Having read some silly yet positive reviews, we gave Hagerstown Honda a chance. I do wonder if the reviews are planted. Is it really important the salesman demonstrated options or showed all the available colors. Does an enthusiastic sales person make a bad deal good? Why would any knowledgeable buyer buy because an F&I guy explained the value of an extended service contract? Particularly for a Honda. Planted?
I understand it takes a meeting of minds for a deal to work. I have no issue with not reaching a deal at Hagerstown. We did encounter some issues at Hagerstown.
Cars are commodities bought at many dealerships. In the end it is sales philosophy which differentiates dealerships. We have purchased Honda vehicles in the DC area. At most dealers, we had much better experiences than in Hagerstown. Well, the one in College Park is ????
We had an appointment with an internet manager. When we arrived, they seemed to notice the age of my daughter and replaced him with a younger sales guy. Coincidence questionable.
I had contacted several dealers, including Hagerstown, and got very good and comparable prices. Hagerstown's price was nearly $2000 higher. Hagerstown agreed to match the better pricing. My initial feeling was it would be best to avoid Hagerstown, but we gave them a chance since they had the vehicle in stock which we wanted.
I researched the value of our trade on KBB, NADA, and Edmunds. I gauged the condition of the trade at very good. At that condition, the average trade value, not private sale value which Hagerstown initially argued, is about $18,000 to $18,500. I was willing to go with $17,500, perhaps $17,000 if things were positive. Interestingly, Black Book also valued the trade at up to $18,000 depending on condition. Anyone who knows cars knows Black Book is usually low.
I expected an initial trade offer of about $16,000, which we would then settle at $17,500 or so. Hagerstown assessed its condition as very good. Same as me. Good for us, the deal was moving forward.
Hagerstown went online and accessed KBB to arrive at a fair trade value. They came up with around $14,000. Seriously? Certainly not conducive to a sale.
My daughter quickly noticed they had not included some items, apparently minor items to Hagerstown, like AWD, Nav and roof rack. The salesman left the office allowing her to correct the omissions on the guy's computer. Voila, the trade value rose to about $18,000.
Wow, this was going to be good for us and the deal. After all Hagerstown had already indicated it would use KBB to value the trade. Surely, they would come close to the $17,500 we needed to reach a deal. Not so fast.
Apparently, Hagerstown was only willing to use KBB if they could get the trade vehicle at an absurdly low price. Thankfully, I am not an idiot when it comes to car buying. Though the salesman did suggest I know little. Well apparently I know enough not to give away an asset based on the comments of a young salesman.
I had anticipated an initial offer of around $16,000. Notice the $14,000 is $2,000 less, very close to the difference between Hagerstown's initial quote and the price they matched. Coincidence, questionable.
It seems to me Hagerstown's sales philosophy may include attempts to recover lower sales price in other areas of the deal. This is not uncommon at some dealerships. If we did not have a trade, would Hagerstown have found some other trick to recover the $2,000? Thankfully, we will never know.
The salesman asked my daughter for her SSN. Not sure if he ran an unauthorized credit check. He left saying he would speak with a manager, perhaps the guy with whom we had an appointment, to see if he could find some more value in the trade. Amusingly, the manager found an additional $2,000. This raised the trade value to $16,000, about what we owe on the loan. Coincidence, questionable.
Perhaps I am ignorant in these areas as the young salesman suggested, but I do not understand the relationship of a outstanding car loan amount to the value of the vehicle. Apparently, to Hagerstown those two amounts are the same. I do wonder had we stayed at Hagerstown a bit longer, would they have explained the esoteric details of this relationship. Once again, we will never know,
At this point, things had, as Bob Dylan said, changed. The best action was for us to leave while we still had our wallets.
Got a call the next day from the sales manager. Guy assured me his deal was "super fair." Well, as shown below his deal was certainly not the best. Guess is idea of fair is different than mine.
To complete the saga. Visited Criswell the next day. With virtually no stress, Criswell allowed $17,000 for our trade. We got the same vehicle at the same price Hagerstown had agreed to match. Also got the special Honda finance rate. Yes, folks considering a purchase at Hagerstown might truly be better served at a dealer like Criswell. read more