I live in Northern California, specifically Fairfield which is right in between San Francisco and Sacramento. It's pretty expensive where I live with new houses starting off at 370K for 3 bed/2 bath, gas is 2.39 for premium. At the automall in Fairfield I have seen price markups at various car dealerships why I have no idea. So I have been at the Infiniti dealer probably 4 to 5 times a month just to look at the new coupes. Well yesterday I went and I noticed they started putting 20" chrome rims on the FX's, and G coupes and sedans. Looking at the sticker they were pricing the rims an extra 3,995 for the coupe and 2,995 for the sedan. They said there was a demand to have premium wheels added so they went to a local wheel dealer to customize the car with the 20 " rims. Then I saw an extra sticker on all the vehicles that I hadn't seen in the past year. It was a price markup for this area. Guess how much....another 3 grand just because they are selling cars in this area. So a loaded G coupe with the 20" rims was 43 grand before tax and license.

The dealer talked to me and he was cool and he pretty much told me that the coupes were only 5% of the total factory output and they were rare in California. So he said pretty much sticker price was what they were selling the cars for not much room for negotiation. He said if I lived in Kansas then maybe they could knock down the price but the demand here is too high. He also said the 2005 wouldn't be here until December; they make all the cars in Japan and they wouldn't start shipping them over until October.

Neway there is no way I'm paying a price markup of 3 grand that's just crazy...........

 

Your dealer's nuts. 5% of output? The coupe has been selling at 33% of Infiniti automoble business since the beginning of 2003. If you add in the truck sales - Total Infiniti production - that number runs between 23% and 24%. The coupe is a large part of their business, and anyone who says otherwise is crazy.

Lou

 

Dealers selling at $3 K markups is ridiculous. Even if it means driving a few hrs to get to another dealer, no way would I buy from the dealer marking it up $3 K.

 

It costs even more to live in the Bay Area but I got my coupe there below sticker price, although it wasn't much, only $1500 but it's better than nothing. I called Fairfield dealer when I was shopping for my coupe, but didn't bother to go because the guy I talked to was a bit pushy and only offer $500 off after talking for an hour, what a waste of time.

 

I saw a black coupe at Metro Infinity (in socal) for $48,000 lol. It had about $5K worth of Stillen upgrades (exhaust, big brakes, 20's, Eibachs, Air box) nd they marked it up over 10 grand! The sales guy didn't know $hit about what was on the car. Hell, they listed Eibach springs as $895. I started rattling off the REAL prices for what they put on the car and I asked him how the hell they got their $10,000 markup figure. The guy didn't really know what to say. I told him he would NEVER sell that car for $48,000, especially with the 2005's coming.


My 350GT

 

Houses start at 370K? - sounds good to me.... Starting much higher on Long Island these days.

Tell the dealer to stuff it - try Grubbs - they will ship anywhere.


<font color=green>04 G35C DG AT
Prem Aero Perf RSG CC
2004 Pathfinder for the family
</font color=green>

 

That's hard for me to believe that the median house is selling for much more in Long Island. Every article I've read on the median price for housing shows California domiating prices. I'm not sure if you've ever heard of Fairfield but it's not a metropolitan city. It's in the country with a population of about 100K. Neway this article from Forbes shows Fairfield #4 behind 3 other California cities with a 5 year growth over 72%. It showed Nassau being at 21 with just over 63% growth for 5 years.

http://www.forbes.com/home/2002/05/1...housing_3.html

Going to see the demo houses in this area the developers are using tactics that the initial offerings are going for a certain amount BUT they try to scare you into buying then because in 2 or 3 weeks they say they will offering the same house for 20K more. And they say they are selling out within days. People that I work with aren't buying houses to live longterm in but as a profit making move by selling in 2 or 3 years.


But I won't buy from Fairfield I will go to Sacramento, Concord or go through AAA..............

 

I live in Suffolk County. It doesnt matter what Forbes says - you cannot touch a new house in Suffolk County-NY for under 500K - and an average resale for less than 380K - anything less is a "handyman special" - I dont know how the property taxes work there - But I pay 6700 for a 1/4 acre and an average size ranch.


<font color=green>04 G35C DG AT
Prem Aero Perf RSG CC
2004 Pathfinder for the family
</font color=green>

 

People in the bay area complain about housing prices, but really I think they are just proud they live there. Some members of my family own some prime real estate in SF and St Helena. They complain, but it sounds more like bragging to me

Anyway, that is crazy markup. Several dealers could deliver a car to you on a single car flatbed for <$500. At those prices, you'd save by flying down to one of the bigger dealers and pick out a car. That local dealer would still do the warranty work. His loss..

 

Well I think that is the difference is you aren't getting any land space when you buy a house out here. The spacing between houses is minimal. Probably 10 to 15 ft on the sides and your back yard if you even get one is maybe 50 square ft. Compared to a 1/4 acre and basing that on a commercial acre which is 36,000 square ft (or a normal acre which is 43,560 square ft) you're getting more for your money...........

 

Slightly OT, but when I was car shopping a month ago, the WRX STi had a $9999 markup.....it's a $31k car, which makes the markup 1/3 of the price! Of course, he wouldn't let me test drive it.

Why is the STi badge pink? That is so g@y

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Gonna order a 2005 DG 6MT Coupe soon!

 

When the Evo 8 first came out, a dealer in Renton, Washington marked it up 50%. I kid you not.

 

Yea but those markups were when the STi and Evo first came out. This 3K markups is on a car that's been out almost 2 years now which makes it ridiculous. I would never pay msrp for a car and even less a markup.