Picking Which Honda Dealerships To Buy From Only Requires a Little Homework

Honda dealerships and third party leasing companies are your two most common choices of where to go when you have decided a new Honda is the vehicle you want to drive. Any business that you deal with will be independently owned and operated, as Honda will not sell or lease direct to the public. So the question is, how do you choose? Honda dealerships are not all created equal.

In Canada there are Quality Dealers which is a status bestowed by Honda Canada for consumer satisfaction ratings and exceeding operating criteria. In the United States the Presidents Award is given to the top 15% of dealers annually.

The Presidents Award which is given to the top 15% of dealers across the United States is considered to be the highest accolade granted to American Honda dealerships. For a new car dealer to qualify they must meet stringent factory criteria. The objectives cover all areas of operation including customer service and satisfaction ratings, facility operations, staff training and sales.

Honda Motor Company of America also grants both Certified Used Dealer and Internet Certified Status to qualifying Honda dealerships.

"Certified Used" dealers must meet factory standards on their used Honda inventory. Internet Certified must dedicate an individual to ensure your internet shopping experience is pleasurable and meets all of the manufacturers standards.

These standards include Flexible sales processes to meet your online shopping needs, returned correspondence within a short allotted time frame (*few hours) and be an expert with product knowledge. The Honda Canada Total Quality Dealer Award is given to Canadian dealerships who have met or exceeded objectives set by the manufacturer. These criteria are in essence set by the dealerships customers with direct feed back to Honda Canada. This in turn helps determine which retailers are granted the "Q Dealer" status.

Some of the criteria set forth by Honda is the new vehicle purchase experience (pricing, salesperson, sales process etc.), quality of work performed by the service department, the finance department, the sales department, exceeding facility operations standards and administrative standards.

The Honda dealerships granted the factory awards and status ratings have consistantly shown higher then average levels with the quality of work performed and are a fairly good bet when choosing which store to purchase from.

In conjunction to the awards, searching Honda dealerships reviews from postings by satisfied and discontented customers is a way to have a broad view of the type of business you are thinking of dealing with. On a side note to the reviews, remember that many people only write complaints and that it may not be a completely fair evaluation of your local dealerships.

In the event that you are looking into a Honda Lease you do have the other option available to you. In leasing a third party leasing company can perform the transaction.

The way in which the process occurs is, you choose the car you wish to lease and inform the leasing company you chose. The leasing company will then purchase the vehicle from an affiliated dealer for near cost. The leasing company will then mark the vehicle price to what they are willing to lease it for, set the residual value of the vehicle and the interest rate they are going to charge.

This option does sometimes allow a little more flexibility to the consumer and allows you to know your company a bit better if you are leasing various different makes of vehicles. Aside from the flexibility make sure you do your homework about the differences and the cost to you in regards to the residual value and interest rates and whether it is an open or closed end lease.

A Honda lease where you perform an entire transaction at you chosen Honda dealership is in most cases a better option for many consumers. Honda financial services will set the rates, the residual values and ensure that you are protected from any changes to your agreement.

A simple list to follow is to choose the Honda you would like to own, do your research on it through reviews to make sure it will meet your needs. Gather as much pricing information as you can. Dealer Invoice and Incentives, Used Vehicle Wholesale Values or trade in values. Use a loan calculator to figure out the difference between what your bank offers and the dealrs offers. Figure out who are your closest retailers and do a little homework on your chosen local Honda dealerships and then make an appointment to go and take a test drive and possibly purchase or lease your new Honda.

DEFINITIONS

Residual Value: The amount a specific vehicle is worth at the end of a specified term

Third Party Leasing: A company that has no factory/manufacturer affiliation to the vehicle they are leasing

Closed Lease: Allows you to return the vehicle at the end of term without extra responsibilities other then stated in the contract

Open Lease: Consumer is responsible for any differences in stated end value and actual vehicle value (mileage, market fluctuations etc.)