Has anyone done an Acura sales shop?

These have shown up for the first time in my area (or at least the first time since I've been expanding my horizons). This is a lease-option scenario with required test drive. I'd love to do it, but the MSC seems to be a smaller one, not often discussed here, and I have no feel for the reporting requirements. But the shop info states you fill out the "short" surveys on the Acura website. I've never done a car shop, and have no clue if $50 is fair. Sounds OK, though, seeing as another car shop that pops up from time to time in my area pays less.

Do you have to let them run a credit check on you when you do a sales shop if the salesperson insists? I'm a bit paranoid about that because I had to have a credit check run recently for a cell-phone shop. I was not prepared for that and was not happy about it!

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/2016 12:00AM by BirdyC.

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I don't think you have to have the credit check. I accepted one for the 11th but I haven't looked over the materials yet. I think $50 is very good pay for a car shop.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I don't think you have to have the credit check. I accepted one for the 11th but I haven't looked over the materials yet. I think $50 is very good pay for a car shop.

Thanks! It sounds pretty good to me, too, especially since the dealership is a whopping four miles from me!

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/2016 12:01AM by BirdyC.

Same with mine, how convenient is that!

yes 50.00 is good do your homework, email the scheduler to get a copy of the survey/report so you know what you need to record, make sure you get a card and also get a google voice phone number to give them to make things easier.

I got one for the 7th. I will let you know how it goes. $50 is good for a car shop though.

Shopping Western NY, Northeast and Central PA, and parts of Ohio and West Virginia. Have car will travel anywhere if the monies right.

@BuffaloNY101 wrote:

I got one for the 7th. I will let you know how it goes. $50 is good for a car shop though.

Thanks! My application was accepted for the 8th; it looks like a couple of us will be waiting with bated breath for your "field report"!

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

@komondor wrote:

...also get a google voice phone number to give them to make things easier.

Ok, this is probably a dumb question, but what is a google voice phone number? It sounds as if you have to complete a second survey once the dealer follows up by phone, so do I assume this is some forwarding number or something so that no matter where you are, they can reach you?

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

@BirdyC wrote:

@komondor wrote:

...also get a google voice phone number to give them to make things easier.

Ok, this is probably a dumb question, but what is a google voice phone number? It sounds as if you have to complete a second survey once the dealer follows up by phone, so do I assume this is some forwarding number or something so that no matter where you are, they can reach you?

Exactly. Google voice is connected to your cell phone. You need a gmail account to get a Google voice number.
When someone calls the Google number it is forwarded to your phone. However, it allows you a lot of privacy options to screen calls. You can require the caller to state their name before Google will put the call through. You can have certain numbers go to voicemail. The voicemails are also transcribed and sent to your gmail account as an email. You can also block the number later. (After shop is over if the dealership keeps calling)
If you give the dealership a Google number it makes it much harder for them to harass you with multiple calls.

I did an Acura sales shop in 2015, and it was decent pay for the time and survey. Not anywhere near as bad as the redundant & ridiculously tedious surveys from the "Smart"-shop MSC...

@N-TownShopper wrote:

Exactly. Google voice is connected to your cell phone. You need a gmail account to get a Google voice number.
When someone calls the Google number it is forwarded to your phone. However, it allows you a lot of privacy options to screen calls. You can require the caller to state their name before Google will put the call through. You can have certain numbers go to voicemail. The voicemails are also transcribed and sent to your gmail account as an email. You can also block the number later. (After shop is over if the dealership keeps calling)
If you give the dealership a Google number it makes it much harder for them to harass you with multiple calls.

Thank you! My cell phone number is also the primary number for my "other real-life" business, so this sounds like it might be a good way to keep some amount of privacy.

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

@N-TownShopper wrote:

Exactly. Google voice is connected to your cell phone. You need a gmail account to get a Google voice number.
When someone calls the Google number it is forwarded to your phone.

I have a Google Voice number and I did not forward it to my phone. I just get an email when someone leaves a VM there and I listen to it online.

Sorry for not providing a complete answer this week has been crazy, I also do beta testing and this week everything had issues.

Google voice signup is here
[www.google.com]

you will get a local phone number that you can give out and best of all you use it to "call" a number and the google voice number will come up on the caller ID, basically you log onto google voice then choose make a call and choose what device you want to use to actually make the call and then put the number in you want to call hit call your phone will ring and when you answer it you will hear the call start to go thru, that way they NEVER get your real number and you can get multiple google voice numbers if you are calling different dealerships in the same chain it may help keep you unique since people could have the same name but not the same home number.

Sign up here for free [www.google.com]

I want a $50.00 car shop! All mine have been $14-$17...

sbobgal stop working for bestmark or intellishop. With intellishop ask for a bonus or fair rate.

Shopping Western NY, Northeast and Central PA, and parts of Ohio and West Virginia. Have car will travel anywhere if the monies right.

I did one at the end of November for Intellishop for $70, but $50 of that was bonus money. Sometimes, the key is to wait it out.

The $50 rate is the base rate, but at that rate they should have no problem getting them filled.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

The $50 rate is the base rate, but at that rate they should have no problem getting them filled.

I was surprised I got accepted. I was sure that there must have been others who jumped at it before I even saw it on the job board! Now if I can only get my browser updated before Friday (they say you have to have the most recent version of the browser you use, but I'm having a problem downloading and installing Firefox 43).

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

I just finished the training. It seems pretty basic and straightforward, but interestingly enough, they want opinions and feelings in this report in addition to facts.

Just FYI, when I did this shop this past early summer, they had a hard tine filling them - I kept getting the request for shoppers email for almost 2 months straight. There were also Acura service shops, & those appeared to be ridiculously hard to fill...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/07/2016 12:45AM by xenshopper.

If you are doing this as a one time visit then $50.00 is okay. You do not need to do a credit check. Please tell the sales person that when you are ready to do the purchase then they can do a credit check. When I do auto negotiation shops in CA they are usually 2 visits and the pay is $75.00. It is a lot of money; however the shopper has to go back to the dealership twice. Do it once and see how it goes for you. Best Wishes.

I've got my first Acura shop tomorrow.

"To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; to be credible we must be truthful." Edward R. Murrow

Thou shalt not steal. I mean defensively. On offense, indeed thou shall steal and thou must.--Branch Rickey

This one is not a negotiation shop. I have seen those in my area for a different MSC also for $75 as a two-part shop. I declined. This one is more along the lines of what another MSC does with their car dealership shops, though the other MSC pays significantly less for the same amount of work.

If the two of you who have these tomorrow get a chance to check in afterward, would you kindly let us know how they went? It would be much appreciated! And good luck!

I'm a little nervous about mine on Friday, having never done a car shop before at all.... But I do love shopping for cars, so I'm hoping it won't be too stressful!

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

Yes, please do. Mine's not until the 11th, but since I have never worked for this company before, I left that my only task for the day. I am not worried but I am curious. Good luck!

I'm jelly! I wanted to do one but the one I saw said no weekends and I have a day job.

I think $50 is fair for a car shop. You're there for a while, you have to give them a real id since you are going to test drive a car, and the one I did they kept insisting I apply for credit and I didn't want to, which took some finagling. And the salesperson keeps following up with me even weeks later. Thank goodness for Google Voice!

The one car shop I have done was through Intellishop but it was for $60 ($20 fee plus $40 bonus).

Nice, Cecelia. I had done one for you-know-who as well but only got paid $42. Won't do one for less than $40. Years ago I would do them for $30 with Monterey, but I have since figured out they just aren't worth anything less than $40. And by golly, they are going to pressure us but I am not letting them run my credit no way no how. I have had some pushy people at cell phone stores try that crap too. It's a pain in the arse but you just have to stand your ground.

Oh, and Cecelia? Some dealerships stay open until 7 during the week, you could try to see if you could get off before 5 and head that way so you have time to do the whole shop if your dealership is open that late.

Getting ready to head out and do the Acura shop...plus six other shops today. Acura is the first one and it's in a one party state so the shop will be recorded. I might do it with video as I do have two video shops today also. Will decide when I get nearer to the dealership.

i have done several acura shops for $70 each. they are straight forward and take about an hour including the test drive. make sure to check out the feature that works with the cruise control (between 45 and 90 mph) that allows for hands-off highway driving and keeps you in the proper lane. verrry cool. i thought my new mini cooper had a lot of technology but it's not like this.

I have done several Acura dealerships. It is about the same as any luxury car dealership form. You need to dress like you can afford it and drive something that say you can.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/07/2016 01:40PM by CJT.

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