Altima coupe with tech package half off!

[mcheddadi]

This is from a blog. It's the story of a girl who almost end up with a really bad deal but instead get's an awesome one! Lots of info about some nissan dealers lol

http://www.allusive.org/?p=143

Oh, the adventure I’ve had getting it. I had long since come to the conclusion I’d never be able to get the car I wanted without some sort of male support, so I dragged the most belligerent of the belligerent along with me, Matt. A couple of weeks ago I decide to test drive the Altima Coupe. We went to Desert Nissan, found the car with all the options I wanted and test drove it. Love at first drive. If that car were a man, it would be Jude Law, or Michael Shanks, or any number of other super hot stars I’d never have a chance with.

Always prepared, I had my sheet with the car price, invoice, option pricing, tax, and payments all figured out. Well all that went out the window when I saw the sticker price. Somehow Desert Nissan managed to tack on to the (already inflated) MSRP well over 3k in random fees, up to an including a $195 “anti theft fee” (window etching), $299 in “tint and pin striping” (there were no pin stripes to be found anywhere on that car), a $972 “desert protection package” (which consisted of a paint protection coating and scotchgard for the interior), and some other fees for just breathing in the general direction of the car (emissions?). Best offer they had was still $5000 over invoice. Matt tore into the guys because of the bogus charges, I tore into them for d!ck around with my trade-in as a way to lower the cost. We left in disgust after the first round.

I hit the internet after that, called every dealership in town, called a dealership in California, and one in Reno. Best price quoted was at Douglas Nissan in Henderson. As the v6 was hard to come by and very popular, discounts weren’t to be had anywhere. But Douglas Nissan had the most fair price - no additional fees tacked on. So I call them up last week to set up the deal. And ****…the exact car I want isn’t on their incoming inventory list until the end of October.

So the sales guy asks me if I would consider one with the technology package (additional $2000), because they have one coming in at the end of the month. When he gives me the full price of the car with the technology package, I told him it was way over what I had intended on paying for the car, and I’d rather just wait or try to find a better deal elsewhere. Sales Guy asks me what I would pay then heads over to the sales department to try and cut a deal. He calls me back a half an hour later with a price basically discounting over half of the technology package. I tell him I want to sell my current car to a friend, and I’m not sure if I can wait two weeks. He says they will give me another car until mine arrives. I tell him he has a deal, and I’ll be in on Saturday to fill out the paperwork.

So Saturday I head over to the dealership with Matt. We sit down with the Sales Guy and start filling out the paperwork. Halfway through this process the Sales Manager comes over waving a new sheet of paper. Basically tells me that there is no way they are selling the car to me at that price. The price was quoted wrong, he says. It’s too low, and they will not sell the car that cheap. They are sorry for the miscommunication, somebody on the sales end wrote down the wrong price, etc. If I want the car I’ll have to fork over another $1000. WTF.

I immediately start in on him. I said there was NO WAY I was paying a dime over what I was promised. It was bull**** (yes, I swore). I don’t care who screwed up where, the only reason I was even in the dealership talking to them was they promised me a price that I was willing to pay. Of course, Matt couldn’t hold back either, and immediately starts tearing into them claiming they were using a bait and switch to get me into the dealership. He reiterates everything I said, with a few threats to file complaints with the county and state. The Sales Manger apologizes profusely. He says he’s very sorry, but there’s no deal unless I pay more. I grab my purse, yank out my keys, and tell him if that’s the case then I’m walking out. I told him I didn’t want the car that bad. I could go and buy a Mustang (my second choice) cheaper with less bull****. Sales Manager looks stressed out, and asks me to stay while he tries to work something out.

He talks to his manager, who tells him to go talk to the General Manager. A half an hour later here comes Sales Guy, the Sales Manager, and the General Manager. The GM looks defeated. Asks me if I’m willing to meet them halfway. I said no. Asks if I’d be willing to add $200 to the deal, and I said no. He then asks if I would be willing to finance through them so they could make some money that way, and I said, “If you can get me the same interest rate, I’d be more than happy to.” He tells the Sales Manager to make the deal and leaves. And it’s done, I have my car.

I had to give up the free car to drive while I wait for my new one. Apparently a whole bunch of people got into trouble over the price I ultimately wound up paying for the car. When they brought up the issue of the loaner car, the manager vetoed it, saying they lost enough money on the deal and weren’t going to kick in another $900 for a rental. Nice.

The entire experience wasn’t without it’s humor. When we were going over the factory specs on the car, we found out that the “desert protection package” Desert Nissan wanted to charge me for was already on the car. Nissan ships all of it’s cars with paint sealant and a protective coating. Additionally, the paint is covered under the warranty. The ultimate laugh came when I was filling out the loan paperwork. Halfway through the process, Brian the loan officer pushes over a document that reads “Vehicle Theft Registration”. I ask him what the registration is for, thinking it’s another fee they want to tack on. Brian assures me there is no charge. He says all Nissan vehicles come from the factory with window and part etching in case of theft, and if the car is stolen they will pay me $1000. Yes, this was the $195 “anti-theft fee” Desert Nissan wanted to charge me. ****ing awesome. Matt and I started laughing so hard we had to stop and explain the entire Desert Nissan experience to the loan officer.

So I got out of there with a nice discount on a car nobody was getting discounts on, a loan half a percent lower than the one offered by my credit union, and discounted 6 year warranty. Initially I thought the price error was an act to get more money out of me, but after two and a half hours of watching papers waving, heated discussions, getting glares from the sales counter, and a pissed off GM, I have to give Douglas Nissan credit for honoring the price I was quoted. And props to the sales guy Tommy G and his manager Sonny for bearing the brunt of me and Matt’s abuse. Anybody who’s heard me and Matt yelling at each other can imagine what we put them through.

I’m still waiting with crossed fingers, knocking on wood, sacrificing virgins to random gods. Until the loan is sealed tomorrow by the credit union any number of things can go awry. And yes, I will walk if there’s so much as a dime added to the price. I’ve made that abundantly clear though, so I’m not anticipating anything of the sort. So wish me the best, otherwise we’ll all be in for another car buying blog post, and I don’t think anybody wants that.

So some lessons I learned from this experience:

Shop around for the best price, including out of your immediate area and out of state.

Be prepared to give up the car you want - if you can’t live without the car they will know it and d!ck you over.

There is nothing wrong with yelling “Bull****”.

Demand sammiches if you are hungry. (I should have done this)

[LongBeachCoupe]

I paid in full, and was waiting for a check from nissan for 18k, along with my financing "book"... Anyways they promised me 4.9% on site, and i have it on my invoice... They told me today they want to make it 6.3% and they made a mistake... I feel like all car salesmen/dealers came up thru the same school of "hard knocks" i experienced growing up in NYC.... its everyone for themselves!