Ripped off?!
 

Just bought ym car Sat. But havent been financed with a bank yet. And that bastard F&I guy slipped that fabric protection GAP and Lo Jack ******** in on me. Can I still go to the dealer and tell then to take that out?

Hey guys,

I have a question. I am very inexperienced when it comes to buying a car. the 370z is the first car i bought myself. my brother bought my previous car so I am really a newbie when it comes to all the paperwork that comes with buying a car. There's one thing on my bill i believe falls in the category of optional and that is the mechanical repair service contract which costs me an extra $1997 and bunch of other stuff like the dent rescue and windshield protection. I will be cancelling the windshield and dent stuff but my big question is what is the difference between the mechanical repair service contract and the warranty that comes with it? is it something that i should get? i currently have the platinum one which offers that most coverage available. thinking of cancelling it altogether or maybe just get the power train coverage. any thoughts, feedback, advice, suggestions would be greatly helpful.

First post here. I just wanted to say that the info in this thread is pure gold. It helped me get a great deal on the car I've always wanted.

I continue to believe that car-specific forums are far and away the best places to get accurate information, and this one is no exception.

im glad you like my charburger and cheeze fries post. :tup: ;)

*ken quickly bails*

Anyone getting a new car should definitely read everything in this thread. After buying a few new cars, I've grown to really hate the process. Most recently, I had helped my girlfriend buy a new 2011 Nissan Rogue and the first dealership we went to was pretty much your typical lets rip off the customer type deal.

First they had all these add-ons that they claimed were standard on all the cars on the dealership, some interior/exterior protection package, pin striping, tints and some other crap. The total for all this? around $3000. No thanks. Needless to say these guys wouldn't even come close to invoice when at least 2 other dealerships were willing to deal. Only reason we went to them first is because they were close by.

We did find a more straight up dealership that sold us the car at invoice. Best advice is to always check as many dealerships as you can and don't let the finance department sucker you into extended warranty's and other non essential items.

Can I take you with me when I buy my new car? I live in New York.

This was a great read thanks

I'm no expert, but I've bought quite a few new cars over the years and these are some of the rules I follow.

Tips to the noob car buyer

1. Do your homework.
Research all available resources and know the actual invoice price for the car you intend to buy and the realistic value of your trade-in (if you have one). Find out before you go to the dealer whether there are cash, financing, or other incentives.

2. Thoroughly inspect and test drive the actual car you are going to buy before you enter any negotiations.

3. Remember: You are in charge of the negotiations.
The dealer needs to sell the car. That’s how they stay in business. You may need a car, but you don’t necessarily need THAT car.

4. Don’t settle.
Never take less for your trade or pay more for the car than those values that you went into the dealer knowing (See item 1). If the dealer won’t give you what your trade is realistically worth then the price of the car will have to come down to compensate. It’s the difference you’re paying, new price vs. trade, that’s important.

5. Always be willing to walk away.
Not too quickly, but there are lots of other dealers and other comparable cars out there. Don’t show too much emotion and fall in love with a car. Showing a need puts you in a compromising negotiating position. Show that you may WANT to buy their car but you don’t NEED to buy their car. If you don’t get the deal you went in looking for…try somewhere else.

6. NEVER sign any agreement or place any deposit/down payment until negotiations are over and the FINAL pricing including finance rate is agreed to.
Again, the dealer needs to sell you the car. The only time I have put any money up-front was when I special ordered a vehicle from the factory. Even then I only put down $500 and secured the whole deal prior to the order contingent on approval of the vehicle on delivery. The vehicle was delivered about three weeks later. Inspect, test-drive, and then signed the papers and finalized the deal.

Even this so-called "final pricing" may be subject to change depending on what kind of document you signed. I recently detailed my horror story where I had all the necessary paperwork for a final sale as described here, only to see at the bottom it said "conditional based upon lender financing". This basically made the entire deal a farce and enabled the dealer to just scrap it at their whim and re-write another.

I pounded and hammered away at both my salesman and sales manager about "is this the final price? Is this my actual monthly payment? Is there any way this will change? Have all fee's been included? I will not get any surprise "last second" bills?" I practically annoyed them to death REPEATEDLY asking these questions. One week later they call me back after I had the car and said they had to adjust the deal.

I am totally agree with your oppinion.this post is very encouraging to people who want to know these topics.

So, I have a question, since I've not purchased my own car ever (still driving the one my parents originally bought for me eight years ago).

I have always been told, "No, don't put money down." on a new car, by my Dad. Yet, I see many people doing so to bring their payments down and such.

Is this a good thing to do?

I've always thought that it was kind of a waste, since you're putting money down on something that's going to depreciate by that amount (or more) the second you drive it off of the lot.

Edit: Not sure if I should put money down and sell my SRT myself or use as trade-in either. Probably safer to sell myself to get quite a bit more out of it.

You should put money down to the extent that you save money on interest. If you're getting a very low interest rate, it doesn't make much sense to put money down.

I have bought many new cars. The last three have been over the internet from out of state dealers and one of them was delivered. The other two, I picked up. The most memorable purchase was a 1989 Toyota SC. I negot. for 6 hours and finally got them down to my price. It was raining cats and dogs and I was their only customer for the day. They bought me lunch and a pack of cigs.

Here's how I would buy a 370z.

Go in the Auto Dealership knowing the following. 1. Your credit 2. Your down payment 3. Cost of the car on Invoice value.

Go and offer them a deal. Don't negotiate one. Say, here is what i would like to offer you. I have such and such credit, and here's my downpayment and here's my offer price.

DO NOT DISCUSS MONTHLY PAYMENTS!!

It's that simple, but yet it took me 2 hours to go through. I just didn't go into discussion or negotiaton about anything else. I just said, here's my offer. I went to three other dealerships already and just looking to see who accepts. If they don't agree, you leave. But it's about offering the right amount price.

I Live in California, and purchased the 370z in 2011. It's stick shift, sports package. no leather. No GPS. and If I remember correctly, offered 31K for the car. Anyway, the tax came close to 3grand I think, plus a few hundred for other stuff. OUT THE DOOR I PAYED 35,200 for it I belive. Which is not over priced, but also not the greatest bargain either. But was just right for me to accept. I prob. could have gotten it for 34,200, if I really tried hard enough. But it's stressfull process and wanted to take it home already.

Downpayment: $16,000
Credit rating: Excellent
APR qualified for: 3.4%
Monthly TERM: 48 Months
OTD 35,200
2011 370z Sports Backage/Silver/Stick Shift

I got 0% financing on my z but I still put 9k down. It was just personal preference. I just wanted to take a little chunk out of what I owed. I had the money saved at the time so I just did it

Yeah, I had to walk out yesterday. They want to give me like 2100 for my SRT, so he went and said that they were going to put all of these add-ons on the Z (first price he told me was 37,150 mind you) and it totaled 38,800, then he said he'd bump it down to 37,784... I was like, wait a minute...

There's no way I'm paying sticker for a car, nor am I going to let them put 1500+ in adds that I don't want, nor do I need.

I had one dealership refuse to even ask for a picture of the car that they were going to get, on top of them wanting me to sign before ever seeing the car - then he told me that I should have just ordered it a long time ago then (being that if I ordered now I wouldn't get it until mid-Jan). Sometimes these salesmen are just ********.

What month did you get the 0%? Thats what I'm looking for..

It was back in march of this year. I don't know if they do it every year... It might have been a one time promotion type of thing. Others might know better.

Usually there are never any incentives or offers on the Z, but surprisingly for a few months 0% was offered which has never been done before.

Yikes.. not liking my chances then. :shakes head:

They were offering $500 off this past weekend. :bowrofl: Yet, they'll put $200 in floor mats or more expensive adds on to counter that.

I read this thread years ago and thought about it while buying a new car for my wife today...glad to come back and see it's still pinned!

(Wife's care was nothing too special, 2014 Honda CR-V; number 1 choice among soccer moms.)

Awesome
 

As a current car salesman and internet manager for a Nissan Dealership, and a Z owner, I can tell you that all of these "how to buy a car" stories online are hilarious. Dealerships aren't the pits of doom that they used to be. Basically, if you already know what car that you're looking for, then come in and be honest. If you attempt to ******** us, we can smell it. That basically is our only training. If you come in and tell us what you'd like, and be reasonable, then we'll shoot you straight, and help you out. Most places will do this. Anyone buying a Z (that can buy a Z) Isn't some bum off the street with bad credit and no job.

Just come inside, sit down and talk to one of us like a normal person. Treating us like the enemy makes us the enemy. Make us the enemy, and we're going to make sure that you don't leave happy. You'll either stay and spend too much money, or you'll leave and never think that you got a good deal and be dissatisfied.

Basically, just act how you'd want us to... The end...
Also, feel free to email me to ask me anything you wanna know about the business side of things. The Z doesn't have much market up, and traditionally doesn't have rebates... So, don't expect to get much off of sticker. I work the books at my place, and I didn't pay much less than sticker. Also, VPP is a crock... Most places can hit a lower selling price just cutting the deal rather than wasting time going to your HR department and getting a VPP number. So, once again... Just come in and sit and talk to us. we'll fill you in on everything you wanna know.

Joshua

About to take the plunge... I'm going into a dealership tomorrow to try to walk away with the internet price (just over $40K) for a new '14 black Nismo! Of course, I haven't revealed that I'll be financing with my credit union (1.74% APR, um yes please) and dropping a wad of cash as well (somewhere between 10 and 20...).

I already know its going to be an all out war to maintain that 'internet price' since fine print reads that you can't get that without financing through Nissan (you lose $2,000 in rebates). But I've been in conversation with this guy for 2 weeks now and visited/test drove once already. Couple things in my favor:
-He's invested time in talking with me and now feels that I'm ready to buy - if I walk, it'll be a huge waste of his time. And I have NO problem walking and telling him I have an appt. with a different dealership this Saturday.
-He's offered to 'make an amazing deal' since the one he's trying to sell does not have the backup camera that I expressed over and over again was the ONLY feature I cared about. So, I'm buying a car that does not have the features I wanted? Better make it worth it for me...
-I'm doing HIM a favor by potentially purchasing a car that is already on the lot (i.e. he gets to drop his inventory count instead of special ordering one)
-He happened to mention that the 370Z Nismo we test drove in was sitting in the show room and now has been used as the test drive model for a couple months now... So, you're telling me that they're not selling very well, huh? :grin:
-I'm going to Carmax to get my current car valued - I researched and stumbled across some info that said Carmax gives pretty good buy back values on cars, so I can use it to compete with whatever trade offer Nissan tries to give me.

I've been through a dealership experience once before and got run over by the salesman and manager... Not going to happen again. And uh, dont tell the Nissan rep, but I AM driving away with that Nismo at the price I want; its just a matter of whether he wants to make a sale or not :-)

If successful, I'll be sure to post what I paid for everything and how I got away with it.

Fingers crossed.

There's nothing 'hilarious' about it. A salesman's objective (and justly so) is to maximize profit for the company and/or make commission for themselves. No one is your 'buddy'. As soon as consumers spit out how much they're going to put down, trade in, pay monthly, etc., all the ammunition the salesman needs has been laid out neatly for them to work with. Calculations get going for the dealership to maximize profit wherever they can slip it in. It's not wrong or underhanded - it's business, and uninformed consumers are the ones that pay more than what they could have negotiated for.
There's nothing wrong with a salesman doing his job, and nothing wrong with an informed consumer maximizing their savings on a vehicle purchase. It's the dance everyone performs, whether they want to or not. I do agree that there is no need for rudeness or aggression. But 'just come in and sit and talk to us' is an invitation to tell the dealer everything they need to make their money and to capitalize on those who don't realize that there is plenty of room for negotiation. PLENTY.

As a professional procurement manager all of my working career, and one who has bought over 30 new cars, I find this a fun thread. Very educational and very true in most things stated.

Can't add much to it, but here's a take away....

-Don't ever be reluctant to ask for a better price or for something at no additional charge
-All things are negotiable
-Don't be afraid to walk away
-A purchase has to work out for both the buyer and the seller...