A good time to buy a car

[Brother Karamazov]

Any opinions on the local Nissan dealer?

I am looking and so far their response has not impressed me.  I doubt I'll end up buiyng here in the SCV.


Update:  Still no response from the Valencia Nissan, but several repsonses from dealers in the Valley.  Looks like I'm heading to 1st Nissan in Simi Valley.  Best quote so far.   

Given the weak response from the local dealer, maybe the economy is doing better than I thought.  Go figure.

[FredFreddy]

Any opinions on the local Nissan dealer?

I am looking and so far their response has not impressed me.  I doubt I'll end up buiyng here in the SCV.


Update:  Still no response from the Valencia Nissan, but several repsonses from dealers in the Valley.  Looks like I'm heading to 1st Nissan in Simi Valley.  Best quote so far.   

Given the weak response from the local dealer, maybe the economy is doing better than I thought.  Go figure.

My wife and I went in there to look at the new Maxima.  It took about 5 minutes for someone to actually approach us in the showroom and there was only one other couple there.  The salesman was not that knowledgable but he was new and very very nice so we were comfortable talking to him and he was able to get us info as needed.  The thing at the time and this was about a month or so ago, they had no financing deals.  He finally got the manager to come over and told us the note would be at 5.9% and that Nissan was doing well and had no need to run special rates.  They also worked with us on the price of the car a bit but not where I was willing to spend.  He also said the financing was typical with other local dealers.  I told him that was not true and went through all the deals the local dealers had (We do our homework).  We got a couple of calls from the salesman leaving messages that they have some specials now but we really kind of lost interest in this dealership. 

[ChevyMom]

Old Honda's rule...and they run forever!

[Brother Karamazov]

My research trip to the Nissan dealer in Simi went, well ... uncomfortably.

The salesmen starts out very friendly, then he has to "check with his manager." 
Someone else joins us, and it turns out the rebate I was given in the email was a "mistake." 
After a long wait, I learn the offered interest rate for financing was 5.9%.
By now another fellow has taken over, and we are negotiaiting with the next level up.
Every time I say I don't want this or this, its "I'm going to see if I can get the owner to agree."
Then when I say I want to think about it overnight, all the prices come off the table, "this deal is for right now, not five minutes from now."
The sales techniques get more aggressive, and I end up walking away.   


Uggh. 


I am shopping around for the model I want, and just trying to get the best price, but most of the Nissan dealers do not want to give you a price until they get you in to their lair.

One fellow told me straight out, "Look if I ask my manager for a price now, he'll just say that you will just keep going around and around to dealerships and the thing will never end."  In the end he wouldn't give me a price, I have to set up an appointment and come into the dealership.


Uggh.

[ChevyMom]

My research trip to the Nissan dealer in Simi went, well ... uncomfortably.

The salesmen starts out very friendly, then he has to "check with his manager." 
Someone else joins us, and it turns out the rebate I was given in the email was a "mistake." 
After a long wait, I learn the offered interest rate for financing was 5.9%.
By now another fellow has taken over, and we are negotiaiting with the next level up.
Every time I say I don't want this or this, its "I'm going to see if I can get the owner to agree."
Then when I say I want to think about it overnight, all the prices come off the table, "this deal is for right now, not five minutes from now."
The sales techniques get more aggressive, and I end up walking away.   


Uggh. 


I am shopping around for the model I want, and just trying to get the best price, but most of the Nissan dealers do not want to give you a price until they get you in to their lair.

One fellow told me straight out, "Look if I ask my manager for a price now, he'll just say that you will just keep going around and around to dealerships and the thing will never end."  In the end he wouldn't give me a price, I have to set up an appointment and come into the dealership.


Uggh.

BK - I am sorry you having to go through this.  Buying a car should be a pleasureable experience...(at least it was with both Saturn purchases).

Don't let them jerk you around with high interest rates either!  If you have good credit, you should be in the 1.9 - 3.9 range.  Or better yet, go pre-qualified with a credit union before you even walk in the front door of any dealership.

There are dealers offering incentives, since they are thirsty for buyers right now.  I saw that Saturn was giving 5 years with NO INTEREST.  That is a killer deal.  That is what they gave my Dad in 2003 on his L300.  That is a great deal.

Good luck on your hunt.  Be strong, YOU'RE the BOSS.

[FredFreddy]

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying/articles/42962/article.html

I read this story a couple of months ago.  Sounds like they use a lot of the tricks of the trade on you.  If you go to Edmunds.com home page and scroll to the bottom they have a couple of other articles.  Go in knowing what the invoice is.  Not sticker.  Invoice.  Lot's of places are selling under invoice.  If you feel the need to pay over don't go over $500 in this market.  If they play games with you after that tell them one more time what you are willing to pay.  Then if they don't give you what you want get up and walk out.  My wife loves watching me deal with these guys.  I found that the local Lexus dealer to be very up front.  They gave me an under invoice price right up front.  Took all the fun out of it.

[Walker]

We've not fans of the local Nissan dealer. We bought a truck there MANY years ago (11, I think!) and it was a mess. I left in tears LOL and promtly went home to write a nasty letter detailing our disatisfaction and I hand delivered it the following day. If my memory serves me correctly, they had refused to assist us in finding their advertised vehicle and after we found it on our own through searching dozens of VINs, they gave us the run around about the purchase. In the end we bought the truck (direct from manager, no sales guy), they kissed our feet LOL, and two years later we sold the truck for more than we bought it for. So, it ended well, but they certainly weren't pleasant to deal with.

Last fall (during the compac sedan craze) we were of course in the market for a compact sedan. Great timing, I know. Nissan had some ridiculous 'market value upgrade' price increase on every vehicle that got 20MPG or better. RIDICULOUS. As soon as the salesmen comes over we tell him that the fee is total BS. We're having a little discussion about it and he's saying we can negotiate down, etc. Duh we can LOL. Then he tells us that EVERY dealer on creekside has the markup right now. We're like....um, we have been on creekside for HOURS looking at vehicles. Mazda is the only dealer we haven't been to at this point. No one has these listed mark ups. Salesmen for whatever reason decides that he needs to argue this point with us LOL. We left, went to Mazda, and found the car we ended up buying  .

Bought another new car last month. This time, we didn't even bother with Nissan.

[Petz2]

It is an outrage that these threats to public safety (Chevy Volts) are allowed to be parked inside public and private facilities.  The Obamacar is a disaster for our economy and it's owners and there should be a congressional investigation.


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2807339/posts

[radiomantodd]

It is an outrage that these threats to public safety (Chevy Volts) are allowed to be parked inside public and private facilities.  The Obamacar is a disaster for our economy and it's owners and there should be a congressional investigation.


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2807339/posts

Obama car?  You mean the Volt, which has been a concept since, and was officially unveiled as a production vehicle during the Bush Administration?  Misnomer much?

Petz, you're smarter than this.

[Local Democrat]

Radiomantodd: "Petz, you're smarter than this."

Radiomantodd - you have a great sense of humor 

LD

[Capt. Gene]

You mean the Chevy Volt that is built by Government Motors? This Chevy Volt, the one with the dashing young president behind the wheel:



If the Secret Service knew then what they know now they would have wrestled the Volt to the ground.

Oh, and was anyone (other than Obama voters) surprised by this:

"GM’s Chevrolet Volt Will Miss 2011 Sales Target"
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-01/chevrolet-volt-sales-rise-2-8-as-u-s-probes-gm-plug-in-hybrid.html

What else would you expect from this "Obama Nation"

[Petz2]

Chevy has offered to buy back my father's Chevy Volt and he keeps the tax credit.  Works out to about $1,000 a month from the US taxpayer to drive a new car.   We do not call them Generous Motors for nothing,  <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/r9unTKK0hkk&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/r9unTKK0hkk&rel=0</a>

[Phil Ellis]

I thought it was Government Motors.

[Petz2]

It went from Generous Motors to Government Motors- thank the UAW