went to Southern States Nissan in Apex, NC today looking for a 350Z (Loaded Performance Trim /w DVD). Here is what happened:

[I walk into the room]

Salesman: You here to see someone?

Me: No, I'm actually interested in the 350Z

[Salesman walks to the wall and gets a brochure]

Salesman: Alright, do you know a lot about the car?

Me: I'm fairly informed on it, I just came here to get a quote
Salesman: Which trim are you interested in?

Me: a loaded performance

Salesman: We have a red one on the lot

Me: no no, can you allocate one in Silverstone? Interior color is trivial, as far as options goes I want DVD Navi, 6MT.

Salesman: It's going to be around $34,000 for a loaded one, have you test driven one?

Me: I'm looking to get it for somewhat lower than that, otherwise I'm going to go to Central Carolina Nissan

Salesman: In this business, the second dealer you go to always wins. Because lets say we give you a quote and you take it to the second dealer, they will drop their prices down by $200-300 to earn your business. What kind of deal do we have to offer you to keep you from going to another dealership?

Me: I'm not going to promise you that I won't visit another dealership, because I, as a consumer will shop for the best deal around, if someone is selling me the same product for cheaper, of course I will purchase from them.

Salesman: Give me a minute? I'm going to talk to my manager and also get him to allocate the trim and options you specified.

[Salesman walks into the corner office of the manager. I see them talk for about 3-4 minutes and comes back with the sales manager]

Manager: The 350Z is a really popular car right now and we don't sell them below sticker.

Me: Oh really? When you go home tonight, check this website out called https://my350z.com and check the SouthEast Regional forum.

Manager: Never heard of a such website.

Me: Yeah? Because when you check the Regional forum, you will see some of your previous customers that came to this exact dealership have brought the 350Z below the sticker.

[Manager's face became paralyzed at this point and he paused a few seconds before he spoke again. ]

Manager: Okay, you're right, we have sold 350Zs for below sticker before. Now what kind of offer do you want us to make to make sure that you won't go to another dealership. Lets start off at the invoice.

[I'm thinking - "hell yeah, I got the dealer to negociate the car using the invoice as a base, rather than the sticker!"]

Me: 5% over the base of the car, that's my offer. Also, base doesn't mean invoice, it means invoice minus the 3% holdback which is around $900 on this car.

[Pauses a few seconds, obviously calculating the deal in his mind. To my surprise he answered.]

Manager: 5% huh? That's about $1,500 over the base, I think that's in the ballpark. We can work with that.

[Writes down quote on one of those forms they have and hands me a copy - it said $31,500, which is only $500 OVER the invoice of the car!!! ]

Me: Let me get my finances in order, I am either going to trade my car in or sell it before I purchase. I'm going to get my car serviced tomorrow before I let you guys appraise it for trade-in value.

Manager: Alright, take care

[Manager walks back to his corner office]

Salesman: *chuckles* I never seen his face change like that when you busted out with that "my350z.com" stuff! You're one mean negociator. You take care.

 

haha.... good shiat mang....



why didn't I think of that

why didn't I think of that

why didn't I think of that

why didn't I think of that

 

If you get it, get it serviced at MJ Nissan in Durham. I would suggest talking to Dave Butler in sales there too, but it sounds like you know what you are doing!

 

lol , and yeah i bought my car from that dealership as well! I had to negotiate but yes I talked them $1,000 off msrp for my sunset touring. Congrats on your z!

 

Good job, bro. Always nice to see the customer win.

 

Awsome dude! Only thing is, don't trade your car in at that dealership cause they'll screw you on the trade. Sell it on your own if you can.

 

...but then on the other hand, you walked out of the dealership and the salesman thought to himself... "let's see, we all negotiated a deal here to everyone's approval but the dude still didn't buy the car" I guess dealers get a lot of tire kickers, maybe that's why they don't take serious buyers seriously sometimes. I don't sell cars and never have but it sounds like they really worked a good deal for you and then still didn't get the sale. So I guess there is always two sides to it.

 

Southern states of Apex is a bunch of ******. I want to burn that place down. Go to central carolina nissan, I guarantee they will beat their price, and if they won't, I'd rather give them my buisness anyday over Apex. They suck big time. Sorry, had 2 bad experiences with them, I mean really really bad.

 

I am amazed at how much trouble everyone seems to have in doing business with these car dealers. I'm 50 years old and own my own business so perhaps I approach this as a business deal for them and not just something they do for the fun of it.. but seriously, I have bought a lot of new cars over the years and a lot of them more expensive than our Z... so I guess I dont look at it like "we bought this $30,000 car... they should take care of us." I dont care if it's a $1000 car... they should take care of their customers. I havent had to go back to the dealer yet as we only have around 1,500 miles on it.. but I'll be curious to see if it's the nightmare I am hearing about on here. I took delivery of a new Town Car a week later and it was closer to $50,000... so it will be interesting to compare the dealers.