SZ350

I live in Chicago and bought my Chrome silver, performance 350Z the 28th of Dec. I was in the dealer for 2hrs trying to get them to budge from the MSRP, but they wouldn't. Did anyone buy thier 350 under MSRP and where. Plus I am looking for a good shop to do some Mods....especially to put in a DVD system. Anyone who could help me out....that would be cool.

bigbob

We did our deal at Hawkinson Nissan in Matteson. It was our family's sixth Nissan purchase since February from them. We knew up front that it would be MSRP, so our only options were to get some free add-ons and getting the trade price that I wanted. These folks have always treated me right and made great deals on our two 2002 Altimas (SE and S), two SE-Rs and a Spec V. None of our local Indiana dealers even came close on the selling price of any of the vehicles or the freebies. I begged one dealership to sell me a car, in writing, with no response; and another we walked out after enduring their 1960's style of manipulating the customer and wasting two hours of our time. We also tried Woodfield Nissan but all they wanted to do was use the high pressure sales routine over the phone. We went back to Hawkinson as a loyal customer and they came through for us once again.
We went with a Black Touring, auto (selling point for the wife), leather, aero, with side bags. MSRP, but free locks, Z plate, cargo net, paint sealant (works outstanding), and got exactly what we wanted on our 2001 Navigator trade. Even got a nice "after the sale" package to enjoy on the grill ( $75-100 valuse) after the snow melts . No regrets, got the car with the options we wanted and with some "extras" to make the MSRP palitable. We will be going back to do a deal on a Murano in the spring. For any one else out there, it's worth the drive, and ask for Dana. Tell them Big Bob sent you.

turbo_ek

I spammed all the dealers in the midwest, and got a couple in Chicago to bite for $500 under MSRP... The ones that seemed most ready to deal were;

Carl Blomsterberg at Al Piemonte Nissan
Derek Bogden at Evanston Nissan

Vlad

I don't see why you being so optimistic about them... You said you bought 6(!) cars from them, and let's see what deal you've got:
1. MSRP(everybody getting it)
2. free locks. do you mean wheel locks? then it's like $20 value
3. Z plate? $20
4. Cargo net? $35
5. Paing sealant - means cheap wax applied fast and careless. $10 job in best case.
6. I don't know what is "after the sale package" but can imagine it didn't cost dealer anything, and equally useless to you.

Let's see it's $85 package to thanks for 6(!) car in one year.

Now my friend bought a Touring on December 31st. He just went on Internet, looked up inventory for Chicago area, get on the phone and in one hour he found a dealer who sold him Touring for $200 under MSRP. He also delivered for free the car to Michigan (200+ miles) on January 2nd. I guess it was Country Nissan, or Continental Nissan or something like that. Try them next time.

That's $200+ savings on first buy compared to $85 extra staff you can live without on your 6th buy. So the only thing your dealer good at is ********ting you and ripping you off. Even mentioning "paint sealant" is enough for me to walk out of dealership.

If you are not aware, "paint sealant" is a way for dealers to rip you off $500-1000 for nothing. Since it's not nice to say "we want $500 over MSRP", they just say "we'll make you paint sealant". Then they either cheap wax your car in 10 minutes, or do nothing at all. You won't know anyway. If you don't believe me, ask him to show you the process itself next time. Than watch how his face will go from nice to red. Yes I know you got this "nothing" for free this time. In normal words, he decided to not rip you off this time and call it a deal.

Impostor

Damn Vlad. Your post reads pretty harsh, even if I agree with what you're saying.

Impostor

Vlad

Hmm... it probably is. I just cant watch dealers do such things to people and people keep liking them.

bigbob

You miss the point. Far too many go in and pay the price and that's all they get. We got more for no cost. Nickels and dimes, yes, but is was better than nothing. Should they have done better on a good customer, probably, but no one is moving off of MSRP very quickly. Some CLAIM they got a below MSRP but fail to tell you they took it in the shorts on the trade. Only a fool would think that wheel locks are not needed. Too many posts indicate otherwise. Since I didn't pay for sealant, I don't care what they call it or what it is made from, as long it is a guaranteed product that will not damage the existing paint job. FREE, absolutely FREE.
$10 or $300, it was FREE. Wash and wipe....no swirl marks and all the other problems with a black paint job. As long as it was free, no problem. Talk is real cheap, but have yet to see ANYONE step up to the plate with a pretty picture or copy thereof of THEIR deal posted for all to see. In November several Chicagoland dealers showed existing inventory of NUMEROUS Z's only to find out that they were on "the truck" or "recently ordered". No cigar.
Still happy with our deal despite the comments.

Vlad

I'd just expected to get more if I buy 6 cars in one year. If it's let's say 2grand of comissions per car, dealer got 12 grand of your family alone...

I'm not sure about black, but my friend was looking for Silverstone and he got like 3 cars of exact trim he wanted, all cars were on parking lots and dealers were willing to compete as I understood it. I was amazed of how many Zs available in Chicago.

Vlad

And the main point is

INTERNET is going to kill dealers

I can imagine how they HATE it. How sweet was life before and now what, they have to COMPETE??? For customer??? Where this world going....

SZ350

Big Bob...did you get like a certificate of some sort or piece of paper saying that if anything goes wrong with your paint, ie...bird crap ruins your paint...that they will take care of it?

I mean is the sealant the same thing as the Paint Protectant they offer?

I don't know..I just hated paying MSRP for a new car...I was so pissed that I turned down everything they offered me...including the extended warranty!

bigbob

SZ350:
Even though this was a freebie we were given all of the product information and warranty / registration information, which was completed and signed by the dealership. we did an internet search for the company and product and they are a legitimate business with no complaints filed at the BBB, as of the date of registry. I am sure that this is marketed under various names and programs and is a dealer pac item. I would not pay for such an add on item if offered (which, after the first offering on the first car, it was not offered again) nor would I pay for it if it had been added to the sticker as a dealer add on. Since there was no cost I view it as a plus. It has a five year, from date of application, warranty. Covers all the environment stuff plus fading, etc. Also wound up with two bottles of "touch up" protectant, for what ever reason. I use the term sealant and paint protectant interchangeably. I am sure someone out there will correct me, which is cool. A four minute high pressure soap and rinse for a dollar and a wiped down is all it takes to make it look new again. A California Duster also comes in real handy. I will not take it though a regular wash rack, based on some of the items I have read in these boards.

I can't get upset at paying MSRP. We bought it on the 15th of November, and NO ONE in northern Indiana, lower Michigan or Illinois was letting them go for less. Even Edmunds, and KBB showed the best you might do was a couple of bucks off. We had a choice to buy or wait. We chose to buy. With large dealer inventories starting to appear on the internet, the price will drop and a few months from now it will be a lot less than what I paid. Oh well. We knew that going in to the deal. Timing was such that the end of month squeeze would not help and the time was right to unload the Gator trade. We played that game last February on a new end of model year Gator and went from an MSRP of $52000 to $38500 out the door. Nice vehicle but $40 a tank full of premium got old pretty quick.

If the dealership offered items, I would have grabbed them. I just kept asking them to throw stuff in and they did. Better than nothing. Our dinner was on them. A free extended warranty would have been great.

Where did you get your Z in Chicagoland?

MannishBoy

iTrader: (1)

Try Bommarito in St Louis. Ask for Todd. I got an excellent deal, but part of the reason was to clear out a car before year end. Deal was significantly under list. He even came in and delivered on a Sunday, when they were closed.

SZ350

Thanks for all the info....I bought mine at Gerald in Naperville. Very nice people, they treated me well. I think is might be too late to go and ask for stuff now though. But I will know for the future. Does anyone know of a good tint shop?

ziscoming

I bought my Pre order from Mid City Nissan in Chicago...easy to deal with and the sales manager Jordan is a good guy. My 2nd purchase from him and if he's lucky a third with a Murano.

MacGuru

I bought from Al Piemonte. My saleman was Jeremy and manager was Andrew, both did right by me. Cheers. -m

perfectlyfrank

Literally across the street is a shop that I've heard very good things about called Genesis Racing and Deveolpment. They aren't Nissan specific, they work on a lot of different imports. I will have my A4 in there next week having H&R sport springs, koni shocks and a short shift kit installed.

http://www.grdperformance.com/

I can't comment on the pricing discussion since my Z was preordered last March and I pretty much had no choice but to pay MSRP. I was pretty satisfied with the way I was treated at Arlington Nissan.

happypants

Just bought my 350Z Performance from Kayser Nissan in Wisconsin under MSRP. Drove up to Madison with my brother and picked it up on Saturday. Kayser had four more 350z's on the lot, contact details are in the Classified forum under "5 ZZZZ's under MSRP"

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....threadid=15498

Driving my 350z to my brother's house and then coming back home, I had to drive along I-294 from I-290 south to 95th st exit. Both ways I got to experience the bouncing/porpoising. It was so bad I started feeling sick to my stomach when going northbound. Changing speed doesn't seem to affect it, and neither does positioning in the lane. It's also pretty embarassing as other drivers can see the car bouncing around.

As suggested in one of the other threads, I may try out putting 100-150 lbs in the back to see if it makes the ride smoother.

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....threadid=10706

SZ350

Yeah...I noticed the same thing. You can feel almost every single bump or imperfection on the road. But you have to expect that from a sports car though. I think I can live with it.

KayserNissan

Vlad: Sorry, but dealers do not hate the internet, and no, the internet will never replace the traditional dealership. The industry predicted that by 2000, there would be no salesman.....well the salesmen and women are still here, and the bubble burst on the dot.com auto start-ups.

2000 gross on each deal?? Not hardly, some cars have decent margins, but Sentras and Altimas???? NOT.

You miss the point of BigBob's story, a dealer they trusted took care of them, the way they wanted to be cared for. They got a great deal, and the deal was structured to their benifit. Most likely the dealership used some of the Z margin to show in Bigbob's trade-in, since re-sale on the big SUV's aren't great. So the customer got exactly what they wanted, and they are happy. thats what it is all about.
Vlad, I doubt you would be happy with ANY deal, even if you paid less than everyone.....deep down you would worry about that one customer that got $1 more dollar off.

Congratulations BigBob, enjoy your Z.

The paint sealant is not fake, while it is not a high dollar add, it does cost the dealership about $100 for the application. If you doubt the validity, just use some of the sealant on part of a body panel...then put your hand in a plastic baggy, and wipe across the treated area to a non treated area...you will feel the difference.

HappyPants: Enjoy your Z. Thanks for making the trip up to Wisconsin.

Rob

MannishBoy

iTrader: (1)

My family owned a dealership until I was in college. We always put paint sealant on cars, but didn't do the add on sticker thing. At the time, it only cost labor and the minimal amount that one car's wax cost. I'll just say that it wasn't $100, but I agree some brands that dealers sell probably do cost that. IMO, though, none of them are worth it.

I always called it the "Emporer's New Clothes" treatment when I was selling against dealers who marked up their cars by hundreds of dollars. Who knows what you are really getting, just a slick film on the car that could be any wax imaginable.

We never had add on stickers for stuff like sealants and scotchguard, and never charged doc fees (which are my personal pet peeve).

Basically, all this stuff is just mark up room. Nothing inherently wrong with it, but most of it is of very little value in the long run.