My buying experience
11-25-2007, 05:19 PM
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My buying experience
When I decided on and started looking for a G37, I naturally started by going to my local dealer. For the model that I wanted, they wanted MSRP and not a dime less. I knew I could do better then that, so I started calling around other Canadian dealers. Surprisingly, all the Canadian dealers that I spoke to were very reluctant to move from MSRP and even then, for the options and color that I wanted, they said it would take 4 months for the car to arrive. When the Canadian started gaining significant strength, I decided that should the Canadian dollar hit par with the US, I would expand my search into the States.
That day came! I had been a member of this forum for a few weeks and had heard great things about Fairfield and began to talk to Hussain. Their price, as we all know, is very attractive for purchasers, but Hussain was not able to get the options with the color that I wanted. I had been saving for some time and knew exactly what I wanted and would not settle for less. That’s when I started calling delaers in the US, close to Alberta.
I started in Washington State, then Oregon, then down into California. I was dealing with Beaverton Infiniti initially. They found the car that I wanted but had to arrange a ‘swap’ with another dealer to get it. Things were going great, until I got a call from them and they said they wanted me to pay for shipping for the swap, not only from their inventory to the other dealer, but also from the other dealer to them. Not bloody likely I said. I never spoke to them again.
I found another dealer, Niello Infiniti, and was well on the way of making a deal, but when I told them that I was Canadian; he tried to tell me that the US warranty was not honored in Canada, I told him otherwise. Then the truth came out that they just did not want to deal with Canadians at all.
So my search continued. I finally came across Infiniti of Elk Grove (ILG) in Sacramento. These guys were, and are, fantastic to deal with. I can’t say enough good things about Matt, Willie and Steve. I saw their inventory on the web (I really wish Canadian dealers would learn from this; publishing your inventory on the web is a good thing. No Canadian dealer that I know of does this.) and saw the exact color and options that I was looking for. I called Willie, told him what I was looking for, where I was from, and the deals being posted on this forum. Willie agreed to match $500 over invoice!!! I was thrilled and floored!
I sent a sizeable deposit on my Visa (in case I needed to cancel the transaction. This was a safety net for me. Never send cash as a deposit folks. By using Visa you can always call Visa to cancel and get your money back.) And so began the buying process.
Canadian “out the door” price on the car that I wanted was $58,088.00 Canadian. (out the door means “all in”, taxes, freight, etc..). Elk Grove’s cost of $500 over invoice made the savings very, very attractive. My “all in" price for the car (GST, duty, Air conditioning tax, RIV fee included and taking into account the exchange rate at the time) was $44,522.77 Canadian. Total savings on the car: $13,565.23
IEG had been burnt by some international sales before and insisted on witnessing the signatures on the bill of sale. Figuring I was already $13,500 ahead , and I could use some sun, why not. I flew down to Sacramento to sign the papers and mostly to see the actual car before I signed. Matt picked me up at the airport and we drove the 40 minutes back to the dealership to get everything signed. I brought a cashier’s cheque with me into the US with the remaining balance as well. (don’t forget to declare this at the border folks.. if you do not, and you get caught, they can take away the cheque and you will have to go back and do it all over again.) IEG had my car all ready to go when I arrived.. Never had a grin on my face that wide in a long time.
Between the time that I sent the deposit and the time I went down, I had to decide to either drive the car back myself, or get it delivered. If I drove the car back myself from the dealership, I’d have to pay the California State tax for “driving on California roads”. Or, have the car taken to the Nevada border, have the papers are notarized there and I drive from Nevada.
I came across a company called “A & A Customs Brokers”. (http://www.aacb.com/services/vehicle.asp) They do all the paperwork for customs, and arrange delivery for a fee. Cars under $50,000 are $250 for the paperwork, over $50,000 it’s $500. Shipping would be an extra $1650.00. That’s a flatbed at the dealer, trucked to Vancouver, then moved by train Edmonton, then trucked to Calgary.
If I drove to BC and then through the mountains, it would probably be snowing (End of Oct), and Montana was having snow warnings as well. Since the car did not come with winter tires, I didn’t want to chance driving on summer tires with the possibility of snow. I decided on the A & A brokers route. All I needed to provide them was Bill of Sale, the Recall letter, and the Manufacturer Certificate of Origin. They did all the rest.
Would I do this again? Absolutely! IBut if it was summer, I would drive the car back myself.
A & A is SUPER busy. They said that they are processing more cars than they ever have. Their estimated timelines from car pickup to home delivery is 1 month. Mine was 3 weeks. I now have my OB, Graphite, Technology package, Premium package, Sport package, Navigation package and Splash Guards, G37 in my garage. I put winter tires on it yesterday from tirerack.com (I’ll post about that as well) and took it for it’s real first drive.
Happy to field questions.
I followed all of the information that I originally posted here: https://www.myg37.com/forums/showthr...59#post2226359
Again, I can’t say enough good things about Infiniti of Elk Grove. These guys treated me great. And I do not hesitate at all to recommend them to anyone on this forum or anyone wanting to purchase an Infiniti.
That day came! I had been a member of this forum for a few weeks and had heard great things about Fairfield and began to talk to Hussain. Their price, as we all know, is very attractive for purchasers, but Hussain was not able to get the options with the color that I wanted. I had been saving for some time and knew exactly what I wanted and would not settle for less. That’s when I started calling delaers in the US, close to Alberta.
I started in Washington State, then Oregon, then down into California. I was dealing with Beaverton Infiniti initially. They found the car that I wanted but had to arrange a ‘swap’ with another dealer to get it. Things were going great, until I got a call from them and they said they wanted me to pay for shipping for the swap, not only from their inventory to the other dealer, but also from the other dealer to them. Not bloody likely I said. I never spoke to them again.
I found another dealer, Niello Infiniti, and was well on the way of making a deal, but when I told them that I was Canadian; he tried to tell me that the US warranty was not honored in Canada, I told him otherwise. Then the truth came out that they just did not want to deal with Canadians at all.
So my search continued. I finally came across Infiniti of Elk Grove (ILG) in Sacramento. These guys were, and are, fantastic to deal with. I can’t say enough good things about Matt, Willie and Steve. I saw their inventory on the web (I really wish Canadian dealers would learn from this; publishing your inventory on the web is a good thing. No Canadian dealer that I know of does this.) and saw the exact color and options that I was looking for. I called Willie, told him what I was looking for, where I was from, and the deals being posted on this forum. Willie agreed to match $500 over invoice!!! I was thrilled and floored!
I sent a sizeable deposit on my Visa (in case I needed to cancel the transaction. This was a safety net for me. Never send cash as a deposit folks. By using Visa you can always call Visa to cancel and get your money back.) And so began the buying process.
Canadian “out the door” price on the car that I wanted was $58,088.00 Canadian. (out the door means “all in”, taxes, freight, etc..). Elk Grove’s cost of $500 over invoice made the savings very, very attractive. My “all in" price for the car (GST, duty, Air conditioning tax, RIV fee included and taking into account the exchange rate at the time) was $44,522.77 Canadian. Total savings on the car: $13,565.23
IEG had been burnt by some international sales before and insisted on witnessing the signatures on the bill of sale. Figuring I was already $13,500 ahead , and I could use some sun, why not. I flew down to Sacramento to sign the papers and mostly to see the actual car before I signed. Matt picked me up at the airport and we drove the 40 minutes back to the dealership to get everything signed. I brought a cashier’s cheque with me into the US with the remaining balance as well. (don’t forget to declare this at the border folks.. if you do not, and you get caught, they can take away the cheque and you will have to go back and do it all over again.) IEG had my car all ready to go when I arrived.. Never had a grin on my face that wide in a long time.
Between the time that I sent the deposit and the time I went down, I had to decide to either drive the car back myself, or get it delivered. If I drove the car back myself from the dealership, I’d have to pay the California State tax for “driving on California roads”. Or, have the car taken to the Nevada border, have the papers are notarized there and I drive from Nevada.
I came across a company called “A & A Customs Brokers”. (http://www.aacb.com/services/vehicle.asp) They do all the paperwork for customs, and arrange delivery for a fee. Cars under $50,000 are $250 for the paperwork, over $50,000 it’s $500. Shipping would be an extra $1650.00. That’s a flatbed at the dealer, trucked to Vancouver, then moved by train Edmonton, then trucked to Calgary.
If I drove to BC and then through the mountains, it would probably be snowing (End of Oct), and Montana was having snow warnings as well. Since the car did not come with winter tires, I didn’t want to chance driving on summer tires with the possibility of snow. I decided on the A & A brokers route. All I needed to provide them was Bill of Sale, the Recall letter, and the Manufacturer Certificate of Origin. They did all the rest.
Would I do this again? Absolutely! IBut if it was summer, I would drive the car back myself.
A & A is SUPER busy. They said that they are processing more cars than they ever have. Their estimated timelines from car pickup to home delivery is 1 month. Mine was 3 weeks. I now have my OB, Graphite, Technology package, Premium package, Sport package, Navigation package and Splash Guards, G37 in my garage. I put winter tires on it yesterday from tirerack.com (I’ll post about that as well) and took it for it’s real first drive.
Happy to field questions.
I followed all of the information that I originally posted here: https://www.myg37.com/forums/showthr...59#post2226359
Again, I can’t say enough good things about Infiniti of Elk Grove. These guys treated me great. And I do not hesitate at all to recommend them to anyone on this forum or anyone wanting to purchase an Infiniti.
Last edited by rrrevin; 11-25-2007 at 08:24 PM.
11-25-2007, 05:56 PM
#2
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I was thinking of going with AACB as well.
Just out of curiosicity, do you know which company they contract out for the shipping?
I suppose if you get AACB to do it all, they will contact the dealership to arrange everything (once I've paid for it all), correct?
Damn, best I could find is $1500 over invoice (without going too far away) and I thought I found a deal.
Good stuff, rrrevin!
Just out of curiosicity, do you know which company they contract out for the shipping?
I suppose if you get AACB to do it all, they will contact the dealership to arrange everything (once I've paid for it all), correct?
Damn, best I could find is $1500 over invoice (without going too far away) and I thought I found a deal.
Good stuff, rrrevin!
11-25-2007, 08:26 PM
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Basiscally you sign Power of Attorney rights to A&A to act on your behalf at the border. Yes, they do contact the dealer to arrange pickup. But that's very simple, they just need your keys, and then the dealer signs pickup papers. Then off she goes!
A & A uses several carriers. For my situation they used Searail. http://www.searail.ca/
One more thing.. you MUST leave the Manufacturer Certificate of Origin in the car!! The US border and Canadian Border folks will only accept the original; photocopies or faxes are not acceptable.
A & A uses several carriers. For my situation they used Searail. http://www.searail.ca/
One more thing.. you MUST leave the Manufacturer Certificate of Origin in the car!! The US border and Canadian Border folks will only accept the original; photocopies or faxes are not acceptable.
Last edited by rrrevin; 11-25-2007 at 08:29 PM.
12-31-2007, 12:45 AM
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rrrevin awesome post ! this whole purchasing process is getting me excited, especially the fact that i can save 10k + !!
.
psyh. can you follow up with a detailed summary of your experience ?
.
additionally,
i would like to know who takes care of the paper work (forwarding docs to the u.s customs, pays the GST/PST (Ontario), is the brokerage bonded ?, etc.
.
.
psyh. can you follow up with a detailed summary of your experience ?
.
additionally,
i would like to know who takes care of the paper work (forwarding docs to the u.s customs, pays the GST/PST (Ontario), is the brokerage bonded ?, etc.
.
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