Went to purchase Nismo today...buyers beware
 

Hey Guys,

Some of you may or may not recognize me, but I've been lurking on the forum for quite some time now. I've been looking for a 15+ manual silver nismo for about 2 years. I've never needed it as I have a tacoma as a DD which is probably why I've been taking my time and haven't been in a rush. I figured it would be nice to have a sports car as a weekend/garage car, but again it was a want, not a need.

I've always loved the nismos, and Zs in general. There's nothing else like it. You guys/gals are all members, so you know where I'm coming from. This next part is more of a public announcement and a story for whoever wants one.

I've been eyeing this specific nismo for a little over a month:
https://www.prioritynissanchantilly....AZ4EH5HM955383

I went to go check it out today and examined it thoroughly. Interior and exterior is very clean and the recaros have no damage to them. There are a few rock chips here and there, especially on the red lip area (even though the salesman was telling me there wasn't a single rock chip on the car). There are several scratches under the front bumper and the plastic thing under the bumper (I forgot what it's called) is significantly scraped. These things are to be expected from a used car and overall I thought it was in good condition.

What worried me was the carfax. It's a corporate fleet vehicle. Everyone has opinions on this. I believe I made another thread on this matter. Anyways, I decided to take it for a test drive. The car ran well and drove fine. I didn't push it or anything; just a little bit of spirited driving. My brother had an older model nismo, so I already know what it's like. When I parked the car back at the dealership I noticed a burning smell. Possibly the brakes or clutch. I believe it was the clutch, but of course, the salesman was assuring it was just the brakes. I never braked hard though. The car has been sitting in the showroom for a while - perhaps something with that. For those who are thinking I burned the clutch - well maybe, but my DD is manual and I've been driving manual for a while and I'm a smooth criminal, I mean, shifter* (RIP MJ). The salesman himself said I was really good at driving stick. Anyways, I just thought it was weird. The smell eventually went away, but I felt suspicious.

Before any of this began, I want you all to know I had no intention of playing games. When I walked in and linked up with a salesman I was polite and upfront about the specific nismo. Of course he was trying very hard to sell it. I brought up the carfax and my concern that it was a corporate fleet vehicle. He face looked like I insulted him and he started talking about how it was a demo car and that it was never registered to anyone (of course, it has to be registered to someone) and that it has been taken care of meticulously. He even went as far as to say it's better than new since "it goes through a rigorous multi-point inspection." You see....my whole point of being upfront from the beginning was to avoid this crap lol and to make sure they knew I knew what I was interested in. Somehow they still took me for being uneducated. Anyways, he just really wanted to sell the car and continuously kept iterating how the condition of the car was perfect. This is when I test drove the vehicle and I came back to talk #s.

So my plan was to trade the truck in. My wife has a 4Runner (which I absolutely love) and it'll do everything I need in terms of outdoor use. The tacoma has the highest resale value in the country. I have a 16' manual, full-cab, 4x4, TRD Sport with the tow package and some other goodies. It's in great condition and has about 40k miles. I figured I couldn't do an even trade, but at max would have to pay another 4-5k on top of my truck. You guys want to laugh? First off, they wouldn't budge on the price of the nismo. Secondly, they low-balled me on my truck's offer. They wanted my truck plus another 14k. Needless to say the conversation didn't go much longer after that, however, it did get a little nasty. I simply said it's way too far off from where I was expecting. The salesman said, "I knew you weren't a serious buyer." I didn't even want to get into it with him, but his whole attitude changed, but I proceeded to shake his hands and walk out. Some other things were said, but I've already written too much. I went to the manager since I had to get my keys back, and he was telling me how my logic was crazy. I just said have a good day and left.

I don't know...I just feel like Nissan is on a downhill spiral. Apart from their Z pricing being ludicrous and not budging at all (I'm basing this on other experiences as well), their customer service sucks. I know I'm not alone as there are many other members who can speak to this. I almost don't want a Z anymore and may just continue to wait for another Japanese manufacturer to come out with a more modern and fun car. I don't know what Nissan is smoking these days, but there's no way they're doing well in today's market.

Looks like your truck is $27k-$28k trade in unless it is salvage or damaged.

Have you considered buying from a private seller or used car dealer like CarMax?

Very rarely do they budge on the price of a Nismo. Keep looking. It is not Nissans fault you couldn't get the deal you wanted. 2 year old truck with 40k miles is way over mileage. You get 12k a year for a total of 24k for 2 years. Like I said, keep looking.

I walked away from 3 deals at dealerships that wouldn't budge / meet my price before finding one that met me 100%. That was on a sport tech, but still...

Just keep looking, you'll find what you're looking for.

It’s all about timing. It took me about a year to find my ‘09 Z touring/sport/nav/auto. Then after about 3 years, I missed rowing through the gears of a manual, it took me about a week to find my ‘13 Z touring/sport/nav/manual. Keep looking and you will eventually find.

:iagree:

each dealer/salesman is different especially on pricing. it is much easier to deal without trade-in. Just sell the truck yourself and keep looking.

Honestly, can't say that car dealerships are that different brand to brand. Variation is probably more closely tied to the owners of the dealership than the overall brand. You definitely see more "service" in luxury brands, but I found two dealerships to be quite pleasant and two other dealerships to be the opposite.

When I was searching, I was looking for an unmodified car, and one dealership assured me that their car was stock. I test drove the car and it definitely had an aftermarket exhaust. I tell the guy this and he adamantly says it's stock. He gives me a receipt for the parts they replaced, and I asked why they replaced the MAF and he said that the old car ran without them.... Right. I told him that I'd have to go even lower on the price because it was modified and had some damage on carfax and he was like, yeah no way. I told him I had another offer that was good enough for me to buy, just wanted to see if they had something better, he told me to go buy it. I did, lol. He calls back a month later and asks if I'm still interested...

The point is, I don't think you can really fault Nissan for a crappy dealer. Ford has crappy dealers (I had to push a car back because it ran out of gas....). An audi dealer we went to didn't know the difference between an A4, an S4, or an RS4...

As for prices, I think it's just that dealership again. The place I bought my car from had the car for 3 months because nobody wanted it at that high of a price (they had it initially listed for 29k or something w/ 20k on the clock). Really clean car, but nobody wants an overpriced used car. So you just gotta wait them out and/or find dealers that are getting desperate with the cars that just sit there on the lot as it just loses them money.

:wtf2:
Used car salesman was impolite.
Trade-in value was unfair.
Manager wouldn't budge.

You should call Nissan consumer relations to complain. It sounds like Nissan's fault. :shakes head:

Have you thought about selling your car privately? That way you dont have to fight the car price and trade in price.

31K is like the max Private Party value of that truck. I don't know why you expected that much from a trade in to a Nissan dealer. Like others have said if you want the extra money you have to deal with the hassle of selling it yourself. Unless a dealership is very lucky a used car will have to be sold at least twice before it goes to an end user again and that's why trade in values are lower then Private Party.

I find salesman these days are very different than the shady used ones of the past. Yes there's always bad apples but with so much information readily available at the swipe of my phone, there isn't much room for them to "fool" an unsophisticated shopper.

Sounds like you just had a bad salesman or you two just didn't jive. Not trying to defend him, sounds like he really offended you, but Nissan isn't going "downhill" because of that. There's three sides to every story.

I’m sure the dealer gave you a Mannheim number on your trade. From my experience, that’s lower than Black Book trade in. Keep looking.

I definitely noticed while shopping that like 80% of used Zs were fleet vehicles, wonder what's up with that. It was hard to find one that wasn't.

Low sales on an aging platform. They were always available as an upgrade at national rental when I was traveling for work

the salesmen there were pricks when i went there in 2011

test drove 3 Z's there.

bought my Z the next week in Louisiana.

also, checked their ad for that Z you looked at. for 1k more i can get the same thing but with the tech package and only 374 miles on it. :stirthepot:

Check the Carfax if you can on the fleet units. I bet most of them were Nissan corporate units. I would never buy one. That’s me though. I saw one online that had approximately 9000 miles and drivers seat was worn out. Always look for a one owner trade or private party deal. I know...easier said than done. Just my two cents worth.

Calling Nissan....what is this going to accomplish? Absolutely nothing.

To be clear, I was being sarcastic.

I read all the comments and agree with the majority. This isn't my first rodeo, and I know selling the truck privately is the best way to go rather than trading it in and making things more complicated. I just didn't think the experience would be this sour.
I'm not trying to knock Nissan, but it seems like a recurring experience. My brother is looking for another nismo as well....the guy tried to sell him a white tech manual for $52 OTD....my brother literally laughed and walked out. I agree salesmen are a lot better these days, but there are still a lot of sleazeballs out there. I don't understand how anyone can buy from them. They have an attitude of a child who doesn't get what they want lol
Last month when trying to buy our 4Runner I drove an hr out just to get bait and switched. Not only that, the saleslady wreaked of alcohol and actually got mad at me when I said "No" to her because I didn't want their custom lifted 4Runner with about $10k in options. The manager actually told me to leave LOL
I'm not mad or blaming anyone that I didn't get the deal I was looking for. It seems like a theme that these Zs are aging, yet there's an invisible demand for them.
I definitely agree with the comment that says these experiences depend on the dealership, and mainly the owner/management.

Anyways, thanks to all of you for reading. I personally enjoy reading about other peoples' experiences.

PS I test drove the new mustang 5.0 even though I was really against them. I must say it sounded amazing and the driving dynamic was great...I just can't see myself owning a mustang though. The digital dash is cool, but I'm not a fan of the rest of the interior. Plus, everyone has one...

Keep looking on autotrader. I found both of my Nismo's on it. Do not discount buying out of state and shipping it in. Just make sure you get a reputable dealer which can be hard to do.

By the way, the first Nismo I looked at was at where I once worked as a tech. They started playing games and I walked. I was
not happy when I got home. The wife said, see if you can find a used one online. I did, the same day. It was 2 blocks down at the Ford dealership 2012 MB used with 19k miles on it. LOL. I went and looked the next Monday (it was Saturday) and bought it right then.

Every dealership is different. I was judged based on my appearance. When I walked in for a Z no one wanted to help me at first. When they had me talk to the manager he told me "we don't have any." Immediately I replied well get me one!

They didn't think I could buy or was a serious buyer. I ended up getting it without even a test drive (13 miles) because I knew I was getting a Z today. I did get a car from them but honestly if I had to do it again I would have walked out.

Babyzilla - Your experience was the same as mine. I ended up buying from Carmax instead of Nissan (I had gone to 4 dealerships), drastically better experience and price.

I also drove the Mustang GT and was underwhelmed. Like driving a pillow. Ford dealers were great though in comparison to Nissan.

OP what other cars are on your list? The Z is a great car but there's a lot of good stuff in the 40-60k segment right now.

Shopping can be stressful but the feeling of a new car is great. Best of luck to you!!

Weird they did not pay you top dollar for the Tacoma. My dealer where I bought my 18 Camry is paying top NADA for them. They are in high demand and they last few days on the lot.

Keep looking and their loss will be your gain when you find the right one. Sometimes another dealer brand has what you are looking for. I got my newused 2010 370z 3 weeks ago at a Toyota dealer 40 miles away from home.

Ian B

Honestly, (to me) there's really nothing like the nismo. The other Z models just don't cut it unless modded. A simple, yet good looking, sports coupe mated to a 6spd gearbox and a N/A engine with no extra electronic gadgets. That's what I love about the car. I know everyone says it's old, the competition (mustang, camaro, etc.) runs laps around it, and it's heavy! It is old, I don't care about the competition as everyone has one of them, and I'm not a race car driver. I just want a good looking, fun sports car that sounds good, has moderate power, and is affordable. Ideally anything under 40k is worth it to me.

Yeah, they low-balled the crap out of me for my Tacoma. No damage or anything and I just changed the oil and rotated the tires last week. The guy even said my truck was basic...and then he pulled up a similar truck on Cars.com and said, "I rather buy this than yours." It was too comical of a situation to get angry over. Any other time you bring up KBB or Cars.com they immediately shut you down saying it's just a guide and blah blah. In this case, they were using it against me. The whole thing was weird.

Here is a quick search cars.com 200 miles around you.

https://www.cars.com/for-sale/search...31936&zc=20151

Here is a quick search 200 miles from you carmax. com

https://www.carmax.com/search#BT=0&D...ey=4&Zip=20151

Good luck,

Ian B

Whyt does the Nismo get such cheap looking stereo when its their highest priced model??? I know its a racing car but, 90% of the people use it for weekend drive and dd. On the model you saw, I would have gone to BB or somewhere and have that oem deck replaced with anything.

Ian B

The Next Selection
 

I have been shaking my head at what you have been delt with recently, but these cars are a bit scarce except back in 2009-10 production #s were higher.
The only reason I got a good deal on my 09 blue sports 370z was the economy was tanked. Now we have a strong economy but less suppy and demand overall
I have been pursuing a 2017 Grand Sport Corvette the last 2 months and lost out on 3 cars, but I think I finally found one in Texas, but I am going to have to fly down and drive 12+ hours home. It has been very hard to justify this purchase, especially the price, but I am going to do it, my 370z only has 41K on it and they only offered me 15K, its worth 25K to me so I am keeping it. Good Luck

I like the white one for 39K in Va

Come down here to Texas BlueMax. We will show you our great state, food, alcohol and great service. The flight and drive back will be well worth it. Heck who knows you may like it enough to move down here and not worry about winter weather any more. Make your way through Austin for a great experience of eclectic folks, stores and food.

Ian B

I just bought a brand new 2019 sport. This was by far the worst car buying experience I've ever had. After complaining to the dealership several times and doing to same with Nissan Canada, nothing was really done to fix the situation. I still regret taking the car and not cancelling the deal. I will never buy another brand new Nissan. I've never dealt with a brand or dealership that was so incompetent before and who treat their customers so poorly.

Did you not learn from the responses posted to the thread creator?

Logic disappears from brain when people get angry

Why did you buy it anyways if the experience was so bad?

which dealership did you go?

So far my experience with the dealer is very good, 1 350z and one 370z.



to be honest, car dealerships are like this nowadays, I went to a mercedes dealership last year, 15 mins and nobody even come to greet.

went to a Jaguar dealership, took us forever to find a sales person, and what he said was "have you config the car on the website yet?"


what can you expect from them? none.

Because the buyer wanted the car. This is what the dealership/salesman is hoping for. Sometimes it’s hard to be human with our impulse driven decisions. Hopefully the buyer didn’t instantly go underwater on the loan once they drove off the lot.

If the buyer can't remove themselves from this situation then they are partially responsible for what happens as well. I'm not trying to justify bad sales tactics but I don't understand people that feel like they were treated horribly and ripped off, yet still buy the car then later act as they were victim. If it didn't feel right, walk away. Simple as that. No one is forcing you to buy. And you certainly shouldn't put up with being treated like that.

You sure seem emotionally invested in this. Who sold you a car.