Garden State Honda - Experiences [ONGOING]

wanga

Well-Known Member
537
294
Northern NJ
Vehicle Model
Civic Si
Body Style
Coupe
4/20/11 was a great day for many... some called out of work to smoke some pot, others went to the NY Autoshow to see the new 9thGen Civic, and for others it was a normal day.

My wife and I have really been missing our 8th Gens (we traded our 8th's for a 2010 V6-MT Accord Coupe CBP). When we saw the 9th Gen concept we fell in love, it looks like a small accord, and we love how ours looks!

I went to Honda's site, filled out the quote form, and within hours I start getting emails and calls from dealerships, I ask each one, do you actually have the 9th Gen Si Coupe in stock? Can I test drive it?

Finally, Nicole from Garden State Honda (Clifton on 3E) calls, and she tells me they just got off the truck, theres a DBP in the showroom, they have an ASM and possibly a SOP. I was ecstatic, I called my wife, told her to detail the Accord, and that we'd be going for a test drive.

Garden State Honda called 3 more times to leave messages confirming our appointment, they said "Hello, my name is ---, and I'm calling to confirm your appointment to test drive a 2012 Honda Civic Si". This sounded great!

She picks me up from work, and we haul *** to the dealership, we park our car, and look around... There are no 9th Gen's outside, we come inside, I walk up to the reception desk and let them know I'm here to see Nicole, before I finish my sentence, Captain Patel runs to me smelling of curry, and asks me if I need any help, I politely say no, I'm waiting for someone. I'm politely ignored and he continues to tell me that he can help me with whatever I need and tries to drag me to sit down. I look around some more, I still don't see my Si, and now I'm getting a little angry, so I tell him that I'm not fond of his pushy-ness and that if I need his help, I will come see him.

Nicole came down, she was very nice, and introduced me to a nice old-school Italian gentleman who had a heavy European-Italian accent (not that typical American-Italian accent you see on TV). I told him I'm here for the 9th Gen, I told him Nicole and other people told me that they had it, He said that they don't but should have arrived that day, but the shipment was delayed.... He went to check their other dealership to see if they maybe had it, they of course did not.

I was now pissed that they had wasted my time and was ready to leave, I told the sales person that I was only there to test drive the car and since it's not there, I'm leaving. He was quick to pull my wife and I into his office to start giving us "the shpiel", It's such a rare car, it's such a hot commodity.. Long story short, he advised us to leave a deposit on the car and we'd be notified as soon as it came in.

He went to get his manager (Mr. Douchebag), who was another typical dealership tool. I went to get Nicole again, she came down, and I told her what was going on, I told her that this wasn't the first time this has happened (when we were looking for our Accord, they did the same thing, told us they had it, but didn't) She apologized for her mistake and said that when she checked her computer upstairs, that it said they had the car. I told her that this was very unprofessional, and this has happened twice now, and that overall, I wasn't very happy

By this point Mr. Deuchebag introduced himself and promised he'd do his best for me, and went into the same shpiel the salesperson went into, talking about the rarity of the car etc... etc... I told him that I don't care for his sales antics, I just want the car, they don't have it, and I'm going home. I said that I'll be happy to come back with the money again once they had the car. Mr. Douchebag was very quick to tell us that the car is hard to get, and goes very quickly and there's a waiting list, if we really wanted it, if we left a deposit on it, we'd be guaranteed to get it as soon as they got it.

I told him I'd leave a deposit, but it sure as **** better be refundable because I'm not buying a car I didn't test drive, especially when you're trying to suck me into leaving you a deposit, I explained to him our situation with the Accord, the v6 MT for 2010 really was rare and you had to order it, the car was great on paper, but not as fun to drive, so we didn't know any better, so we are not going to buy a car without test driving.

Mr. Douchebag stepped away to talk on his phone to find out when they'd have the car.
He came back and told us that definitely by June the car would be there.
He turned to the sales person, told him he doesn't know anything about the car, and to take over.
We filled out some paperwork, I gave him the money, and got the sales agreement back. I did mention that I would be willing to pay sticker, but no more than that. I don't feel like arguing over the price of the car, I rather they give me a good deal on the trade-in.

The sales order did say, money refundable pending test drive, it also said paying sticker price (24,---). Apparently they have a habit of charging up to 5k over sticker for Si's (they did it to my wife who bought her first Si there, and a bunch of other people). So they did kind of screw themselves on that.

So that's it for now... I'll update this thread with any more developments.
 
As a side note, best dealerships I've dealt with thus far:

Metro Honda on 440N in New Jersey -- We bought our Accord at Metro, the sales people are by far the best I've dealt with at any dealership, they know how to take no for an answer, they were knowledgable and overall awesome, I can see why they have so many sales and service awards, they truly deserve them. The service reps are great, and their service department is great too. They are fast and courteous. I actually called the sales person that sold us the Accord about the Si, she said she'd call us as soon as they have something.

Plaza Automall in Brooklyn NY (Bought my first 8th Gen there) - Their sales people are knowledgable, they're fair with prices/trades and negotiating. Their service department was awesome too, I always enjoyed going there, most of the service reps were great, the runners were very nice too.
 
I think you meant 2012 babe
Garden State Honda called 3 more times to leave messages confirming our appointment, they said "Hello, my name is ---, and I'm calling to confirm your appointment to test drive a 2012 Honda Civic Si". This sounded great!

But yeah, I hope something good comes from all of this.
 
we could have been the first to tell you there are no 2012 Si's out there yet.... i work for Headquarter Honda here in Clermont, FL and while i'm not actually a sales person (thank God!!!), i am quite knowledgeable regarding the new 9thGen Civic release schedule.

Civic 4DR - April 20th
Civic 2DR & Hybrid - 2 weeks following
Civic Si and HF- approx mid-May

mind you, this is the time for the dealership to be able to ORDER said units. delivery time-frame is pending several variables including but not limited to the disaster in Japan back in March and availability to order depending upon your particular dealership's status with Honda. what that means is the larger stores w/ more inventory and more sales history typically get first pick on what they like and get allocated the better stuff to start the model year.

that said, only the Civic sedan has been released and is available at many of the Honda dealers in the U.S. currently.
next to release is the coupe and Hybrid variants... followed by the Si and HF sedan thereafter.

keep in mind, not to expect an Si's--in VERY small quantities--until probably June as your post states. ASSUMING we can order an Si by mid-May, we would not expect it for a month or thereabouts after.

good luck with your situation though. hopefully other dealers closer to Canada where the Si is "final assemby" built, means they will get distrubuted in your area quicker.

~Joey
new car Dealer Trade Coordinator at HQ Honda

ps- i still LOVE my '07 RRFA5 and i'm 27 years old! :D
 
we could have been the first to tell you there are no 2012 Si's out there yet.... i work for Headquarter Honda here in Clermont, FL and while i'm not actually a sales person (thank God!!!), i am quite knowledgeable regarding the new 9thGen Civic release schedule.

Civic 4DR - April 20th
Civic 2DR & Hybrid - 2 weeks following
Civic Si and HF- approx mid-May

Good to know.. thanks for the clarification, at least someone knows what's going on.
 
yeah it's a shame that you got BLATANT mis-information from that dealership. not a good way to conduct business at all. there is a little thing called word-of-mouth and now that you've posted this topic, i'm sure word will spread.

hopefully for them, they will turn things around and get better. if not, then all i can say is "word travels fast..."

:)
 
I would have just walked out without giving them any money. That's not cool at all what they did misleading you like that.
 
Personally speaking, I wouldn't have rewarded them with money for lying to you about availability. ANY dealer can order one of these in for you, which sounds exactly like what they did. I'll be curious to hear your thoughts on the car but that's really poor.
 
Got this email a few days ago:

From: Gaetano Valente <xxx@gardenstatehonda.com>
Subject: Just letting you to know .....
Date: May 2, 2011 11:33:07 AM EDT
To: xxx xxx <xxx@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Gaetano Valente <xxx@gardenstatehonda.com>

Hello xxx,
This is Gaetano from Garden State Honda of Clifton and i am just letting You to know we are still waiting for the your shooting star bran new 2012 honda civic coupe SI, we are getting close to the day, 'till then take care ill keep in touch . Thank you for ordering.

Gaetano Valente
Sales Consultant
Garden State Honda
973-777-1600 ext.257
 
I didn't know they were making civics out of bran and shooting stars now. It sounds both great for keeping yourself regular AND being incredibly dangerous/destructive at the same time.
 
Haha we paid extra for it to be made out of those things.
 
I didn't know they were making civics out of bran and shooting stars now. It sounds both great for keeping yourself regular AND being incredibly dangerous/destructive at the same time.
You know... what that supply shortage from Japan, bran and stars are backup parts
 
4/20/11 was a great day for many... some called out of work to smoke some pot, others went to the NY Autoshow to see the new 9thGen Civic, and for others it was a normal day.


So that's it for now... I'll update this thread with any more developments.

Hey Gene & Candi, good luck!! I look forward to a test drive...lol J/K!! Can't wait to see her in person!
 
we could have been the first to tell you there are no 2012 Si's out there yet.... i work for Headquarter Honda here in Clermont, FL and while i'm not actually a sales person (thank God!!!), i am quite knowledgeable regarding the new 9thGen Civic release schedule.

Civic 4DR - April 20th
Civic 2DR & Hybrid - 2 weeks following
Civic Si and HF- approx mid-May

new car Dealer Trade Coordinator at HQ Honda

ps- i still LOVE my '07 RRFA5 and i'm 27 years old! :D

hey Joey, can you tell them what color/nav/summer tire Si's are going to hit what dealers based on orders and production dates?
When the 8th Si came out in 06 there was a member who had access to the Hondas ordering database and was very helpful with dealership/state info. I actually tracked my 06 this way.

Thanks Eddie
 
Hey Gene & Candi, good luck!! I look forward to a test drive...lol J/K!! Can't wait to see her in person!
oh snap... I guess we convinced you to sign up last night :-P I'll definitely call you when we go for the test drive.
 
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