CougarRed

1. I test drove and researched the 2 vehicles I was primarily interested in: G37 and Hyundai Genesis 4.6.

2. When I decided on the G37, I picked out the options and exterior/interior finishes that were important to me.

3. I then researched the price of the G37 on CarsDirect.com and TrueCar.com. CarsDirect will give you a target price for your car with your options. That price includes dealer incentives that are going on currently that you may not be privy to without consulting a resource like CarsDirect.

TrueCar will tell you what dealer invoice is for your car with your options, will show you the average price people are paying for that car, and what a good/great deal is.

If I had to do over again, I would also consult the Edmunds Town Hall forum on G37 Prices Paid & Buying Experience, and this forum of course. I did not know about these forums when I bought my car.

4. Armed with my target price and dealer invoice info, I waited until 5 days before the end of the month and then sent an e-mail blast out to all the Infiniti dealers within a 300 mile radius of my house at 9 in the morning. Prices are usually better at the end of the month.

I told them exactly what I was looking for. I told them I was asking for their best price because I was sending e-mails out to many dealerships seeking the same information. And I told them I only wanted to communicate by e-mail (so I'd have a written record of the conversation).

5. 80% of the dealers responded the same day. Many did not have the car I was looking for. Two did. Grubbs near DFW wanted $700 under dealer invoice (and right at my target price). Gunn in San Antonio wanted $1800 over dealer invoice and had a no haggle policy (I would too at that price!).

6. I hammered out a deal with the internet sales manager at Grubbs. I paid an extra ~$200 for a tint job, cargo net, first aid kit and carpeted trunk mat.

7. Next, after getting the price settled, we talked trade in. I gave a brutally honest assessment of my low-miles '04 G35, and even took some pictures with my I-phone and e-mailed them. The internet sales manager worked with the used car manager and we reached a deal over the phone subject to their inspection. They offered me $11K for my car, which would be the equivalent of $11,700 at CarMax given the tax break on a trade in. About a year ago, CarMax had offered me $13K for my car. It's an excellent resource to find out what your car is worth. I felt $11K was fair, and took their offer.

8. After some discussion, they held my new G37 for me without a deposit. I picked it up over Memorial Day weekend after test driving and inspecting my new G37 to my satisfaction.

EZPZ

Noremac

Congrats on the purchase. But I'm curious if you tried or considered trying a service like Zag.com?

Black Betty

iTrader: (60)

A couple of questions:

Isn't the first aid kit included with all G's as a standard feature at no extra cost?
If CarMax offered to buy your car for $2K more than their trade in offer, why did you leave the $2,000 on the table by not selling it to CarMax separately from your purchase deal?

CougarRed

Never heard of it. What is it?

Next time, I'll look at trying to get a VPP code!

CougarRed

The CarMax quote was from 8-10K miles earlier in my '04 G35's life. After getting the $11K trade in offer (which would be equivalent to $11.7K sale at CarMax), I did not go back to CarMax to get another offer. I knew it would be substantially less than $13K since the car was older and had more miles. Perhaps it would have been slightly more than $11.7K, but I didn't feel it worth the time and effort.

I think the first aid kit was $20 stand alone. It was not included in the MSRP of my unit originally.

carz

Congrats on your purchase. I did something similar, around the same weekend haha. I called up a bunch of dealerships telling them what I wanted, i found one that was able to get it for me with no problem. Things were discussed over the phone but I made sure he would repeat them on an email.......I even made him send me pics of the car. the next week drove down to PA and picked up my car.

unfortunately 2010 models no longer have first aid, cargo net, trunk mat and splash guards as no charge. my dealer told me he'd throw it in for free...if they had any laying around....so i ended up getting a free trunk mat, first aid kit and wheel locks.

ucla bruin

iTrader: (7)

I did something similar when I purchased mine as well. Thanks for sharing. It would be pretty helpful for new buyers.
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Beer Magazine

Sounds good, although I want to say $700 under isn't that great of a deal. Did you check edmunds.com they have an incentive list for all cars and include dealer cash you might not see in other listings.

Also when you negotiate your trade...you can say "I want this" ...they LOW BALL all people to start. Just like most dealers highball cars prices.

But in the end. If you are happy that's all that matters,

EDIT, just checked edmunds and realistically it says right now most are paying $300 over invoice, but with the $1,000 incentive it looks like your $700 under is right on the mark.

I guess if you really wanted a better deal you waited until the new MY comes out. My 09 vert was near $7,000 off sticker.

CougarRed

I was going off memory. Here's the recipe:

My Journey options
Premium
Nav
Wood
Kick Plates
Splash Guards
Cargo Net
First Aid Kit
Trunk Mat

CarsDirect says my target is $36.4K. I paid slightly less than that and got a tint job included. TrueCar says dealer invoice (before tint) is $37,209. If tint is worth ~$150, then I guess my deal was ~$1000 below invoice.

majin ssj eric

Sounds like a killer deal to me. I used VPP when I got mine so I didn't have to do any negotiating....

xixonmn

No more. They want $195 for the trunk mat, net and first aid kit.

disarm

i used Zag.com to get a great deal on my new G37 coupe a couple weeks ago...got everything i wanted (plus a few extras) for the Zag price with no hassle. i started with Zag, but their dealer was about 90 mins away and i preferred to give my business to the local guys who had shown me the car originally. i showed my local salesman the Zag quote and told him the other guys had already agreed to the sale. he took it to his sales manager and returned a few minutes later agreeing to match the price...and even though they didn't have exactly the car i wanted, they said they would have it on their lot within a week. we shook hands and made the deal.

the end result? i got my graphite shadow/graphite 2010 G37x coupe with Premium, Nav, splash guards, first aid kit, and wheel locks for the Zag price of $40,075 (the first aid kit and wheel locks were unexpected extras). according to Zag and TrueCar, that's $1225 below invoice and almost $5k below the sticker price. match that up with a great trade-in offer on my '05 Acura RSX and 1.9% financing, and i feel like i got a pretty great deal. after my experience with Zag.com, i don't know if i'll bother with buying a car any other way again.

CougarRed

Interesting. I checked Zag out, and it reminded me that USAA has a car buying service. I'm a member of USAA and totally forgot to consult them! Doh!

Good news is that I ran the numbers at USAA, and it would have cost me $36,509 to buy my car through them. I bettered that by a couple hundred dollars and got a tint job to boot.

What's insane is that using USAA, you'd have to pay $42.5K for a BMW 328i RWD AT sedan similarly equipped to a G37 with premium + navigation. LMAO. Suckers . . .