I am looking to buy a new '08 Sedan soon and I took a trip to my local dealership (Raleigh, NC) today. After driving both a 6MT and 5AT I prefer the manual. However, there is only one 6MT on their lot and it doesn't have the Nav option that I would want.

The salesperson mentioned that they could likely locate a 6MT with Premium and Nav for me (I'm a bit flexible on paint and interior colors), but:
- It would cost me $800 to have the car shipped to this dealership
- I would have to put $500 down (basically buy the car sight unseen) before they moved the car

I also figured that I won't be able to negotiate quite as good a deal as if I buy one off of their lot. We didn't negotiate price today but I'm hoping to not pay more than invoice.

So my question is whether this $800 is a typical cost to get a car that the dealer doesn't have on the lot and how much "worse" a deal I can expect to get vs. buying off the lot.

Thanks in advance for any replies!

 

No. A dealer traded from another dealer 120 miles away and the dealer didn't charge me any shipping fee at all. I did have to put a $500 deposit as they were incurring an expense to move the car. But, the $500 was applied towards the negotiated purchase price. $800 for shipping alone plus the $500 deposit is ridiculous.

Personally, I'd keep looking. Of course, if you don't have too many Infiniti dealers nearby, you may be better off working a deal w/ your local dealer.

Maybe you can just call all Infiniti dealers within a 200 mile radius to see if anyone has your car, then negotiate a deal via email and pick up your car.

Regardless of what you do, DON'T compromise on options you want. Buyer's remorse sucks on a $35K purchase.

 

I'm my experience dealerships are all ******. Absolutely everything is negotiable....even the stuff they tell you isn't. I just expect that their lying to me all the time. Of course that's a general rule of thumb but I've always found that to be true.

On a slightly separate note, I think if you need to pay a little bit more to get the car you want, you should do that. 500 bucks today is nothing compared to the years of satisfaction you'll get. Buyers remorse sucks.

 

Thanks for the advice. I share that general mistrust of any dealership and I know that it's always good to remember "buyer beware".

I'll take your advice and call some other dealerships. The problem is that the next closest one is 60 miles away and then it's 150+ miles. But certainly I'd be willing to make the drive if they have a suitable car.

I guess there just aren't that many 6MT with Premium and Nav sitting around and obviously the dealers can't order more. What I didn't mention in my original post is that I had an '05 5AT with Premium and Sport. I realized with that car that I missed driving a stick so I don't want to repeat that mistake.

 

Have you guys heard of advertising fees? I had an MB dealer tell me the Edmunds invoice was wrong and that it's 3-400 more for advertising fees! What's up with that?!

 

Just another way to try to squeeze more $ out of you. I would not pay (and never have in the past) any advertising, transportation, etc. fees. Its a cost of doing business for the dealer which they will write off, and there's absolutely no reason for them to pass this on to you. They do, however, attempt it with uninformed consumers, which only adds to their profit.

 

When i went to go buy a car with my GF, they didn't have THE car i was looking for, but found one ~300 miles away, and actually got it for us THE next day free of charge. They just swapped cars with the other dealership...

 

As others said. Don't pay a dime for shipping. They just want to make $$ on you. Tell them you might look around then on the internet and if you find a car you want you deal with the other dealers. See what they will say for that.

tg

 

While I agree that there are certainly the fair share of dealers out there that are complete jerks (no, I'm not a car dealer or saleperson!) - I also know that they do have to make sure that they make a profit on the vehicles they sell and/or services they provide.

If a car dealer will have to spend $200, $300 ro $500 to have a car 'shipped' that you want then that is a true expense. This would have to total into their profit on the car. Think of it as the premium you are paying for the choice of options you want. You can always offer to pay the transportation company directly to avoid any markup. Either way there is a cost to the transport - the only factor is whether you pay it or the dealer pays it.

If the deal they gave you is below what they want to earn from a profit perspective they will charge you to make that up. If that cost is too high for you, you have the right to shop and see if you can get a better deal.

When all is said and done, if you are comfortable with the sale price of the car you can either offer to drive and pick it up yourself or cover the cost. Maybe the dealer would split it with you. Who knows until you ask. Ultimately it is part of the transaction so you just have to decide if it makes the purchase worthwhile or not.

Not flaming anyone here at all - I enjoy the game of buying a car and trying to get the best deal possible. I don't, however, expect the dealer to sell to me at a loss. I've had dealers pass on deals that I've asked them to match and that is their right. Of course they lost the business when I bought at the other dealership but I'm sure they were ok with that.

Just like you should be ok with how you feel about the transaction. If that is the only hold up tell them you would do it if not for the transport cost and see what they say. If not, walk and wait for them to call you back. You might also call around like another poster mentioned. Maybe you can find the car nearby yourself and work the deal.

Either way good luck and keep us posted.

Jay

 

Shipping is legit, as long as the dealer provides proof of the shipping and the actual cost.

If you don't want your car to be driven on the dealer trade, I suggest you have it shipped or flatbedded.

 

This is why I went and got an Infiniti

 

Thanks for the great advice. I would have no problem having to pay actual shipping costs, but the quote of a flat $800 seems high, especially if they could find a car within a few hundred miles away.

Some quick searching at other dealers' web sites shows a few cars configured how I would one one in stock about 200-250 miles away. I think I'll give them a call to see if they actually have the car and maybe drive there to purchase.

 

If you are willing to wait, just have the dealer order one with the exact specifications you want.

 

For some reason I thought that dealers couldn't order any more 08 cars. I thought it was something I read on this forum - I didn't specifically ask the dealer about it.

 

I got the exact car I wanted that was needed to be shipped from another dealership hundreds of miles away and I wasn't charged for it....they ate the costs