I have been in Finance at dealerships for about 7 years now. And Have spent over 17 years total in the auto industry. ( body shops, dealer sales, dealer finance )
If anyone has any specific questions regarding the purchase/leasing of a vehicle, ask away.
This is just a friendly thing I like to do for people in the car community. I believe in fair profit, but hate dealerships that gouge people. I am not trying to sell you anything, matter of fact, I work for Toyota . . So I can do nothing for you Z people.
So for starters . . . Tip #1 = Get your own financing before you begin to look for a car. If the dealership can give you a better rate than you got for yourself . . . use their financing. This will give you a reference point to make sure the dealer is not trying to make too much 'back end' money on you.

 

I am trying to buy a z for myself. The price of the 03' Z is 19,800 track edition. It has 38,000 miles. I want to trade in my 05 dodge ram, with 15,000miles. The dealership only offered me 15000, if i could get 16.5 I probaly would bite. I owe 17K on the truck. My question is, what can give me the edge to get the most out of my trade?

 

Selling private party will always get you more $$$. The dealer needs to take in to consideration the repair costs they will incur to bring your truck back up to standards. Even if you think your trade is in perfect condition, they still need to pay to do an inspection, a detail, and a few other misc things to it. Then they have to pay to advertise it, pay a salesman to sell it . .etc etc.
If you can, sell private party. And keep in mind a dealer will normaally up their offer by about $1000 on any car. the salesman gets paid on the difference between what it is worth and what they give you. example; dealer says the trade is worth $18000, and the salesman offers $16500, he just made an extra $1500 for the dealer, and his commission is based on the overall profit of the deal.

 

I suggest that you do not buy a new car when you are upside down on your current loan.

 

good info. On the Z i already have my own financing through the same bank I financed my truck. The president of the bank said just fax him the info and dont worry about nothing. Anyways, what can I do to get the dealership to drop the price of the Z. On autotrader, they advertised the Z for 19,800. When I went to the dealership, they said that was a special price and they couldnt go any lower. They told me they were selling the Z for 23,000 but I couldnt find that price anywhere. The Z is listed on autotrader, cars.com, and ebay and they all said the same price. I got them to drop the price $300, if I could just break even then I would go for it, so I guess my question is what can i do to get them to drop the price of the Z?

 

If they paid too much for it, they may not be able to drop the price. I have seen that a lot recently. (dealer pays too much on paper for a car to sell the customer a new car with a ton of profit )
Never get your heart set on one car. You have plenty of time to shop around. Do not make a quick decision. Look at a ton of them. One day you will run in to a dealer that will part with a car for very little money for whatever reason.
Good luck, and take your time

 

bump to help out my fellow car people

 

does carsdirect. c o m or fleet service from a credit union really get you better pricing than you can get talking to the dealer?

 

Sometimes. The best deals are the newspaper ads that have REALLY low prices on what is normally a base model.
But the good thing about fleet services is it's a straight forward deal. No haggling, no salesman . . .blah blah.
If you do not mind waisting a day at a dealer, you can normally get a little better deal on your own. Most fleet/credit union services are $500 over invoice. And as we all know . . . . . $0 over invoice is what most cars go for. (unless it is a true specialty car like a ferrari )

 

i wanted to trade my car in and they quoted me what the auction price of the car, is this normal? if so is asking for more unreasonable? also, if i wanted to trade my car in (still financing) for a lease how does that effect my numbers and at the end of the lease is there a trade in value for that leased car?

 

Yes, market value to a dealer is what they go for at the auctions. Normally the first offer they give you can be pushed by about $1000. You are better off selling it yourself though. The dealer will always low ball you, that is just how they do business. ( and make $ )
Your residual value will be set the day you lease the car. There is no " trade in" on a lease. It will be worth a set amount upon return. ( assuming no major damage ) They went to a specified lease return residual in the mid 80's to protect the consumer.
If you are leasing a car, your trade in is your "drive off" or down payment. A bigger drive off will lower the monthly payments.
Just be careful . . . . it is VERY easy to get screwed on a lease. I could write a book on how you can get screwed by a dealer, especially on leases.

 

"I could write a book on how you can get screwed by a dealer, especially on leases."

Can i get the cliff notes? thanks

 

For a good lease, you need . . .
Good residual ( future ) value
a huge Cap Cost reduction ( discount )
NO DEPOSIT
and low rate. ( they are stated different . . like 0.00125% instead of just saying 6% ) easy to get mixed up and turned around ( and bent over )

 

Heres a question for you: What is the difference between the "Destination Charge" and "Acquisition Fee" if any, when considering a Lease? I understand that you cannot negotiate out the destination charge as that is the shipping, but what is this Acquisition fee when leasing. Also, is it easy to waive the security deposit?
Thanks,

 

http://www.circlebmw.com/CIRB-350%20APP.pdf

what do you think about ads like this?

 

Buying tips are always appreciated.

Out of cusiousity, how come you are offering these tips to Nissan owners?

 

Destination fee/charge is how much it cost Nissan to put your Z on a truck and get it to your local dealership. Impossible to get out of. ( if they tell you they can drop it, it is cuz they are making so much $$ on your deal, they make it look like they dropped it )
Acquisition fee is how much a bank charges you to do a loan. Seperate from financing fees and rate. Somebody at the bank has to draw up the paperwork, so they charge for that. But you can get out of this one EVERY TIME.
SUPER easy to waive the deposit, if you have decent enough credit to get a lease, you have decent enough credit to waive the deposit.

 

Alpine White/Beige, Lthr, 4-Dr, Auto, Prem Pkg, Htd Sts, VIN#7NE26225. MSRP: $38,020. Based on a 24 mo closed end lease. Total due at inception $3264 (includes $1900 down payment, 1st month pymnt, $400 ref sec dep & $625 bank fee). Total lease pymnts $8136+ tax. 10,000mi/yr, excess mi @ $.20 thereafter. Residual $28,134.

they CAN do it with no down, no security deposit, no bank fee.
whether they will or not is different.
But that deal is at FULL STICKER!!!!!!! cap cost reduction my friend . . . give me a discount.
73% residual is not bad though. So you are paying on 27% of the car over 2 years instead of doing a purchase (100%) for 5 or 6 years. ( payments of about $600 for 6 years )


People . . you can ask for a discount on a lease as well as a purchase. But people see the low payment of a lease and say okay without a fight. The deal can get WAY better with a little work

 

Because I believe in a fair profit for the dealer. I hate it when dealers steal from people. I have seen some UGLY things happen to nice people so that a salesman/finance/dealer can make a HUGE profit. I have personally MADE over $16,000 on ONE car deal ( and I only got 30% of the profit,you do the math. I had NO clue till I got my check. I was upset at my manager at that time because he lied to ME and the customer, but the $$$ was nice) . I have seen a dealer make $45,000 on a Hummer2.

Sucks for you when your first 6 payments go JUST to paying off the salesman, then the next year goes to the dealer/bank.

 

Can you reduce my monthly payment or get me a better interest rate? I have a car loan and a student loan, anyway to consolidate for a better rate and payments?

btw, we'll have to cruise De Luz or some other north county roads then hit up Texas Loosey's