.
