Just bought a 10 year old Civic at the...Masserati/Porsche/Mercedes dealership

[Mr. Paws]

I was surprised to see this old civic online for sale with 142K miles on it at the fanciest dealership in town.  The guy came up and in a nice way said "Well, this is definitely the cheapest car on the lot." lol. I got to give them credit, I was actually treated as a normal customer.  They didn't act condescending or that i was a waste of their time and they didn't use any of the standard dealership tricks i usually run into. 

Its one small step closer to FI.  Before this I drove a fully loaded Nissan Rogue that is much nicer and newer than the civic.  Now I have the bittersweet feeling of putting the Rogue up for sale. 

[MasterStache]

I have an '06 Civic. Purchased almost 9 years ago. Still going strong and looks great. I've considered getting a Prius but can't justify the cost difference since I am only keeping the car 4 more years, until I hand it off to my son. I am getting 37-38 mpg in the Civic.

Congrats on the purchase. 

[Metric Mouse]

I was surprised to see this old civic online for sale with 142K miles on it at the fanciest dealership in town.  The guy came up and in a nice way said "Well, this is definitely the cheapest car on the lot." lol. I got to give them credit, I was actually treated as a normal customer.  They didn't act condescending or that i was a waste of their time and they didn't use any of the standard dealership tricks i usually run into. 

Its one small step closer to FI.  Before this I drove a fully loaded Nissan Rogue that is much nicer and newer than the civic.  Now I have the bittersweet feeling of putting the Rogue up for sale.

Good on the dealership for treating you so well.  I would have a hard time not at least drooling over the more expensive offerings even as I filled out the paperwork for the civic.  I once bought a metric bike that had been traded into a Harley-Davidson dealership - their staff was not nearly as accommodating and helpful when I went to purchase.

[Money Badger]

Great job buying the Civic there!   Hoping it was well maintained, etc.     

FWIW, I bought a used Toyota RAV4 at a Cadillac dealership and had a similar good experience.   The salesman actually liked having a customer who wasn't "high maintenance" and he told me all the stories of people who "wasted $100K every day" buying status cars.    The best story was that they once took a pair of less than year-old Lamborghinis on trade-in after a guy made it big with an IPO, then ended up divorced.   Poor thing had to trade down to a Cadillac.

So that high-brow sales guy was happy to sell a "non core" trade at a very good price to someone who works for a living.

[SeaEhm]

Keep the Porsche/Maserati license plate frame on it to keep up with the Joneses.

Glad to hear you were treated with respect! 

Maybe you could have started with I want to test drive the Porsche Turbo.  complain that it's too fast.
Then, drive the Maserati. complain that it's too loud.
And then settle with the civic

[Metric Mouse]

Great job buying the Civic there!   Hoping it was well maintained, etc.     

FWIW, I bought a used Toyota RAV4 at a Cadillac dealership and had a similar good experience.   The salesman actually liked having a customer who wasn't "high maintenance" and he told me all the stories of people who "wasted $100K every day" buying status cars.    The best story was that they once took a pair of less than year-old Lamborghinis on trade-in after a guy made it big with an IPO, then ended up divorced.   Poor thing had to trade down to a Cadillac.

So that high-brow sales guy was happy to sell a "non core" trade at a very good price to someone who works for a living.

Someone would divorce someone with a PAIR of brand- new Lambos? I refuse to believe it.

[cdm]

Make sure the airbags are upgraded. 2001 to 2011 Honda Civics have been recalled for defective airbags made by Takata Corporation.  Honda has confirmed nine deaths and more than 100 injuries in the U.S. related to ruptures of driver’s front airbag inflators supplied by Takata. It takes around 8 - 10 years for the airbag to fail. 

http://blog.caranddriver.com/massive-takata-airbag-recall-everything-you-need-to-know-including-full-list-of-affected-vehicles/

[Mr. Paws]

Keep the Porsche/Maserati license plate frame on it to keep up with the Joneses.

Glad to hear you were treated with respect! 

Maybe you could have started with I want to test drive the Porsche Turbo.  complain that it's too fast.
Then, drive the Maserati. complain that it's too loud.
And then settle with the civic

Oh thats perfect!  I completely missed a great opportunity there.

[Mr. Paws]

Make sure the airbags are upgraded. 2001 to 2011 Honda Civics have been recalled for defective airbags made by Takata Corporation.  Honda has confirmed nine deaths and more than 100 injuries in the U.S. related to ruptures of driver’s front airbag inflators supplied by Takata. It takes around 8 - 10 years for the airbag to fail. 

http://blog.caranddriver.com/massive-takata-airbag-recall-everything-you-need-to-know-including-full-list-of-affected-vehicles/

Thank you for this.  I was aware of this and it shows up in the carfax.  I am not driving the Civic yet because its getting some needed maintenance done.  I plan on taking it to the dealer for the recall when i pick it up.

[mm1970]

Make sure the airbags are upgraded. 2001 to 2011 Honda Civics have been recalled for defective airbags made by Takata Corporation.  Honda has confirmed nine deaths and more than 100 injuries in the U.S. related to ruptures of driver’s front airbag inflators supplied by Takata. It takes around 8 - 10 years for the airbag to fail. 

http://blog.caranddriver.com/massive-takata-airbag-recall-everything-you-need-to-know-including-full-list-of-affected-vehicles/

Good luck getting the parts.  We keep getting letters...but the parts are never available.

[paddedhat]

I bought a Scion TC at the Porsche dealer. It was priced right, and in great condition. The best part was that they did some serious work to the car before they put it on the lot. It came with new rotors and pads all around, and four new, top brand, performance tires. Once I got the paperwork wrapped up, I was about to drive away and the salesman was horrified. The car looked as good as any freshly washed car on anybody's used car lot, but no. He insisted that it wasn't going to leave in "that condition". The next day, when I was finally allowed to take it, it was fully washed, detailed to car show standards, and had a full tank of gas. Nothing like dropping way less than retail, for an inexpensive car, and getting treated like a king, during the sales process. It was weird and pleasant.

In the past I picked up a Tahoe and a Suburban at very high end dealers, and paid far less than market. Both turned out to be great trucks and stupid cheap to buy. In both cases the dealers took then in trade, and wanted them gone, ASAP. In a dealership full of Range Rovers and exotic cars, apparently a  big GM SUV sticks out like shit on a white horse, and it's either send it off to the auction, or put it on line and see if somebody will make it go away, quickly.  The Tahoe was wholesale auction price plus $500. This was a better deal than wasting their time to have it hauled to the auction.

[jinga nation]

Make sure the airbags are upgraded. 2001 to 2011 Honda Civics have been recalled for defective airbags made by Takata Corporation.  Honda has confirmed nine deaths and more than 100 injuries in the U.S. related to ruptures of driver’s front airbag inflators supplied by Takata. It takes around 8 - 10 years for the airbag to fail. 

http://blog.caranddriver.com/massive-takata-airbag-recall-everything-you-need-to-know-including-full-list-of-affected-vehicles/

Good luck getting the parts.  We keep getting letters...but the parts are never available.

My wife has the 2006 Civic. There is a recall on the passenger front airbag. We got a first letter notifying of the recall. It mentioned a 2nd letter will be sent out in fall 2016. I checked recalls.honda.com today using the VIN, and a solution hasn't been identified. Until then, they recommend not having a front passenger. I've already had the Civic's driver side airbag replaced, along with Accord passenger.

If this is your only car for your family, I think Honda should be giving a complimentary loaner. This doesn't affect us as my Accord is the primary car with kids seats, but on occasion I work on my car on weekends, and the Civic is the temp family car. But I see this affecting several families.