local acura dealership question
 

i am currently trying to find a new car for my mom, and i've been some of the local acura dealerships. when pricing out a vehicle, i've noticed that there is a $500 non-negotiable dealer add-on for "wheel locks, nitrogen tire fill, and wheel damage insurance"... is this something new that i'm not aware of? :confused:

i don't recall paying for that 3 years ago.

lol thats a new one. But see what the wheel insurance is about... we have a 299 security fee, which is vehicle theft insurance. It's non-negotiable as well.... It's just another way for them to make money.

my understanding is that it's some sort of insurance coverage against damage to the wheels, in which they will be either repaired or replaced at no cost to the owner.

just tell them that you don't want it.

and if they say you have to get it, then tell them that you're going to another acura dealer to make a purchase.

as stated, it's "non-negotiable", and i did go to another acura dealer and it was also there again :(

Lol it's their business, they can charge any fees they want. If you aren't going to buy a new Acura based on 500 bucks I guess it's your loss
Posted via RS Mobile

get a lexus ;P

Ignore it. Sit down, do a deal, get to the very end, right before you're about to sign, and say: "What the fuck is this $500 fee? This is bullshit. There is absolutely NO NEED for pure nitrogen in a street car with street tires. Air is 75% nitrogen already. I have never in 20 years of driving curbed a wheel, I don't need insurance. I am insulted that you think I do. If you charge me this $500 fee, I'm walking. Go talk to your manager."

See what happens. I doubt they will let you walk.

He can't just ignore it if it's up front.... We disclose all our fees. If someone objects I just explain what it is and Why everyone pays it. If he or she threatens to walk I will continue to object and most likely let them go, especially if every other dealer has that fee.
Posted via RS Mobile

I'm just curious why they feel it's justified to charge for wheel locks and a nitrogen fill? Nitrogen in tires is pointless on your average car (hell, it's pretty much pointless anyway except for very specific purposes), and don't wheel locks come standard on a car anyway? If you're paying $50,000 for a car, I would certainly hope that they'd throw in a set of wheel locks for free...

actually not all cars come off the factory floor with wheel locks... very few actually...


i remember, even the new cayennes dont have them standard.. its ridiculous. then they charge you 599 or something for the set.

i searched US honda/acura parts sites online and they list the wheel locks for over $60usd. they look suspiciously like the mcguard locks i just saw earlier at lordco for $39.95cdn... oh well.

as for the nitrogen... does this mean whenever i need to keep the tires topped up, i can't use regular air and i have to search for a nitrogen filling station?

Excellent. Well said lol.
Posted via RS Mobile

I work at North Shore Acura, I'm not in the sales department, but I have never heard of this $500 fee. I know we don't put nitrogen in new cars anymore, stopped that probably a year ago.

We do put wheel locks on every car, no they don't come with them from the factory. Yes, they are made by McGaurd. I don't know or control the pricing, but I do know that they are acura specific locks. As in all the techs have a master set, that has all the variations of keys for the locks we sell. Which is handy if you do your servicing at the dealer, means we don't have to root through your car looking for the key. And also handy if you ever lose your key, we can remove the set without damaging your wheels, or determine which key you need, and order it on its own (cheaper)

when i worked at honda, they sell the wheel lock set for 42 something. putting them on was another 20 bucks.

I think we've concluded that the wheels locks are not worth $500 guys... I'm curious to know what the wheel insurance entails though...

So according to Acura.ca, wheel insurance isn't a mandatory purchase. Hrmm, isn't that interesting...

^ link to where it says that!!!

The other side is it's his money and if they are going to let him walk over a BS $500 fee and lose the sale it only hurt them. When you break it down he has infinite choices on what car he wants to buy and where he wants to buy it yet they only make money when they sell a car. He loses nothing from walking they lose their commission.

Then they will find someone else who is willing to pay the $500.

With such little markup in new vehicles in today's market, $500 makes a huge difference.

If I had a choice between making the usual $1000 profit on a car by waiting to sell to someone else, or making $500 quickly instead just to please some guy. I would wait. And I'm sure any sales manager would usually do the same unless next years stock is coming or something.

I don't know about Acuras mark up or what the insurance fee actually is, but our 2 fees at Suzuki ( $700 total) are completely nesseccary for us to make a profit. Without them we could hardly afford to pay the sales people for selling the car.

In a perfect world the price on the window/website should include absolutely every fee so everything is discolosed right away, and this is actually a law in BC, however it's hard to find a dealership that offers this.