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SUVs Honda Pilot Honda Pilot Maintenance and Repair
3187 messages, Last post on Nov 28, 2009 at 11:32 PM
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Replying to: kipk (Aug 01, 2008 3:05 am) Thanks, jcancel53 |
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Replying to: jcancel53 (Jul 31, 2008 9:53 pm) |
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Replying to: jcancel53 (Aug 01, 2008 8:10 am) I've bought 60+ cars in my life and have come to the conclusion that everyone at a dealership will take as much money from you as they possibly can. Commissions= money in their pocket. When a new/used car is sold, the salesman makes more or less money depending on the profit they made. The new/used car manager gets a piece of the action as well as the general manager and of course the owner. That is money on the "Front End". So the more they can make, the more each earns. Period! The finance manager makes his money by "Selling" your loan to a bank or finance company. For instance: He runs your credit and find that you are an excellent credit risk. He then gets on line or calls the finance institution they like to do business with. In this case, say Honda Finance. So he is told they will loan the money at 6%. He tells you 10%. Any difference in the two is how his commission is figured. Example: At 6% the life of the loan might involve you paying say $3000 in finance charges. And that is what the finance company expects to make. But at a higher rate the finance charge might be $5000. Since the finance company will be receiving your payment, they give the finance man or dealer the $2000 difference. I don't know how or when they get the money to him. Lump sum? Monthly? Other? "This is called the Back End". He also makes a commission on Extended warranties. The 7/70 extended Honda Care warranty in 03 on our new Pilot was around $1600. We ended up paying closer to $900. Finance man wasn't real happy about that. Service writer will often times try to sell you stuff you don't really need as they get a salary + a small commission on the business they write. Just about every one at a dealership will twist the truth a bit to make more profit. I visit a dealership with this in mind: If their lips are moving they probably are not telling the whole truth.  Last time I "nearly" traded cars, I knew it was worth $17,500 trade. I told the salesman that was what I expected from the start. They offered $13,500 for my 03 Pilot about a year ago. My car had 27K miles, no door dings or scratches and the leather interior is perfect. I stood up, thanked him for his time, and asked for my keys. He looked shocked that I could pass up such a deal. I told him again that I wanted my keys. The keys were on the managers desk. The salesman went into the office, said something to the manager and the manager followed him back to me. After several times of his going back and forth to "THE DESK" they made the final offer of $16,500. I gave them that deer in the head lights look and went to his desk and got my keys myself. By the time I was at the front door the General manager got involved. She got it up to $17,200. This was within $300 of what I wanted. I said, "Show it to me on paper", which she did. I couldn't help but notice that the car I was trading for was nearly $900 more than originally quoted. She said it was because it had some stuff on it that had not been added to the invoice. She got annoyed when I asked what the stuff was. I thanked them for their time and left in my Pilot. Which I still happily own!  This was an internet sale. The price of their car was set. The only thing we had to do was figure my trade. At the time, Kelly Blue Book showed my Pilot at $17,500 trade, $19,500 Person to Person , and $21,500 dealer retail. If they had given me the $17,500 for my car and sold it for the $21,500 average they would have made $3000 and had 2 happy customers. But their greed of trying to make that additional profit off of me will keep me away from their door in the future. If they had gotten my car for the $13,500 and sold it for the "Average" dealer retail of $21,500, they would have made $8000 profit. BEWARE! If their lips are moving they are probably lying.  Kip
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Replying to: kipk (Aug 20, 2008 12:50 pm) ~ Claude Rains |
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Replying to: kipk (Aug 20, 2008 12:50 pm) These guys are big crooks. My honda pilot buying experience which I have explained in detail in the dealer review for DCH Brunswick Honda in NJ was completely a pleasant surprise. I wasn't trading in any car and was paying cash. They gave me a quote and held the price. The only extra thing I saw when I went to the dealership over the price quote was about 200 for window etching of the VIN number which I asked them to remove. They did that without a fuss. The finance manager tried to sell me th extended warranty which I declined and bought online. All in all the experience was too good to be true and I was kept up my guard the whole time waiting for the strike that never happened. But this was my only pleasant car buying experience. For the most part, these guys are a bunch of liars. When I was looking for a RAV4, the sales lady at Toyota of Manhattan made me trudge all they way to upper west side after promising me that they had the model I was looking for and then had the cheek to tell me "We have the Sport version? why do you want the Limited ? I'ts as good". I told them that I would take the sport version if they could install the side curtain airbags while we did the paper work !!. Overall, I find these car dealers are a bunch of crooks and they probably get enough suckers.
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Replying to: mercara (Aug 20, 2008 3:54 pm) |
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My mechanic told me today that front and rear brakes on my 2004 Pilot have 20% remaining. Is this a time to replace them? He told me that I should seriously consider replacing them sooner rather than later. I've not used this mechanic much... but he quoted about $450-$500 to replace them. With 53K miles, it seems early to replace brakes. Thanks for any input.
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Replying to: brm98072 (Sep 24, 2008 9:03 am) $450-$500 seems a bit much at 50K miles. What does Honda Dealer charge ? Brake pads themselves are not expensive. The whole set (4) can be replaced in less than an hour, with the correct tools. (Tires can be rotated at the same time. at no charge) One of the national muffler or brake shops is advertising $99 to replace the pads. . Rebuilding the calipers, turning the disc, replacing the brake fluid can be time consuming and fairly costly for parts. But I would doubt that all needs to be done at 50K miles. I would definitely get prices from other sources. Kip
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Replying to: kipk (Sep 25, 2008 2:44 am) |
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2004 Pilot - Does any one know how to reset this...It keeps blinking once the car is started - I have already changed the oil - but I never received a manual when I bought the car so I'm not sure how to reset this ... Can anyone help?
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