Johan Haarman & New Car Buying Experience
In October 2017, I finally decided that I needed a more dependable car - one with less miles, less upcoming maintenance and repair costs, and cleaner. I also needed way more trunk and passenger space.
It took many months of searching online, going to used car dealerships, and then many new car dealerships... Then I stumbled upon Howdy Honda. I have no clue why Howdy Honda ended up being my last stop in my search, but it was a great place to end.
From the parking lot (clean and spacious), to the receptionist (prompt and kind), to the sales person (quick to greet me and offer assistance and complimentary beverages), I was already ASTOUNDED by the great environment I walked into. Within the first few minutes, my experience at Howdy Honda was already AMAZING compared to all of the other car dealerships that I went to.
When I arrived, I met Johan Haarman - he ended up being my sales person throughout the whole process. On my first visit, we sat down and he asked me exactly what I wanted - for me it was a small SUV with an aux cord. Literally. That is all I wanted. He said okay and showed me the base models. Unlike other dealerships that I visited, he didn't push me for upgrades or the higher end models. I didn't want leather seats. I didn't want a sun or moon roof. I didn't want an extra row of seating or heated seats. I only wanted a small SUV with aux cord capabilities.
So, we went out and saw the CRVs - we traveled in a golf cart nonetheless, because that is service! I told him I wanted the lighter colors - and he only showed me the lighter colors. Basically, he only showed me what I wanted to see.
We went out for a test drive. He allowed me to drive on the freeway, S-curves, and a back road which was riddled with potholes to see how the car handled in different ways. We went into a parking lot, set up my phone to the bluetooth in the car and put the volume all the way up and listened to music, then we reversed to see the operation of the backup camera, as well as the turn radius. THEN! to top it all off as we were driving, we talked about how safety conscious I was, so he had me try out the Sport, Eco, and Regular drive modes, AND test the brakes out - to see how responsive they were if I needed to brake hard for whatever reason life throws at you on the road.
When we got back, we walked around the car and messed with every button and lever, opened and shut doors, checked out the tint. Boy! He was patient and never seemed bothered by my thorough walk through/testing of the car - in fact, he seemed excited.
Everything felt right about the car, it was a smaller SUV and it had less than 30 miles on it - you can't beat that. He stayed either past closing hours or I left right before closing - either way he stayed around with me as we talked specs and financing (seeing if theirs was better than my bank, etc.), anything and everything. Again, I wanted to be thorough, but this was also my very first new car purchase, so I was nervous.
At the end of the day, we set up an appointment for the next day to have my boyfriend check it out - I wanted him to be there to make sure I wasn't getting haggled (even though I didn't feel like I was).
The next morning rolled around, I told Johan that I wanted that car, he had it pulled around in back for detailing. We began talking about prices, I came back with the research, he pulled up research from a third party website, and I gave them an offer and they accepted! We worked through financing and trading in of my car. He patiently waited for me to switch over my insurance and made sure that my portion of financing was good to go. He constantly checked in with us, made sure we had water at all times, kept us in the loop, and did it all with a happy face.
Johan was a great sales person. He did a great job. I never felt haggled. I never felt intimidated. I felt that he was on my side the whole time and wanted what was in my best interest.
Now, my family members are looking for new cars in the coming years and I'm telling them to go to Howdy Honda. Good job y'all! read more