Anyone purchase a G35 on the employee family plan?

My brother in law works for a Ford/Nissan/Infiniti dealership and I am anxiously waiting for information on the cost of a G35x (Brilliant Silver/Graphite, DVD Navi, Premium package) on this family plan. I am just being impatient and wanted to know if anyone else has taken advantage of this and if so, how much did you save?

I will post the price he gives me too, once I get it.

I've been reading LOTS of posts here and want to say "thanks" for this great site! I have learned a great deal.

 

My wife's dad works as Senior Buyer for Nissan North America at their Smyrna, TN plant. We just bought my '05 sedan on Saturday through the VPP program - the VPP price was 3.85% below dealer invoice. I love mine but so far I've only put about 160 miles on it - but hey, it's only been four days!

 

Congrats! Thanks for the info too. I am going to special order to get one with the navigation system. There are several '04 and a couple '05 G's in stock up here but none with the navigation... I am told it will take 60 to 90 days to get a special order, but I will wait!

 

One thing I'm not sure of is if there are different price levels in the VPP program - my father-in-law seems to think so and since he's worked at Nissan for about 24 years (since before the factory here was even finished) and used the program dozens of times for friends as well as family, he ought to know, I guess. I saw on other forums that VPP pricing for some other affiliated company was $500 OVER invoice, whereas I ended up getting the car for about a grand UNDER.

So you might want to check with your brother-in-law directly to see what the price-point is for dealers on this model - he should be able to find out from the dealer's business manager. Remember, dealerships are separate businesses and aren't connected with Nissan corporate except that they buy cars from them.

 

So the dealership are essentially franchises? Does that potentially mean each dealership can pay a slightly different price due to volume or some other deal they worked out with Nissan?

Thanks for the heads up. I will give him a quick call.

 

Yes there are different levels. Your father in-law is probably classed as A level. And others/vendors can be classed as low as D level. This does affect % off and what lease rates one is eligilable for.

 

Interesting...
We are awaiting delivery of our 2005 Ford Freestyle AWD Limited that we ordered on the family plan. According to Edmunds.com, the dealership invoice should be $31,835. The invoice my brother-in-law gave me shows $32,125.65. The difference looks to be something called a "FDAF Assessment" for $280 and a charge for 5 U.S. Gal of gas at $10.65.

Retail for the Freestyle: $34845
Invoice: $32125
X Plan cost: $32107
A/Z/D Plan cost: $30728 (this is our cost)
Savings of $4117 over retail or $1107 under invoice.

Question is.... Are they tacking on $280 + $10 for gas or is that "normal"?
I'm still getting a good deal, I know, but I want to know what I am paying for. (Of course I could just call him...)

So, I hope I will see similar savings on the G35x. We are lucky to be able to use his yearly allotment of 2 vehicles at "family plan" prices for both our cars.

 

I just bought a new G yesterday. I was supposed to get VPP pricing since my father works for a big company in NC that is on the plan. I had talked to the dealer for months and months and everything was good to go and they said I could use the VPP pricing. There are 4 levels. A-D. Apparently A is the best and is like $1000 under invoice or right around there. Then oddly enough he said D was next best. My fathers deal was D. At the last minute when I was ready to sign they asked for the VPP number and then said that IFS just changed it to where you have to be an employee or spouse to use the VPP program and that I couldn't use it unless my father went on as a co-buyer. I said no thanks. I am 31. I was getting ready to walk out and said I wouldn't buy the car unless they offered the same deal as they had promised for the last 3 months. I mean I just drove 4 hrs to get the car because they said it was a done deal. Long before I left I said 'no surprises'. They promised.

Anyway, after a little back and forth they agreed to the exact same deal as before and I left happy. I don't think it was their fault really it was just that IFS just changed their rules. Maybe at year end, I don't know.

The pricing was right around .8% over invoice. So, like $150 over invoice on an 2005. No security deposit on my lease and 1.94 money factor. I really don't know if that is good or not to tell you the truth. 57% residual on a 42 month lease.

 

Yes, dealerships are franchises - they have to meet specific qualifications to maintain their franchise status.

As for the extra costs tacked on for gas, I understand those have to do with the fact that fuel - even diesel - has increased in cost substantially over the last couple of years. For awhile manufacturers have been just increasing the shipping charges five or ten bucks every so often but I think now they're adding on a transportation surcharge.

Invoice price is what a dealer pays the manufacturer for the car/truck. However, there are other things at play, not on that invoice sheet, that the dealer considers when selling you the car at a certain price. Most dealers are rewarded for unit sales by being given a set percentage rebate for each unit sold, the rebate often being determined by the invoice price, not the sales price. The specifics of how this works vary from manufacturer to manufacturere and I don't know how Nissan does it, specifically. They may also get bonuses (quarterly, usually) based on numbers sold, regardless of price. Also, some companies provide advertising compensation or subsidies to dealers on a per-unit basis. Still others require advertising assesments from their dealers to help support national ad campaigns by the manufacturers. All of these details - unknown to most mortals - affects that bottom line dealer cost.

In my case, because of the family connection directly to Nissan, I got mine for a pretty decent discount from the invoice price - i.e., the dealer lost a grand or more the moment I signed the registration documents. However, as a participant in the VPP, Nissan corporate will reimburse that dealer the difference - either in cash or in kind (reducing advertising assesments, franchise fees, whatever, by the amount of the discount). Plus, even though they sold me the car at essentially break-even costs (after reimbursement from Nissan), they'll still get their unit-sales incentive bonuses for selling me that car, plus a very satisfied customer who will refer them further business and will likely buy from them again.

Oh, and if anyone is more curious how this VPP thing works for Nissan mid-management like my father-in-law, with his seniority and job level he gets something like twelve VPP purchases per year. I don't know how much of that is due to seniority and how much is due to his specific job, but it's an interesting data point.

 

I bought my 04.5 6MT sedan using the VPP. In my case though, I was a friend and not a related family member, and hence I was informed that my discount was not going to be as good [told to me by my friend]. My transaction did go through [did it in June 2004], and it was for $250 over invoice, but all added packages at dealer cost.

 

Wow... Thanks for the info / education! This is confusing, yet fascinating in an odd way. It's like learning chemistry with all those formulas... :-)

Oh, and congrats on the G billykrebs!

 

I just bought my 2005 G35 6MT DG/Stone Prem/Nav/XM/Trunk Mat for about ~$300 over invoice because a friend of mine works for Nissan, and gave me a VPP deal. Total was right at $34K before TTL.

My understanding is that there are only 2 levels of VPP pricing - depending on if you are a direct employee, or how you are related to an employee. For more info, go here - it will tell you how to compute VPP for different scenarios:

http://www.insidenissan.com/vpp/nissan/offer.html

 

yes, bought mine on that, at dealer cost. no haggling required. just signed the papers, and that was that.

 

Well... depends on what you mean by "haggling"...

Dealers are not required to take the VPP pricing if they don't want to. The first dealer (that had 5 of the 6MT sedans on the lot) wouldn't take the VPP - I walked. I ended up going through Grubbs - a rather painless experience.

 

Using the family part of the VPP was my plan as well. Unfortunately I was told the same thing by the people on the VPP 800 number about the deal being restricted to the employee and his or her spouse only (my father's a nissan sales associate). Fortunately I qualify for a different tier of the program. My discount is 1.65% off the invoice price since I work for a Nissan partner company.

You can find more info on the VPP offer at http://www.insidenissan.com .


I was planning on purchasing a G Sedan in March, but decided that spending my relocation bonus on a down payment would be irresponsible. That's what Sign-on bonuses are for. I won't be buying until May (after I graduate) currently.

I don't really feel comfortable posting the price I was offered, but it was directly in line with the VPP deal + dealer adds like locking wheel nuts, etc. The pricing was very straight forward.

Now my only other thing is to see if I can find out what the going rate is in the Signature Graduate program... The rate I've been offered is 2.9% for a 48 or 60 month loan (1.9% for 24 or 36 months). I have the feeling that the signature grad rate is probably the same rate, or possibly even higher. Anyone have recent experience with that?

~ Mike