A good eye will tell you where the car is from.

 

I still am voting for OPEN SEASON on stupid sales people.

It's not there fault, but it is there job to know proper information on the product they represent? WTF Where do you draw the line between apparent lying and an honest mistake. I have had my share of rough dealings with Nissan reps and all of which are uneducated on the product they sale. If Nissan would take the time to educate there sales force with proper knowledge and teach them some Customer Service skills then Nissan would be better off and there customers would return with ease.

Do what I did go to every dealership you can until you find one that does not lie to you. In my case it was a dealership 55 miles away and I put my order in at the first of the month.

Cheers

Kevin

 

A good Carfax will do even better.

 

I am an insurance agent, we get all the claim dirt.
trade in cars have a different stock number than an auction car at a lot of dealerships, since the salesman logs in the car not the dealership.
if it is a car that a rental company uses and has mid to high miles for a 1 year old car, there is a good chance its a "program" car.

 

In defense of the car salesman, I think it is up to YOU to know everything about the car you want. Knowledge is power, use it to your advantage. The average dealer sells a lot of different models; should he be as well-versed on every one of them as we are about the 350Z? Going to the dealer and trying to sandbag them is no more ethical than them doing the same to you. Let the salesperson know that you are totally familiar with the car, and try offering to share your knowledge - cuts way down on the animosity and he will know right away not to BS you. And no, I don't sell cars but as a business owner for over 20 years, I know a little bit about selling AND buying.

 

I'd say who cares if the salesman lies to you? It sucks if you're in a position (as a lot of car buyers are) where you don't know much about the car you're buying, but if you're relying on salesmen for your information about a car, then you're just as stupid as they are. Do your homework before you go in, and learn what kinds of things to look for. Then it really doesn't matter what they tell you, because you will already know if they are feeding you BS or not.

90% of people buy a car because they liked the salesman. I say F the sales man, the car should either make or break the deal. In any case, 6 months down the road if you did everything right on your part to inform and protect yourself from a poor purchase, then it really doesn't matter if Joe Blow salesman lied to me or not...

 

for most americans its the 2nd biggest purchase they will ever make and one of the most impulsive ones too.

 

Bottom line is that most salesmen dont know much about the product they're selling and will feed the customer as much bs as they can to close the deal. I'm sure their techniques work on a lot of people but no all and thats why they do it. They have to do whatever they can to put food on the table.

It would be nice to go into a dealership where the salesmen know their product as well as their competitor's product so that they give you honest information. I would bet that if you go to a Porsche, Ferrari or Lamborghini dealership the salesmen there will know tons more about their product.

 

True 'dat, but they are selling 6 figure cars with a very limited model line and much higher commissions. Nissan dealers cannot afford to have a sales person who specializes in just one or two of their lines. My sales guy 3.5 years ago was clueless about the 350Z, heck he was probably clueless about most if not all the cars, but I walked out with a reasonable deal and feeling pretty good about the whole transaction with him. Now if you want to open up a new can of worms, the finance guy was the real crook, not that he got away with anything either.

 

I have found the best way to deal with Car Sales people is this;

1) Be Polite and "nice".
2) Be knowledgable about what you are shopping for without being arogant.
3) Be Firm in what you are willing to pay, take for trade and want.
4) Be willing to walk away or say no if you feel you are not getting the deal you want or are not being treated with respect.
5) Be honest and up-front with your saleperson and expect the same in return, make your intentions and expectations clear from the start.

Having the self control to walk away is the key to any deal. Reguardless of what the salesman says or does, if the terms of the deal are not what you can accept, walk away.

 

Well said!

 

It is all going to depend on the dealership. For example high end dealerships for the most part will be more selective about who they employ. Manufacturers such as BMW, Lexus etc require regular tests to be taken by the sales people on their products.

Its all a game at the end of the day. The dealer as a business is trying to retain as much profit as possible and the consumer is trying to pay as little as possible. In this game the consumer very often lies as much as some sales people. MSRP on new vehicles is set by the manufacturer at the end of the day not the dealership. As other people have said, most sales people will be more inclined to work a good deal for you if you are polite and up front.

What would be interesting is if we could all have access to invoice prices on clothes, jewlery and even groceries. The mark ups are more than most people imagine.

 

I agree as well. If you are financing the car its good to know your current credit situation too. If your credit is not good or have little credit know you are not going to get the best rate and dont throw a fit with the salesman or finance manager. on the other hand if your credit is good know the rates of auto loans, you may get a great deal on the front end but get bent over on the back end.

 

theres pleanty of salesman here at my dealership that dont know every detail about every car, but u cant expect us 2......i know pretty much all the info on the Z's.....but thats because im on the forums here....drive 1 myself....and love the Z.........but the consumer these days will often do research on the web, and spend a good amount of time gathering info on their specific vehicle that they want.......so when u come into the dealership.....the consumer often knows more about the vehicle than the salesman.......salesman arnt information banks, their job is 2 find out what car u want, get u into that car, test drive the car, and get u inside the dealership so their manager (Closer) can negotiate the numbers with u....if u have questions about the vehicle that in depth, the salesman will often say "Ill find out for u later"......jus 2 get your mind off of the question, and your butt in the driver seat.........but...this gig is pretty rough......but fun at times....especially gettin new owners of the Z's here on the forums......so....dont hate on us salesman 2 bad....we jus wana earn a livin 2!!!

 

In most industries, 20% to 30% profit margin is pretty good. I'm not going to tell you what industry or what company I'm with, but I'll tell you that we will hear it from our upper management if we do not have at least a 50% profit margin at the end of the month. That means we at least DOUBLE our money on what we paid for product. On some of the items, we make upwards of 10 times what our cost was. Pretty silly when you look at it, but that's what the rest of the market is charging so...

 

I would like to know what it costs nissan to build the car.

 

Margin is only relevant compared to YOUR industry as a whole, you cannot compare apples to oranges. And please do not confuse margin with profit, they are 2 entirely different things. If you want to know what Nissan made on their "average sale", just look up their profits for the year and their number of vehicles sold in that year, and do the math. Margin is not part of the equation.

 

Well profit and margin are not entirely unrelated, but I was just simply saying that in most industries, if 20-30% of the total sale goes to profit, that's pretty good. I wasn't talking about the automotive industry specifically, just because the guy I got the quote from was talking about the cost of clothes, jewelry and other items.

 

The automotive industry has brought it upon themselves by telling everyone they will sell below invoice, rebates etc etc. Ford is a prime example. So while most normal businesses make sometimes huge profits, a lot of dealerships (mainstream) are forced to breakeven and sometimes lose money on cars. How do they survive? Well they make money from parts dept, service and used cars.

 

The problem is that 90% of consumers out there ARE idiots. Sorry man.

-Acree