Folks,

Finally I'm gettin ready to buy my G. Wondering if people can give me some tips and comments on how to deal with Infiniti.

-I had a coupe on order from Jim Coleman for the following:
-TB 6MT Graphite /w moonroof
-NO PREMIUM

They told me 30-120 days back in December when I put in a deposit for the car for $32,950 including destination. After a couple of months and lack of responsiveness from Jim Coleman (Read about their horrible rep from another thread.) I am having serious doubts on their ability to deliver. I talked to a guy at Rosenthal and they told me that dealerships have no ability to special factory order the Gs from Japan. Instead they just get what they get from the port in NJ and he said that 6MT without premium is rare to nonexistent and said Jim Coleman will not deliver. Of course he tried to sell me a TB Willow 6MT on the lot which I refused since I hate the Willow interior. Now I'm looking for the following:

-TB 6MT Coupe Graphite /w Premium

Didn't find it in any of the area dealership inventories, but I'm looking at $33,500 as a fair price for the car (/w destination). What do you guys think? Any recommendations on which dealerships will be willing to work with me? Can anyone confirm on what Rosenthal is saying?

Thanks,

Shibal_Z

P.S. Hopefully I'll be able to make the next meet if I'm successful in getting my G.

 

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't special order...OH NO...my dealer in NJ told me...back in November that he could in fact special order my G from Japan...and it should be in around March...boo hoo...cry, cry...I am praying that my car was ordered...
Thanks for the info...as for your car if you are willing to travel, then do a search on different zip codes for dealer inventory...here are a few to get you started:
DC - 20020
MD - 21201
VA - 24517
I am going to call my dealer now...

______________________________________________
Okay just got off the phone with Infiniti...and YES the dealer can place an order from where ever the vehicles are manufactured...whooh.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small"><EM>Edited by kfloydlezak on 02/04/04 12:40 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

BS.

Of course they can special order from Japan. They just don't like to because of the time involved - I ordered mine in August, order was put in September for an October build. I picked my car up on Jan 19th. That's 4 months. A lot can happen in 4 months, making the deal go south for the dealer.

In my case, I went through 3 salesmen (original guy, another, and yet another who delivered the car) and 1 manager. If, in those 4 months, I could have backed out at any time and got my deposit back. But I didn't and it was worth it.

The dealer tried to search incoming inventory and do a swap to get me in the car in October, but nobody had this car coming in. So it was order and wait.

But, they can and do special orders from the Factory in Japan. If you are willing to travel to NJ, PM me and I'll give you the contact info for the dealer who I bought my car from.

 

Hmm... Sounds like the guy from Rosenthal was giving me a bunch of hot air so he can unload a coupe from the lot. I hate these slimy bastards! Nevertheless I did make a decision to go with the premium versus the non-premium so hopefully I'll be able to get a car quicker.

Shibal

 

Check with Passport. Maybe they are willing to order one for you. In my case, they were more willing to look for the car I wanted than Rosenthal was. All Rosenthal wanted to do was sell me whatever they had on their lot at the time. Dealing with them is a waste of time.

'04 G35 Coupe DG/G/5AT/Leather/Premium. Now if I can just stop staring at the darn thing and get on with my life!

 

Speak to Gearge at Rosenthal, I had a great experience with him.

2003.5 G35C BL/GR, NAV, PREM, AERO, TINT, SPORT, Splash, V1

 

I had the same problem. I had a specific color and options in mind and got in touch with Jim Coleman, Passport, JBA and Nationwide (didnt check with Rosenthal, heard some shadey stuff about them).

They checked their inventories of what was coming in and gave me a timeframe. JBA had one coming in the fastest so I dropped a deposit with them.

One thing that I can recommend if you do this, ask for a print out of the order with a delivery date on it. That way can make sure they arent BS'ing. If they say its coming in and cant back it up with a document (they can fax it to you) then either tell them No thank you or ask for the fleet manager.

Fleet Managers can usually get you the doc.

Now, JBA told me week of Feb 6th and thats what the paper said. Tommorow is the 6th and it hasnt come in yet, but Im still keeping my fingers crossed. Ill post a follow-up on when it actually arrives.

Best thing to do is e-mail all the dealerships Ive listed (even Rosenthal if you like), tell them what youre looking for and have them reply back with when they might have one in.

As for negotiating price, good luck on a special order. I havent had much luck except for getting the Destination charges waived.

Hope this helps. Personally I cant wait till the car gets in so I can stop dealing with the whole buying process. Its a major PITA.

-Pathis

 

Thanks for the tips and comments... So far here is what I've done...

-Emailed Ahmed at Passport. It's been over two days and no response yet.
-I also emailed Mr. Conolly the internet sales manager at Passport over a week ago with no response.
-I don't think I will bother with Rosenthal cuz they are full of BS.
-I will have to follow up with Jim Coleman again because they have been very unresponsive. I'm considering cancelling my order with them because of this.
-I have a friend who is checking dealerships elsewhere: (PA, DE, NJ, NY) area for deals. I told him about Grubbs and I think he will be contacting them as well.

Even with this bad weather it sounds like Infiniti is not hungry enough to make a sale on their coupes since most of them front and tell people that they don't go below MSRP which is BS as I have found out. Pit a few against each other and let them know that you are a serious buyer and some will start getting a bit more reasonable. If a specific sales person rubs you the wrong way, just ask to work with another sales person. Unfortunately, if the sales manager is a dick or having a bad day it's probably better to look at another dealership.

Wish me LUCK!

 

Last August I spoke to all of the dealerships in the Wash. DC/Baltimore area about ordering a G35x; they either would give me a price (over invoice) or said MSRP. One actually said they would wait to see "what the market would bear" and most wouldn't allow me to specify exactly what I wanted (color/equip.). I wound up emailing every dealer within a 150 miles and never heard back from most of them. Bennett Infiniti in Allentown, PA, called me the first week in September to say they were putting in their orders and was I still interested. I told him what I wanted and asked for the price over invoice. He came back with $1000 over invoice and I ordered the car; sent a $500 deposit. The saleman, Mike Glaessgen, got back to me with the order number and was very good about tracking the car, as it went through the Infiniti system (e.g., it shows up on the list of ETAs, but there's no vin#; TSBs and weather slowed the port to a crawl). Got called as soon as the car arrived and I drove up to pick it up. All of the paperwork was done and ready, so that I could start back home. The 300 mile round trip not only saved me $2000, but had me dealing with a terrific dealer and salesman.

 

I'd reccomend Ray Catena in Edison (my salesguy was Chris). They got me a great deal on a sedan and were very low pressure (back in September when I ordered). My only real complaint was employee turnover (Chris was my 3rd salesguy), but if you can deal with that, their prices were quite good. The customer service was by far the best - much better than the crap I had to endure at Coleman.

I'm not sure what they are doing on coupes, but it may be worth the call.

 

I'm a little suprised by the lack of responsiveness by the local dealers. You would think that car salesmen, who make their livings on commissions, would answer an e-mail to make a sale! [img]/w3timages/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

'04 G35 Coupe DG/G/5AT/Leather/Premium. Now if I can just stop staring at the darn thing and get on with my life!

 

When I was shopping, that's what I found too. Many just ignored them or said "come on in and we'll talk". That's great and all, but I wasn't driving 1-3 hours only to find they were doing 6MT sedans @ MSRP.

Even when I FAX'ed all the dealers within 150 miles of me, I only got 3 responses to it. Which was odd, considering I specifically told them that I was sending it to others. You would have thought that they would jump on it to be first and give a very good quote. After all, for the most part, an order is what a dealer wants - almost guaranteed sale, little time in inventory, etc.

Oh well, I have the car and am happy with the treatment I received from my dealer. It was a rocky road with all the salesmen, but I got the price I wanted and the car I wanted. And, in the end that's all that matters.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small"><EM>Edited by mbryda on 02/06/04 08:40 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

I feel your pain man. I had a bad experience with a rep at jim coleman myself. I told them that i wanted a 6MT with the aero kit and premium packages. The stupid *** rep would call me every couple of weeks sayin "man, i have your car.." and would then give me a list of specs that i had never asked for. I finally talked to his manager and removed my name from their list and told them to never contact me again.

I went through Passport Infiniti and had a good experience. It turned out the car that I wanted to order was going to be in within a month so i put money down and waited for the car to get there. I ended up getting my car in september. My rep's name was Paul.

 

call me up. i work at jba infiniti.
thanks
ron

 

Just a follow up on my earlier Post. My G finally came in last night. Took about a month or so but alot better than the 4-5 months that other dealers told me. Damion Krauss was my salesman, pretty cool guy.

Overall my experience with JBA was a pretty good one. Im still pretty giddy over finally getting the car. Its a 100 times more than I thought it would be (and my expectations were pretty high)

-Pathis