Arent they suppose to fill up the car before you drive off anyway? Ha..thats idiotic..

 

We had a similar bad experience when buying my wifes Forester. It was supposed to come with two dealer options:

1)Tow hitch
2)Rear bumper pad

The tow hitch turned out to be a third party item. It's a good item, but not what I was expecting or really wanted. I had to take time off to go to this third party (on the other side of town) and wait for 3 hours while they installed it. It is not covered under the 3yr/36mile warranty because it is third party. I raised a stink, but didn't get anywhere because his email with the quote listed the tow hitch as (after market)...but then again, Subaru doesn't make hitches so they are all after market. Finally I just asked to cancel the order and sell me a Subaru hitch minus what I paid for the third party. Salesman got very lippy because the third party would charge a restocking fee and he wouldn't get his kick back.

I called three times to get the rear bumper...each time my salesman said "I ordered it but it hasn't come in yet.". Finally on the fourth call I called the parts department to find that they had not even ordered it. Had to order it myself....thanks a lot.

Luckily, the survey came a few days later.

 

He said they had already filled up his car upon purchase.

What the sales person was offering was ANOTHER tank of gas when Reese took the survey back....as long as it had stellar marks.

 

Oh...

 

No intended offense to anyone, but except for the sales guy I purchased my Z from who was a real person, every other car salesperson I've ever dealt with has been a lying sleaze and I dread ever having to buy a car again.

 

Sounds pretty offensive to me.

Whatever...

I think most dealers persons that work there are just trying to make an honest living, it's just that it is very competive and they are under a lot of pressure. What I disagree with is the following, and I've told them this face-to-face (maybe Melissa can address each of these):

1. Why negotiations anyway? Answer: b/c they want to gouge the weaker buyers that are not as knowledgeable! Why not just put on the car what you're willing to sell it for and people can take it or leave it?

2. Why the high mark-ups for Scotchguard and wax, calling it a "Protection Package" for only $399 or some such nonsense.

3. Why the high "Documentation Fee" for only $399 that supposedly covers the office overhead. Shouldn't the profit on the car pay for the overhead? When I once got a breakdown of what it covered from a dealer, several items related to financing, and I was paying cash! I had them at least deduct those items.

4. Why does the dealer make money off of you when you obtain financing through them? All they do is contact a lender, and that would be covered in item 3, above. I've heard that they get the finance rate from a lender and then quote you a slightly higher rate to make even more $$$ (but I don't know if that would even be possible since you're paying the finance company).

5. Why the original sales pitch saying how great and reliable this vehicle is and then the high-pressure sales pitch to buy the extended warranty after the sale? Even if you thought you wanted it, it's overpriced anyway.

6. Why does the service manager turn on your radio and A/C when you're picking up your car after service? He shouldn't monkey with your stuff.

Maybe Melissa or another salesperson can share some insight. Inquiring minds want to know.

WayneTN

 

I found out that I can continue to get VERY VERY good service from my Salesman/Dealership by telling them that I have received the survey, but haven't sent it in as I'm waiting a few months (in case I have to deal with them because of problems, or questions, or whatever).

Knowing that I still have it has kept them on their toes

But I have to admit, having my salesman AND the general manager talk to me about the survey (and pretty much asking me to answer "Excellent" everyplace) concerned me. It seems they were more interested in their score than my experience.

 

Hey MrNicholas, where did you get your roadster? Picked mine up at Crown in early Jan. The made sure that I knew about the survey but this is the third car I bought from Crown (Audi+Acura) and expected it. I shopped four other dealers and only Crown followed up on a regular basis without being a bother. They had the best deal as well so far as I am concerned the earned a great review. Some of the other dealers seemed indifferent, and one wanted $5000 over sticker. He later said that he would have dealt off the price and I told him I didn't have time to play those games and I was surprised that he did. Makes you wonder how he priced their service (Let's Make A Deal!).
Do you know if there are any Z clubs around?

 

Zeenut: I got mine at Crown as well. Picked it up two thursday's ago.

You wouldn't happen to own a white coupe, would you? I saw the other day in the Spring Garden's CVS's parking lot; had a tag of "LUV MY Z".

I went in to see if I could identify the owner by looks alone, but failed

And no, I don't know of any clubs yet. But I'm hoping to.

 

He meant a second full tank, when he brought the survey back.

Nissan requires dealers to fill tank up on new car deliveries, and if they get caught bribing customers with free stuff in return fot a good survey, the'll catch all kind of heat.

 

MrNicholas: Nope not me. I have a Chrome Silver Roadster. Originally ordered a Silverstone but during the wait a CS came in unclaimed but not for long. I decided to go ahead and get this one rather than take a chance that my order came in damaged and I would have to wait another three months. I was getting concerned that the weak dollar to yen could eventually force a price increase and I didn't want to get caught. The Z is my weekend ride. Was going to get a Boxster but there are already four in my hood plus a Z4. The Boxster owners like their cars but complained of the cost of maintenance so I thought I would go for the Z. A super value based on performance and looks.

 

22nd of Jan?!...thats the same date i picked up mine too!!

 

I know from my experience when I bought my Audi years ago the survey was not only a boost to the salesperson (ie they got bonuses, etc), but it also helped move them up and down the priority list (ie who can sell what etc, the dealership I bought my Audi from also sold porsche's & vw's, and in order to sell porsche you had to have like 6 months of damned near perfect surveys). Also they sent those docs back to Audi and then the dealership could improve their allocation amount based on their survey results. IE if more people are more satisfied at one dealership, even if its a smaller dealer, they might be able to get top priority on car orders and top-selling option packages.

Also, with financing, the numbers tend to dance around quite a bit. I remember buying my Z my salesperson opened me at x.x%. Then he took it to financing, and they came back with x-1.x%... SO that made the financer look better and it also made the salesperson look like your friend ("hey look i just saved you $500!") . . . Then the finance guy gets a hold of you, and starts throwing in "additional products and services", but the tricky part is that if you buy these services they'll "adjust" your interest rate so that they wash on your monthly payment. For example, if you pick up the $1000 paint guard, they'll drop your APR by .75%. . . What they're doing is frontloading the profit, IE get the $$$ on the front of the sale rather than over the course of the loan. LoJack is another great example. I paid $700 for LoJack through the dealer even though I know for a fact they get charged $275 (I used to work for a dealership). Oh well, I wanted the car and they did the deal for MSRP on Aug 20, 2003 (release date), so I figured LoJack was worth it to me.

However I have not revisited my dealership because my first service experience was horrible. I even took my complaint to my salesperson and the service manager, and they really didn't seem to care. So now I take all my highly-profitable servicing work to a dealership another 10 minutes out of my way. To me, its worth it.

 

Wow, that's pretty pathetic. You should have said "Ok, I'll take the tank of gas, and another $100 to prevent me from telling Nissan about your first bribe."

And then you could still post it here because you never said anything about the 'net...

 

Well I know Nissan North American when they get the surveys give marks for the "excellent" scores..anything less counts as nothing. You could put the one right below "excellent" and it would count just as if you put "terrible"

That's why the salesman are pushing for the excellent rating. I got offered a free oil change for it..but I just answered it honestly

 

My salesman also "pushed" the survey. He explained what many had mentioned here, i.e. how important it is to him and the dealership. No “bribes” though.

I was just honest on it. The salesman was just “average”, not pushy, seemly honest –no BS. And I completed the survey accordingly.

My main complaint was that I knew more about the Z than he did. He basically just followed ME around the car as I checked it out and I pointed out features he wasn’t aware of. I had done A LOT of homework on the car and mainly knew most of what I need to know by reading this forum daily for 3 months before I bought the car. (Thanks everyone!)

At the end the sale he was thanking ME to giving him pointers about the Z. In all fairest to him the dealership is a relatively small (low volume) Nissan dealership, which mostly sells Honda and Oldsmobile (in fact I’ve never seen more than 3 Zs on the lot at once).

Just my .02

 

I make sure I know all the info about any car I'm considering driving. I've never met a salesman who knew as much as I did. Of course, I don't need to know 15 to 20 models on a multi-franchise lot either, but I usually do since I'm obsessed w/cars.

A good salesman will learn from his customers or they will not make as much money selling their own cars, especially after a few model changes.

 

Ah! Then I've seen your car before It also was the one that my good friend thought was me until he got up close (do you remember some guy in an RSX beeping and honking at you last weekend??

Yay! So that makes our car's twins or something, right?

 

Nope, don't recall a RSX but it could've been me. I'm driving the Z every decent day so I can reach the break-in mileage. I'm just about there so I can make a few extended dashes and run it up around 5500 RPM to see where the power band is. With the torque it seems to be fairly low for this type of car...that's a good thing. Drove it to Winston Salem yesterday and some truck dropped a can of some sort and nailed my bumper! Not too bad but it's going to take some touching up. Never fails on a new car!

 

You guys have to remember that at some dealerships the CSI (customer surveys) your talking about is 1/2 or more of thier entire paycheck!! When selling new cars there is almost 0$ in it for the guy selling the car, you heard me right, they make NO MONEY for kissing your *** for 3 hours-3 weeks till you say yes.

On new cars (especially imports- smarter consumer = less $$$) they will sell you a car 100$ over invoice, how much commision on 100$ you think that guy gets?? But the factory cash (seen upto 500$ a car) CSI bonus ect... makes up for that in kudos.

Imagine this situation (Actually happened). Your a salesman, your working your *** off 60+ hours a week (normal hours) you sell 20 cars (above average) and make a WHOPPING 3000$ for all your hard work, but no fear you CSI is perfect and you have a 6000$ bonus coming! Now you sell a gentleman a car, for his wife on her birthday (how SWEET!) you do everything right, your very polite, get him in and out in a minimal amount of time and tell him about the survey. Now here is the kicker, wife hates the f*cking car, despises it (she wanted an AUDI not a honda!!) SHE gets your survey in the mail (never having met you) gives you an evil/hateful review AND BAM! you just lost 6000$ 3 weeks before christmas.

Now before you get your pantys in a wad, remember 99% of the time its the dealerships management not the salesman (they force them to do most of the annoying things people complain about). The salesman in name probably missed his last months CSI bonus and is in dire need for this one, agreed what he did wasnt right but understandable.

Its so funny to me, consumers FORCE salesman to act in the ways they hate so much lol. The people Ive seen time and time again get the best deal and leave the least frustrated are the consumers that come in and tell the TRUTH.

ie... you researched the car and decided what your willing to pay (price, down, payment ect...) find the car you like and drive it, then the HUGE SECRET lol - offer to take the car right now if they meet your terms, even the most profitable dealership in america will take a 100$ deal!