Never do business with Clear Lake Nissan

[Thaprotender]

Our family bought Nissan Versa (1 hatchback) and (1 sedan) in month from them. Their Manager acted like he was God, tried to steal trades on both deals, salesman lied to us on the Sedan. It was a total disaster, both deals were marathon deals. I could read the sales managers lips when the salesman went back in there. He was saying who the F^&* do they think they are?

My wife and I have drafted up a letter and sent it to Nissan, and we also mailed a copy to the owner of Clear Lake Nissan. We were thinking of purchasing a 3rd car from them until all hell broke loose.

Stay far far away from them. You would think that if a customer is a repeat customer especially on 2 brand new cars that you would think that they would at least throw in a window tint on the second car, you guessed it nope they did not. They would throw in any oil changes nada nothing

Took them forever to get our plates in, in fact had to drive 38 miles one way to pick up renewed paper tags. They treat you like your a second class citizen, customer service sucks, customer value to them sucks. 5 STAR MY ***!

Clear Lake Nissan can HUG A TREE THEY WILL NEVER GET ANY BUSINESS FROM ANYONE FROM MY FAMILY OR ANYONE THAT I KNOW ever again!!

[motoguy128]

Wasn't there a post from about 6 months ago complaining about This dealer near Houston?

[Thaprotender]

When we were nego. the second car deal again they tried to steal the trade: 1990 Cadillac Fleetwood with 80,000 original miles the car was mint other than a typical GM headliner. The a/c would blow frost the car could have easily been a front line sale car. I did not feel like the hassles of selling it out right which my research stated that the car would have brought 5 to 6K if not more retail. Throw the NADA book out on a real low mileage car, anyway I wanted between 3500 to 4K trade in (again I don't want to hear about NADA or Kelly Blue Book), the manager hit the trade at $750 !!! I wanted 3500 real money on the trade not an over allowance on the new car.

I went there because of their 5 star rating, and knew a couple of people that had bought there before. Plus they were the only dealer in town that had a "Sandstone" Sedan. This must be a very rare color on this model line from Nissan, love the color though. Trying to get them to nego. on the prices of both cars, they thought they were trying to sell you a 350Z!! LOL

2 weeks previous when my son bought his saphirre blue hatchback they had tried to jack him around on his trade in (oh by the way I hear at least once a week how my wife wishes we would have gotten the hatchback..LOL). Had to intervene yes it was the same dumb *** manager

That Saphirre Blue is an awesome color! I love both cars Nissan did well bringing these cars out, think it is a value especially when my wife's cadillac would burn only super unleaded and most of her driving is around town. The cadillac would get around 14 mpg in town, the Versa is getting close to 28 to 30 in town (she is a very easy and smooth driver).

Both cars have gotten thumbs up from folks since not very many are out on the road. If gas gets too stupid in price I will be getting rid of my Ford Crow Vic and purchasing a 3rd Versa (will get another HB) and no my money will not go to Clear Lake Nissan

[proxim2020]

Wow, that's the most smilies that I've seen in 2 postings. We know you're upset, but just a few will do. Motoguy was correct. Last year I made a posting about Clear Lake Nissan. Out of all the dealerships I visited, they were the absolute worse. A sales guy was sitting on the couch watching TV while we waited 15 mins to be spoken to. They gave us a price $1000 over MSRP. When I questioned the price, they had the nerve to tell me that I wouldn't be able to find a better price in town since no one had the car. Which is funny because the next day we went to Baker Jackson, who didn't have any V's at the time, and still got the car $400 less than MSRP. The sales guy even tried to get us in an Armada or Murano even though we told him we were interesting in saving money in gas and price It didn't even seem like they wanted to make a sale. After about 10 mins of speaking with the sales guy, we quickly left and burned the bridge that led us to them

[Thaprotender]

Sorry for taking up so much space with the Icons.

Hindsight is 20/20

Love both cars my son wants to change out the wheels and add a body kit to his.

I probably should have went to MCDavid or Baytown Nissan. I sent the letter to Nissan hoping maybe the dealership will hear from the factory.Do not think that Nissan would appreciate the way they treat their customers.

Oh no Icons on this one

[Bubs daddy]

It's amazing how many people will gladly take a price under MSRP but if market conditions allow a dealer to charge more for a vehicle, they are "stealers." An MSRP is exactly that-suggested price.

This is a free market economy. No one is forcing anyone to buy a car or take a certain price for a trade.

The NADA and Kelly books are just guides. Various other factors are involved: region, demand, gas prices, reliability, market conditions, dealer stock, competition and many others.

The value of a car is what someone is willing to pay, not some NADA book. Many people are just unrealistic as to what they want to get for their car.

Are there dealers out there who have lousy customer service? Sure. But if you don't like what someone is offering you on a trade, there aren't necessarily a "bad" dealership. They are in the business to make money.

You can always sell your car outright if you think it's worth more. The dealer has to take the car in and resell it and make a profit. Don't like the trade offer? Don't take it.

[proxim2020]

There's a level of acceptable profit no matter what the situation. 3-5% profit is acceptable in my book. This 3-5% is already calculated into most MSRPs. Although this amount seems small, it's recognized as acceptable industry wide. Anymore that this and you're just paying more money than you need to. When I bought my V, there was an extremely high demand, you couldn't find it anywhere. I spoke to every last dealer in Texas and quite a few outside of Texas. Almost all said they didn't have cars on site, that it would need to be ordered, and the ones they had ordered already were spoken for. The majority of dealer, even though there was a very high demand, charge right at MSRP. There were quite a few that charged more. When I challenged them to justify the extra charges or inflated prices, most just filled my phone up with which amounted to "The cars hot and we're taking advantage of it." MSRP provides consumers with a fair and reasonable expectation of what they should pay when they visit dealer. $500-2000 over MSRP isn't reasonable.

[Bubs daddy]

Proxim,

I'm going to have to disagree here. This is the free market. You mentioned an "acceptable" level of profit. Acceptable and recognized by whom? There's no such thing. A product is worth what someone will pay for it.

Using this thinking, then if someone were offered a new Versa at a price lower than 5% of the MSRP, that would be unacceptable, too. You can't have it both ways.

People will gladly take thousands of dollars in rebates and discounts every day. So why is it unacceptable for the dealer to make more than 5% profit for a vehicle that is in demand?

"The cars are hot" is not B.S. It's a perfectly acceptable and understandable reason to charge more for them. The market allows it, the dealers are taking advantage of it.

$500-2000 over MSRP is perfectly reasonable if there are buyers out there willing to pay that. If you were selling your house at say, $150,000, and someone offers you $175,000, are you going to turn him down? Are you going to say "Nah, that's a little too much, let's just keep it at $150,000."

Many out there have no problem when the market favors them (selling a house for a tidy profit) but when the market dictates that a hot car goes for over some arbitrary "MSRP" oh, well...that's different.

No one is forced to buy a Versa. No one has to pay over or undera certain price. Anyone can just walk away from the deal.

[gniknave]

Reading this thread makes me happy I don't sell cars anymore. It's dealerships like Clear Lake Nissan that make things harder for the salesmen that just want to do things the honest and ethical way. I'm also glad I don't feel the need to get into arguments about whats an acceptable profit for the dealer. As a former salesperson, I couldn't care less about what the dealer made. It was MY paychecks that went to isht if someone bought a car for invoice or less. 3-5% of the difference between dealer invoice and MSRP is not an acceptable profit for a salesperson to be able to feed his or herself. Thank GOD I got out of that profession.

[proxim2020]

There's a huge difference between someone saying giving you extra 25k on a house and requiring that a purchaser pay an extra 25k. If I was to purchase a house and the seller wanted me to pay 25k over the appraised value, why would I pay? Can they show me the house is worth the 25k more? Even if the house is located in a hot market, what happens when the market has all of a sudden gotten cold. You're 25k in the hole in an area where the property values are probably starting to decline because of the coolness of the market. If we both bought a car and I paid MSRP and you paid 2k over. We had the same terms and same rates. We drove the same amount of miles and had the same wear and tear. At the end of 4 years, you would have paid more in principal and interest even though the cars have the same value. If you want to go into a dealer and offer 2k over MSRP, more power to ya Although the sales guy salary comes from money generated from sales, the portion of the sale given to staff is determined by the owner. So starving salesmen can blame their phat cat owners. I'm not saying go to the dealer and negotiate down to or under invoice and I'm not saying let the dealer eat some of your cost. I'm just saying pay what you should. If you want to pay more, go right ahead. I'd rather take the extra money that would've been paid to a dealer and donate it to a battered women's shelter or help cure some disease.

[Bubs daddy]

There's a huge difference between someone saying giving you extra 25k on a house and requiring that a purchaser pay an extra 25k. If I was to purchase a house and the seller wanted me to pay 25k over the appraised value, why would I pay? Can they show me the house is worth the 25k more? Even if the house is located in a hot market, what happens when the market has all of a sudden gotten cold. You're 25k in the hole in an area where the property values are probably starting to decline because of the coolness of the market. If we both bought a car and I paid MSRP and you paid 2k over. We had the same terms and same rates. We drove the same amount of miles and had the same wear and tear. At the end of 4 years, you would have paid more in principal and interest even though the cars have the same value. If you want to go into a dealer and offer 2k over MSRP, more power to ya Although the sales guy salary comes from money generated from sales, the portion of the sale given to staff is determined by the owner. So starving salesmen can blame their phat cat owners. I'm not saying go to the dealer and negotiate down to or under invoice and I'm not saying let the dealer eat some of your cost. I'm just saying pay what you should. If you want to pay more, go right ahead. I'd rather take the extra money that would've been paid to a dealer and donate it to a battered women's shelter or help cure some disease.

Read my post again. I said it's a free market economy.

I didn't say anyone HAD to pay over 25K for the house. Geez, read what I posted. I stated if someone OFFERS someone 25K more than what they're selling the house for, they'd take it.

I also stated a car is worth what someone will pay. When the Miata, PT Cruiser, Honda S2000 and others came out at first, many people paid over sticker price. Why? Because that's how bad they wanted the car. Other buyers did not pay that and obviously did not buy the car. To those who paid more, it was worth it.

Years later, people buy these cars for below sticker or at a discount. Why? Market value. It's the same reason people pay $600,000 for a home in CA and $125,000 in Indiana somewhere. The houses are the same but the prices are different. Again, market value.

But my point is, you're stating that there is this magical "acceptable profit" percentage. There is no such thing. The dealer tries to get as much as they can for the car. The customer tries to pay as low a price as he can for that car.

My other point was about trade in and what someone will pay. Let's say you are selling your three year old car. One person offers $9000 and the other $10,000. Which offer are you taking? Of course, the higher offer.

If the Versa was in demand in such a way that there were only a few on the lot and you had five times the number of buyers for them, some WOULD pay $2000 more for it. And if you wanted that car, you would HAVE to pay over sticker or not buy the car.

[Jaesin]

I got my versa for below sticker, because they had 5 sitting on the lot when I went there.

Went to check out the Fits, they had one they had recieved earlier that day, and it had a $4000 "Dealer Market Adjustment".

It was gone the next day, I didn't see the big deal.

[proxim2020]

For the record, I read your post clearly. In your posting you stated that if someone offered 25k for a would house would I take it. This would be equivalent to walking in the dealer and the dealer tells you that the car cost 15k and you turn around and say, "Well I want to give you 17k for it". Rarely does this happen. Now buying a house and the price is overinflated by 25k is the same as walking into a dealership and the dealer tells you the car costs 17k while else where you can get it for 15k. This is more likely the situation. Like I said before, pay more if you want. I won't be. I'm done debating.

[ThirstyRoss]

Paying over MSRP is retarded, the only way you can get into that situation is if you've convinced yourself that you need the car right now (hint: you don't) and then you get into a bidding war on a car that several other buyers want.

Let the other buyers have that particular car, and just factory order one to your specification. The dealer can't charge you above MSRP for doing this.

People also don't tend to pay above market rates on houses, unless they get into a bidding war for a particular property in a hot market.

No-one in their right mind would offer more than market value (or MSRP) if they had a choice.

[Bubs daddy]

Quote »For the record, I read your post clearly. In your posting you stated that if someone offered 25k for a would house would I take it. This would be equivalent to walking in the dealer and the dealer tells you that the car cost 15k and you turn around and say, "Well I want to give you 17k for it". Rarely does this happen. Now buying a house and the price is overinflated by 25k is the same as walking into a dealership and the dealer tells you the car costs 17k while else where you can get it for 15k. This is more likely the situation. Like I said before, pay more if you want. I won't be. I'm done debating. [/quote]It happens all the time. In certain housing markets, especially here until recently, people were bidding for homes paying quite a bit over the asking price. It happens quite a bit. Whether these prices sustain or not is not the point. At the time of perchase the house was worth what someone paid.

You're comapring two different situations. People do pay more or less depending on the market.

My whole response was to the original poster who thinks the dealership is "stealing" his car. He doesn't have to trade it in. The car is worth what someone pays for it.

[Bubs daddy]

Quote »People also don't tend to pay above market rates on houses, unless they get into a bidding war for a particular property in a hot market.

No-one in their right mind would offer more than market value (or MSRP) if they had a choice.

[/quote]MSRP is not market value. It is a "suggested" price. No more, no less. The market can change from the time the car sticker is attached and it sits on the lot six months later.

People pay what the market demands. And bidding wars are precisely what happened here for a year and a half.

And to say "no one in their right mind would offer more than market value" is patently false. If the New York Yankees are valued or offered at close to 1 billion dollars, many buyers may pay more. Why? Many reasons. The prestige of owning the Yankees. The buyer believing the team is undervalued. There is only one New York Yankees and the buyer has to have them. Speculators were wrong on the price. The list goes on.

Cars are no different. When there is a flat market for a particular car, the price drops or remains constant. When a car is desirous, the price goes up, and people pay more regardless of "sticker price."

[ThirstyRoss]

While the wording in my post above was less than ideal, I do have to respond.

Cars are not houses. Cars have an MSRP. Houses do not. You cannot order another house from the factory for MSRP. They are completely different things in terms of purchasing, and comparing them is laughable.

That said, I definitely stand by my statement that in my opinion, people who pay more than MSRP for a car are not right in the head, to phrase it kindly.

You can always order a car for MSRP from the factory. To pay more means you are too impatient (and stupid) to wait for the order, because you've convinced yourself that you NEED THAT CAR ON THE LOT (that one or more other fools have also convinced themselves they want).

[02QX4ME]

Hello,

This is my first post here.I have purchased four new cars so far, and never paid MSRP. I do online search, mostly carsdirect.com plus other sites, to get an idea of how much would be acceptable. Every time there was always a dealer who matched it.

One of the factor I paid below MSRP, sometimes much below, is that I never buy first year design. Instead, I'd rather buy the last year car. Statistically the last year should be most reliable. Fast depreciation is not an issue to me because I keep car at least six plus years, normally as long as it still drives well.

I know someone would love one car and pay whatever to get it. It is not my style...

[Bubs daddy]

Quote »Cars are not houses. Cars have an MSRP. Houses do not. You cannot order another house from the factory for MSRP. They are completely different things in terms of purchasing, and comparing them is laughable.

That said, I definitely stand by my statement that in my opinion, people who pay more than MSRP for a car are not right in the head, to phrase it kindly.

You can always order a car for MSRP from the factory. To pay more means you are too impatient (and stupid) to wait for the order, because you've convinced yourself that you NEED THAT CAR ON THE LOT (that one or more other fools have also convinced themselves they want).

[/quote]Cars are not houses? LOL. Thanks.

Doesn't matter if it's a house, car, boat, plane, or candy bar. It's all about the free market, supply and demand. Values of products are determined by consumer demand. MSRP is just a guide.

I was responding to that by making an analogy. Try to keep up.

A house has an MSRP, although it's not call "MSRP." It's called market value or "comps." Comparable or similar houses. The realtor "suggests" a price you sell.

So someone buys a car that is difficult to keep in stock and is going for MSRP. That person sells the car to someone else for a higher price because they couldn't get the car. Happens all the time with a new hot model.

The person buying that car for MSRP isn't stupid. In fact, they made a profit. They are indeed, right in the head.

Most people don't pay MSRP because the dealer is, well...dealing, negotiating. Just like they do on a house. They sell at what the market will bear. Just like a house. You can buy a large SUV now for $10,000 off. Why? MARKET VALUE. Just like a house. The biggest difference is cars rarely appreciate in value, where house usually (not always) appreciate in value. But the concept is the same.

Example. A new car hits the market and for a year the price remains at sticker and above because there is such high demand for the car. So are these people "not right in the head?" No. because everyone is paying that. That's the price you pay if you want that car and that car is worth it to the buyer. Even if you don't buy the car, the value to the buyer is intangible.

And I have news for you. It works in reverse as well. If you think you got a good deal because you bought below MSRP and the car turns out to be a bad seller and gets discontinued, than someone else could come along and buy a new one in the last year at thousands below what you bought it for new. Now who is "not right in the head?" The person who bought for below sticker or the person who bought for far MORE than below sticker?

[ThirstyRoss]

Wow it's like you didn't even read (or perhaps comprehend) my post.

If you can always order a car from the factory at MSRP, why would you pay above MSRP for a car on the lot?

[skylndrftr]

the OP is an important part of the Free Market you discuss there Bubs...Welcome to the new free market economy where word gets out to people when you treat your customers poorly

[blystone95]

Doing Business with Clear Lake Nissan is a mistake all the way down to the repair center. I took my Nissan Maxima there to be repaired and they told me they could repair the car for 1029.00 dollars. Called and told me it was ready and fixed. Then, i ask them can the car go to and from Houston? Oh no the car is unable to be driven at all. You just told me it was fixed. Yes I did. well if i am unable to drive the car it is not fixed. well it has to have a new wiring harness and all new injectors now. You should buy one of our cars instead and use this car as a trade in. Crooks Crooks and more CrooksThey have 8 complaints against them through the Better Business Bureau and that is not counting mine for repairs.They attempted to show me the wiring harness that has corroision but nothing would flake off for the service manager. Then, I came home and looked for an image of a wiring harness for a 1992 Nissan and it you could see the green on the new wiring harness. He really must think women are nuts and just wants to take advantage of all women.

i turned them into Nissan of North America. I don't know if that will help or not. Clear Lake nissan is owned by Roundtree Auto Group.

[kaze0]

Charging more than MSRP is not acceptable imo. What other industry has that occur? None. Manufacturers need to hold dealers to a standard.

[ghrshow]

"Charging more than MSRP is not acceptable imo. What other industry has that occur? None. Manufacturers need to hold dealers to a standard. "

Wrong! how about the "APPLE IPHONE"It was went for more than the MSRP!

Cabbage patch dolls!

Beanie babaies

Magic cards

Here is Ny "Passover" Coca Cola sells for more than the msrp.

Just off the top of my head....

[frankoV]

E-Bay.

[Frahman]

I went to Baker Jackson on 290. No problems with them at all. They offered it for 600 off MSRP . To be honest, that was good enough for me. I had made my mind up what I wanted to pay before I went in and they got to that number pretty much immediately. I could have haggled around longer, that was after all the first round, but my time is money too and it really isn't worth (for me) another 300-400 bucks to waste my time in the dealership. I was in and out in less than 90 minutes. And that included going around the lot to see what they had.

I told them exactly what I wanted and they didn't try putting me into anything else that didn't fit those requirements. They didn't play the 'payments' game, didn't try to get me to lease, didn't 'tag team' me with another sales guy. Definitely where I am buying my next Versa.

Oh, and I dumped my trade at CarMax. I did that before I even went to the Nissan dealer. Would sold it privately but the vehicle starting to have a few problems that at the moment were not major but would soon add up and I didn't want the hassle. That's worth something to me.

Funny thing is, the dealer said that Carmax typically offers more than what they would for trades, so that was a better move for me. I guess carmax deals in volume when it takes all it's trade to the auction.

Anyway, If you live in Houston or thereabouts, try Baker Jackson, at least the one on 290.

[glozaeta]

"Charging more than MSRP is not acceptable imo. What other industry has that occur? None. Manufacturers need to hold dealers to a standard. "Wrong! how about the "APPLE IPHONE"It was went for more than the MSRP!Cabbage patch dolls!Beanie babaiesJust off the top of my head....

Any smart business person will charge what anyone is willing to pay.

BTW, iPhone is totally easily, far and away , 100% worth $300 when you consider an intake is worth $200.

[bluewater]

I purchased 2 cars and leased 1 truck from Clearlake Nissan. I have bought over 15 cars in my life and I can honestly say that the service I received was second to none. It is by far the best sales and service department I have ever dealt with. I find it hard to believe that you bought two cars and considered a third but freaked out over tint. It sounds like you don't know how to work a deal and tried to get the dealer to throw something in after the deal was done. That dealership has many good people that have to support their familys on the money earned on their jobs. Don't be a upset for a mistake made by you. Learn how to buy a car and stop blaming everyone that sells you something. If you don't agree with the trade value, than simply don't trade. You have the right to say know but said yes...your fault..........

[bucksnort]

E-Bay.

Got mine for $1000 under invoice per Edmunds. For the life of me in this day and age and since all the posters here obviously have computers, why anyone would sit for hours in some skanky showroom and d!ck pennies. My god, especially in a big town like Houston, couldn't you email each one and ask for a price OTD, no BS, take it or leave it? I for one would never sit for more than 1/2 hour if I went in.

I'm sure (OP) your Caddy was nice. But a 17 year old car is pretty hard to finance by any bank no matter the condition. If it was worth what you said it was worth how much did you unload it for?

It's amazing the amount of rubes that will sit there and take it in the rear and then complain forever about the deal.

[1800nissan1]

Doing Business with Clear Lake Nissan is a mistake all the way down to the repair center. I took my Nissan Maxima there to be repaired and they told me they could repair the car for 1029.00 dollars. Called and told me it was ready and fixed. Then, i ask them can the car go to and from Houston? Oh no the car is unable to be driven at all. You just told me it was fixed. Yes I did. well if i am unable to drive the car it is not fixed. well it has to have a new wiring harness and all new injectors now. You should buy one of our cars instead and use this car as a trade in. Crooks Crooks and more CrooksThey have 8 complaints against them through the Better Business Bureau and that is not counting mine for repairs.They attempted to show me the wiring harness that has corroision but nothing would flake off for the service manager. Then, I came home and looked for an image of a wiring harness for a 1992 Nissan and it you could see the green on the new wiring harness. He really must think women are nuts and just wants to take advantage of all women.

i turned them into Nissan of North America. I don't know if that will help or not. Clear Lake nissan is owned by Roundtree Auto Group.

Lady, you brought your car to us stating that it wasn't running. Not to mention it had been sitting for sometime. We got it to finally start and run, which is what you brought it to us for, but it now runs rough due to the corroded wiring harness. I believe we did what you wanted us to do, which was to get the car running. You still aren't happy even after we have offered you a cash car (running by the way) off our wholesale lot for your car. I believe we have gone above and beyond for you. Come get your car already....