I had a correspondence with someone asking me about getting the best deal. My answer was direct and long. I'm sharing that correspondence (withhelding the other party's name) because I think it will benefit someone in this forum who is also interested in looking for a good deal.

> Howdy. I saw your post on Nico. I live in Socal and> am currently looking at> M35 and M45's.> > Looking to get the best deal. Not sure if I'm going> to purchase or lease.> > Wanted to know your opinion and what I should expect> to pay.> > > > Thanks,>

How's it going? I think you made a wise decision selecting The M as your next car. In today's competetive market for sport luxury sedans, there's a lot of good cars out there to choose from based on personal tastes; overall, the M stands out the best...until it retires or something better comes out in the next 4-6 years. Personally, I would be happy driving this car for the next 10-15 years.

Buying a car hasn't been a wonderful experience for me. I got my first car sticker price with 11.9% interest rate for 5 years. The worst part was, I drove the car out feeling grateful because the salesman, after putting me down on how bad my credit was and not worthy owning this car (it was only $12,000 then), said the boss made an exception on my case and sold me that car on their terms. I learned the hard way, and vowed not to be a pigeon the next time I buy a car. I am not an expert in haggling or getting the best deals, but I can tell you what I did when I bought my M.

First, I made sure I got the exact car with the right color and options. Infiniti's website will guide you through this and will even tell you which dealer has those cars. I can tell you I got a good deal in South Bay Infiniti here in Torrance but it's pointless for you to go there if they don't exactly have the car you want. I made these number one because it's very important that you exactly get the color that you want, otherwise you'll have regrets later on.

Second, you can always get financing through Infiniti, but that will only complicate your chances of getting a good deal. I would advise getting your financing somewhere else. Bring in a check from a bank or any financing institution (just like paying cash). Then you can haggle with the price of the car and nothing else. I don't have a trade-in so I'm not the best resource for that.

Third. Normally, I check out with other dealers for the same type of car and eventually buy from the best deal. However, this presented a problem with the M. These cars are selling hot like pancakes, and their popular colors would only stay in their inventories in less than 2 weeks. Instead, I checked out the competition. A Lexus dealer gave me $3,750 off msrp on their GS, while an Acura dealer gave me $4,000 off on their RL. I never went to BMW because I had a feeling they'll raise an eyebrow if I haggle within these prices, so I just made one up (he,he,he). I went to Infiniti last, with these information and haggled down to $4,500 below msrp based on the numbers I gathered.

Fourth. As all things in life, timing is crucial. These I learned from reading magazines, consumer reports, etc. The best time of the year to haggle is when car manufacturers advertises clearances which falls around September and December, for the dealers to get rid of the old cars and to get new ones in. The best time of the month is its last week so that dealers get enough sales to catch up, if the cars sold are lagging behind their monthly quota. If you look inside their office, they have a board with numbers crossing out the amount of cars they have sold and the remaining numbers they have to sell for the month. The best time of the day is late afternoon till evening when everyone is rushing to go home and finish a deal quick. I bought mine on a Wednesday afternoon, 2 days before the end of August. It was also the last week of that "Infiniti Clearance Summer Event"

Last. The odds of getting the best deal was against me before I even started. First, this is a 2006 model so we're not replacing an old model. Second, I checked Kelly's Blue Book or Edmunds. Consumers, on the average, are paying $800 off msrp for this car throughout the country (this could've changed).

I cannot guarantee if this pre-planning is going to work with others but it worked well for me. Preparation and timing paid off in my case. I hope this helps. Good luck on your purchase. Whatever the outcome, the M is the best car around and you won't be disappointed.

Edward


Modified by Edong t5 at 2:55 PM 10/4/2005

Thanks for the info! Good experience and comments here for sure.

Z

Thanks for the great information. Really appreciate it.