WANTED: NJ-area Dealer Recommendations

[dgolod]

I had MSRP in writing from Academy Honda (Paul Rittberg) and Willis Honda (Harold Weber or Brian Serick) in NJ (with $1775 in options plus $223.70 for tags, title and document fees). Avoid Princeton and Monmouth Honda dealerships as they are charging a premium. I was able to put Academy and Willis in a finance bidding war after presenting each with my approval from People's First rate of 5.49%/60 mo. Luckily, Both cars arrived ahead of schedule on the same day and had a "fully refundable" deposit holding them for me allowing me some leverage with the dealers. Academy would finance at 4.44% and Willis at 4.89% with some money down and a credit rating over 700. Willis dropped $360 from MSRP to get my business. In addition, Willis Honda in Burlington gives extras such as free window etching w/ theft insurance, loaner cars for service longer than 2 hours, free inspection and annual 12-point check-up if you mention their website, www.willishonda.com .

Willis was also the only dealership that does not take orders so it is first come, first served. I am picking up my SageBrush Pearl EXL tomorrow. Good Luck with your shopping experience.

[desipilot]

Bought my Pilot on 9/27 from Kay Honda. Earl Averell, the salesman was very pleasant and easy to deal with. I bought at MSRP but they threw in the Pro package for free and the overall experience was very nice !

On the contrary, Open Road honda was the worst ! The salesman had little knowledge about the vehicle (He offered both DVD RES and DVD Navi in the same package), the sales manager was very rude and insulting, and they wanted 2000 above MSRP !

[jfrano]

Bought my Pilot at Sussex Honda for MSRP. Wonderful to deal with and concerned about their customers.

On the other hand I had bad experiences with Rt 23 Honda, their more concerned with making money than what is best for their customer; bait and switch tactics etc.

[swoon]

We bought our Honda Pilot in Union, NJ -- Planet Honda. Salesperson was great - Jim Ozturk, but get approved for auto loan first. DO NOT GET SUCKED IN THROUGH HONDA FINANCE employees there. They will promise you that they will beat any lowest interest rate, then when you find one, they'll say "we never said that".

I've learned my lesson.

[dgolod]

Well, I liked Willis Honda (as mentioned previously on this thread) through the sale of the car. I got the car I wanted, when I wanted it, for $360 under MSRP. However, when they didn't get all 5's on my survey, I was told that the sales department (Harold Weber)could not do anything more for me. I do not know what that means, but it was rude. Anyway, if you leave your relationship with the dealer as business only, Willis Honda was fine.