playdoh43

you should get a much better treatment at mazda if you are shopping for an rx8... the average on lot time for the rx8 in 2006 was 162 days, thats more than 5 months from the time it arrives arrives in the dealership before its sold. i imagine theyd be pretty desperate to sell it to you not to mention work out a killer deal and saves you thousands over the s2000

saturn

You sure got them! How are they ever going to stay in business without your charitable donation?

What is wrong with you? Get over yourself. You ever stop for 2 seconds and realize that perhaps this dealership would end up giving you the best deal? You're letting your ego control your life.

CosmosMpower

That salesman is full of crap, Honda isn't moving the S's too well right now. My buddy is a local sales guy and they have seven 07 S2000's on the lot that they can't give away for 29.9.

TomAssBender

Oh the irony!

Rhawb

I think it's a question of principles and perception. If I don't feel a company has any concern for me as a customer, I'll gladly give my money to a company who I feel will treat me as a valued customer, even if it means paying a little more. Being initially blown off by sales people usually heralds problems further down the line - If they can't even put on a nice face when you get in the door, what's that saying about the rest of the process and ownership experience?

It's not like that dealership is going to be so broken up about losing him as a customer that they're going to make some kind of deal where they lose money on the car. Any other dealership should be able to make the exact same deal, even if it takes a bit more haggling.

Either way, they screwed up and blew a deal. You're right that such a small loss will likely not hurt them at all, but if they keep doing what they did to him, they're going to be hurting for business in no time. It's aggregate, kind of like voting - no one deal is going to make or break the business, but if enough deals go south, they're in trouble.

saturn

I understand the value of good customer service, but generally once you've bought the car, you're done with that dealership if you so choose. Take it to another dealership for service.

I don't even necessarily disagree with the OP in terms of not wanting to deal with the dealership. But rather than making a calm calculated decision about whether or not it's a good idea to deal with this dealership, he's acting like they soiled his family name or some crap like that. People need to settle down and stop acting like the world owes them a favor.

I guess I just don't understand how his pissy attitude is going to help this situation at all. If you're the kind of person who would be happy with this salesman losing his job simply because he didn't want to talk to you then you are a huge loser.

playdoh43

i agree with saturn

Rhawb

I'm not saying his attitude is helping the situation, but I can definitely see where he's coming from. A salesman is likely the first in a series of people you're going to be dealing with if you decide to go ahead with a purchase. If they're already screwing around with you at such a low level, it's likely that it's not going to stop as you move up the chain. You're going to have to deal with those people in the purchasing process even if you end up not servicing the car there. Maybe he should have been more calm, but I know from personal experience that being jerked around by a car salesman leaves a real bad taste in your mouth, so I can't blame him for being upset.

Come to think of it, it seems we're making similar arguments, but highlighting different aspects of the situation. As far as I can tell, we agree on most of the main points. What the hell am I still harping on this for?

As far as the comment about the guy losing his job - I'm making light of the fact that one blown sale can get a guy ****-canned in the auto sales industry. It's not that I take pleasure in hearing about people getting fired.

TimzSI

When I walked into the dealership I bought my Mazda from, young sales guy walks up to me and says "Hey, what can I help you find?" Me, "A Phantom Blue RX8. If you can find me one, I'll talk numbers right now." "Ok, well, lets go drive this brand new black 6 speed while my buddy searches inventory."

20 miles later we were back, they found me a car, and I came back the next morning to pick her up. It was by far the easiest dealer experience I've ever had, or heard of. Browns Fairfax did me right. So far. :D

saturn

Because like me, you're in it for the free posts.

Rhawb

Sir, you make a compelling argument!

swoope

iTrader: (5)

dude,

beers

lone_wolf025

For some reason I found that all very amusing.

On a semi-valid contributory note...

no drive/jerky salesman = bad juju plus more bad juju that infects others
a drive/good salesman = good juju or good juju from others down the road

HeavyMetal699

My friend has an '02 S2000 and he's had a hell of a time with it.
The rear ends would sometimes stick or something and it happened to him while it was raining and lost control. Honda said the car was abused and that they would not honor the warranty. He paid out of pocket to replace the rear end.

That said a 36k mile factory warranty is a little too short for me. The S2000 has its lion's share of problems itself, especially the earlier builds. I feel like "Honda reliability" isn't what it used to be.

Best story I got is about my uncle. He owns his own construction company and is quite successful. Went to go buy a Lexus and the salesman asked him if he could even afford it. He went to a different dealership and ended up with a Lincoln.

Incompetent people work everywhere.

saturn

I applaud your cromulence good sir!

SoFL_RX8

Oh and YOU are one to talk about having an EGO?

HAHAHAHAHA! Look in the mirror if you wanna see an egomaniac.

SoFL_RX8

And BTW Im not saying that my individual sale is gunna make or break the dealership, I know that Im just a drop in the bucket... but as someone noted before, its like voting. The individual may not matter, but the masses do, and individuals are what make up that mass. Treat too many individuals wrong, and soon you have no mass-buisness to fall back on.

And if that dealership was gunna end up giving me the 'best deal' they'd have to get me to want to buy a car from them first. Your point falls short.

I remained professional the entire time, and the only person I was ever even slightly nasty to was the salesman who wasted my time, and even then I was pretty damned composed and professional, despite the annoyance. For some of you to suggest that my 'attitude' had something to do with the situation is ignorant and uninformed... the only attitude being thrown around here is from some of the responders.

saturn

The difference, though, is that I'm awesome. You didn't think about that huh?

You can try and play stupid games with me if you want. Point is you got pissed because they didn't fawn all over you. You can say you were professional and all that as much as you want, but the issue is YOU caused your own problem. You could have called ahead, dressed up, or remained patient. You're more concerned with proving yourself right to us than you were about actually getting what you really wanted -- a test drive. You still haven't gotten that point. The title of this thread says it all. You're being overly dramatic and expecting all of us to applaud you for failing at what you were trying to do.

SoFL_RX8

W.E. saturn, youre never wrong in your own world... Im so glad I dont live there.

SOVINE

Honda dealership here in Austin did the same thing to me. No used S2000's and the guy said I had to buy it before I could drive it. I just laughed and left. Makes me think about the break in period for the rx-8 and how many people dog the car in test drives on brand new ones.

SoFL_RX8

^ This seems to be a pretty common occurance for potential S2K buyers from what Ive been seeing on this forum and in my discussion with people at car meets.
Wonder if Honda knows how many sales have been diverted due to the 'test drive' issue, because it seems to be a lot.

DaveCM203

I find that so funny. I test drove an S2000 just a couple of weeks ago. I was just killing time and told the salesman that I had no intention of buying. He still insisted on a test drive. So, I went. I did not dog the car but I did not drive it like grandma either and he never said anything about a 20mph break-in period. Besides, how in the hell do they expect a car to be driven only 20 mph for 1,000 miles? I would not be able to get the car home as I would have to drive it on the highway. That sales man you had was an idiot.

Your story reminds me of the day that I bought my 8. I finaly decided on the STI and so we went to buy it. I drive up in a '99 S2000 with my wife. There just happened to be the EXACT STI that I wanted on the lot. The salesman went and got the key and came back, started the car, and asked me if I was ready to buy. My wife laughed at him and I told him that I will not buy any car I cannot drive unless it is VERY special. He said he could not let me drive the car unless we filled out a credit app. I assured him that credit is not an issue and we were driving a car that costs as much as the STI. I was 33 and my wife was 35 at the time and I told him what we did for a living so that he would know that we were not joy ridding. I also told him I came there to buy. He still refused. The thing is that another salesman let me drive one 6 months before (that salesman was no longer working there). I told him that we had to think about it and we left.

Amy said, "you were looking at the RX8, let's see what they will do." We ended up with my 8 and never regreted it one secound.

The funniest part was when the Subi Salesman called the next day and asked if I was ready to buy the STI. I told him that I already bought an 8 and he asked, "When?" I told him about ten minutes after I left his dealership. He got quiet. I told him I would have bought it if he let me drive it and hung up.

bottoms up

makes me wanna go try to test drive one now...just to see what happens...im 21 and female...should be interesting...ill let you know

HeavyMetal699

I buy cars through my credit union because they give me better rates. That said I can get preapproved for obscene amounts and go test drive any car I want. I've worked in sales and I was taught that no credit report no sale. Also if you are ever going to test drive cars at multiple dealerships the best way to go about it with the fewest hassles is to let one of them pull your credit on the condition that you get a copy of your credit report. That said don't pull your credit very often or your scores will drop, and I wouldn't pull it unless I was serious buying a car.

m477

Yeah, this cracks me up about car dealers. Considering the amount of work it probably takes to get a sale from the average person who is usually cross-shopping other cars and other dealers, you'd think they would recognize how lucky they are to have someone just come in off the street, ready to immediately purchase a car which is already on their lot!

Similar thing happened to me when I bought my 8, one of the dealers I talked to demanded that I undergo a credit check before even test driving one. I told them it didn't matter since I wasn't using their financing, but they refused to work with me otherwise. I ended up going out of state and getting a better deal anyway, but the funny thing was I drove almost right past that dealership on the way home. Unfortunately it was late so they were probably closed by that time, but I would have loved to have driven up and showed the sales manager how their stupid policies were losing them sales.