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Dang... Called over 40 dealers in a Tri-State circle. Nobody had one in stock, only 4 could give me dates that they had one set to arrive by. The earliest was the end of April, the longest, late June. Only found one in the color I want, and from a reputable sounding dealer, so I put a deposit on it and am now waiting till it (hopefully) arrives in June.
A couple things to note for those who find themselves in the same boat. The dealers I talked to seemed to fall into one of 3 categories:
1). Upfront and honest - saying things like "I have seen one, we sold it. Now we have 2 that are set to come in, one red, and one blue, but they both have deposits holding them." That or, I sold all my inventory and am done till the summer is over as we won't see any more till then. Everyone echoed that Honda is way behind on production and that they are getting a lot of calls on the new 520, and that they have a list of folks waiting for them.
2). The unsure group - these I trusted less. Their comments were like "yea, we have some coming in, when we do, we call the people that we have deposits from (or that we have on our list), we'll call you when we get some." Following up with "when do you expect to get your next one, netted replies like "not sure, they can come anytime," or "hopefully next month." I found it funny that some dealers could tell me the exact date a delivery was expected from their order/shipping sheet, and others didn't have a clue or visibility of any such sheet. Seemed fishy.
3). The not trustworthy. Their replies were along the lines of "we have a wish list, we send it out, I'll put you on our wish list." Other replies were along the lines of "some dealers, they deny their inventory so it gets sent to other dealers." My least favorite was "we have a bunch on order, and I can sell you one if you put a deposit on it." When I asked when they would arrive, I was told, they couldn't tell me, or didn't know.
The litmus test wound up being "what color is the one you have coming in, that you are selling." Any dealers that said they didn't know, were just putting me on a "wish list" scenario. The ones that had a color, and also had a very specific delivery date and could go over details like, it will get shipped on this date, Honda has been pretty good about that. If it comes into Seattle it will take X days to get here but if it comes into California, it will be Y instead they seemed like they were the much more honest ones. The one I bought was from a dealer like that, and he even wrote on my deposit invoice that "if unit does not arrive by July, will refund deposit." Which considering other dealerships told me they couldn't refund the deposit seemed very legit.
Just a heads up on what I found, and your mileage may vary. There is definitely a wide range of communication, transparency and honesty that seemed to vary greatly in all my calls. The majority were good folks, but there were enough snake like ones that it made me take notice. It looks like it is going to be a long time before inventory catches up to demand on these little gems.
A couple things to note for those who find themselves in the same boat. The dealers I talked to seemed to fall into one of 3 categories:
1). Upfront and honest - saying things like "I have seen one, we sold it. Now we have 2 that are set to come in, one red, and one blue, but they both have deposits holding them." That or, I sold all my inventory and am done till the summer is over as we won't see any more till then. Everyone echoed that Honda is way behind on production and that they are getting a lot of calls on the new 520, and that they have a list of folks waiting for them.
2). The unsure group - these I trusted less. Their comments were like "yea, we have some coming in, when we do, we call the people that we have deposits from (or that we have on our list), we'll call you when we get some." Following up with "when do you expect to get your next one, netted replies like "not sure, they can come anytime," or "hopefully next month." I found it funny that some dealers could tell me the exact date a delivery was expected from their order/shipping sheet, and others didn't have a clue or visibility of any such sheet. Seemed fishy.
3). The not trustworthy. Their replies were along the lines of "we have a wish list, we send it out, I'll put you on our wish list." Other replies were along the lines of "some dealers, they deny their inventory so it gets sent to other dealers." My least favorite was "we have a bunch on order, and I can sell you one if you put a deposit on it." When I asked when they would arrive, I was told, they couldn't tell me, or didn't know.
The litmus test wound up being "what color is the one you have coming in, that you are selling." Any dealers that said they didn't know, were just putting me on a "wish list" scenario. The ones that had a color, and also had a very specific delivery date and could go over details like, it will get shipped on this date, Honda has been pretty good about that. If it comes into Seattle it will take X days to get here but if it comes into California, it will be Y instead they seemed like they were the much more honest ones. The one I bought was from a dealer like that, and he even wrote on my deposit invoice that "if unit does not arrive by July, will refund deposit." Which considering other dealerships told me they couldn't refund the deposit seemed very legit.
Just a heads up on what I found, and your mileage may vary. There is definitely a wide range of communication, transparency and honesty that seemed to vary greatly in all my calls. The majority were good folks, but there were enough snake like ones that it made me take notice. It looks like it is going to be a long time before inventory catches up to demand on these little gems.
