dz_nuts408

I called Boardwalk Nisssan and was promised a price of by the fleet manager, which I then went down to complete the order. When I got there the fleet manager made 3 phone calls and said that none of the dealers in the bay area wanted to trade. He then very nicely said he'd order my car and that it would take 3 monthes. Great I thought. I ordered the car and gave him my credit card for a $1000 deposit. The next week I checked my credit card to see that he didn't even charge it. Well better for me I guess. Over the next 4 weeks I saw the exact Z that I wanted at 5 dealerships and then went ahead to contact the fleet manager again. He called all the dealerships he said and kept telling me that they were presold orders yet when i called these dealerships myself they had the car available for sale. He would keep telling me that he could get me another one similar but had an exhaust or wheels which was like $2000 more. Well maybe 2 or 3 dealers ddin't want to trade but 5 come on. That was the first flag. The next one was that he didn't even take my deposit for over 2 weeks which he said it was the processing problem. Sure he ordered my car. I then saw a different color of the Z that i wanted on his lot and asked him if i could purchase it. He then told me that "Oh I can't let that one go due to demand." Come on if he supposedly ordered my car why couldn't he offer the same price for a different color one which was on the lot. Don't you usually want to move your inventory. I was fed up with countless games so I left and went down to Serramonte Nissan and purchased the car for $1500 below MSRP and drove happily away in my new Z. I not only got the price i wanted but didn't have to wait for 3 monthes. I just don't know why dealers play these games with people.

soupnazi1

Congrats on the Z! You should file a complaint with Nissan America for that dealership.

oscarmayer00

Most dealers aren't family owned anymore, they just dont care. We are just a number to them.

I don't think Boardwalk Nissan is part of Sonic or AutoNation but they are some of the worst dealers.

Rate'm at http://www.dealerrater.com/

Lawsuits against AutoNation and Sonic Automotive seek class-action status on behalf of potentially thousands of customers whom attorneys say might be owed millions of dollars.

Publicly traded Sonic Automotive owns 150 dealerships nationwide and AutoNation employs approximately 28,000 people at 287 dealership locations representing 373 new vehicle franchises across 18 states

yobri

iTrader: (2)

Congrats dz_nuts! If you were looking for a family-owned dealership, you could've went to Ellis Brooks on Van Ness in SF. But then again, [you're] just a number is precisely what car sales are about

longbowe

Falore is another family-owned dealership. They're down in Sunnyvale. I used to work for one of the SM's when we were both at Stevens Creek.

D'oh

Falore sucks A$$ though!

They tried to charge me $3k over MSRP when I pre-ordered back in Feb 2002. Tried to tell me that every other dealer was charging at least $10K over, and that they had "only one left" before they were going to start charging $6K over. Also, I made an appointment after work to see them, and the sales dude never showed up. I waited around for 1/2 hour while other sales dudes were eating take out dinner before I was able to talk to someone. Then, when I did talk, they tried to feed me that line about the markup.

I went up to Santa Rosa (where I grew up) and bought my Z for MSRP from Freeman Nissan. They were very good to me.

My wife and I bought her Dodge Dakota from Santa Cruz Nissan Dodge Volkswagen, and we got a good price although they weren't the easiest to deal with. However, they have been very good for service on my Z (did the seat TSB, replaced the passenger visor) with no questions asked, and did a great job patching a leaky weld and window seal on our Dakota. I'd buy from them as long as I was ready for a bit of a haggle over pricing. Their finance dude was great though.

So, I say Screw Falore, and congrats on the purchace. You remembered the most important rule: When someone starts jerking you around, just leave and go somewhere else. Then drive back to the dealer in your new car and make sure they know that they lost the sale

-D'oh!

longbowe

Heh, Falore was probably comparing against Stevens Creek, which does charge quite a premium (and people do pay it). But for the pre-orders, Stevens Creek charged no markup.

dz_nuts408

I called the fleet manager at Boardwalk Nissan and told him that I just bought a new Z from another dealership. He kept saying that we spent so much time on this deal. He was speechless for 10 sec on the phone. It was the best!!!!!!!!!