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Hi Guys! Just got a job today woohoo! I am looking now into buying a car. I want to get Honda CRV and my question is: what is the best, trustworthy dealer here in ABQ and what should I watch out for when getting a car? I will be getting a loan and it's my 1st car.
Are you buying new? If so you have to go through a Honda dealer. There are only two in the area, Perfection Honda and
Garcia Honda. I have no dealing with them. You might look at: Find Honda Dealers in Albuquerque, New Mexico
You probably won't like my answer. In Nov of 2011 we were in the market for 2 new Hondas. I wanted a CRV and my then husband wanted an Insight. We looked at two Honda dealers in the area: Perfection in RR and Garcia in Albuquerque. Those are the ONLY dealers in the ABQ metro area.
Perfection was the worst of the two. I was driving a 1998 Accord which was in very good shape but needed larger and was planning to sell to a friend. We were paying cash for the two cars. I am not sure if the older car or the fact that they may not be as motivated to work with cash buyers as they were with financing purchasers/leasers was an issue but Perfection could have cared less about making the sale. We wanted certain colors/options and they would not work with us. They did not have them but could have easily worked with other area ( Phoenix, Denver, even Santa Fe ) to trade out to get them. We left our info from them, never heard back.
Garcia was ...okay. Problem was price. They know they are really the only game in town so would not work with us.
We actually wound up buying our cars in Phoenix. The economy was still down enough there are there are multiple Honda dealers that we got a fully loaded Insight and a basic Pilot ( which they added leather to for free ) for less than the cost of the medium featured Insight and the CRV in Albuquerque.
I'd go with Garcia if you stay in the area, but don't rule out buying in Phoenix. We bought from Showcase on Camelback and they were good to work with but did mess up the out of state tax paperwork.
In 2007 my parents wanted a blue Ridgeline in a certain trim level. I went to Garcia and they told me that it would have to be transfered from a dealer out of state and that I would have to pay a transfer fee on top of their "no haggle" price of about $31k. I drove to Perfection and they had 3 Ridgelines matching my parents request in stock. I wrote out a check for $28k that included tax title and license later that afternoon.
Edit: My parents did love the truck but it was too small for them.
I've had two recent experiences. We bought our daughter a used Honda Civic from a private seller. A few days after driving it, the engine died while driving. Then it happened again a couple weeks later. I did some research on the internet and figured out it was an ignition switch problem. I called Perfection to discuss the problem. The service guy said I was correct and that the ignition switch was in fact recalled (something else I had found out in my research) several years ago. He went ahead and ordered a new switch. A few days later he called back and said the part came in, so we took the car in and it was all taken care of with no charges to us. While the car was there, I asked them to check the brakes because our daughter was hearing a rubbing sound. They said the brakes were just dirty, so they cleaned them for us and the sound went away. Again, no charge.
A few months later a friend's daughter was in the market for new Civic. I was asked to go along to help with the purchase since I used to sell cars -- yeah, many moons ago. We went to Garcia and Perfection. We walked out of Garcia because my friend had received a lowball offer that they didn't abide by (no surprise). We had a great experience at Perfection. I was able to get more knocked off the price than they had first negotiated. It was the last day of the month near closing time -- best day to buy a car is the last day of the month. Everyone there was very friendly.
My husband used to sell cars too, and worked for Garcia Moderator cut: (EDITED/CORRECTED was Perfection) Honda years ago. He did not have a good experience there. When he finally quit, he had a difficult time getting his last paycheck from them, but he did finally get it. This was a long time ago, so maybe it's run differently now.
Having said that, the OP has another option for auto purchase which is to visit the Credit Union Auto Services on Pan American Freeway between Jefferson and Montgomery. I used to be a new car consultant there (also many moons ago) after I stopped working for a dealership. Back when I was there, we bought all of our Hondas out of Phoenix and saved the credit union members a lot of money compared to local prices.
A couple of years ago, I stopped in to get a price quote on a Toyota, but I had already received a lower quote locally, so I'm not sure if their prices are as competitive as they used to be. It wouldn't hurt to stop in and get a quote. There is no pressure to buy, and it's free as long as you are a member of a local participating credit union which are the ones that use the CU Anytime network.
Having said that, the OP has another option for auto purchase which is to visit the Credit Union Auto Services on Pan American Freeway between Jefferson and Montgomery.
I mention them in my post above. They are no longer at the location, they are now on San Mateo.
My experience on a certified used car from Garcia Honda left a bad taste in my mouth. It mainly had to do with the extended warranty hustle. But they're probably not any worse than any of the other car manufacturers' dealers. I've bought and sold a couple cars at CarMax and there wasn't the high-pressure sales tactics of most car lots.
Carmax is good value for cars 5 years or older. anything newer and they are not as competitive.
I do not agree with that. They just recently started dealing with vehicles from 5 to 6 years old.
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