Hi all. This is long but I hope you all would spend a couple of minutes reading this.

I’ve always loved the G35s since the 1st generation. Now that the 2nd generation is out, I love it even more! So I decided the 07 G35 will be my next car. It will also be my first brand new car. I want a fully loaded G with the 6-speed manual. There are 3 dealerships in my area and I chose to go to the one closest to me.

I went in and a salesman came to help me. I told him that I am interested in the G35 and would like to order one if the price is right. He told me that it will be a 3-4 month wait. My response was that I was in no hurry to buy a car today and wouldn’t mind waiting for my new car to arrive. Then he says that I have to put in an order by today or I will have to wait a very long time for my car to come in and I will have to wait until August. I asked him if I would be better off coming back for the 08s to come in since the new model year starts in August/September and his response was, “The 07s just arrived last November and that will mean the 08s will arrive this November”. Whatever

During the test drive, the “salesman” said that Infiniti will raise the prices on the car in March because the car is becoming so popular that they aren’t really making any money on the new G35s. The rise in price will be 7-10%. I really wished he didn’t come along. The whole time I was distracted with his babbling about the very long wait and price increases. He spent more time on that than actually telling me about the car. When he decided to tell me something about the car he would get stuck and I end up having to finish what he was trying to tell me.

We went back inside and he took down more information. I told him I want a fully loaded 6-speed. He writes the names of the packages down and he gets up to talk with his manager. A couple of minutes later the manager comes to talk to me. He starts talking about how very rare the 6-speed manuals are and Infiniti will only allow 1200 to be made for the 2007 model year (can anybody confirm this?). He also added that if I do a special order, I am throwing off their production flow or schedule or something like that

Now the money part comes into play. I will have to put down $1000 to secure my spot to have my order put in. I asked him if the $1000 is refundable and he says, “No”. The reason was that the car will be built specifically for me and if I cancel the car then it will be sitting on their lot. Uhhhh…… if I decide not to get the car then I’m sure somebody else wouldn’t mind picking up a fully loaded G with a 6-speed. Right?

Then I asked him what he can do for me on the price and he says that I will have to put in an order first and then he will work with me. LOL what a load of BS. Who the hell would blindly jump into that crocodile pit? After that he went on and on about the features of the car. I should’ve gotten up and left the damn place but I was nice enough to stay and listen to him yack on and on about the car. Stuff that I know already.

These guys were probably aggravated with the fact that I didn’t pick a car from their lot. When I told them I would be willing to wait, they try to tell to me that my very very rare fully loaded 6-speed G won’t come in until August. On top of that there were no trade-ins involved. The only thing they could squeeze me on was the waiting time. These guys were so pushy, aggressive, and so much crap was spewing from their mouths. Oh well, I have 2 other Infiniti dealerships to check out.

Any tips on what I should or shouldn’t do on my future trips to other dealerships? Hopefully I get my car by June/July so I can have one kickass summer!

 

Find another dealership.

Some of what they said is true, it is a 90-day wait on special orders (at least on the East coast). And they are getting more popular, especially with the Nav. And the $1000 is not refundable, that's true. And the 6MTs being rare to find on a lot is also true, in my dealer's inventory, it was almost exclusively AWD's, I'm not sure there were any Sports w/ 6MT.

But the limit of 1200 6MT's sounds weird. And NEVER put an order in first and then work on the numbers later, once the car is ordered, the dealing is done. And I would be surprised if Infiniti raised the price by 10%, that's $3500 - $4000, a pretty big chunk of change on an incremental model year change.

If there's any way you can take one off the lot, you'll have much more negotiating room. I got mine for $2000 below sticker, plus more on my trade-in than they initially wanted to give me, because I took one off the lot. This while I was told that special orders are going for sticker, no negotiation.

It may be worth it to check the ivnentories of other dealers, even if you have to drive a couple hours to find the one you want on a lot, it's worth $2K to do. Many dealers have there inventory on their web sites now, makes it a lot easier to look around without getting roped in by a salesman.

Good luck, its a GREAT car and certainly worth any frustration in the buying process.

 

It's all a big game. The dealer you were working with sounds screwed up.
I too was going to order my car, I was in no rush. The dealer placed my order and did not require a deposit. They told me they could just put it on the lot for someone else if I didnt want it.
My dealer actively looked for a car with my specs. They routed a car that was on its way to another dealership. I got my car in two weeks after placing the order. It all depends on the dealer. Ask them to actively look for a car with your options. They are out there.. it takes some work and someone who cares.. but it can happen. Good luck!
I dont think the price increase will happen.. it sounds like a cheap sales tactic to me..

 

Maybe try another dealership? Those guys sound like there full of BS. I'm pretty sure the 1200 6MT's is BS. Dunno though. Maybe try looking on Infiniti's website, do the car locater or whatever it's called. Yeah, do a build and price and enter your ZIP. It'll search the area for cars with the options you want.

 

There is so much wrong in that dealership, but it's too late and I'm too tired.

My advice to you: Walk away.

I just read everything and it looks like they are selling you one BS after another. Check your regional forum on this site to poll a few fellow neighbors to hear which dealership they recommend.

Just a few things that are wrong off the bat:

1. Deposits are ALWAYS refundable. If I were to cancel my order tomorrow, I would get my $500 back no questions asked. The dealer will get the car and sell it to the next customer. BTW, when the manger told you that he cannot refund you the money because the car will supposedly sit on their lot, you should have told him in return that it shouldn't be a problem for him, since according to his own words: "Infiniti will only allow 1200 pieces to be made because they are so popular...." - hence he should not have too much hard time selling it.

2. Don't place an order without securing a selling price. Any dealership that will not give you a price in writing, tell them to go to hell.

3. Infiniti, like any other greedy brand, will produce as many 6MT as ordered. I still cannot forget how 4 years ago when I was shopping for the coupe, my salesman told me that Infiniti will only produce some miniscule number of coupes for that year.... 6 months later, there were 10 times as many coupes on the road and counting...

It seems these clowns are focused too much on ripping off their clients and not enough on drawing new customers.

Walk away.

 

Wrong. Deposits should be refundable. That was the case with my 04' coupe, and the same with my new 07' order.

 

1200 They'd lose money on logistics alone!

If they wanted to make that work, they should serialize them, call them special editions, then charge through the nose!

 

Yeah, they would lose alot of money.

 

Guess my dealer was lying to me too, I was told the same thing. Apparently I'm too trusting...

 

Ok, first deposits ARE refundable......don't let ANYONE tell you they aren't. If your Dealership tells you there are not refundable, walk away.....quickly.

I can't confirm whether 1200 6MTs will be made, but like SPEEED said above me if you are willing to order it, they will manufacture it.

Bottom line is that your dealership seems more concentrated on selling a line of BS rather than really catering to your requirements. You stated that you have two other dealerships to visit.......I'd definitely pay them a visit. And I've never known Infiniti to RAISE their prices during a mid-year manufacturing run. IMO, that's just another pathetic salesman tactic to get your business right away.

 

The first dealership I visited (closest) was populated by complete tools. They claimed an impending price increase as well. I walked out, went to another dealership, night and day difference. They told there would be no price increase, and were completely straightforward and professional. I bought the G from them, and had an overall great experience. They were praised in my post purchase survey, while the other dealership was severely reviewed...and named. Infiniti needs to know which of their retailers are deserving of selling their products. Bottom line, keep looking for a good dealership.

 

Thanks to everybody for all the replies so far.

I had a feeling that the manager was BS’ing when he told me that deposits are non-refundable. A couple of years ago a friend of mine ordered a 350Z and cancelled it a month later. He got his refund with no problems.

I just want to clarify why I want my car to be ordered. I have a friend who used to work at a dealership and he would tell me these horror stories. He says that nearly everybody (managers, salespeople, techs, customers) would beat on the cars because their thinking was “It’s not my car”. In the winter time, after a snow storm the cars have to be moved and people would just step into the cars and slam on the gas in order to break free from the snow. Then there are some cars that sit on the lot for a long time that some won’t even start up because the batteries were dead.

The average car buyer probably doesn’t give a rat’s behind about how these cars are treated but this will be my first brand new car and I don’t want these types of abuses to happen to my G or any cars I buy in the future. I don’t want too many hands touching my baby

In a week or two I will try another dealership and see how that goes.

 

I hear ya bro, If I am purchasing a new car, I want it to be a NEW car. That is one of the reasons that I ordered my G and didn't take one off the lot. I'm very fussy and ordering new gives me a piece of mind. For me, if I'm going to buy a brand new car, it's going to be one fresh off the the truck and not one that has been sitting on the lot being test driven by some jack@ss. But that's me.

 

Did you try go to the Infiniti website to 'build' your own G & let them dealers come to you with offers? I can't believe some of the things described in your conversation with the salesman given you have 3 dealerships to choose to do business with.

Where I'm @ there's only one dealer but they still would go with what they called 'market' value which is close to what you get with the Yahoo auto page estimate (zipcode based) but if you can be a bit flexible with model/color/options etc, I'm sure both prices & wait time will come down drastically. When I was shopping for mine, my top priorities were MT, premium package, splash guards & 3 'acceptable' color choices with any additional options being negotiable. Within 15 minutes the salesman found my car on a ship from Japan to WA state, called to swap vehicle with that WA dealership (that's when I was asked for $500 deposit) & re-route the G to TX in ~3 weeks (no additional ship/freight charge).

Good luck. Relax & have fun G shopping.

PF

 

In order of the statements the dealership made:

Order today - BS
Price increase in March - BS
1,200 6MTs - from what I've heard, BS (1,200 for the entire US? There were very small percentages at first, those should be beefing up now)
Non-refundable deposit - most dealerships won't bother to ask for it to be non-refundable
Negotiate later - as you said, ridiculous BS

I talked to nine dealerships while shopping for my G, and was amazed that a couple of them tried stuff like this. One even said "Why should you suffer without the car another night??" Freak

Find dealer number 2 - good luck!