stopgo

I haven't found a sticky for this sort of thing, so I thought I'd throw this out in the hope that it'll help someone who's shopping for a Z in the MD/DC area...

I finally decided to pull the trigger on trading up from an '03 Touring Coupe to an '05 Roadster. This follows months of internal debate, and the subsequent effort to get the g.f. on-board. With the dust finally settled, it was time to venture forth into the Land of the New Car Salesmen (travel advisory in effect).

Today was the first day I actually sat down with members of the sales staff. I visited three dealerships (Victory Nissan in G'burg, MD, Frederick Nissan in Frederick, MD and Darcars Nissan in Rockville, MD). This is in addition to phone conversations with other local dealerships (Herb Gordon NIssan of Silver Spring, MD and Antwerpen Nissan of Clarksville, MD)

Victory Nissan: This is a high-pressure shop, plain and simple. Before we discussed pricing or availability the salesman tried to get me to sign a spec-sheet with the following clause "I agree to purchase the following vehicle..." I didn't read the rest of the statement because I was busy making my exit. We hadn't even discussed availability or pricing. Bastards! I'm about to drop a wad of cash on a new ZR and they want to treat me like some glue-sniffing, marginally employed loser off the street? F that.

Frederick Nissan: Available stock is limited but this place is worth a visit. No pressure, and they have a legit Skyline on the premises (the owner of the dealership has good taste) as well as a very nicely tricked out Silvia. We didn't discuss pricing as they didn't have anything on the lot that I was interested in, but I plan on keeping in touch with them over the next few weeks to check on current stock. The salesman was very low key and happily showed us around the lot, showroom and garage.

Darcars Nissan: I'm torn. They had two cars that were potential easy sales; an '05 Touring Roadster in SB and an '05 GT Roadster in Silverstone. Sadly, they chose to low-ball my trade in and insisted that $41,000 was a "very reasonable" price for the GT. I had a quote from another dealership for $500 *UNDER* invoice on the exact same car, and they smiled and told me to buy there. It'll be fun to see if that GT is still on the lot two weeks from now (might have to visit 'em again if it is)

Herb Gordon: Great internet sales staff. They guarantee $500 under invoice on all in-stock Zs. Doc fees are reasonable ($170, give or take). This is the dealership whose quote I used to haggle with Darcars. To wit, an '05 GT Roadster in Silverstone with Nav, kickplats, floor/trunk mats and splash guards. Invoices at just under $39k, they offered it at $38,400. We may have a winner here... though I'm holding out for a Touring Roadster with Navi.

Antwerpen: Couldn't really get a solid quote from these guys. They're Internet sales team is difficult to track down, and their phones were screwed up all day. Too far from me to drive over and check 'em out, so I can't comment further.

Finally, I dropped the $35 on a report from www.fightingchance.com. Not sure how helpful this thing will be as it appears to be a bunch of boilerplate stuff that's all over their webpage with a few references to Nissan and the Z, but this tidbit sort of stands out:

"NISSAN'S MAY 1 CAR INVENTORIES: Maxima/19,100, 79 days' sales. Altima/49,300, 58 days. Sentra/18,100, 46 days. 350Z/9,200, a whopping 86 days. The industry car average: 55 days. An ideal level is 50-to-70 days."

Can someone decipher this for me? I read it to mean that Nissan expects it will take almost three months to unload just over 9,200 cars. If that's the case, then why the resistance among Nissan dealerships to negotiate on the price? Given, the GT Roadster is prolly not gonna sit on any given lot for very long, but if the available national stock of Zs is enough for almost three months' worth of sales there should be some wiggle room. Or am I not reading that statement right?

stopgo

I know it's sorta bad taste to respond to your own post... but I have some good news.

Today I closed the deal on an '05 GT Roadster. Paid $500 under invoice and got far more for my trade-in than I thought was reasonable (the trade-in was the deciding factor in the purchase). As I mentioned in the above post, I did a lot of homework, legwork and phone work and got almost no indication that any of the dealers I spoke to were interested in actually selling me the car I wanted... with one exception. If you're ever in the market for a new Z (or any Nissan for that matter), Herb Gordon Nissan of Silver Spring seems to be the way to go. Kevin Yi handled the transaction for me... he wields the dual-title if Fleet Sales Manger and Internet Sales.

I also learned a very important lesson (which many people might already be aware of, but it's news to me); the person to talk to when buying a new car is the Fleet Sales guy. They're the ones charged with moving massive amounts of inventory, and they've got the power to knock dollars off a price very aggressively.

ZIABLO

iTrader: (7)

Congrats!!

Daewoo

+1

pics!

stopgo

Thanks! As soon as it stops raining I'll snap a few pics. Don't want to turn my new drop-top into a fish aquarium.

yacoub

In my understanding, the number of days is the average time a car sits on their lot.
Also, congrats!

AdamDC

Good job, I got mine from frederick nissan a while back. It was a very simple and pressure free transaction. They had the car I wanted in the lot and gave me a good price over the phone.

Unlike others, they actually held to the price they gave me over the phone. I told them what I wanted on the trade in, the guy went to talk to the manager and we had a deal.