Aldous

has anyone else noticed that people have already started auctioning off the rights to pick up their new z? what do you guys think about this?

NiZZan

People have been selling their pre-order slots for awhile now. I feel that some of them have good reasons (changes in income, family size, etc.)

If they are selling for profit or never intended to get the car then it is a shame. Those were part of a limited pre-order process that should have went to a Z buff

NSANY

It's capitalism at its finest in some cases and a bit of bad circumstance in others. To each their own.

BTW, where did you get that snappy quote you use in your sig file? (Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! )

Aldous

it was in the movie 'independence day'

Aldous

i believe the quote was by harry connick jr

NSANY

I'm just busting your stones a little bit. I changed my sig to use that quote a few days ago, and when I saw you used the same one, I was wondering where you got such a great idea from.

TCL

People who object to dealers charging more than MSRP for the car should really object to this guy's tactics. I share the opinion that NiZZan posted above.

Dr Bonz

iTrader: (1)

It does kind of suck, but hey, it's the American way....

Enforcer

When I pre-ordered and quizzed my dealer on price, he said that this pre-order phase was between the customers and Nissan and that Nissan was "not allowing" the dealers to charge more than MSRP or buy any to sell. His opinion was that it was Nissan's intent to get a number of Zs in the hands of the people that really like/wanted them (Zfans) without the typical price hikes that follow the introduction of new models and the media craze.

This is good for us if the car will really be as popular as projected. Obviously it will be bad for us if the car bombs out and there is less demand than projected (doubtful).

I believe the reason Nissan did this was for advertising and to limit the eventual lag of a media blitz and artificial price hike. It gets cars in the hands of people that love Zs and the resulting 'word of mouth' advertising and it gets cars on the road while others see them on the TV commercials (IE stimulates the market).

There might be some other associated benefits as well. Always with a new model and engine (not really) is the concern about new model bugs. While Nissan may learn from the bugs we find and improve later models (I hope minor), it also gives follow-on perspective customers the perception that they are not buying the very first model.

While discussing this with my co-workers, we were amazed at the tactic and at the same time thought it was good for the pre-orderers. One of them had bought a PT Cruiser and the best deal he could find was a few grand over MSRP. And there weren't a lot of bug fixes yet. So from his perspective, he thought it was great that I wasn't getting shafted like he was...the priveledge of paying more without the benefit of refinements.


Enforcer

articfury

This one is crazy. Someone is willing to pay $49k for a 350Z Track? I like how the ad says August delivery. I wonder if that is confirmed. Actually, the cars being delivered in August should be getting close to production. Also, notice the price of the car has a $2000 "Market Demand" fee. I wonder if there was an agreement between the dealer and the seller regarding this auction, and including a dealer markup in the price. Stuff like this makes me glad I pre-ordered.

JD

bluedevil

****.. if someone handed me 10k I would wait another 5 months, and my car would have no payments when i get it, that would be sweet, except not havin a car for a long *** time, but i think i can get around, plus it will be winter time by the time i get mine in i think. maybe i should auction it I dont know what do you think

articfury

Well, I think it turned out that someone screwed up. The price dropped back in to the $1800 range this afternoon. Looks like someone misunderstood what they were bidding on (i.e. the car itself) and placed an outlandish bid for just the right to buy the car. The top bid of $14,100 had been retracted.

JD

MatthewZ

He still owes $38,000, no wonder he is selling his car.

wooglin

Surely this is not true...but if you type search: 350z on ebay's home page right now, you will see a bid of 10,100 for a pre-order spot. This guy only put in a 500 dollar deposit, so he's making $9,600 already with a few days to go!

wooglin

Interesting...just read the fine print and it looks like the DEALER is putting this out there on behalf of the buyer (Dr. Townsend?) who no longer wants his allocation...