Clinton Honda

I should start out by saying my husband and I bought a 2004 element 5 years ago from this dealership- and had a good experience. That being said, we were very surprised at how our latest dealings with them went. Last weekend, my husband and I went to buy an accord coupe. He had already test driven it earlier in the week, and had a price in mind. They had told him they could go no lower than about $1,000 above that price- but we figured we could try. Anyway, we get to the lot and there is a sign on the car- "Executive demo sale" The price on the windshield sticker was the price my husband wanted to buy the car for, which was interesting because 2 nights before they said that was too low- but hey, they just saved us a bunch of negotiating! So we go inside to say okay- we want the car! The salesman goes to his manager- and comes back with a price $1,000 more than the sticker and says "that's the lowest we can go." Really??? Because the sticker on the car says something else... So the manager comes out with this whole story about how that sticker is a mistake and they will honor the price but the dealership is losing $400 on this and someone's going to get in trouble blah blah blah... So now we start to talk financing. The sale sticker on the car says $28,885 & 2.9% financing available. We actually have really good credit- so we figure hey, no problem getting that rate! The salesman says- "oh no way we can give you that rate with that price, the sign says $28,885 OR 2.9%" We made the salesman and manager walk outside to see that the sign said AND- and the manager actually covered the "and" with his hand when he tried to say it was "or". My husband brushed his hand away and he goes, "well that's a mistake- we can't do that!" After we found out that on top of this they don't honor cash for clunkers, we walked away. Now here is the thing, that same sticker is STILL ON THAT CAR. You would think if both the price and financing rate listed there were so erroneous, that they would have removed it by now. Also, if you are doing a cash for clunker trade- know that they will not honor this the way other dealerships will. They will make you pay full price, and then send you a rebate IF they get it from the government. We have spoken with 2 dealerships since, and they said they would take the rebate value right off of the price of the car, as long as you have all of your paperwork and it qualifies. They will NOT make you sign a waiver saying if the government doesn't send them the money you are responsible, as Clinton Honda claims they will. My concern here would be what incentive do they have to even try to get your rebate- especially since the second you mention you have a clunker they start moaning about all of the paperwork they have to do. I mean, what proof do they provide to you that they even filed for your rebate??? Not to mention that if your financing rate is based off of the price of the car, and that money is not being taken off, doesn't that put you possibly at a higher rate? I understand a dealership not wanting to deal with the clunkers headache- but this seemed shady to me. You either participate or you don't, not something in between. Anyway- we are also planning on buying an Odyssey in the next year- so that was another sale they missed out on. I know bad experiences at Honda dealerships are not uncommon, I just wish Honda Corporation would care a bit more about how customers are treated, and not just rely on the fact that they do make great cars so people will buy them regardless.