Do dealers treat NSX owners differently?

[captngaryr]

Yeah- McGrath Morton Grove sucked. Westmont was better, but I was still pretty uneasy after all was said and done.

I'm real happy to have a good dealer in Flatirons though. They took great care of me, so I am sure to sing their praises as often as I can.

Phil

That was my 2nd bad experience with an Acura/Honda stealership last year. My 3rd was when I took my wife's CRV in for routine service and they left the radiator cap off. My wife drove the car for a month until I discovered the cap was missing. The radiator was almost empty. The only thing that saved the engine was the fact that it was a very cold January last year. She commutes about 30 highway miles per day.

 

[tonyf]

I've owned Honda products since I bought a 1985 Honda Prelude. Still miss that little car. I autocrossed it until it had about 150 k then in 95 it was toasted by a drunk. Even with a ran hard beater if I went to the Honda shop they treated me like I just bought a new NSX next door at the Acura shop. Which I did to replace the Prelude. guess thats why I keep come back Honda has built its reputation on producing quality cars and providing service that can't be beat. I'm not even a little bit surprised at your recent experience.

 

[NousDefions]

Barney is the man! He's excellent and actually that's a good price on an alignment at the dealer- seems like mine was more. Anyway that the typical charge at a dealer - it's the same in Atlanta. That's the easy stuff. You probably take it to Barney for anything else; right? He did a bunch for me when I bought mine. Great guy!

I do all the work myself that I can, which is all the minor to semi-major stuff (I've done tranny swaps, clutches, timing chains, and water pumps on my other cars). I had Barney (at his shop) do a rear camber kit because I wasn't comfortable that I would be able to properly push out the old bushings. Good thing, too: Barney had to call a buddy of his, who custom CNC-machined a tool so we could press out the bushings without damaging the upper control arms.

I'm a "DIY because I don't like being mad at other people" guy, but Barney is top notch. One of these days, he'll get his alignment machine calibrated and get an in-house dyno... and I'll be down there a lot more.

 

[Patdeisa]

No, the local dealer doesn't treat NSX owners differently. I'd almost guess that they treat us worse since we have a more expensive car and money doesn't matter as much, right? I'll still take the RSX there for state inspections, only because they do it for free, but otherwise, I'm supporting Prime's advertisers for parts...

The local BMW dealer repaired an out-of-warranty issue because they said the previous dealer, who we bought the car from, should have found and fixed the issue before selling it as certified pre-owned. They've always been straightforward- no discounts, but no BS either.

 

[EuroBoutique]

Let me first say each dealer is unique so don't start to stereotype please....

Of course driving a fancy car will get your VIP service. Is it proper? Probably not but it's human nature. A Bentley guy certainly pays for his Bentley service and the NSX does has the benefit of looking more $$$ even though it maybe half the price of a RL client.

The ONLY dealer I would mention here which 95% of the time guarantees good service no matter where you bought the car is Lexus. I've owned my share and they give you the best service BAR NONE IMO. Any other brand is hit/miss minus the exotics which may also suck! My friend's dad brought in his 300 mile Bentley with a dead battery on a tow, dealer charged $600 for the battery and no loaner!

Acura/Honda is just another brand to me, high end or not they offer decent service but their prices are never that great. If you want to save money but online or do it yourself. Dealers are out to make money so I don't really mind they want to charge high prices, I just don't go there. It's like going to a high end store like Tiffany's and complaining....their prices are known to be high and their quality is just average to me. But people still go there to buy and I have yet to see a guy complain to his wife it costs to much openly in public.

We all have different levels of perceived value so what is a good deal to one guy will seem ludicrous to another. Take the Mugen brand for example, I find it stupid to pay $6k for a set of rims but always a schmoe that swears it's the holy grail of parts See my point?

I've had great service with BMW "usually" but I do agree they suck at giving out loaners. It's my choice to deal with it since I love the M-cars.

My point is don't buy a car because of the dealer or what you are entitled to in terms of treatment. Buy the car because you love the car, the rest really doesn't matter to me at the end of the day.

 

[mlambert890]

I've been greeted only with indifference in taking the NSX's I've owned to various dealers. Including when I had bought new in 2003 and now with a heavily modded one.

Service is always good enough and folks are friendly, just certainly no "special treatment", which is good b/c I wouldn't be comfortable with that.

I've also owned BMW's steadily since 2001 and have had nothing but good experiences with the dealers Ive used including a *really* generous lease return inspection where I could have easily been dinged.

I agree that you need to be an educated consumer at a dealership, but they're not all bad and you don't always get ripped off. For me, the convenience and the "throat to choke" is kind of worth it overall. Plus the formally kept records and the relationship with a dealer when I buy again.

I've had an equal number of horror stories with independents, to be honest. Just because someone is a well respected, word of mouth, indie doesnt make them some sort of folk hero. You can bet there are people who will say they were ripped off, etc.

I think its all about finding a place you feel comfortable, knowing your car, doing your homework, and keeping your eyes open and that applies whether you use indies or dealerships.

 

[synth19]

Yeah- McGrath Morton Grove sucked. Westmont was better, but I was still pretty uneasy after all was said and done.

I'm real happy to have a good dealer in Flatirons though. They took great care of me, so I am sure to sing their praises as often as I can.

Phil

+1. I also had a bad experience with McGrath Acura in Morton Grove. Their sales department straight out lied to me on a few things when I was looking to purchase a second hand RL. I guess they didn't realize I was an informed customer.


Another crappy dealer experience I have to mention is Ed Napleton Acura in Elmhurst IL. Three bad experiences, I had an oil change done on my Acura RL, twice they did not top /check all the fluids as they are supposed too. I noticed it the first time because my windshield wiper fluid indicator was on before I came to the dealer, and after. The second time I checked myself and same thing! The last straw was my battery kept on draining and brought the RL to this dealership to check out under warranty. I went there because they are literally 3 minutes from my house. They said I have to replace my battery terminals and it would be "very expensive" and not covered. I went to Mullers in Schaumburg/Hoffman Estates for a second opinion, and they took the time to properly diagnose the problem. Found out it was my seat controller which was draining the battery and replaced the unit (no problems since). I found Mullers has treated me right and now I drive 30 minutes (instead of 3) out of my way to work with them. Not sure if they treat me any better since they know I have an NSX, but the experience has been very good thus far.

 

[clr1024]

At the BMW Store in Cincinnati, they wear white coats like they think they're Drs. My girlfriend went ballistic on the service manager when he came back with a $172 bill for an oil change and installing two windshield wipers. She asked him what he would say if his wife came home and had paid someone $60 to put two new wipers on? He took it off the bill and cut the outrageous oil change bill in 1/2 after admitting that no their mechanics did not attend "Oil Change University" to get that Doctorate and the white coat.

I was considering buying an E46 M3 as my daily driver...this is the reason I may stay away, out of warranty and service at BMW is notorioulsy horrible and expensive...

 

[Tony Montoya]

There's free coffee at the BMW dealer and free coffee at the Acura dealer.
I once had free coffee and donuts at an Acura dealer in Calgary and I wasn't even a customer. I drove a Toyota.