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Along with that, the car had a spoiler and had some (two) minor blemishes that my wife would not accept, they looked like pieces of the protective wrapper. They took care of that.....I was going to stand on the trunk and pull the spoiler off and save the $500 but I didn't want to embarrass my wife that day. :P
The salesperson and manager knew we were not impressed. The wife and I huddled and we agreed to take the car. The lease mileage started at 200 or 300, and overall we like the car.
After we left the dealer, we never talked about it, it truly is a non-issue.
If you like the vehicle and it's what you want at a price you like then I agree the two oil changes are fair in return for the additional miles.
The remote starter on vehicles with push button start are tricky, I owned an aftermarket electronics and accessories business and unless this is covered under warranty I'd stay away from it. They may be doing you a favor by pricing it at a point where you do not see the value.
Mike
Find another dealer. If you don't mind flying and driving you could easily find a dealer and save more than enough to cover the air fare and gas with lots left over.
Dennis
We men tend to embarrass our wives at car dealerships, I am told. They seem to be more forgiving of small rip offs, changes, and mistakes.
Dennis
Not feeling the need for feedback - just providing data for future buyers...(and if it helps anyone to know, I did not "go for it" in the negotiations, just tried to get a good/fair deal - you can probably do a little better if you make it your mission, especially if you are less picky than I was about getting EXACTLY what you want)
Oh, almost forgot - I do LOVE the car.
So, if you really can get it for invoice, or even lower in the present day slow market, don't let them tell you the dealership insists on all customer's paying the dealer fee. If it's $600, for example, in truth you are paying $600 over invoice, and that's not such a hot deal after all.
It's best to do this with several dealers and preferably during the last week of the month. Include a cover letter and I suggest using the free spreadsheet at carbuyingtips.com to send them. It is easy to fill out and reveals the dealer's true profit.
There is some disagreement on holdback for Infiniti's. I used a figure I've seen often quoted as 1% of the car's base msrp price and 2% of the car's base invoice price. One dealer admitted I was close with about $910 profit to the dealer listed on a G35 Journey with premium package. And, as has been pointed out here, it's best not to call it holdback as incentives come to dealers in varying forms. Thus, if you buy a car at invoice without the bogus dealer fee, the dealer likely still has about 3% profit due to holdback and other dealer floorplan incentives.
Also, you'll get the best deal if the dealer has the exact car you want on the lot. You can check the inventory by going to any Infiniti dealer's website. In your cover lettter, I suggest that you list the exact vin number of the car that you want. If you are really savvy, you can try to figure out how long a car has been on the lot. The longer it's been there, the better your chances at getting the car at invoice or below.
I've worked this plan with one Toyota and now a new G35. The first time it worked like a charm. The second time the Infiiniti dealer that soon quickly took the deal first called and said the best they could do was $800 more. When I said other, closer, dealers were about $400-500 better than that (and they were), I was told to hold the phone, and after a brief hold, was told, "You've got yourself a deal."
I thought I was home free like when I bought the Toyota, with an out the door price that was accepted for a 3% dealer profit, or about $80 below invoice. However, I got an unpleasant surprise at the dealership, a roughly $120 "Florida doc stamp" fee for the 2.9% financing deal. Since we had agreed in an out the door price in writing with all taxes and fees, and were at an impasse over the surprise $120 bump thrown in at the end, the GM agreed to throw in a set of mats, touch up paint and a wax/maintanance kit.
Not a hassle free experience, but worth it in the end.
Infiniti of scottsdale, was ready to match their offer also.
Also, go to the myg37.com and you will see more info about what folks are paying for the cars.
Good Luck :shades:
1. How much above (or below) invoice should I expect to pay if I purchase in the next month?
I'm looking for a G35X with premium and nav. Visited one dealer this weekend and he quoted me $36,800 (without any haggling from me other than saying that I wasn't paying MSRP). I didn't negotiate with the dealer (was only trying to decide on a color) but I assume he would go lower. Invoice on the car is $36,069.
I'm hoping to purchase at or within $100 of invoice. Is that expectation realistic?
2. How much is a reasonable doc fee? I've seen some posts on this board referencing fees that seem quite high. Is $50 a realistic expectation?
3. Has anyone had good (or bad) experiences with any of the Chicago-area dealers? I know the dealer in Lisle has a large inventory but don't know much about Barrington, Fields, etc.
Any help is welcome.
What you could do is find out from a dealer how much they would charge to add a key to the car, then buy a blank valet kit BUT DON'T PAY TO HAVE IT CUT. Just have the dealer code it along with your original 3 keys to the car, then have the installer use the coded but not-cut key for the hide a key. Then you still have all 3 original keys and if a thief got hold of the hidden key, it would be useless.
At some point, they should make a custom box that can "copy" an existing key so no key is sacrificed to do the remote start.
Dennis
Anything over $0 is too much "doc" fee for me. Just be sure when you get quotes from various dealers you include the car, destination, and the fee. The sum of the 3 you compare from place to place to get your best deal. You don't care if the new has a $0 fee or a $500 fee, if that is the lowest price. Most of them are set and they can't (or won't) negotiate the fee, so those that have high fees have to give you a lower price to earn your business.
I would contact the "Internet sales department" or similar at each dealer in the are and tell them what you want and ask for their best price including fees. Keep expanding you search until you get a price you can live with.
Dennis
Just run by and count the cars or something, I guess, would be more accurate.
Some folks are saying they are getting near invoice for the coupes and I know VPP is now available for coupes and that gets you within $300 of invoice.
Often dealers will decide something is a hot seller (in their minds) and will not deal until they later wake up and realize that if they don't deal we will not buy.
Dennis
On a G35 or G37 C or D VPP is $275 to just over $300 over invoice (depends on the invoice of the car you choose). You do also have to pay the dealer's normal doc or prep fees, if any. You also have to pay for any dealer installed accessories. Plans A and B (employees and there immediate families) is less.
So the key is finding the car you want at a dealer that accepts VPP and has little or no doc fee.
Some folks are reporting getting invoice or under for G sedans and coupes now, these may or may not include the dealer fees. I think it depends on where you live, how many dealers are in the area, and how well the model you are looking at is selling. The VPP gets you a nice price with no hassles or haggling, but you may be able to get a little better deal but probably not by a lot.
Dennis
Dealers get hold back, incentives, etc to make extra money so the invoice price is not really what the dealer will have to pay for the car in most cases.
For our purposes, we take the published invoice including destination (as shown on Edmunds, KBB, Carsdirect.com, etc) and subtract any known dealer incentives and we have "dealer cost" (under most circumstances the dealer will not deal down into hold back). Any deal under this cost is a super deal, anything at cost or a little over is a great deal, more over cost is not as good a deal.
Dennis
Dennis
Seriously, no one knows - maybe not even IFS at this point. They will get the final Jan sales numbers and look at them and look at the "days supply" they have on each model, then decide if they need to carry incentives/discounted financing forward to the next month.
I don't think this will get any cheaper and could go away, so if you are financing I would get it done this month. The lease numbers on the various models could change also, but they could be lower or higher for next month.
Dennis
I am looking at a G37 coupe with an invoice price of $37500. It appears that a lot of G37 buyers are getting cars at or close to invoice. I am also eligible for the $1000 customer loyalty rebate. Do you think a deal for ~36500 ($37500 minus loyalty cash) is attainable? Or should I consider the loyalty cash as part of the invoice deals that I have seen on this forum? (meaning best deal is invoice, $37500).
Also what is the likelyhood of getting dealers to waive the $799 processing fee? I appreciate your guidance. I want to be prepared, but not unreasonable when I contact the dealers. Thanks
Also I don't know how many folks paying "invoice" also included the dealer's doc or prep fee, since most all Infiniti dealers charge $500 or so in fees.
Your dealer charges $799 for a doc fee? Holy cow! I would find another dealer ASAP. No sense beating your head against the wall getting a good price then having them add $800 back onto the deal.
My dealer has a $0 doc fee. For $800 you may can fly in and drive a new coupe home . Seriously, my dealer may not be quite is low on price as others due to having no extra fee, but the NET of the car, destination, and fee may be less. That is the number you compare about when comparing multiple dealers.
Dennis
Thank you for your advice. I will keep looking to see if I can find a dealer with a lower dealer fee. I figured it might be hard to get the dealer to waive the fee completely.
But you do think that a deal at invoice minus $500 is attainable? (given the current $1000 rebate for current G35 owners)
Thanks again!
Where are you located? Maybe someone can step up with dealer suggestions if they know what part of the country you are in.
Dennis
They had $500 in loyalty cash for the left over G35 coupes in November, then upped it to $1k in December and added $500 for non-Infiniti folks - again only for G35 07 coupes. Then in January they changed that to G37 coupes and dropped it for the left over coupes.
Strange that they never had dealer money on the left over 07 sedans though.
Dennis
I live outside West Palm Beach, FL, and I found two dealers in my area who would do invoice minus $1000 deal today. I guess business is pretty slow. One dealer also said he would waive the dealer fee, but I had to do the deal TODAY. I could not make it to the dealer so we will see if I can still push for that deal later this week. I find it hard to believe it was a "Today Only" deal. Thanks for the tips.
BTW for all other readers, I would be happy to share the dealer locations that I spoke to today. Let me know if you are interested.
If you live where there are lots of dealers in a short driving distance that seems to be the key to getting a cheap price. Folks in sunny CA seems to have lots of dealers to fight for their business. I have one dealer about 30 minutes away. one 2 hours away, three 3 hours away, and several more 4 hours away. Not exactly in the heart of the Infiniti sales concentration .
The dealer locator shows 6 within 100 miles of West Palm, Put in an LA ZIP code and you get 19 dealers within 100 miles, 24 within 100 miles of NYC. I wonder where you get the best deal, a location where there is 1 dealer or 19 or 24 dealers ?
Dennis
What are the fees associated with a vehicle purchased in Illinois? Is there a license plate fee, title fee, doc fee and county, state and city taxes? The fees one is charged is daunting?
Is it better to finance a vehicle for 60 months or 63 months? What is the difference?
The final price for my vehicle will be close to $100.00 under invoice with the VPP plan? Could I have gotten a better deal without the VPP? Was this purchase with the VPP a good deal? I don't want to get burned with new financing and incentives for February?
Started looking at coupes last June, switched to the new sedan (loved the new design interior and features), had trouble finding a 6mt loaded, dealer found a car but it was hail dinged, ordered a new 08 sedan, came in in Oct with horrible lease numbers, waited for better rates, got better rates and could not (again) find a 6mt sedan loaded anywhere near, waited more and FINALLY got a good lease deal on a G37 coupe. Picked it up on Saturday. Worth the 8 month wait .
It is G37 sport 6MT Liquid Platinum w/Graphite leather with premium/nav/tech and (unfortunately) splash guards, trunk mat, and cargo net. $43,175 MSRP with an invoice of $39,316 and my price was $39,628.19 (VPP plan C) less the $500 in customer cash made my price $39,128.19 ($187.81 under invoice) with $0 (gasp) dealer doc fee and no other add ons. Free wheel locks too! I DID have to pay to have the car hauled from the dealer where it was located (I said the 6mt cars in the colors I wanted were hard to find), but the haul charge was far less than the stocking dealers $500 doc fee! My car was new with 12 miles or something on it rather than having been driven from dealership to dealership, and the stocking dealer was 2 hours further drive (round trip).
I picked it up from Harper Infiniti in Knoxville on Saturday and everything went smooth. We did all the numbers via the phone and e-mail, so I just showed up, checked the car over (perfect) and test drove it (perfect) then signed the paperwork. After going over all the buttons and features I was back on the road to home. My salesperson and the F&I person were both first rate.
Awesome car, awesome stereo, awesome features - "laser cruise" and backup camera my favorites. Biggest worry: my 17 year old son will steal it and never bring it back . 2nd Biggest worry: bending a rim (really low profile tires) and/or having to buy a new tire - $223 each front, $266 each rear plus shipping from TireRack.
Can't wait for the very long break in period to be over.
Dennis
I have an agreement with Fields Infiniti for a platinum graphite G35X w/ graphite interior, wood, premium, nav, and cargo net. (Dealer included wheel locks which seems to be standard in this area.) I plan to pick up the car tonight.
Here's a recap on my experience for those looking to buy in Chicago.
Test drove the car at Gold Coast Infiniti. Didn't get a good vibe and decided I would do my price shopping elsewhere.
Started at Infiniti Lisle because I had heard good things. They quoted my $800 over invoice. The also didn't have the wood in stock but that wasn't a dealbreaker. The salesman was nice enough but refused to move on price even as I got better offers. One other strange thing--I kept asking him to email a breakdown of the out the door price and instead the salesman insisted on leaving voice mails. It made me nervous that I couldn't get a quote in writing.
Barrington Motorwerks was the next dealer I worked with. They told me they would do invoice on the car but when I saw the breakdown it included a $90 charge for "supplemental warranty cost recovery." He told me it was standard but I hadn't seen it at other dealers. The car they had in stock also didn't have splash guards and he wanted to charge me $185 to add them (invoice is $114).
The splash guards and the warranty fee effectively made his best offer $161 over invoice plus $150 doc fee and TTL. (The $150 fee was the same at each dealer I spoke to in Chicago. No one would budge on the fee.) He told that was his final offer. The dealer was friendly and professional throughout.
I was tempted to take this deal but decided to give one more dealer a call. As has already been mentioned on this board, Fields Infiniti has been sending out Jan. specials with pretty good prices, particularly on cars with the tech package (which I was not looking for).
I called the internet sales dept and he confirmed that they are pretty aggressive on pricing through the end of the month, particularly on the tech cars. I was able to reach a deal over the phone in about an hour. Here's the final breakdown.
$36,378 purchase price ($79 below invoice)
$150 doc fee
plus TTL. (Taxes are brutal in Cook County)
I was able to get out the door for under $40k, which was my goal all along.
Received a call from Motorwerks late in the game and they offered to match but I told them I was sticking with Fields for meeting my price. I probably could have squeezed a $100-200 more by further haggling but at some point enough is enough.
I was a bit hestitant to deal with Fields because some (on the board and elsewhere) have mentioned their high-pressure sales tactics. But I had none of this in dealing with the internet sales dept. They were professional and pleasant. I hope this carries over to our pick-up tonight. I will post a follow-up after I get the car.
Thanks to everyone on the board for their help.
If you have a VPP claim code you need to shop for a dealer as well as the car. Call or e-mail all of them in a radius from where you live and ask them if they accept the VPP code on the model you want and what, if any, they charge for a dealer fee. The VPP code sets the price, so find the dealer that has the smallest doc fee ($0 is best ) that will take the code and has or can get cheap/free the car you want.
There is a $500 or $1k customer cash rebate on the G37 coupes that puts the VPP under invoice by $100-200. No such bonus on sedans so you would pay the VPP price.
Can you get a better deal? Sure, if you live where you can get dealers to compete for the sale and give you a better price. Folks are reporting near invoice (or below with the rebate) now on both sedans and coupes, if you can haggle your way under the VPP price then you just save money. If not, then use the VPP.
The dealer is supposed to show you the invoice with the VPP price on it, if there is no ad or marketing fee then you should not be charged it. The dealer CAN charge you their normal doc or prep fee - that is why shopping the dealer is key. They can also mark up the lease and loan rates as they can for non VPP deals (again, finding the right dealer is key).
If financing, I can't see them getting lower than the current finance deals on the coupes and sedans (2.9% or 3.9%) and the coupe cash could go away for Feb (or it could get larger?), we don't know either way.
The title, tax, tags, and stuff like that should be the same from every dealer.
Dennis
The tech WAS have to have when it included the backup camera, but that is part of the Nav package for 08. The "laser cruise" is awesome, but I am not sure worth the cost at invoice. For me leasing with a 62% residual and I paying about $266 for it (my residual goes up 62% of the MSRP of the tech, but my cost goes up the invoice amount for the tech).
Dennis
kc
Dennis
The owner's manual still lists all the old commands, many of which no longer work.
You can't say "Radio Preset A" or "Climate Control 70 degrees" and the like. You can switch from ipod, to radio, to sat radio, but you can't change stations/presets/pick selections when you do. You can only turn on and off the climate control, not adjust it. "Radio FM 101.1" does not work either.
I would have to sit down with the manual to figure out all the stuff my 08 CAN'T do compared to the 07 models. It DOES seem to work and almost never gets it wrong, but I have "Trained" it. I would have been nice to get to try the other commands, but it is not a deal breaker - just something to note if you have previous experience with an 07 version of the system.
Dennis
I bought my 07 G35 6MT (platinum graphite/graphite interior with premium, splashguards, cargo mat & net) from Motorwerks of Barrington, IL in mid September for $250 above invoice. The standard document fee for sales in IL is $58.48, but you might be able to get them to waive that. There was no $90 charge for "supplemental warranty cost recovery" on my sales form. Maybe the document fee changed to $150 since I bought mine. Motorwerks were very helpful, friendly and professional, it was a good experience.
There was no joy from Fields of Glencoe or Fields of Libertyville, both of them quoted quite differently, but they were WAY above other quotes I received (with only about a discount of $1000 off MSRP). As a woman car buyer, their attitude was very patronizing.
The experience at Infiniti of Lisle was good too, they gave me a good price on a 6MT with the above options plus navigation. Unfortunately, it was in the Garnet Ember color with light grey interior that I didn't really like enough, plus I felt 50/50 on the navigation package.
I agree with you on the taxes for Cook County. Ugh! Shame we live on the border of Cook and Lake.
I've got only 400 miles on mine now. I only drive it on sunny days and am trying to baby it. It's in the shop getting a clear bra put on the front. I already have a small chip on the lower bumper, so I'm hoping this will prevent any more. The roads in Birmingham, especially hwy 280, where I drive are littered with stones being thrown up by trucks.
One word of advice, be careful with the inside door handles. They scratch real easy. The installer is going to put the film on them also.
Joe
I am in the convertible today, supposed to be near 60 this afternoon so I plan on dropping the top for the drive home.
Dennis
I'm having it done here in Birmingham by Mark Chadwick of Advance Shield. He is doing the front bumper (top and bottom), fenders, 24" of hood, mirrors, underneath the door handles,side panels around the windshield, and interior door handles for $730. It seems like a good price for what he is doing. He comes highly recommended. He just got finished doing a Lamborgini for someone here and there are other high end cars that I have seen the work. He does use the 3M film and has a 5 year warranty.
Joe