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Date: Mon, 23 Mar 87 11:58:59 est
From: ch#@andrew.cmu.edu (Chris Haas)
To: William.McSteen@sei.cmu.edu
Subject: Re: Honda dealers
In-Replyto: <1987.3.23.16.18.10.William.McSteen@sei.cmu.edu>
Resent-To: bovik@k
Resent-From: William.McSteen@sei.cmu.edu
Resent-Date: Tuesday, 14 April 1987 11:00:26 EST

Bill--

We only visited 3 Honda dealers:  McKean on Liberty in Bloomfield, Valley in
Monroeville, and Someone-or-other right on the other side of the Liberty
Tubes.  We got an Accord LXi hatchback and like it a lot.  Much more room
than anything else we looked at and so much fun to drive.

We had heard from friends and read in books that the price was going to be
about the same no matter what dealer we went to.  We discovered that this was
the case:  while the opening price might really vary, the real bottom line
seemed to be about the same for each dealer.  For instance, we were dealing
with Valley and McKean and playing each one's lowest price off the other,
until it became clear that they weren't going any lower.  I think McKean was
about $10 less for the package we got.

We got our car from McKean, but not because of the price.  They seemed much
more willing to talk with us about--and show us--their service department;
they seemed to know a lot more about the product; and they were just
@italic{nicer} to us and treated us better.  For instance, I probably know as
much or more than my husband about cars and I'm certainly a smarter, more
careful shopper.  But with the exception of Gil Rea at McKean, most of the
salespeople wanted to show me the power windows and the upholstery and then
put me in the back seat.  

I'm not sure, but I think all of the cars at McKean have already had
rustproofing.  We were wary of this, but then discovered (after calling
around) that @italic{after} we got the price down we weren't going to save
much by having it done ourselves and decided it was worth the extra $20 to
save ourselves the running around.

McKean also got us the car we wanted (color, etc.) quickly, but then maybe
anyone could do that.

Sorry that I don't know more about the specific dealers you're interested in.
If you do go to McKean, ask for Gil and mention my name.  (Apparently, he'll
send us $25 for each recommendation we make that leads to a sale.)

Good luck!

Chris