There are 3 Honda dealers in my area. After reading reviews on each, I decided to give the "little guy" a try as I mistakenly thought that they would be more attentive and customer focused.
In late October I called the dealer to request a test drive of a 2020 Honda Fit. With the lease on my current 2018 HRV coming to an end, I was considering a new vehicle. I believed the information on the website which stated that Coconut Point would bring the vehicle to my home for a test drive. However, when I mentioned this to sales representative, Omar Hernandez-Jimenez, on the phone, he claimed not to know anything about it and said that I must come into the dealership. So I made an appointment to visit him at the dealership and test drove two vehicles - a 2020 Honda Fit and 2020 Honda HRV.
During the test drives, I noticed there was literally zero gas in the tank of either vehicle but Omar said we would be fine. Since the test drive consisted only of driving to the nearest stoplight and making a "U" turn, he proved correct. However, it didn't give me the best impression and sadly this was only a harbinger of worse things to come.
Omar provided me written quotes for both the 2020 Fit and 2020 HRV which were sky high compared to their posted web quotations. It seems that they gathered the information on my current lease and used that to make their initial quotation. This was problematic, since I would be downsizing in the case of the Fit or the HRV (I was looking at a FWD rather than my current AWD). I was also looking at 2020 models at the end of the year rather than a 2021.
When I inquired why the quotes were so much higher than the website which listed the 2020 HRV at $169/mo with $2500 down for 3 years/30,000 miles, Omar claimed not to be aware of this quote and laughingly stated that the website was designed by a separate marketing department. At this point, I was wondering whether to call the Better Business Bureau. What other business can quote one price in an advertisement and then say it is nothing but fiction when you show up to buy? It seemed like a classic case of "bait and switch." If they just honored their own advertisement, they would have had a sale that day and a happy customer. Instead, when I said that I wanted to wait and think about the offer, I was subjected to "tough sell" tactics from Chris Cunningham, the sales manager, who literally would not let me leave the building until he made his pitch. I can appreciate the need to sell as a businessman and his pitch was well within the bounds of fair play. But might I suggest that he just make his best offer at the beginning and say that is the best he can do? It might save some time for all parties. A bigger issue is that I felt disrespected because of the fact that I wanted to wait and was borderline taunted for doing so. Chris also seemed to take issue with the fact that I was wearing a mask and he poked fun at me for doing so claiming I was trying to maintain a "poker face." Is he not aware there is a pandemic going on?
After taking some time to consider the offers, I decided not to move forward with leasing a new vehicle from any dealership. However, I still needed to return my current lease and I wanted to honor the time that Coconut Point staff initially spent with me thinking that they would want my vehicle and could sell it at a tidy profit since it only had 11K miles. I called them on a Thursday and was informed that I did not need to make an appointment to return my vehicle and that I could do so at any time. When I asked if Saturday would still be okay, the woman said yes and that it would take less than 20 minutes. Nevertheless, I called again on Saturday morning before making the trip and spoke to another customer service agent who also confirmed that I could come in that day and make the return. Imagine my surprise when I arrived at the dealer and was told that Mr. Cunningham was the only one who could help and was full of appointments and that I would have to come back on Monday. Given that there was literally nobody else in the dealership, I can't imagine what he was busy doing. The fact that he made the receptionist deliver this news (the same woman I had spoken with on the phone 1 hour prior) also bodes ill for this dealership - he put her in a very difficult situation.
Thank goodness for Germain Honda in Naples! The sales manager, Laurie, immediately said to come in when I called. On arrival, I was greeted by James Koser (jkoser@germainhonda.com, 239-643-4044), the General Sales Manager, who explained the process and in less than 10 minutes he processed my return and had me back on my way. Best of all, he treated me with professionalism and respect and did not pressure me to purchase a new vehicle. I cannot thank him enough for helping me today. If I ever do lease or buy another Honda, I will start with him and his team - I guess sometimes larger is better when it comes to car dealers. read more