Honda Dealer tracking system reliable?

Hi,

We purchased A CR-V mid-July, the car had already been ordered by the
dealer, but it hadn't left the factory at that point.

But my question is about the system the dealer uses to track the vehicle and
estimate when it's due to arrive. They first told us July 27, then on the
27th they said the 29th, then the 30th etc, etc, and now the latest is
August 4th, but at this point I'll believe it when I see it.

Is the system typically this unreliable? Or could it be the salesperson is
yanking our chain? I understand different routing factors make it
impossible to determine exactly when it will show up, but if the system's
best guess can be off by a week or more, what value is having such a date
at all? Anyone else have similar experiences?

TIA

 

I don't know what country you are in, but here in Oz its similar.
I ordered a Accord Euro (called a Acura TSX in the US) on June 18th, and estimated arrival date "September sometime."
Workmate ordered CRV, June 25th and the dealer has told him same. "September sometime"
The dealers here don't seem to get any communication from Honda, its all guesswork.

 

When I bought my 2002 CR-V, I asked when the car will be delivered to me.
This information is stated on the contract and I believe that the contract
can be void if this condition is not satisfied by a reasonable number of
days.
Anyway, he said 2 weeks or something similar. I went for a walk on his lot
(it is a big lot located on 2 sides of the street) and found out that he had
2 CR-V's like the one I wanted on his lot. When I told him that, we signed
and I got the car 2 days later.
BTW this in Montreal, Canada.
I would never buy a car if the dealer tells me that it will take more than 2
weeks to get it.

 

What happened is we faxed several dealers looking for an LX with side
airbags (very rare, at least around here) in certain colors. The Honda
dealers around here don't have very many CR-vs on the lot to begin with,
and finding one in this color w/ airbags was practically impossible. They
have lots of Elements, though. ;-)

Anyway this dealer had one on order that matched our configuration, in our
second-choice color. It was obvious to us from shopping the other area
dealers that we'd have to wait to get the color we wanted, anyway, and if
we ordered it for ourselves, it would take even longer.

Initially they estimated between the end of July or more probably the second
week of August, because it wasn't yet in the tracking system, meaning it
hadn't left the factory.

We didn't mind waiting that long, but what got annoying is when we called to
get a more firm date, and they told us it was due in the next day (around
July 28). So we scrambled to get the financing done, and the insurance,
which the bank requires to close the loan (leaving urgent, high priority
messages with the insurance agent, etc). Then the next day came, no car,
due date pushed back a day or two, and again, and again, so it's August 5,
the car is now supposed to be in 8-6, in the meantime, I've had to call the
insurance agent a few more times to have him push back the coverage and
keep the old car covered.

The person at the dealership who initially told us second week of August
wasn't the salesperson, so that's why I'm wondering if that information was
accurate and the salesperson is just playing some kind of game by
constantly telling us it will be in "tommorow, for sure". And if so, why
would he? We already signed a purchase agreement. We got the
configuration we want for slightly below Edmund's "Target" price, so
there's not much incentive for us to break the deal, and go elsewhere if
that's what he's afraid of.

 

What they told me was once it left the factory, they could track it in their
system. I guess when the trucks carrying these cars reached certain
checkpoints, it would update the tracking system, and the system would
estimate a date based on that, but if the system can be off by a week or
more on a shipment that takes two or three weeks on average, what's the
point of having it?

I guess it's kind of how they have all these sophisticated systems to model
the weather, and still botch the forecast spectacularly.

 

The real-time inventory is not really that reliable, for instance, the
inventory for this particular dealership shows the exact car we bought
(same VIN#), even though:
1) It hasn't reached the dealer yet
2) It's already been sold by the dealer.

The other advantage of faxing was I was able to deal directly with the fleet
manager instead of a salesperson, so I got a good price ($200 below Edmunds
target price), and didn't have to waste hours playing haggling games with a
salesperson.

 

I don't *know* exactly how it works but based on my experiences with our 2K
Accord Coupe I4/MT I have some umm, theories:

First, the sales guys lie all the time - part of the job. If they get an
inkling you might look elsewhere they lie for an early arrival date.

Now for my "theory" of a two-tier allocation system: I believe that the
dealers commit to take physical delivery by certain dates of a certain
number of "cookie-cutter" cars. Typically for cars, this would be a mix of
colors of mostly V6-LX sedans, a few less EXs, even less of I4 & MT models
and one or two Coupe models... the assumption being that this most popular
model, the LX-V6 is a must sell, however they go about selling it where it
doesn't quite exactly fit the buyer's ideal purchase. They add "free"
accessories, lower price floor, trade with another dealer etc.... whatever
it takes.

Maybe someone who knows can confirm, but it's my impression that there is a
2nd tier "provisional" allocation of cars to a dealer. These would be low
volume models, like our I4 MT Coupe - you won't find many of these on
dealer lots, especially as the end of MY looms up. It's my belief that the
dealer makes a partial-commit on those for a target month but is not
actually held to the commitment 100% - IOW they are allowed to let it slip,
possibly to anullment of the "order" eventually. Possibly they lose
"brownie points" with Honda if they cancel their "provisional".

Did the dealer show you his "order book" with just the model you want
clearly stated in a computer print-out? Yep that's what happened to us -
right there in B&W, for the month of May 2000... "Geez you guys are really
lucky - exactly the color you want... *and* the engine... *and* the
trans... *and* the trim... *and* we have it on order." Yup that's what he
said... except this was already late July 2000 (there's a long story of
delays here, in that we started looking in late May and then had the
trade-in whacked on the freeway by a bloody great piece of truck exhaust
pipe). When I asked why they didn't already have it on the lot, since it
was down for delivery in May, the subject of conversation got changed and
there was never an answer - mumbling and smiles about how lucky we were
from the salesman, his cronies and the sales manager.

Anyway, the original "estimate" was for 10-days or so to delivery - quite a
joke really considering it took till 2nd week of September to actually get
the car. When I looked around the car in detail after getting it home, the
paint was noticably soft, especially under the hood in the seams, nooks and
crannies. It felt like the car had just been produced a couple of days
before. Bottom line: the dealer has a "book" which includes his
"provisional" maybe-orders he will show you - like he's showng you
something the inner sanctum, that customers are not supposed to see - to
get you on the hook.

The good part about this "system" is that you get a car which has just been
manufactured to latest specs and hasn't been test driven by half the folks
in town. When the car comes in they'll call you - at that point tell the
guy that apart from a possible shake-down test drive by the service dept.,
NOBODY IS ALLOWED TO DRIVE *YOUR* CAR.... no test drives, no gopher trips
and you do NOT want to see more than 12miles on the odometer. IME they
come off the truck with 7-8miles on them.

Sometimes I think, at such a late delivery date, we should have waited for
the new model year for our car but then again we have been very pleased
with the car. My wife loves to drive it and DIY tells me that everything
about the car works well and is well put together... and it doesn't have 30
mysterious miles on it, from from being thrashed around by some boy racer
who just likes to jerk dealers around for test drives... nor was it ever in
a showroom where Joe Public and his brats picked and poked it over.

Hmmm, that got kinda long - sorry.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

 

That's what we're starting to suspect, which is unfortunate, because what we
want is a realistic date, even if it is several weeks out, not a bunch of
"it's scheduled to be here tommorow"'s. This behavior is actually having
the opposite effect, my wife is getting quite upset and is starting to
think about cancelling the deal and look elsewhere.

No, they didn't show us anything like that. This vehicle isn't that
special, just a CR-V LX with side airbags, the side airbags are rare to
find in the LX, but dealers may be starting to order them because of the
Dateline thingy a month or two ago.

Gaa, hope it doesn't take that long. Our original estimate was actually 2nd
week of August or so, but that was from a non-sales person at the dealer.
So we were surprised when the salesperson first promised it July 28. I'm
sure I told him we weren't expecting it so soon, so that should've kept him
from playing the "Keep 'em from looking elsewhere" game, if that's what he
is doing.

 

I have another theory. Lot of people are impulsive buyers, including myself.
If I buy a car and the dealer tells me 1 month, I will not buy it.
So, once he signed someone, if the VIN is not on the contract, the dealer
prefers to have you waiting, since you already signed anyways, and use the
cars he has on the lot to attract other potential buyers:
"I have it in stock...you can pick it up tomorrow...etc"