Hey everyone,

I'm sure there will be many of you who are looking to buy a 350Z but did not get in on the "pre-orders" As such I'm sure you are calling around and looking to find any "cancelled" preorders that might come available at the dealers. I'm sure many of you will have a few stories of Dealer "markup" that you might encounter. So I'm opening this thread to try to track these things.

To start, I got a call yesterday from Verobeach Nissan. Seems they have a Chrome-Silver Enthusiast 6MT just about exactly what I want. They call and say they have it for sale. So I go..."How much...."

Drum roll please.

$35K.....

Lets see that's only about $5k over MSRP. So of course I point it out to them and say "thanks but no thanks."

We'll see how long it is before someone actually can buy one of these from the dealer stock below MSRP. I don't think it will happen until mid next year at the earliest....

 

Baker-Jackson Nissan in Houston Texas is gouging. Here is what I have seen thus far:

1. Nissan Wheel Locks for the 350Z from B-J $80 (Courtesy Nissan has them for around $23). I told my B-J Rep that I could get them for $23 from another dealer and he told me to get them.
2. B-J has (3) 350Z's in inventory from cancelled pre-orders. One is so close to what I ordered that I asked if they would sell me the one in inventory for MSRP, as agreed to on my pre-order, and then they could have my car to sell when it came in. B-J replied, "We won't take less than $10K over MSRP for these cars. In fact, we turned away a customer that offered $4k over MSRP. If you want your car you'll have to wait for it, if you want it now you have to pay." My rep told me that his management said they want pre-order customers to back out.

I can tell you that once I get my car from them, they will never get my follow-up service business. Instead of helping their customers out and trying to gain loyalty, they just keep gouging. Their loss is someone else's gain.

Greg

 

Yea, their was some place in Texas I called and they wanted over $38k for a track model. ughhh yea I'll take it! NO

 

Rosenthal Nissan in Tysons Corner VA has got to be one of the worst.

They had a touring, 6MT and they wanted $44K! WTF!!

 

WTF DAYUM! We should start reporting these gouging stories to Corporate Nissan. Because they can't do this, Nissan has strict policies over this... grrrrrrrrrr

 

You know, a few weeks ago I went all over LA looking for a Z. I found several for sale but almost all were marked up. I decided what the heck, and went to the dealership anyway.

Nissan in Glendale had their Z marked up 10K for a Touring 6MT. So the total was 45K. That kept most people from even thinking about buying the car. But it's funny how the dealer will first say, "Like the car? 45K get's it out the lot.", and when you tell them, "I already have a Touring on order somewhere else at MSRP.", they change their tune to "Tell you what, if I sell it to you at MSRP, what would you say?".

Universal City Nissan had an Enthusiast at 60K.

Almost bought a Blue Touring 6MT at Superior Nissan in La Puente - they had a 2K paint protection markup but also worked the price down after I told them I had a Z on order. (They wouldn't help me out with the APR so I left).

Basically, if you are looking for MSRP, it is not difficult to get. A lot of dealers are probably looking for a sucker with cash. But if you show up at the lot, show that you got the money, and that there is no pressure to buy from them (as in you already have one on order at MSRP), then there is a good chance they might work with you on the price to get your business.

my 2 cents.

 

I hope your right. This is not what I have found. Yes, I have one on order but the info from the sales guy says if could be January before it shows up. To the Verobeach dealers, I offered them a "cash" deal at MSRP. Told them I have on on order and that it would be January before it showed. They wouldn't budge. $35K

Let's see how this thread goes. If there are lots of stories, maybe we can forward the contents to Nissan at the end of the month.

 

There's a dealer in Maryland...I can't remember the name off the top of my head...but they sold two last week for $44K. Another one came in and they started bidding....it ended at $36K and they called the auction off because "they were not going to sell it for under $40K"

-Andrew

 

That's not true: they CAN do this, and they ARE doing this. All Nissan can do is ask them to sell at MSRP and threaten to give them less cars in the future if they don't, and Nissan has apparently done this. But Nissan cannot dictate the price that the dealers sell at. So most are getting what they can, which is how the laws of supply and demand work in a capitalist economy.

Nothing wrong with selling something for what the market will bear, just like you sell your house or old car for the most you think someone is willing to pay. If everyone refuses to buy for more than MSRP the prices will have to come down, but that is not likely to happen because there are a lot of people with a lot of money that don't care about paying a few thou extra.

 

Report them to NNA, Regional offices, BBB and tell every one you know. Could get rid of some of the marginal dealers who are always on the edge, so they try to squeeze every dime out of a popular model to make up for their lack of business skills. Dealers who screw over customers don't get many returns; any fool knows repeat customers are the biggest asset a dealer has going for the business.

Boomer--spread the word and get rid of the poorly run dealerships, even Nissan will thank you for it.

 

The 350Z is bringing over MSRP everywhere...Here in Colorado a Z at a dealer auction went for ~$2,000.00 over window sticker. Don't you think the dealer that bought that one plans on making a profit? Or you can look on Ebay and watch bidders go over msrp. It's a sellers market...I for one am sick of hearing people ***** about the car bringing over msrp. If you don't like it don't buy it. There's someone right behind you that is willing to step up.

Just my .02!

 

Yes, it is your $0.02 worth.

There is a thing called ethics and a lot of Nissans dealers are showing a lack of it. Each 350z sold at MSRP has somewhere around $3500 of profit. If the dealer is willing to screw the buyer when selling the car what will the dealer do to the customer when it comes time for service? Do you want to take your car to a dealership that is unethical? One that will lie to you to sell unneeded service? Nissan will be hurt by the selling of 350Zs over MSRP and the customer will be hurt. I personaly will screw the dealership after I get my Z by making sure that they are known in my area as a "screw you" dealership. i will not recommend them to anyone! And BTW I work for one of the biggest employers in the south. A lot of my coworkers are waiting for me to get his car and I have not said a word to them how i have been treated. But I will soon.

 

How does charging over MSRP have anything to do with ethics...They are selling the cars for what the market dictates. If wholesale buyers are paying over msrp why shouldn't consumers? Also, how is the dealer "screwing" the customer? The customer has a choice as to whether they want the car now or in a year.

This tie to service department is ridiculous! No dealer is lying about MSRP, at least I don't think so. I seriously doubt that a Nissan dealer is doctoring the window stickers anyway. You can walk into a dealership and buy a Maxima for under msrp or you can buy a Z for over msrp. I find that far from unethical treatment of consumers! It sounds a lot more like supply and demand!

As for you "screwing" the dealership, good luck and godspeed?

 

I disagree that dealers who are charging over MSRP are simply adhering to the supply and demand dictates of the market place. I do have a problem if dealers are charging over MSRP for preorder cars.

If they want to charge $2K over MSRP for regular inventory, when they get their allocation, its their choice, but I do believe MSRP is a fair price, $3-4K profit, which includes dealer holdback. Those dealers asking astronomical prices above MSRP are fools who deserve boycotting and they are cutting their own throats displaying such greed.

It happened during the preorder process, when dealers tried to jack up the price people got on the internet and found their cars at dealers all over the country and they flew there, got their Zs and drove them home to have fun in breaking them in. The local dealer alienated the buyers, the buyers went elsewhere. Believe me, there are ethics even in the car business and unscrupulous dealers should find some ethics fast. There's too much info on the net for old-fashioned gut the customer tactics. They will fade away if they can't, or don't want to change their practices.

Boomer

 

just what we need more of-another dealer/salesman stepping down from the cross, trying to convince us that there is nothing unethical or immoral about gouging, lying, playing dumb, and making statements like, "If you don't like the price leave it. Someone else will be along shortly" which translates into "See you later Bozo, why should I waste my time with someone who won't play my rules? This is all about money. God, don't they understand that." Yes, capitalism is about market pressures, supply, and demand. And in itself that's OK. Just drop the BS about how honest, how without fault, and how you're all so willing to serve the public. We know the score-like when a dealer sold a pre-order at MSRP (haha) and still made a more than decent profit still tries to get more money by adding stupid fees for paint sealant and the like. I see most of you want to convince us that the reputation of car dealers/salesmen is undeserved. But, that rep wasn't put on you guys for nothing. I see a lot of posts on these sites indicating how upset a lot of Z fanatics are upset because of the way they're treated. That's the other side of free markets-the consumer chooses where he /she wants to do business. Treat a buyer poorly and they do not forget. And they pass along the word about how you operate. That does not mean that all customers will disappear, but you'll lose some that you may have had. I can't understand why a dealership would cut off its nose to spite its face by grossly inflating the price of a few cars, when they are probably a small portion of the business.

 

Just wait 6 months. They'll start selling them UNDER MSRP sooner or later. Anything brand new will always cost you more than it normally does...just have patience.

 

if some people are unable to see how capitalism can foster unethical, immoral, and at times amoral practices, as in the case of a car dealer, and if they are a dealer/salesman/ manager, they must have been put on the earth to be a car dealer/salesman/manager.

 

If you were in the dealers position, i'm sure you'd do the same thing.