I knew exactly what I wanted. The 2011 4-door Civic Si, black, factory clean with no dealer add-on's like pin-striping, or the dealer sticker that come all cars. I wasn't interested in having ol' DW's name on my Civic.
I talked to all the Honda dealers in the mid-TN area. Crest, Reddell, Darrel Waltrip, and Trickett. Crest and Waltrip were completely unhelpful. Neither seemed interested in what I wanted, they were only interested in selling what they had in stock already. They did have the car I wanted, but refused to remove the pin-striping and dealer sticker.
Reddell had the car I wanted as well, and said that they would be happy to remove the add-on's, but the price was $1000 above MSRP. They couldn't seem to get to the MSRP, much less below it, no matter how much I negotiated.
Then I emailed Dale Adkins over at Trickett. I told him exactly what I wanted. Trickett did not have my car on the lot at the time, but Dale somehow managed to find it at dealer in Kentucky.
Negotiating price with Dale was easy. His first quote was well below the MSRP. I called Reddell to see if they wanted to match or go lower. They either could not or would not.
Dale made a trip up to Kentucky in the wee hours of the morning, drove my car back to Rivergate, and I was on my merry way in my new car that afternoon. The total mileage on my car at the time of purchase was the 80 miles Dale had put on it driving it from Kentucky.
In the end Dale and Trickett got me exactly what I wanted, without pressure, and I walked out $1000 under MSRP including fees and taxes. I may not have the Trickett dealer sticker on my car, but I'm real quick to tell people I bought my car at Trickett.
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