trihonda: I got an LX SE for the same cost as an LX. I returned the LX after I discovered tail light fragments and spare bolts in the spare tire compartment. The dealer failed to notify me that it had been damaged and repaired. We had the LX for two days. When me made the exchange, they had just off loaded a bunch of vehicles from a vehicle hauler with one Odesey being HEAVILY damaged in the front.

For me it was a case for an upgrade for our inconvience or a return of the vehicle and us going to another dealer. I like the alloy rims, rear disc brakes, and the 6 CD changer. My wife likes the 6 CD changer plus the other things that come with the SE.

 

Yeah, the return law thing here makes a world of difference sometimes. The dealership I try to deal with on my car and would definitely look at for a new one has been around since like 1920, way before Hondas came over here, still owned by the same family.

My mom bought a Hyundai Sonata back in 2002, they worked out a monthly payment. Well the dealer added in $3k and didn't tell her about it and said it was because the car was in high demand. She went back when she found out after reading the papers a few days later and told them to take it off or they were getting the car back. It was a top model LX with everything, but heck she was already paying full MSRP on them, that was the norm on that car at any dealership.

Personally, I will be staying with the reputation and niceness of Honda. As well as most of their commericals are calm and just talk about nice cars. I hate these stupid Kia commercials around here with them yelling their 8000 dollar Kia Rios down your throat [:@]

 

Well, to give a little update...

We were being told by the dealer that the exact model we bought (and wanted in exchange) was hard to come by, so we would have to wait a month or so. Well after 3-4 months, and numerous reminder phone calls on our part, the dealership finally called to tell us they had our new car.

I was elated. We have put off accessorizing the 2006 car (tint and a rear spoiler) like we wanted, since it was to be traded in so soon. Also, we took a crappy interest rate on the factory financing, since we hadn't received our old car's insurance settlement by the time we had to buy the 2006 Accord. We planned on a re-fi when we got our settlement check, so we didn't care about interest rates at the time. Our old civic was submerged (totalled) in a freakish flash flood.

Anyway, I write the dealership back to confirm the deal and ask about new financing options. Also, I wanted to inquire about how we should go about clearing the title on our 2006 prior to the trade.

Since we had the deal in writing, in which the dealership sales manager stated we would "receive the same trim level and only pay the factory price increase of the car"...

imagine our suprise when the same sales manager wrote us back and said "I guess we had a slight misunderstanding on this deal. I said we would charge you the MSRP difference plus .15 cents a mile for the miles you have driven. This is more than fair we are doing this for customer satisfaction not for profit. "

I wrote them back (almost shaking mad), but tried to be cordial in my email. I calmly informed them the of the previously agreed upon deal. I mentioned how the sales manager provided us a written statement of the deal, and how the sales manager's use of the word "only" seemed pretty clear. After almost a week of not hearing from them, I called to speak with the original salesman. He informed me the sales manager was meeting with the GM regarding this issue, but his understanding was the deal was still to include .15 per mile. I calmly (again) informed of the written deal and stated it would not be acceptable to me to pay this mileage fee since it was not agreed upon prior. We ended our contact, but he got back to me shortly thereafter and said they would honor the deal "as I had understood it". I was like "of course you will..."

I spoke to several friends who work at my local Honda dealership, and they said I had them bent over a barrel. I wouldn't say it like that, but I was just trying to hold them to a deal they had proposed and wrote down on paper. I would have much rather preferred to have received my 2006 Accord in new condition back in July. But since I've been inconvenienced, I'll be satisfied with a 2007. My friends said had the Honda dealership not lived up to their deal, I could have made serious waves by working with Honda Customer Relations or even the better business bureau. My friends said that Honda Customer Relations would have made big waves at the dealership and gotten the attention of the big dealrship honchoes. I'm not sure if this is true, but it would have been my first recourse. We pick up the new car this Saturday, so I'll keep you all posted.

 

Well, we just picked up the 2007 Accord today and the transaction couldn't have gone better. Compared to the first one, where we spent almost 5 hours in the dealership, this one was just shy of 1.5 hours from front door to drive away. The car looks great. We got the 2007 in silver with black interior, compared to the silver with gray interior 2006. I like the accents of the black interior and contrasts to the brushed metal trim. Very sharp! Now, I have to add tinting and a spoiler, and we'll be practically done! I don't think I'll get my wife to agree to audio upgrades...