Bill B

I am looking for a car dealer in Austin, Texas to order my Enthusiast from and was hoping to hear from some of you that have already taken the plunge. I am looking for a dealer that will not try and tack things (wax and other crap) on to drive up the margin, come up with unpleasant surprises upon vehicle receipt, can properly handle a car and is an overall straight shooter. Am I asking for the impossible or are there still some dealers who understand customer service? Thanks.

kman

I haven't put my order in yet, but I have talked with Maxwell Round Rock Nissan before during pre-orders and they were marking up $1500 no discussion. They were hounding a friend of mine who pre-ordered a DB touring about whether or not he wanted it even though it hadn't even come in yet! I've heard bad things about Southpoint as well. If you search you'll find a thread by gmoney (i think thats the screenname) about how they drilled holes in his bumper after being told not to and the fiasco that evolved from that (hail damage from being left outside while they were fixing the holes).

The last car I bought I went to San Antonio to do it, I'll probably do the same.

Good luck!

kman

they had a SB touring (exactly what I want) that was just sold. When I talked to the Sales Guy he said they were marking them up 2-4 Grand.

Too Bad for them, the service guy that we talked to first was really nice, but if the dealer in Killeen is doing MSRP go to them instead.

Zygote

Yeah, I looked at buying from San Marcos as well but they told me the markup was like 2k over and I kept on looking.
Finding one in Texas at MSRP is tough, especially if you want one NOW. A lot of places, Bates Nissan in Killeen included was willing to order at MSRP.
I ended up buying mine out in east texas for a little over but they are now going at 2k over now there as well.
Mine is reportedly sitting at the port, waiting on a spoiler so they can load it on a truck and drive it in. Keeping my fingers crossed that it's mid next week at the latest.
Sunset LeMans, touring, AT, aero and splash. And if I'm not mistaken I'll be the first one to have one in the mighty Metropolis that is Seguin, Texas.

Bill B

JJ,

Thanks for the tip, I'll give Bates Nissan a call.

Bill

mjZ11

I ordered the 2nd Z delivered to Garlyn Shelton Nissan (in Temple) back on January 17....
Great General Manager (Ronnie Coleman)...Even though the Pre-order period is over, you never know when one might fall apart.
Ronnie Ordered a Daytona for himself to demo, but I know he was selling it (back in Sept)...I'm sure it's gone, but It might be worth calling Ronnie and asking him what they are doing for next year's orders.

I paid MSRP on the nose. And I'm one of his Bank Reps. Notice how I didn't mention some of my other clients in the big city.

Also recommend Bates Nissan and Waco Nissan as straight shooters.


good Luck
mjz11
SS Touring (Orange 5AT)

mjZ11

sorry that's Collins (Ronnie Collins)
thanks

Bill B

I called Bates Nissan and after several minutes of conversation concluded that a Z could be ordered w/o any mandatory extras, surcharges that some of the other dealers bake into their deals. The only negative count against this dealer was the hefty deposit of $2000 to secure an order, which was claimed to be non-refundable should I not take delivery of the vehicle. Bates, as well as other dealers in the area start by saying the deposit is non-refundable then begin to hedge as you start walking for the door and mutter something about this being contingent on the circumstances surrounding the cancellation of an order i.e if you have a good enough reason to cancel the order then the deposit is refundable. That type of subjectivity seems totally unreasonable and does not leave me with a good feeling. The salesman promised to have the sales manager call me back and assure me that this issue could be worked out to our mutual satisfaction. I haven't heard back from him so perhaps my protest was too strong. It would be interesting to see if anyone else in central Texas has gone through this and what the laws of the land as well as Nissan policy truly is in this regard. is this just a filter to weed out the less serious buyers?

Old Skooler

Bill, I would think that it's simply just to weed out the less serious buyers as you suggested. Keep in mind that Killeen is a military town, and sometimes people just aren't that serious? At any rate, I have had a FIRST CLASS experience with Bates Nissan, they did NOT screw me over in the slightest way, yes, I put down a $2000 deposit, but I knew I wanted a Z, and was serious about it, if you are the same then you CANNOT go wrong with Bates Nissan! No BS additional charges, no markup, these guys are on the up and up! I cannot recommend them enough! Talk to Victor, the Sales Manager. He'll take care of you.

dgs

I live in San Antonio and bought from World Car Nissan on I35(north side of town) The entire pre-order process was very positive with no mark up or gimmicks. Paid MSRP plus TTL. They did not pressure for add ons and delivered the car with 5 miles on the odometer. An extra bonus is the 10 year 125,000 mile powertrain extended warranty that the dealership gives you for NO extra charge. If you decide to check them out contact Paul Hargita. He is the salesman who handled all Z pre-orders. Really great guy. Good luck.

stx

If you don't mind driving to Corpus try Ed Hick Nissan. They have a couple on site and are at MSRP.

Gish

DON'T BUY from Southpoint Nissan. It is rhe worst dealer for customer service I have ever been to. All of the salesman are a**holes. I would stay well away from them.


On the other hand, Round Rock Nissan are GREAT!! They answered every question I had for them and even CALLED ME BACK about it when they knew I ordered my Z in Lubbock already! Definately give them a call.

Gish

NiZZan

Try Town North Nissan on 183/Burnet. Call 512-451-7411 and ask for Jon Porterfield or Jerome Orr. I ordered my Z in February. The communication was great. Sometimes I initiated the communications but usually they let me know as info came in. I only had a few minor issues when it came time to pick up my car but Jon worked hard to make sure they were resolved to my satisfaction. I plan on giving the dealership Excellent marks on the survey. I’m not sure but I believe you can order a Z from them for MSRP. Every request I made on the car was strictly adhered to. No plate on front, no dealer decals, and I was allowed to watch the PDI. Jon even went so far as to take pictures of the car on the delivery truck for me. I’d recommend talking to him and making your own decision about where to order from. Their service department is also top notch. Tell Jon that Joe sent you.

ztom

Had a bad experience with World Car Nissan.

Since they are our Z Club sponser, I pre-ordered from them on Jan. 15th, first in line. They wrote "MSRP" on the invoice, instead of the actual numbers - saying they didn't have that info yet. I showed them the numbers I had printed from the Nissan web site, to no avail. Then they said they were holding my $500 deposit check, not submitting it to the bank (therefore not a valid contract). Third, they were not going to fax the order in.

Two weeks later I was at Gunn Nissan to give the Service Manager a copy of our club's newsletter and we were talking about the 350Z. He said Gunn was doing the pre-orders the proper way, so I went to World Car, got my deposit back, and ordered from Gunn, 7th in line. I ended up getting my Z at the end of Sept. instead of the end of Aug. I think World Car was trying to decide whether to participate in the pre-order program, or sell them at MSRP+++ as they came in.

FYI#1: A couple of weeks ago, Gunn told me they had 2 extra unsold 350's being delivered in Dec. for sale at MSRP. Don't remember the models - I think one was blue. Don't know if they are still available tho. If anyone is interested, ask for Frank Wallace (210) 496-0806. If you buy one, and use my name as a reference (Tom W. of Z-Sport), I get $100. I'll split it with you and we can both take the wife/gf to dinner.

FYI#2: Z-Sport, the SA Z Club, is meeting at Chester's Burgers (on 410) next Tues. at 7pm - should be a number of 350's in attendance.

ScottC

See Mark at Round Rock Nissan! Great guy.

pacco

I think Dealers can vary customer to customer, when I called RoundRock they were forcing a 1500.00 Proctection Package for a z PreOrder, so forget them I went w/ San Marcos Nissan everything was cool, bought at MSRP, but now I hear they might be asking over? Not sure though. I worked w/ Greg he is the sales Mgr, and it was a good experience.

FYI- 350ZTrack is selling his preorder spot for a Dec. del. in Austin

Call around go for less than MSRP, get an out thedoor price in a written contract.

Best of Luck,
Ed

AfroCreame

I agree..they wanted $40k for a Track model that was returned with close to 1000 miles...rediculous...and no...no nav either.

Zygote

San Marcos is charging 4k over last time I checked. That was my first stop as they are only 20 miles away. I ended up traveling over 500 miles to get mine but baby was it worth it!