While many of you probably visit your dealership regularly, mine is 2000 miles from home (California/Illinois). This was my first face to face visit since I reserved my Z last Thanksgiving and probably the last until I pick her up in September.

Yep, September. They received confirmation of a 10 day delay on Thursday. The official arrival is now early September. I am the first and only Pre-Z allocated and sold by this dealership. Has anyone else received this news?

One reason for the visit was to discuss how my Z was to be displayed until I was able to arrange for transport back to California (by covered car carrier). My preference was in their shop, locked and covered. I ultimately agreed to allow them to display it on the showroom floor but only if it was locked and roped off. Of course, absolutely no test drives. Has anyone else held this same discussion with their dealer?

Other news of interest....they met with the Nissan regional sales manager this week and unsuccessfully, despite their begging, tried to procure additional allocations of pre-order Z's. Apparently, there are none to be had.

I was able to pick up four more brochures to add to my collection (now at 15) which also includes:

Toyko Press Kit w/CD ROM
New York Press Kit
One set unopened Z playing cards
One 350Z wall clock
Three Photo CD ROMs
Every car magazine with any mention of the Z


I need a new hobby.......

 

Any chance you can post them CDs on FTP so we can all get at 'em?

 

Brian;

E-mail me your address and I'll send you one....they are duplicates and I only need one.

 

Brian;

E-mail me your address and I'll send you one....they are duplicates and I only need one.

 

Hey Tim, how did you get all of those things????

Also, what dealership in Illinois? And why Illinois?

Thanks

Dan

 

Hey Tim, which covered car delivery company are you going with? My car's coming from Texas to California and I'll need to arrange similar transport.

Thanks in advance for any info!

Jason

 

Pointfivezero.Do you know you can have your car drop shipped to your state for a nominal fee instead of paying a car carrier to do the same?I am buying my Z out of the state I live in and am getting it shipped to a Nissan dealer close to my house for 150.00$.

 

azjimbo:

by "drop ship" do you mean the trucking company who normally would have delivered to the dealer, get re-routed to you?

this is how i get most of my japanese parts... i have friends on the west coast who order for me from japan, but have it shipped directly to me, instead of them first.. then from them to me...

if so, they had to "drop ship" to a dealer near you, right? please explain... i would like to do the same...

thanks.

 

Hey guys.....just touched down in California. As Dorothy once said, "there is no place like home."

Dan - I am a regular bidder on ebay (keyword 350Z). That is the sole source of that stuff. Something new has appeared in the last few days.....several sellers auctioning their place in line. Seems like interest in the Z is getting warmer.

Jason - I submitted quotes with three companies on the web, auto-transporter.com, a1autotransport.com and ableautotransport.com. However, I was excited to read azjimbo's note about Nissan's $150 service. I'll be calling my dealer tomorrow. Thanks azjimbo!

My dealer is Galesburg Lincoln-Mercury Nissan in Galesburg, IL. I ordered my car there because the Bay Area dealers want 5 to 10K over sticker and the owner is a friend of mine. Galesburg is my hometown.

 

SkiDazzle...By chance did you buy from a dealer in San Diego?

If so, maybe you and LowFuel oughta swap cars!

But seriously, maybe AzJimbo has the right idea. Re-routing cars right from the port, and getting them on a car-carrier going to a dealer close to you seems to make sense. There are obviously dealers in San Diego who are going to be getting cars - why couldn't LowFuels car be put on that truck, instead of going to Texas first.

If this could be set-up with your dealers, and give you some confidence that your car isn't going to be lost on the rails of the country, it sounds like something to be investigated.

 

hahah i thought about swapping, but my cars arriving in TN... even further than TX from lowfuel... but, my fiancee wants all the protection (airbags)....

i still am giddy over my current plan, which is to fly to TN when my dealer tells me the trunk is pulling up with it... and then have an AWESOME drive home (~1000mi.)... so, when i get back to TX, it will be broken in!! next day the break-in oil goes out, new Mobile1 goies in

michael

 

I see. So when you say 'with everything', you really mean it.

I like your plan for the long drive after pick-up. Sure makes getting the car much more exciting. I think my wife and me will be doing a drive up the coast of Calif shortly after delivery. The sunday paper today had a pic of elephant seals on the coast near Cambria, and that pretty much sealed the deal for my wife.

 

Mine will be much the same....Pick it up in Baltimore, MD and drive down the coast and across back to Greenville, SC. 600 mi and break-in is done. Anyone know if this journey will actually be good for break-in though. I've heard that the first 500 you need to have varied speed to make sure everything seats properly.

 

Yeah, supposedly you should vary the rpms as much as possible, not idle for long, and keep them under like 3000 or so. Sounds like the best way to do it would be to chart a course on some nice scenic back roads, stopping along the way at little towns and whatnot, even if it takes you longer. Sounds like 600 miles at a leisurely pace would make a nice two-day (or long one-day) run for ya. You'd probably enjoy it more than hopping on I-95 as well...

 

In september i'm going to take the Z to the bonnevile salt flats. I was planning on having it shipped over instead of driving it. Well yesterday i got the quote for how much it will cost me to ship the Z from Chicago to Salt Lake City. For a covered hauler, it's going to cost $500 one way. My source is try to get me a better rate. So i'm looking at $800-$1000 in shipping round trip.

azjimbo....that $150, is that with nissan shipping it?

 

Tim, please definitely let me know what your Nissan dealer says about the delivery service, that would be an excellent way to do it.

 

some other numbers for you to think about....

quotes i got from transports:

uncovered, 3 day window pickup, 7-10 day window for delivery: $500-600

same with same day pickup, but still 7-10 day delivery: $600-700

enclosed, 3 day window pickup, 7-10 day window for delivery: $1000-$1100

same with same day pickup, but still 7-10 day delivery: $1100-1200.

now, this is for less than 1000mi. I was so upset that I couldnt get any one of them to have a smaller delivery window.

some other food for thought... if you have a company ship from the dealer to your house, it will already have gone through pre-delivery inspection, and all protective film will be removed. i would think you need it covered, to protect against chips, etc.


this is what i decided: 1 way ticket would be about $200-300 with 2 weeks advance (if my dealer knew exactly which day it was coming). I assume they won't, so I figured I need to by ticket same day.. this will be more like $800-1000. Then, 1000mi would only take me 17-19hrs to cover. (I did 1400mi in 21 hours when I bought my IS300 while on vacation in Miami, and drove it back to Dallas -- straight through, stopping only for gas).

My choices break down to: $1100 and waiting another week or $1000 and having an awesome road trip... what would you do?

michael

 

SKIDaZZLe.Here is what I mean by drop shipped.Basically Nissan will drop my car off at a dealership near my house instead of the out of state dealership where I am purchasing the car.I have all this in writing and signed by the dealerships.I will pay all monies to the dealership where I purchased the car.The dealership where the car will be delivered will prep the car and register the car in my state.It seems that it will work out pretty well(hopefully no problems).

 

az: will the first delearship pay some dough to the recieving delaership for PDI, etc? or will you actually have to re-pay this to the 2nd dealer?

michael

ps this sounds like an awesome deal. did you just ask your salesperson about it? or someone like the manager?

 

Very interesting... I will have to contact my dealer about that.
azjimbo I might be contacting you privately for more details.

SkiDazzle, just FYI, your dealer should know EXACTLY what day the car will arrive many weeks in advance.
I have the same option of course - drive it home. What Im worried about is driving 24 hours straight in summer through Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona in a brand new car...
My other option is to rent a truck and drive it home myself.
But I am liking this idea of having it brought to a dealer near me... there's a Nissan dealer about 3 miles away.