Placing Orders

[RRP RSX-S]

I just received this email from my local Acura dealer after inquiring about markups and accessory availability. Prior to this correspondence, I had placed the $500 reservation fee a couple of weeks ago.

“Sorry for the late reply. I was out of town for a training class. I believe all accessory options won't be available until the release of the vehicle so they would have to be added after the vehicle is delivered. We won't be marking up the vehicle above MSRP for anyone who has ordered an Integra with the Acura reservation tool. However, we do have some accessories on the vehicle that will be installed including all season mats, trunk tray, wheel locks, 3M film shield, and an exterior paint sealant. We would be charging $2,385 for those items.”

No dealer markups, but unfortunately it looks like the accessory items will be mandatory for the first wave of purchases, at least with this particular dealership.

$2400 for a mandatory accessory package is higher than average I’d say. My dealers accessory package is $1700 but also not mandatory. It only goes on cars that hit the lot and then becomes mandatory. Ordered cars get the option.

But at least you get some decent stuff from it because depending on the 3M PPF it might be a good value. All season mats and trunk tray are nice. Probably about $400. If the PPF is full front and whole hood, that’s a great value. If the “sealant” is a real ceramic coat that makes the value even better. If it’s just a liquid sealant, not so much.

My dealers $1700 includes all season mats and a real ceramic coating. Which is a pretty good value. Granted I’d rather have my own shop apply it, if forced it’s not the end of the world.

So I’d ask for more detail on the sealant and what areas the film shield covers.

 

[bnuttz]

Wow, what a mess this roll out is. I was one of the first 500, got the NFT and my dealer was not allocated what I wanted, but ended up getting three other cars that are unspoken for but don't match the package I want. To rub salt in the wound, a dealer in a neighboring state has what I want available, unspoken for, but wants a markup on it. Is Acura flubbing this, or is it on the dealerships? Yet another dealer told me that most of the dealers forgot to place their order in time which is why many are only getting 3 cars instead of 30 like the ones who were on the ball. He said anyone who get the NFT should have been prioritized. Who knows? I may just get a Civic.

 

[Integra23]

Wow, what a mess this roll out is. I was one of the first 500, got the NFT and my dealer was not allocated what I wanted, but ended up getting three other cars that are unspoken for but don't match the package I want. To rub salt in the wound, a dealer in a neighboring state has what I want available, unspoken for, but wants a markup on it. Is Acura flubbing this, or is it on the dealerships? Yet another dealer told me that most of the dealers forgot to place their order in time which is why many are only getting 3 cars instead of 30 like the ones who were on the ball. He said anyone who get the NFT should have been prioritized. Who knows? I may just get a Civic.

Same here. Called and they are receiving none of the reserved vehicles. Everything that's slated for them are automatic transmissions.

 

[RUNN1N]

Wow, what a mess this roll out is. I was one of the first 500, got the NFT and my dealer was not allocated what I wanted, but ended up getting three other cars that are unspoken for but don't match the package I want. To rub salt in the wound, a dealer in a neighboring state has what I want available, unspoken for, but wants a markup on it. Is Acura flubbing this, or is it on the dealerships? Yet another dealer told me that most of the dealers forgot to place their order in time which is why many are only getting 3 cars instead of 30 like the ones who were on the ball. He said anyone who get the NFT should have been prioritized. Who knows? I may just get a Civic.

A couple of things...

1. Don't use the NFT to gauge anything--it suggests your pre-order was one of the first 500 communicated to Acura by your dealership, and that's great, but it's a trinket. Acura never intended it to be viewed as a "place in line" or suggest that yours would be one of the first 500 cars produced. Acura's using pre-orders to gauge interest and likely to prioritize production, but manufacturing is complex.

2. Take information from your dealership with a grain of salt--they work in car sales and not car manufacturing, they're employees of the dealership and not Acura. It doesn't mean that some won't speculate, there's a rumor mill for everything. At this point, Acura has told some dealerships how many Integras they expect to build for them, but Acura doesn't have to explain why X cars are slated for Y production date.

We're still 6 weeks out from when Acura expects to begin Integra production, and a lot can change between now and then. Heck, we don't even know firm pricing yet. Trust me, I'm having a hard time waiting patiently too. I've heard pre-order folks will get a communication with their VIN once their car is produced (I assume that's from the dealership rather than Acura), but again, until your car is produced and arrives at the dealership, it's all subject to change.

 

[bnuttz]

2. Take information from your dealership with a grain of salt--they work in car sales and not car manufacturing, they're employees of the dealership and not Acura. It doesn't mean that some won't speculate, there's a rumor mill for everything. At this point, Acura has told some dealerships how many Integras they expect to build for them, but Acura doesn't have to explain why X cars are slated for Y production date.

All that is understood. My point is simply why would you allocate a build of X model to a dealership that did not request it and not supply it to a dealership that has a pending reservation for that exact model. Seems very odd to me.

 

[RUNN1N]

All that is understood. My point is simply why would you allocate a build of X model to a dealership that did not request it and not supply it to a dealership that has a pending reservation for that exact model. Seems very odd to me.

Tough to say, but that's assuming the other dealership that allegedly has an allocation in your spec without a buyer actually has that allocation and it's not just a bluff, and that Acura will actually be able to fulfill it--until you have a VIN or the ability to see it in person, it's all pretty speculative.

 

[Integra23]

The dealer I spoke with said they had the same issue with the new MDX. All those that reserved never received allocations and came at a later date.. they first received random non-reserved configurations.

Once normal ordering is opened and if my allocation isn't received they will let me order a custom configuration.. carbon/Ebony... Hopefully delivery isn't to long for this.

 

[RRP RSX-S]

Don't use the NFT to gauge anything--it suggests your pre-order was one of the first 500 communicated to Acura by your dealership, and that's great, but it's a trinket. Acura never intended it to be viewed as a "place in line" or suggest that yours would be one of the first 500 cars produced.

Not accurate. The NFT went to the first 500 reservations on acuras site. Has nothing to do with dealer communication. That’s why these folks are in this mess. They got the NFT but the dealers never communicated with Acura or placed orders in time. So they received random allocations instead of the ones preordered online.

 

[RRP RSX-S]

Same here. Called and they are receiving none of the reserved vehicles. Everything that's slated for them are automatic transmissions.

I guess some dealers didn’t realize they needed to do anything. So they never placed orders and therefore received 1-3 random allocations. Usually not matching any preorders just due to statistics of combos.

 

[EasyPickins]

Here’s a follow up from my local dealership after inquiring about forum members mentioning they had received build numbers.

“Right now the only production dates I can see for Integra models are the ones that were allocated to us from the factory and not customer pre-orders.”

Humm… Patiently waiting.

 

[Integra23]

Here’s a follow up from my local dealership after inquiring about forum members mentioning they had received build numbers.

“Right now the only production dates I can see for Integra models are the ones that were allocated to us from the factory and not customer pre-orders.”

Humm… Patiently waiting.

Nice..so there could still be hope??

 

[RRP RSX-S]

All that is understood. My point is simply why would you allocate a build of X model to a dealership that did not request it and not supply it to a dealership that has a pending reservation for that exact model. Seems very odd to me.

Seems logical. But even though Acura has the data saying that you ordered car X to go to dealer C, they aren’t using that data. Instead relying on dealer C to order car X. But since dealer C and B never ordered cars and assumed the online reservations handled themselves, Acura took car X and randomly sent it out. Unfortunately to a non ideal dealer.

The dealer I spoke with said they had the same issue with the new MDX. All those that reserved never received allocations and came at a later date.. they first received random non-reserved configurations.

Once normal ordering is opened and if my allocation isn't received they will let me order a custom configuration.. carbon/Ebony... Hopefully delivery isn't to long for this.

That’s just sad that they made the mistake twice. They clearly never learned why this happened with the mdx. Lazy dealer that only cares about the sales. This process has exposed a lot of dealers. The ones who care did it right and have allocations and build dates for all cars reserved.

 

[RRP RSX-S]

Here’s a follow up from my local dealership after inquiring about forum members mentioning they had received build numbers.

“Right now the only production dates I can see for Integra models are the ones that were allocated to us from the factory and not customer pre-orders.”

Humm… Patiently waiting.

For many dealers it’s the opposite. Dealers that made orders properly and in time for their reservations aren’t receiving cars outside of those reserved.

Acura wants all dealers to have at least 1 teg around day 1. Some dealers were allowed to have reservations and some weren’t. So dealers that ordered late or still haven’t ordered their reservations (since only orders with attached res numbers could be placed) are pooled along with dealers who were allowed to have reservations. Those dealers got random allotments and not many of them. There was a deadline. Acura looked at dealers with orders at that time and said they’re good to go. Dealers without orders at that point got random cars. Some of these dealers never had preorders. Others did but placed theirs late.

So your dealers response shows they screwed up. All dealers have build dates for the first round. For dealers who ordered correctly, it is their reservations. For those that didn’t, it’s for the random allocation. He doesn’t see build dates for customer preorders yet because they ordered them to late and they’re now behind the first wave. It really sucks. So far my dealer has seemed on the ball. But with all of this info of dealers doing it wrong, I’m not holding my breath until I see her in person.

 

[RUNN1N]

It seems you're making a lot of speculative leaps here and I'm afraid you're stressing people out...

For many dealers it’s the opposite. Dealers that made orders properly and in time for their reservations aren’t receiving cars outside of those reserved.

Did Acura actually say this? If so when/where? Or is this based on dealer word of mouth? The reservation program Terms & Conditions make it as clear as possible, "Your reservation secures your approximate priority for taking delivery of a vehicle. Participation in the Reserve Program does not guarantee you a vehicle delivery....Please note that vehicle option availability may be subject to change. Model year, paint color and other options are not guaranteed and are subject to production or sales restrictions." <https://reserve.acura.com/s/terms-and-conditions>

So your dealers response shows they screwed up. All dealers have build dates for the first round. For dealers who ordered correctly, it is their reservations. For those that didn’t, it’s for the random allocation. He doesn’t see build dates for customer preorders yet because they ordered them to late and they’re now behind the first wave. It really sucks. So far my dealer has seemed on the ball. But with all of this info of dealers doing it wrong, I’m not holding my breath until I see her in person.

So you've suggested the dealerships who got MDX's that didn't fit reservation specs got those MDX's because they screwed up on their end of that reservation process, and some of the same dealerships then screwed up the Integra reservation process in such a way that they are now getting Integras that don't fit requested specs... Sure, yeah, it's possible, but this assumes that Acura is taking this time to only produce vehicles with reservations, and nothing they've put out suggests this is the case--see again the Terms & Conditions.

Manufacturing is a complex process--if Acura has the components to build a run of base model Integras but lack the necessary components (chips, paint, interior, tech items, transmissions) to build a run of A-Spec + Tech vehicles, for example, wouldn't it make sense for them to do that? There are a lot of fixed costs involved whether that line runs or sits idle. Do you imagine they'd hold production of general inventory Integras until they've satisfied all reservation? And that's assuming there's some kind of a production restriction, Acura could just want a run of base-model Integras out there in the mix for the general consumer, they won't just hold these in Marysville until reservations are satisfied. Even their Terms & Conditions suggest they can do it. My dealership has production dates for specs that fit some of their reservations but not all, then have production dates for base models. What's your theory there? The same guy got the order process right for a third of the pre-orders but not the rest? Possible... but likely?

The reservation process is a way for Acura to connect consumers with dealers, and have the dealers help them prioritize production where there's the most interest. We put in reservations, dealerships requested our orders, but they're still at the mercy of the manufacturer and what they can/will produce on a given day/week/month. It's not as direct as ordering a pizza, there's no guarantee they'll fill any particular order, we've just got an approximate place in line. Let's keep in mind that aside from this process, dealerships typically get whatever the manufacturer sends them to sell. Sure, some dealers may be lazy or dumb... but their job is to sell what they get on the lot, they're not in control of much else.

 

[RRP RSX-S]

They aren’t theories. My dealer is very transparent with how things work. They’ve shown me in person the process and internal docs from Acura. And everything is in order. If your dealer has half and half I’d ask when did all of the preorders come in? Because which ever came in after the dealers first order won’t have the same build dates. Res or not.

I know for a fact that there was a due date for the first wave. I know for a fact that on the 21st dealers the placed orders by the deadline all receive allocations for what was ordered. Beyond that sure, Acura has to build in batches meaning the order won’t be perfect. That’s all the terms are for. To protect them from someone being literal.

They aren’t only producing reservation vehicles. They are producing what was ordered by dealers. Which in theory was supposed to be every reservation. But dealers dropped the ball.

No one is stressing out dude. It’s a car not heart surgery. But it’s important for people to get the right information so they can better communicate with their dealers who are unfortunately uninformed.