Buying New Car From Okotoks

[darklord700]

Okotoks Honda is the only dealership who will play ball and offer me invoice + 3% pricing. However, I live in the far north of Calgary and it's impractical for me to go to Okotoks for service. If I did buy from Okotoks, can I still take it to Village Honda for warranty work if need to be. Thanks.

[burn_this_city]

You can take it to any Honda dealer in Canada for warranty work.

[darklord700]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

You can take it to any Honda dealer in Canada for warranty work.

Thanks, I always think the dealership you purchase the car from will take better care of you.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by darklord700

Thanks, I always think the dealership you purchase the car from will take better care of you.

I don't think it makes a difference to be honest. Once they have their sales money they don't need to make an extra effort. I do think however that small town dealerships do treat you better, but our only experience with that is High River Ford.

[HockeyIlliterate]

Originally Posted by darklord700

Thanks, I always think the dealership you purchase the car from will take better care of you.

People move all the time, so it isn't always practical (or even possible) to go back to the original dealership for maintenance/repair/warranty work.

If you think that your nearby dealer isn't treating you very well because of where you purchased the car, call up Honda's corporate office and let them know. I'm sure that Honda will look into the matter and handle it accordingly.

[Cuz]

Originally Posted by darklord700

Thanks, I always think the dealership you purchase the car from will take better care of you.

I don't think it really matters as dealerships make more money from servicing cars than they do selling new ones.

[Komskies]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

I don't think it makes a difference to be honest. Once they have their sales money they don't need to make an extra effort. I do think however that small town dealerships do treat you better, but our only experience with that is High River Ford.

Maybe in some cases, but I bought a new Accord from Okotoks Honda in early July and it was an absolute nightmare on the customer service side of things. I certainly won't be getting my vehicle serviced there.

Edit: Darklord you are correct though, as I also got my car for invoice + 3%. PM me if you want a Car cost Canada report, as I still have some left to use.

[CKPThunder]

Originally Posted by darklord700

Okotoks Honda is the only dealership who will play ball and offer me invoice + 3% pricing. However, I live in the far north of Calgary and it's impractical for me to go to Okotoks for service. If I did buy from Okotoks, can I still take it to Village Honda for warranty work if need to be. Thanks.

You can go to any Honda dealership for servicing but I know when we were looking (back in 2010), many of the dealerships had deals like "lifetime free oil changes" that were only valid if you got servicing through them. So if you do get a dealership specific add-on deal, make sure it doesn't get invalidated if you do maintenance work elsewhere.

I also remember talking with Okotoks Honda back then and one of the things they mentioned to me was their VIP program. The program in a nutshell was that any service work that is not just an oil change (the first service), they will pick up your car at your home or your work and leave you a loaner. They will then do the maintenance and drive it back. You would only have to pay the cost of the maintenance. I honestly don't know if they still offer this but if you like Okotoks Honda, it maybe something to ask them as well.

[BlackArcher101]

Airdrie Honda wasn't willing to move? Weird, I know a ton of people that go there to buy vehicles specifically for that.

[darklord700]

Originally Posted by BlackArcher101

Airdrie Honda wasn't willing to move? Weird, I know a ton of people that go there to buy vehicles specifically for that.

Never thought of Airdrie, will try them now and they are much closer for me than Okotoks. Thanks for the suggestion.

[pylon]

We sell cars all the time to people we know are going to service elsewhere, and we have seen people in for service that we tried and failed to sell a car to. We never judge the person, or adjust the level of service based on if they bought the car from us or not. There are so many variables as to why they bought elsewhere, (it could be something as simple as we didn't have the right colour) that we wouldn't hold it against anyone.

At the end of the day, you are still getting some business from them, and you have to appreciate that.

[HockeyIlliterate]

Originally Posted by CKPThunder

You can go to any Honda dealership for servicing but I know when we were looking (back in 2010), many of the dealerships had deals like "lifetime free oil changes" that were only valid if you got servicing through them.

That sounds like a decent deal, until you realize that (i) most recent-year Hondas only need an oil change every 8K to 10K miles or so; and (ii) the deal is pretty much worthless if you move out of town and the dealership is no longer reasonably close to you.

Just running some quick numbers, but if you keep the car for 250K miles, and do an oil change every 10K, that's 25 oil changes over the life of the car. Even at $40 a pop for each oil change, your "savings" is $1000. And that assumes that you live a reasonable distance away from the dealership to make going back there for oil changes worthwhile for the entire life of the car (and, for that matter, that you trust them enough to do the oil changes--if you have one bad experience with their service department, are you going to keep going back there just for the "free" oil changes?)

Doesn't seem like it would be too difficult to negotiate the price of the car down to account for that potential savings.

Originally Posted by CKPThunder

I also remember talking with Okotoks Honda back then and one of the things they mentioned to me was their VIP program. The program in a nutshell was that any service work that is not just an oil change (the first service), they will pick up your car at your home or your work and leave you a loaner. They will then do the maintenance and drive it back. You would only have to pay the cost of the maintenance. I honestly don't know if they still offer this but if you like Okotoks Honda, it maybe something to ask them as well.

There has to be some sort of geographical limitation in regards to that program.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

I don't think it makes a difference to be honest. Once they have their sales money they don't need to make an extra effort. I do think however that small town dealerships do treat you better, but our only experience with that is High River Ford.

Did you buy a boat?

[darklord700]

One more question, I want to get 3M and maybe undercoating. Are there 3rd party vendors that can do it cheaper than dealer? Also, is undercoating neccessary for Calgary? Thanks.