Posted: Jul 30 2004 at 5:14pm | IP Logged

For those that haven't purchased this awesome truck yet...do what I did:

1) Go to NADAguides.com and under "Pricing" click on "New Car Prices" and find the Titan. Then click the options you want in the truck and print out what you have designed.

2) Go to Costco.com and click on "Services" and then "Auto Sales" and then "Contact A Dealer."   You enter your information and Costco sends an email to a dealership in your area.  You should be getting a phone call directly from a dealer fairly quick.  Costco has an agreement with dealers to sell you a vehicle at $100 over dealer invoice through the fleet department.

3) Once you get to the dealer's fleet department and show them the truck you want and they will help you find it. Sometimes the truck is at a different dealership and they just swap inventory.

BEWARE: I was told by the dealership that the truck I wanted with the options I specified didn't exist in Arizona and it was too expensive to ship a truck in from California.  They were really pushing me to get a similar truck and to pay for the unwanted DVD.  I refused.  This dealer finally admitted that the EXACT truck I wanted is at another dealer in AZ but they don't "Trade" with this dealer (Pinnacle Nissan).  I walked out.  I called Pinnacle Nissan's Fleet department and I had my truck in my hands that night at $300 below invoice. Even though Pinnacle isn't a "Costco dealer" they are more than willing to sell you a truck at invoice.  --  Moral of the story: If the dealer doesn't have your exact truck..call other dealerships in your area to make sure..

Did anybody else go through the Fleet dpartment?

Posted: Oct 01 2004 at 2:13am | IP Logged

To get the best deal.

First bring a calculator. If trading in, go to kelly bluebook and pull your price under what you might expect a dealer to pay or wholesale price of your vehicle, print and take sheet with you.

Make car deal first. You should be able to get 12.86% off of the sticker. Buy the truck on the 30th of the month. If the dealership is under quota!!!! You can get another 500 to 1000 off if you bargain hard. Make that offer over and over. If they won't get near that price, ask for the sales or general manager, if you can't agree walk out or go to another dealer. Come back in 30 days!

Dealers need to move Iron, salesmen's quota's have nothing to do with what you can buy a vehicle for. Its called dealer hold back! its another 2 to 3 percent you can get off. Everybody can buy a rig at factory invoice. But few know you can even go lower. Dealer hold back..............Now have them take off the incentives or rebates...

Next your trade-in, if you bargain good the dealer will put the money right back on your trade-in. Keep them right around your blue book price.

This is now the hard part, financing..... pay the 11 bucks and get your credit report online.  Also the longer the loan the higher the rate.

Know your credit score, many websites will tell you your approximate interest rate depending on your score and amount financed. "bankrate.com" Get prequalified from your bank or credit union if you can. Now here is the dealer trick, They will get you financed, hey great, they pull your score, they have a list of banks and interest rates for your score.

Lets say your credit union pops up with 6.9% for your score. You don't see that. Thats about $17 per $1000.00 financed. $30000.00 = Approx. $510.00 per month. well the dealer says your 8% and your payments are $590.00. @72 months you sign. Well the is getting his profit back at $80.00 x 72 = $5760.00 tell them to stick it.

Good luck, learn to walk out, you can come back the dealer would love it.

Here are the terms:

Blue Book -- Formally, it refers to the Kelley Blue Book, an industry guide dealers use to estimate wholesale and retail vehicle pricing. In common parlance, "the blue book price" can actually refer to a price looked up in one of the many guides to pricing. The books now come in a variety of hues, are issued by many organizations, and are commonly available online or in the reference sections of public libraries.

Dealer holdback -- An allowance, usually between 2 percent and 3 percent of manufacturer's suggested retail price, that manufacturers provide to dealers. A holdback allowance may allow the dealer to pay the manufacturer less than the invoice price. A buyer could obtain a car below invoice price and the dealer would still make a profit.

Dealer incentives -- Programs offered by manufacturers to increase the sales of slow-selling models or to reduce excess inventories. Dealers may elect to pass on the savings to the buyer.

Dealer preparation, or dealer prep or preparation charges -- An additional charge that dealers try to impose on buyers. It represents pure profit for the dealers, who have already been paid by the manufacturer for the cost of preparing the car for sale.

Destination charge -- The fee charged for transporting the vehicle to the dealer from the manufacturer or port of entry. This charge is to be passed on to the buyer without any markup.

Extended warranty or Service contract -- A contract that covers certain car repairs or problems after the manufacturer's or dealer's warranty expires. Extended warranties are sold by car manufacturers, dealers and independent companies. With a new car, the extended warranty usually must be purchased by the end of the first year of ownership.

Invoice price -- The manufacturer's initial charge to the dealer. The price may not be the dealer's final cost because dealers receive rebates and other incentives from the manufacturer. The invoice price always includes freight, also known as the destination charge.

Monroney sticker or Dealer sticker price -- The sticker on the car window that shows the base price, the manufacturer's installed options with the manufacturer's suggested retail price, the manufacturer's destination charge, and the car's fuel economy (mileage). This label is required by federal law and it is only removed when the car is sold by the purchaser. Named after A.S. "Mike" Monroney, a longtime Oklahoma congressman who wrote the Automobile Information Disclosure Act.

Prepayment penalty -- A lender's charge to the borrower for paying off the loan before the end of the term.

Rebate -- A manufacturer's reduction on the price of the car as an incentive to buyers. Rebates appeal to people with no credit or less-than-perfect credit who cannot qualify for the lowest-rate loan. A rebate may also appeal to first-time buyers who don't have a lot of cash for a down payment or another car to trade in.

Rule of 78s -- A mathematical formula that was devised in the days before modern calculators. The formula was a quick way for lenders in the 1920s and 1930s to estimate payoff amounts when a customer paid ahead on an installment loan. Some auto lenders still use the "Rule of 78s" formula to calculate a rebate of finance charges when a customer pays off a pre-computed loan early.

For a borrower looking to end an auto loan early, there isn't a worse way a lender could calculate your payoff amount. The Rule of 78s formula packs extra interest charges into the early months of a loan. Using Rule of 78s, a lender typically collects three-quarters of a loan's interest in the first half of a loan term. The Rule of 78s can only be applied to pre-computed loans that are paid ahead of schedule. The formula cannot be applied to simple interest loans.

Title -- A legal document containing specific information about the vehicle. The title is the official proof of ownership and is used to transfer ownership from one person to another.

Trade-in value -- The amount that the dealership will credit you for the vehicle you provide as partial or full payment for another vehicle. Amount credited is frequently about 5 percent below the wholesale value of the vehicle.