I want to know if people just walked into a dealership and if they didn't have the model and color you wanted, just ordered one.


How much did you pay?
How long did it take for you to get the car?
How much cash up front did you have to put up?
What negotiating strategies did you use?

Looking to get an enthusiast model...

Thanks

 

I went to www.nissanusa.com built the car I wanted, put how many miles I was willing to go, and found a pretty good match for what I wanted. Drove over there told them I wanted that car and lets talk.

I say goto www.kbb.com and build the car you want. It gives you retail and msrp, print it out bring it with you. And negotiate from there. When negotiating let them know you have anopther Z in mind at another dealer and they will be more willing to help you out (even if you really dont have a z in mind).

Buy the car through your credit union. Dont go with them (the dealer), no matter what they say. Your credit union will give you the best rates, and you will have cash in hand to buy the car. When they ask you about financing tell them dont worry about it its taken care of.

Dont fall for the scotch gaurd crap etc. And dont go in looking like you really want the Z. Act normal or like its no big deal.

 

Doing your homework can really help you save money when buying a car. Before you ever set foot on a dealer lot, you should know what you are looking for. Most people are pretty specific about the trim, options and color that they want, and many are willing to order the car if it's not locally available and wait rather than take whatever is on the lot. Use Nissan's web-site to build and locate your car.

In any case, before you start talking to dealerships, you should know a few very specific items about the car you want.

1. Invoice Price.

2. Dealer Hold-back. - This is money that the manufacturer builds into the invoice price of the car to basically give to the dealer. You may be able to use this as leverage. In the case of Nissan, it's 2%, so the invoice price MINUS 2% is what the car REALLY cost the dealership to buy the car from the manuf.

3. MSRP - The MSRP is a ludicrous number, and in my opinion these days you should never pay MSRP for a car.


I paid cash, and I can tell you that FairladyZ's advice about going through a credit union is a great idea. Don't tell the Dealer that you are financing, let them think you are actually paying cash. It gives you a little more authority on "their court" than if they know they can play the finance game with you. They know that once they get you in the finance chair, they've got their hooks in you. If you have cash (or if they THINK you have cash), then a) you have the ability to walk away WITH your money if they can't meet your requirements and b) they can't get you in the spotlight and pressure you to make a yes or no decision while they're staring at you. Be willing to walk away if you've made a reasonable offer on the car and they won't bite.

I figured out the true cost of my car for the dealer (Invoice minus holdback). I added on the destination fee (the dealer can't get out of paying this, and many won't budge on transferring that cost to you, but it never hurts to try), taxes, title, licensing, and I DIDN'T insult the dealer by leaving no margin for profit. They are there to make money, they don't give cars away.

I made a cash offer, and the dealer took it on the first try. I signed papers that day and fortunately was out the door with exactly the car I wanted....color, options, everything. My dealer had the car I wanted and I knew it because of the Nissan web-site.
I walked away writing a check for 35,500 for the car, and I got a track model whose MSRP is $35,170, so I basically paid $330 over MSRP, but that included taxes and everything.



I did bite on the Scotch-guard/underbody stuff, not so much because I thought that the protection was all that good, but because if, for example, I spill something in my car in the next five years and they can't get the stain out, they will replace BOTH seats to ensure that they match. I like that piece of mind and I was able to afford it. Scotch-guard is Scotch-guard, so that's not why I did it.

Hope this helps.

 

I would first determine exactly which model(s)/Color(s) and options you want. Then go on Nissan's web site and they have an inventory locator system. It works pretty good.

I used it and found the exact car I was looking for and it was only an hour away.

 

fairladyz & kcobean, THANK YOU! Very good information.

 

When I have penny pinching customers like some people, I let them hit the bricks. If you arent going to pay for the service I give when you buy a car from me, its not worth my time. I'm not going to sell a z for invoice. You want an altima, quest, sentra, or frontier? I'll sell that stuff for a couple hundred over all day long.

The best way IMO is to first get pre approved online or through your CU. That way you know exactly what rate you can get. If the dealer can beat it, then its a no brainer, go with the cheaper financing. btw if you aren't putting any money down and financing long term, i suggest gap insurance. Like said above you can locate your car on nissanusa.com then go into the dealership and offer to pay a couple % over invoice. If the dealer knows you are serious, they will try to bump you a little, just stick to your numbers and i am pretty sure you will have your deal.

but this is just all my opinion.

 

btw everybody is kind of like a cash customer to me. if you dont pay me the money up front, the finance company does. We arent buy here pay here

 

Find out what the true invoice is (do a search on google for invoice pricing...look at a few sites to get the mean.), not their invoice, and offer them a fair mark up from invoice. They will try to show you their "invoice", but most of the time its not really what the true invoice is.

A fair price over invoice is 6%. That's what I paid.

 

BUDDY, WE DONT SIT AROUND THE DEALERSHIP ALL DAY MAKING UP DUMMY PAPERWORK(caps on sorry) we can barely keep track of the real paperwork let alone keep fake stuff on hand to show you

NOW please read my post, its a fair deal in our region. the southeast that is.

 

I walked into car dealership and like a ***** told them i would take ------> this one
wrap it up

 

Lol, I don't doubt that you don't make up dummy paper work. My post was not directed to you.

My experience with my Z, I was given an invoice that was $1200 above the invoice I found online for my car with the options I selected. As Jackie Chan said, I just stuck to my numbers and told them I would not budge.

I had with me print outs of 3 other Z matching my requirements that we in other dealer's inventories. I told them either they were going to sell me this car, or I would go to another dealership and buy one of their cars.

Took about an hour (they tried to add a $500 documentation fee that was just a bunch of coupons), but I got my Z at my price.

Would someone please explain how this works? From my understanding, its a percentage of the car that the dealer pays up front until the car is sold. Once the car is sold, the dealer gets this money back. Is this correct?

I tried using this tactic when buying my Z, but my sales person said that they didn't do that anymore (he was full of it).

 

Work your way up from invoice and not down from MSRP.
Dont be afraid to walk out of the dealership.

 

If you find a dealership that has had a few 350Zs sitting around a while, you can bargain with a little more leverage, I believe. My local dealership has had the same five Zs for about six weeks.

Also, I truthfully said to the salesman after my test drive that I loved the car but would have a hard time choosing between the 350Z and the GTO, M3 and S4 that I was about to test drive next. That lit a little fire under him (he was brand new, as luck would have it) and about two hours later, I drove out at $1900 under MSRP in my Z.

 

Dealer hold back is basically a set percentage the factory discounts the cars to the dealership to pay for the storage fee for the car. Basically it costs money to keep the cars on the lot and the factory gives them some money for it. If the dealer sells the car quickly, they they pocket the holdback.

I got a price quote from a dealer that was, according to him, $500 above invoice. When he gave me the number, it was actually ~$250 below listed invoice from carpoint.com. So this means that the dealer's invoice price is less than the invoice price we all look up on the internet. It's roughly a 2% difference, so it must be the dealer holdback that's taken into account. So when dealer's say, "At this price, we're actually losing money" which I've heard sooooo many times...don't believe them.

As for the Z...I put down a deposit and was told that it was ordered...2 weeks later (with no phone call that I was told I would receive) I called them up and found out that they never put in the order. Those liars! Anyway, they told me that they would find the car for me by the time I needed so I'll have my fingers crossed!

On another note...for all of those people who dont' mind reading a long article here's a pretty useful, and really interesting, article.

A guy goes undercover and exposes what actually goes on behind closed doors at a dealership:

http://edmunds.com/advice/buying/art...2/article.html

 

Another quick word of advice, if you are going directly to a dealership, go straight to their Fleet Manager and/or Internet Manager. There is absolutely no haggling with price. You can even negotiate over the phone. Just give them the price that you are willing to pay for the car they have on their lot (or they can locate one for you and do a swap with that dealership). If they don't agree, dont bother going to that dealership and wasting countless hours haggling over price with some salesperson.

 

Can I just walk into any Nissan dealership and ask to order a Z?

I wanted to get a DB Enthusiast with leather seats and navigation. Is it possible to order it like this from the factory and the dealer will just submit the order?

 

you need to goto nissanusa.com and learn what car comes with what.

 

Basically you walk into a Nissan dealership, any one that you want, and say I'd like a Z. They'll try to push what they have on the lot, but if you don't want what they have, keep insisting that what you want is the DB Touring (Leather and Nav aren't available on the Enthusiast). Then, if they can't find what you want on another dealer's lot, they will order it for you.

The one thing to keep in mind is that different dealerships will offer the car for different prices, so you should try to shop around for the best deal you can.

 

I would contact the internet or fleet department manager to order a Z. They can give you a discount upfront that the regular salesperson cant. That's how I ordered my DB Enthusiast 6MT. The internet mgr fills out a 'build to order' sheet with the exact options you want on it with the total price of the car. I had aftermarket leather installed thru the dealer before taking delivery of the car. Not sure about the Navi, though. Don't pay MSRP! Good Luck!

 

I called nissans customer service line and asked the person on the other end that I knew the enthusiast didn't come with leather but that I wanted to add it as an option. She said that it was possible and the installation would be done by the factory. Not sure if she didn't know what she was talking about.