O.k., let's try this again (my first post never showed up).

Last night, I bought a 2003.5 Black w/ Wheat leather G35 Sedan.

The new hotness comes with premium pkg and nav.

What broke my heart is that as I was doing a run through of the vehicle, I noticed that the blinkers inside the cabin did not light up. When I got home, I noticed I could not program the homelink or change the analog clock.

I took the vehicle back to the dealer this morning (less than 12 hours after I left) and left my baby there. They gave me a loaner.

About 2 hours later, they called me and told me that someone forgot to pull out the shipping fuse and replace it with the real one.

After work, I picked up my ride again. Phew!

One question - In financing, they tried to sell me the extended warranty - extended protection plan I think - the MSRP was $1995 for 7 yr/ 100,000 mi. The guy told me he would sell it for around $1600 - he said that was $100 over his cost.

Does that sound right? and are you all buying such things?

I have a dealer negotiating horror story too, if anyone cares to listen.

Oh, one last thing - got it for $200 over invoice (but they also tacked on some B.S. $400 market advertising fee).

Ah well - all's well that ends well.

Cheers!
Rich

2003 G35 Sedan Black

Congrats, Rick! Enjoy your new hottness... I've got almost the same setup, you'll love it.

As for the warranty-- I'm not huge on buying one out the door... I got one on my older SHO when it hit 5 years, and did it at an outside dealership for about $1k total. I can tell you easily that it was worth it, as I've since had about $7k of work done on it, so... all warranties are just a gamble. Wanna gamble? [img]/w3timages/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Tell us your horror story... we thrive off of that stuff.
Enjoy!

G

2003.5 Black w/ Willow
Premium / Sport / Aero / Winter / Navi / Tint
Indianapolis, IN

Congratulations and welcome to the club! I know how excited you must be feeling because I too just got my G35 two weeks ago.

$200 over invoice is a pretty good deal, though I definitely think you got taken for a ride with that $400 marketing or advertising fee. That's generally a bogus dealer markup that you should not have to pay. As for the extended warranty, when my sales rep tried to sell it to me, my reply to him was: "why, is this automobile made of such shoddy craftsmanship that it requires extended warranty?" In general, I've had really good experience with Infiniti when it comes to reliability for the past 10 years, so I really don't feel that extended warranty is necessary. Though that's just my personal opinion.

Again, congrats and enjoy your ride.

2003.5 G35s 6MT Brilliant Silver/Graphite/Premium

"Tell us your horror story... we thrive off of that stuff."

O.k. - here goes - I'm at the dealer, we've already left once and this is the come back day. We've negotiated $200 over invoice for the new car.

The only thing to talk about is the trade in. I'm trading in a 98 Jeep Grand Cherokee in pretty good condition with about 77,000 miles on it. KBB and Edmunds tell me I should get anywhere from 8900 to 9900 for the car as a trade in.

The dealer low ***** me at $6,500 (he hasn't seen it yet). I laugh and leave the dealership. I wash the car and bring it to the dealer the next day. (That's the day I left). The dealer after looking at the car for about 45 mins tells me that the most he can offer me is $8,300. The sales woman then shows me a KBB web print out that shows my car's value between $6,700 (for fair) and $8,300 (for good).

I tell the dealer - hmmm. That's odd, can I see those pages. I then whip out my KBB web page that I did 30 mins before going to the dealer. I show her that mine says $9,700 or so for "good."

I then start comparing the pages and the bastards have typed in the KBB value for Florida! I'm in Southern California. I point out the discrepancy and tell them to re-run it.

15 mins. later, the sales woman comes back and says - o.k., the internet says your figures, but we can't offer you that. They say - pay $400 over invoice for the car and they'll give $8,500 for the trade.

I tell them, look, it's been a long day and I could trade the car if I want, but it's easier for me to give it to you - I will pay $200 over invoice (as per our agreement the day before) and take $8,750 for the trade.

After all's said and done - I pay $200 over invoice (with their mysterious $400 ad fee) and take $8,600 for my trade.

I figure the dealer makes $500-600 (w/o holdbacks) on the new car and about $400 on the trade.

While I don't feel I got the deal of the century, I feel I got a decent deal on the whole thing - considering that edmunds is telling me that the TMV for my area for a new G35 is $1,100 below MSRP.

I know I could have made about a grand more on my trade in if I sold it myself, but not having to list it, show it and then sell it, made a difference to me. My time is a little more important with a 9 mo. old in the house. That and the 9 mo. old was spilling coffee all over the dealership hastened my decisionmaking a bit.

Ah well, the new sweetness is sitting in my garage.

A *clean* black car is a beautiful thing.

So, I'm leaning towards the warranty, but am open to ideas on how much is their true invoice and where I can get it.

On my wife's Toyota, I had a huge fight with the dealer and they eventually took me back into the secret back trailer (I kid you not) and they showed me the secret invoice book for warranties. They tried to sell me a 7 yr./100,000 mi extended warranty for over $2K. They claimed that was their cost. The secret book showed that their cost was $975.00. That's what I paid.

I figure the infiniti one should be about the same, no? Although they do refund it if you don't use it, it is less of a warranty than the Toyo one which started after 3 yr/36,000 mi.

Thoughts?


2003 G35 Sedan Black

Nissan builds a great vehicle. My Altima had 153,000 miles
on it when it was totaled. Forget the extended. it's a waste
of money you could put towards modifications. My 1988 Honda
was traded for our 2000 Maxima with 173,000 miles on it. I
bought the extended for the Honda, used it once. Never paid
for itself. These *** cars run forever if taken care of.

2003 Twilight Blue Sedan 5AT, sunroof, leather,
splashguards, GG red 7 wire Hypergrounding kit, 350Z intake duct(soon), K&N filter.

I agree with cato on the warranty... Nissan builds excellent cars and in all likelihood you will not have any major repairs in the first 100K. My 96 Altima required a distributor at 110K, and an AC compressor at 160K (that's when I got my G), no other repairs. But if peace of mind is that important to you, check All State (or State Farm, I get them mixed up) for an extended warranty. It will be more comprehensive (covers more) that what the dealer offers, with more benefits like meals and lodging, at a lower price. We sold one of the best warranties in the industry at mu last job, and the only company that came close was All State (or State Farm). Whenever we financed a car loan from a dealer, we always sold the customer our warranty and sent them back to cancel the dealer-offered extended warranty.

BTW, you got an excellent price for both your trade and new car. Could you have done better? Maybe, but it probably would have taken more hassle than it was worth.

Congrats on your purchase and welcome to the board!

<font color=red>chinee</font color=red>
2003.5 G35s

the dealer advertising fee (400) that you mentioned is a realistic fee, but, that is what dealer holdback is supposed to compensate for.

I don't have a G35 (I got an Acura 3.2TL-S when I couldn't work out a deal with the Infiniti dealer), but I would like to comment on the extended warranty situation. When I bought the TL-S, they offered me the extended warranty at $1499. I told them I wasn't interested at that price. I really had no intention of purchasing the extended warranty, but I wanted to see how low they would go on it (out of curiosity). We negotiated for about 15 minutes on it and it ended up at $895. I still rejected it. The guy seemed a bit miffed, but I didn't really care because I haven't met one of those financing guys yet who isn't a total a-hole.

The point is that there is HUGE room to negotiate with those extended warranties. Under no circumstances should you agree to the original price, as it is PURE PROFIT for the dealer. The true "cost" of these things are practically nothing. In any case, there are also plenty of "gotcha's" that you have to worry about with them too. You still have to worry to some extent about what is covered and how much you'll have to pay for a rental car and other bull like that. Who the heck wants to read the fine print on those contracts? I know I don't have the patience for that before I shell out $1000 for it. I just bought a new car, and I want to drive it! I don't want to spend 3 hours going through the fine print of a warranty contract!

O.k., here's the latest - they're telling me that the dealer cost on the warranty is $1550. Is that just crap? Also, one thing that I think you all are forgetting about the warranty in your analysis is that they state if you do not use the warranty during the 7 yr/100,000 mi period, they will refund the purchase price to you.

Does it make it worth it then?

2003 G35 Sedan Black

Refund your money!!!! ROFLMAO
Tell them to Fuc* Off and Die! You will
never get your moneys worth on one
of those dealer ripoffs

2003 Twilight Blue Sedan 5AT, sunroof, leather,
splashguards, GG red 7 wire Hypergrounding kit, 350Z intake duct, K&N filter.

Refund your money on an extended warranty that you don't use? Sounds very fishy!!! Tell them insetead of the warranty, give your the car for $1,500 less. Yeah right!!!!!!

03.5 Sedan - Desert Platinum/Graphite/Sunroof/Molding package

Congrats on the new G!
Just bought mine on 7/28/03, it rocks!
Before I put pen to purchase papers the sales manager sits me down and goes over three (3) differrent plans.
1. Extended warranty. Total rip off in my opinon. Car has 4/60 warranty.
2. Security engraving of VIN on glass and body panels. No thanks, that is why the vehicle is insured! No additional discounts per my agent if you have this done. ($300)
3. Paint and leather sealant. "Protects the vehicle" ($600 for both)

I decided to decline on all of these offers, but you can not blame them for trying. I just chose to say "no thanks"

If you can get your $ back,might be a good idea.

I discovered that my used G35 has the VIN etched on all the
glass. When I told my insurance company (USAA) about this,
They informed me that the window etchings will save me
$0.0 on my premiums! Worth the money to have it done?
NO

2003 Twilight Blue Sedan 5AT, sunroof, leather,
splashguards, GG red 7 wire Hypergrounding kit, 350Z intake duct, K&N filter.