This is a bit off topic, but I thought I'd ask anyway...

I bought my wife an 05 Altima 2.5S back in January (from Rosenthal) and a few days ago, I received a letter from Browns Nissan saying that I was selected to be in their exclusive "Buy Back" program. It stated that they were authorized to offer me "substantially more than market value" for my new Altima, and went on to try to get me to buy another one from them. I've never seen anything like this after buying a car, so I'm wondering if this is some special promotion that others have seen.

I have a few ideas on why though. First, we paid cash for the car, so maybe they are trying again to get us to finance (unlikely since it's a different dealership). Secondly, they are doing everything they can to reach their 'million cars sold' threshold, even if it means buying back a recently sold car and selling it at a possible loss to rack up another sale(?) Finally, simply a tactic by one dealership to gain marketshare on another (would they really risk losing money for that?).

Anybody else seen a letter like this and act on it? I'm tempted to call them up just to see what they are offering...

--Viral

 

happened to me for the EVO...they promised to get me into an '05 without raising my payments. it looked fairly good until i realized the term of the loan was 12 months longer than it was for my '04 and I'd already paid 6 months into the '04 so i'd be losing 18 months of payments... it may be a good deal tho...see if you can get an altima se-r, I thought those looked and performed pretty well for a sedan

 

Not to get too wordy, but I do not believe that a dealership would take a 'hit' to sell another car. This sounds like a gimmick to me.

Additionally, even though I do not monitor field inventories of Nissan/Infiniti, I would guess that their sales are on our track and their inventory levels are at an acceptable level. Meaning, if there is some sort of car/truck/suv sales goal number, they'll hit it without having to buy back yours-their vehicles are SELLING.

When I was a little kid, my grandma used to say a lot of things that still hold true to this day:
Don't p*ss in the wind.
Don't f*ck the help.
Don't buy the cow when the sex is free.
If it sounds too good to be true, it generally is. (I think this is your case.)

To me, it sounds as if this dealership is just trying to sell a car. Now, you never know. But this 'authorization' to buy your car back for a substantially higher amount than market value claim.....who is doing the authorizing? Nissan/Infiniti? Hmmmmm....sounds too good to be true.

Keep your guard up.
Larry

 

Hmm secret recall? Hmmm

 

Had the same letter for my Maxima...It's just a gimmick like Sigma said.

 

Your grandma advocated $ex with a cow?

 

My grandma was from the old country.

 

WordUp - interesting. Why in the world would they target someone who JUST bought a car from them 60 days prior? What did they offer you?

 

It's hard to recall the details of my letter but it's the same gist as yours. But the thing is I got the letter from the same dealer that I purchased the Max from...and the letter came a few years after I bought the car as opposed to your few days.

 

Its a brilliant idea, like half the people I know who buy new cars regret getting them after having them for a couple weeks. Convince them that they can get into a different car and actually make money and you'll sell alot more cars.

This is absolutly just a gimmick though and the dealer will end up making more money off of you somehow. Dealers always have a million and one ways to hide fees.

 

Wow, seems far more common than I would have imagined. How have I never heard of this before? Well, we got a great deal on the Altima (my VPP program brought it several hundred below invoice plus the $1500 cash back they offered at the time meant almost $4000 off MSRP). And my wife loves it, so no worries there. Now that I hear it's just a common gimmick, I'll just throw the letter away. Good info guys...

 

I'm pretty sure the euphemism for not getting married is: "Why buy the cow when the milk is free" ..

But I guess your grandmas version really spells it out for those that can't read in to the meaning of "milk".

- pink

 

they just want to sell more cars.....

 

Gimmick-at best. I get these letters periodically from my Subaru dealer (it is 3 years old). This dealer probably got your name and sent it out too soon-they probably want to wait a year, so don't be surprised when you get the next one. They are not about to entice customers in so they can lose money!

I saw another real scam described in Consumer Reports. They offer a very high trade-in value with only a few deductions- ie. for mileage and damage. The mileage-dollar deduction alone can exceed the price they offer, making it a useless deal (to you).

"Be careful out there" as they used to say on the Hill Street Blues.

 

LOL! I guess that's what happened. I mean, this car is brand new, not a scratch... been washed once, has less than 800 miles on it! It HAS to be a mistake...