Sad but true![img]/w3timages/icons/mad.gif[/img]

<font color=blue>Merlin</font color=blue>

 

ive also had the lexus incident. My dad was looking at the g35c and the lexus is300. He really liked the is300, but he wanted it in full leather w/ the 5spd. He asked the dealership to do a search for one, but they said they wouldnt do it until he put a down payment on the car! How can they expect u to put money on a car u dont even know is there? So we went straight to the infiniti dealer and ordered the g35, =)

 

I have a story like this but it had to do with a bank loan. A friend had a around $500,000 in investments and cash with a bank...anyhow he wanted to buy a new house but didn't want to wait to sell his old one...he decided to get a loan for a month for the period between buying and selling because the interest on the loan would've been less than taking the money from his investments so he went into his bank for a loan. They proceeded to tell him they had to run a full credit check on him even though they KNEW he had that money invested there for over 10 years... He got pissed off, refused and walked away, he went in the next day with a big duffel bag and asked them whether they would loan him the money again....again they stated they had to run a credit check, he then said "I want all my money right now" and told them to put it in his bag. He walked away with almost $500,000 cash in his bag.

Red/Canadian

 

This is just something I got off a M-B board:

Lexus Sales DOWN the toilet! -27%
Funny how our automotive media which loves to crap on us MB owners missed this little tidbit. Those of you ready to jump out the basement window or stick your head in a easy bake oven over the MB's overproduction of your favorite car will love this.

Sales of Lexus cars are down across the board over 27% monthly(as of Feb), and 22% year to date. The SC430 is selling at half the rate it was last year. GS models are both down in high thirties, and the IS300 is selling slower than Barry Manilow CD's at a KMFDM Concert!

I enjoyed it thoroughly given my past experiences with Lexus!

 

The IS300 is in serious need of a power bump. That car would probably be 10x more desireable if they actually had something other than its handling and reliability to sell it on. And teh rest of the Lexus line is throughly uninspiring. Yes, they're comfortable and reliable but none of them would inspire me to go out and buy them over a BMW or Infiniti.

 

I dont know about the rest of you, but when I walked in a BMW dealer over here, they were always courteous. Maybe I dress nicely all the time. When I went to Infiniti, the sales really tried to sell this tester red g35 coupe to me, being in advertising major, i practically toyed with him and made everything sound like I could buy the car off the lot so after running around in the back to see the new arrivals, we went for a test drive and everything. My parents were there also, but like some of you mentioned, sometimes that doesnt work.
Well, i didnt buy from them because they couldnt get me a brilliant silver in 6MT at the time.

During the same week, I went to Nissan to see the 350Z. Again my parents were there. But anyhow, the sales asked are you going to put a deposit and order one if you test and like it. So I said yes, since I wanted to test it. And what do you know after the test I went home, called them the next day and said I need to think about it. hahahahhaa.. But the sales was really nice anyways.

When I searched for the 350z, I called every dealer in Northern Cal asking for stock status, I had some dealers that made it sound like I couldnt afford the car and was just wasting their time. Even though I am not rich, I made the worst salesman call back in the best manner to follow up with everything. I eventually bought my car for MSRP in Santa Clara CA. in Northern Cal. And the sales was superb. He followed my order for 2 months and gave me instant info on everything, he even paid for my all season floor mats out of his own pocket. Which I was impressed.

To deal with uptight sales, you just need to ask the right questions, answer everything in their favor so they will THINK its worth wasting time on you. If they start giving you atittude, just bust out with a phrase like,

"I saw a M3 yesterday, but they didn't have my color."

Those things really throw sales off because they will then think you are a rich picky snob. Well maybe not a snob, but at least very picky. So you are there at their dealers for a reason and they need to satisfy your needs when it comes to what to purchase.


<font color=blue>G35/Skyline 350GT Coupe
Silv - Graph - 6MT - Aero - Prem - Naviless</font color=blue> [img]/w3timages/icons/wink.gif[/img]

 

Right on Noel 48. Thanks for posting that story!