Hi folks. I am getting another G and I wanna make sure I am not forgetting anything. I checked prices on NADA KBB and Edmund's. I ran a Carfax and verified the maintenance records at his Infiniti dealership.

Is there anything else I can do to protect myself?

 

So I'm assuming you are buying used by what you are saying. If that's the case check car fax and see if it says if it was purchased at AUCTION, LEASE RETURN, or Traded-In. It is rare that a dealership gives KBB, or NADA for trade-in anymore. You see these are simply GUIDES, when KBB starts writing the dealership checks that's when they will start using their numbers exactly. They usually go by auction because this is an ACTUAL CASH VALUE.
The reason I'm bringing this up is because in order to negotiate you have to try and find the true price of what they purchased that car for, and you can get really really close sometimes but because there are so many situations and variables it's hard to find out. Anyway

A. AUCTION: If it was at auction. Call Infiniti dealerships in your area or within 100 miles and ask for the General Manager or if he is not available ask for the Used Car Sales Manager and tell them you have a XXXX G35 with XXXX miles (basically tell them everything about the car you are purchasing) BUT tell them you are interested in SELLING them the car and are wanting to know a ball park figure. They will try to get you to come in and say that they have to look at it, etc etc. This is when you say, I completely understand, BUT I live about 1-2 hours away, and I'm just interested on a ball park figure that I will not hold you to it, what is this car worth to you? They will then go on their computer and look up what they go for in auction and will tell you that hey will give you X amount because that's what they are going for at auction. You have now found out what they are going for at the local dealership only auctions. (you may have to call a few dealerships until you get one that is willing to give you the info you need over the phone) but this will be very useful information when negotiating. The price that they get at action will be far lower than retail because the dealership that purchases it has to pay an agent at auction who buys for them, has to ship it to their dealership, and then has to hope that they can negotiate a price with a decent profit on it when they sell it.

B.LEASE: Is it was a LEASE return you can get an estimated residual value on that car for that year when it was purchased online or at any dealership, it's fairly easy to find. Once you have found that info, proceed to negotiating like normal.

C. TRADE-IN: This is where KBB and NADA come in. You see dealerships usually will keep a car that is 3 years or newer. 4 years or older they usually send to auction unless they see potential in making a profit, which they would rather do and not deal with the auction because they lose more money. Anyway they might have told whoever traded it in that they were going to auction it and gave them less because they told him that and kept the car, so with trade-in you are between auction and KBB. Anyway proceed your negotiation after you have figured this out.

That's my advice to protect yourself on the price.

Mechanical.... I always recommend taking it to a trusted mechanic that has NOTHING to do with the dealership but knows these cars or at least is experienced mechanic and have them do a basic inspection/tests. You never know what condition a used vehicle may be in. Dealerships do safety them but they look are very very little amount of things.

Any other questions feel free to ask.

P.S. I never said what to do after you find out the numbers. Add about $1500 on top of whatever number you come up with and usually this is the lowest that they will sell the car if they even will sell it this low. You see that $1500 additional is for auction fees, safety inspections/repair, advertising fees if any, etc.

 

Thanks Fated317. Hey....317, are you local or is that a coincidence?
The guy is a private party and is 4 hours away. Should I have his Infiniti dealer look at the car?

 

3-17 is St. Patrick's day and I'm Irish :-). I'm in Seattle.

If it's private party then yes I'd have him pay all or at least go half on an inspection. Call Infiniti and tell them simply you are buying the car from a Private party and you would like EVERYTHING checked (tires, suspension, fuel system, electrical system, throttle body/exhaust system, tranny, as much as they can).
A good way to make him pay for the "inspection" is say "Hey the car has X miles and it's going to need a 30K, 40K, 50K, 60K, whatever service soon, so in order to seal the deal I would like for you to make an appointment with Infiniti and get this service done. What will work best for you a weekday appointment or weekend?" This way you knock down 2 birds with one stone. You actually get a service done and inspection.

Good luck

 

Steve-O-As coincidence would have it, I just went through the process three weeks ago @ a highly reputable Infiniti dealership which is constantly taking in trades.I had a high degree of confidence choosing my o3 because of this site and new of issues that were model/yr specific such as fuel hose fix,brake pads/rotors,and the stereo circuit board-missed the valve cover issue and had that done 9-15-09=ouch[north of $1k]. I bring up the maintenance records you referenced and that I read prior to my deal-I requested and received many pages from the dealership and was able to check off circuit board[19,500 mi. ago] brakes/rotors[new/each up front,5mm pads remaining on rear] etc. It is human nature to fixate on left-the-lot price w/o doing due diligence but it sounds like you are on top of investigative reporting which-especially if you do a used vehicle inspection-can help you knock down the price because there is 90k on the stock red shocks/struts,rear rotors cannot stand another turning-you get the picture! I picked up my B on B baby this afternoon with my wallet lighter $659.58 for new struts/shocks/4-whl alignment..Add to that the many after-market items many of us insist on such as side-window deflectors,dash mat,new speakers for fr/rr doors,headlight armor,all-weather mats/trunk liner,etc. and it behooves one to factor a great many real and prospective expenses.I was happily shocked that my barely containable new "racehorse" was some $18.00/mo cheaper on insurance than my trade,an 08 Elantra..Good luck and remember that to be forewarned is to be forearmed!