BE INFORMED - AT LEAST ONE MANAGER USES STEREOTYPICAL HIDE-THE-BALL TACTICS
In short, a manager and salesman at this dealership did not inform me of the Honda Loyalty Appreciation Offer I was eligible to receive and tried to pocket it as profit without disclosing this to me.
Although there are several Honda dealerships in our areas, what brought me there was their participation in the Costco Auto Buying program, where in exchange for leads they had agreed to fixed pricing in relation to invoice cost of vehicles. I had sent an inquiry regarding a 2022 Pilot and had been in contact with one of their salesmen.
Prior to visiting, I had submitted information to value and receive offers on my potential trade, independent of my purchase interest. In response, someone different from Dean Honda's purchase department contacted me interested in purchasing my vehicle at the KBB estimated value of $26,300 (this included my submitting photos and disclosing some door dings/scratches).
When visiting the dealership to test drive the 2022 Pilot and allowing them to inspect my vehicle, the salesman handed me a KBB form offering me $26,195 for my vehicle, assuring me that Dean Honda was giving me the fair market value for my vehicle. When I asked about the reduction from the original $26,300 offered by the dealership, he said that the value was slightly reduced based on the cost to repair some of the dings/scratches (fair enough - had no problem with that).
I then asked the salesman for the Costco program price for the Honda Pilot. Instead of providing the pricing sheet in accordance with the Costco program rules, he showed me a page in a binder showing the amount over invoice his dealership had committed to under the Costco program (not how it should be presented, but not a huge deal).
While he was getting a write-up from the manager, I then asked if my understanding was correct that Honda manufacturer incentives were independent of the Costco pricing. He confirmed that they were. I then asked if the Loyalty Appreciation Offer could be applied to the vehicle price, as well, as I met the criteria. The salesman said he wasn't sure if this incentive was applicable to the 2022 models but would check if the the vehicle I was interested in was eligible.
When the salesman returned, with him was a manager. The manager sat down and said he had heard we were asking about the Loyalty Appreciation Offer and then informed us that he had "already given that to us in the trade-in offer." I immediately expressed dismay and displeasure, telling him that he should have disclosed this and can't ethically use such a tactic. He smugly responded by saying "we can do whatever we want with it . . . it is our money" (yes - that is a direct quote). In both trade offers, they made no mention of this offer being subsidized by the Honda Loyalty Appreciation Offer, obviously keeping me unaware of it so they could keep it as profit. My wife and I immediately gathered my things and left, expressing my displeasure to the salesman as he handed me my keys on my way out. He told me he understood and was not going to defend the manager's tactic.
This whole experience has me reluctant to go back to any Honda dealership if this is what Honda allows managers to do with what Honda advertises as customer loyalty rebate, rather than a dealer incentive. I'm hoping this is not the case and that this dealership did not act in accordance with Honda's intent and instructions. I would have thought that such tactics would no longer be tried in an age of transparency and information readily available to consumers, especially at a Honda dealership. read more