Considering Purchase of New Vehicle

[north star]

>

I am considering purchasing a new vehicle. Looking at the Nissan Frontier, S Model. Either a 2025,
2026 or 2027, Crew Cab. I really do not want to go in to any dealership to go thru all of the drama,
sales tactics, lying, data mining and on and on and on.

I have been looking on the various web sites for what I want & what I do not want.

(1) Should I "bite the bullet" and go in to a dealership to have them search for exactly what I want ?
I realize that the dealership will want to try and sell me something off of their lot versus searching
for what I want,

or

(2) Should I try to keep on searching and find what I want and then negotiate from there ? FWIW,
I am very lousy at negotiating.

Q1: When I find what I want ( at a dealership ) should I contact their Internet Sales person to
negotiate from there ?

Q2): When actually is the best time of the month \ year to purchase a vehicle. NOTE: There is so
much information, and IMO, ..."intended distraction & misrepresentation" on the various dealer web
sites, that I find it hard to want to even contact them.


I am respectfully requesting input from all. I will read everything submitted ! Thanks for your input !

<

 

[skyactiv]

Do you have a Costco membership?

 

[RhondaHonda]

Use the Nissan inventory search function on their website to find models in stock that you like within 500 miles or so. Then view the truck on the dealers website and call them to inquire tomorrow.

They may ship it to you no charge. I’ve done this with the last few vehicles.

 

[north star]

>

No CostCo membership.

<

 

[daniel327]

Can you engage a buyer's agent?

Here's an example: https://caredge.com/

 

[Cujet]

Look on autotrader dot com. Configure your search for a 200 mile radius. New only, color, trim etc. Maybe you will find one on sale. Then email them and come to terms. Or not. Each dealer will behave very differently. Some will insist on gobs of fees. Some will provide a really easy to understand and reasonable total. If the dealer can't provide an exact total via email, don't do business with them, as they are ABSOLUTELY going to add in things they 'forgot' about.

Dealers must refund any overages, and will sometimes calculate registration fees based on a full year. When the total comes out $30 less, they will send you a check.

Make 100% sure to bring a check for the exact amount, funded from somewhere other than the dealership. Dealers really won't provide the best financing deals. As they make a lot of money from financing. It has to come from somewhere.

 

[opus1]

The last two vehicles I purchased were done by searching the dealer website and e-mailing for a quote. Both times the quotes I received were pretty good. Actual time spent at the dealership was basically a test drive to make sure I liked the car, and the paperwork involved in the deal.

Of course, the last purchase I made was 16 years ago so things may be different today.

 

[405fwy]

You'll have more leverage if you bring in competing offers that's the same trim/color etc. Dealer may try to close the deal now by undercutting by a couple hundred but i wouldn't expect a substantial amount if the offers are already off MSRP a lot, that is if they want your business. Some dealers which rejected the competing quotes I got so I went on to the next one who wanted my business. You may have a better time at the end of the month/year to get a "good deal", especially if they're trying to meet quota numbers.

I would ignore any dealership that forces you to have add-ons like PPF/Security/Etching, these are profit generators for the dealer and not for you in mind with "protecting your car". A volume dealer might be better at finding a specific trim/color you want, and discount the car more than the smaller "mom and pop" dealerships. A smaller dealership tried to pull the "mom and pop" logic at me and "protect your car" with the forced add-ons, which added up to be 5k OTD more than what I got from the volume dealer.

I bought my MX5 on the last week before New Years and got 8.5% off MSRP a few months ago. Overall I'd say I would shop around for prices/OTD quote, and bring it to a volume dealer who can discount the car more easily than others, and might not necessary do add-ons. The easiest is just do the Costco/Sam's Club car purchasing program to get some quotes, and bring it in to a volume dealer from there.

 

[dishdude]

The last two vehicles I purchased were done by searching the dealer website and e-mailing for a quote. Both times the quotes I received were pretty good. Actual time spent at the dealership was basically a test drive to make sure I liked the car, and the paperwork involved in the deal.

Of course, the last purchase I made was 16 years ago so things may be different today.

This is the way to do it. Once you have decided what make and model you want, work the deal over email/text/phone. If the dealer is difficult over email/text/phone and wants you to come in, they won't be any easier to work with in person.

The last new car I bought the first dealer (closest to me) ghosted me when I asked for pricing. Second closest sent me an itemized quote they had printed out and taken a picture of with their phone, along with a picture of their business card. Set an appointment to sign paperwork, went in and I was in and out in 45 mins. Car was ready for delivery when I got there so it was just a matter of looking it over and signing paperwork.

I've followed this method the last few times I have bought a new car, I swayed from it once and regretted it.

 

[rstsco]

I used Visor when looking for our Pilot. Paid for an annual subscription, since we were also looking for a used car for our daughter. You can easily search for exactly what you want in the area(s) you want it. Only after identifying 5 Pilots in the state of Texas did I start calling an dealers.

 

[sopususer]

I used Visor when looking for our Pilot. Paid for an annual subscription, since we were also looking for a used car for our daughter. You can easily search for exactly what you want in the area(s) you want it. Only after identifying 5 Pilots in the state of Texas did I start calling an dealers.

Visor is new, but it is, in my opinion, way more helpful than any other car shopping search engine. The subscription is well worth it. You can do a short-term subscription for $5 wk/ $15 month. You can configure and search for any vehicle down to the minute options. I've used it for two vehicles. Pitting competing dealers against one another seems to be the best way to buy.

 

[97prizm]

>

I am considering purchasing a new vehicle. Looking at the Nissan Frontier, S Model. Either a 2025,
2026 or 2027, Crew Cab. I really do not want to go in to any dealership to go thru all of the drama,
sales tactics, lying, data mining and on and on and on.

I have been looking on the various web sites for what I want & what I do not want.

(1) Should I "bite the bullet" and go in to a dealership to have them search for exactly what I want ?
I realize that the dealership will want to try and sell me something off of their lot versus searching
for what I want,

or

(2) Should I try to keep on searching and find what I want and then negotiate from there ? FWIW,
I am very lousy at negotiating.

Q1: When I find what I want ( at a dealership ) should I contact their Internet Sales person to
negotiate from there ?

Q2): When actually is the best time of the month \ year to purchase a vehicle. NOTE: There is so
much information, and IMO, ..."intended distraction & misrepresentation" on the various dealer web
sites, that I find it hard to want to even contact them.


I am respectfully requesting input from all. I will read everything submitted ! Thanks for your input !

<

Have you tried Costco? Members get a set discount from my understanding.

 

[SC Maintenance]

What specifically are you looking for in options? Might be Nissan is not making that combination currently?

Whether they want to sell you what is on their lot or not depends. Large dealer chains are often happy to transfer a truck from another dealer within there network. Thats how I got my Frontier in 2011 - I had a specific list of needs. Some may not be.

Nissan's own configurator would be the best way to look. Just keep changing the zip code to search different dealers.

I would not set foot in a dealer anymore without an e-price. However it seems post covid fewer dealers are ready to do things that way so be prepared to keep looking around till you find one that is.

Best time to buy a car is the last couple days of a quarter. If you can't wait - last couple days of the month. Last couple days of the 3rd quarter is usually best, but with higher gas prices I can see trucks being cheaper end of the current quarter - end of June?

 

[xspeedy]

Figure out who the super dealer is for the brand. Usually they are the ones that are known to be upfront about discount pricing and are easiest to work with. For RAM trucks, it is Mark Dodge in Lake Charles. I remember from years ago there was a Subaru dealer in CO. You can discover these by going to the enthusiast forums for the brand. They will be sponsoring dealers that have a special thread. For Nissan, there may be a Z or Nismo forum.

 

[Astro14]

USAA offers a similar service to Costco - fill out the vehicle particulars, hit “enter” - and they contact the dealers in your area.

I used this to start shopping for a 2016 Toyota Avalon for my MIL.

Took about 15 minutes after I hit “enter” to start getting email and phone calls from dealers. All with substantial price reductions off MSRP.

Just be advised that some dealers are straight up, and willing to honor the price, while other dealers, offer one thing via e-mail, and then act with typical slimy tactics. Walk away from the latter.

 

[rstsco]

After finding the five Pilots in Texas meeting our specs, I called each of the dealers. Three were immediately ruled out, One of the remaining two was much easier to work with. Over the next week, we communicated almost exclusively via text messages. Once I got pricing I thought was fair at that time (~9% off msrp), they put all the OTD numbers in writing and sent an email. We drove down (about 100 miles away) to drive the car to make sure it met our needs, then went into finance to sign for the purchase. They didn't pitch anything additional, just had the documents ready to sign. Other than the traffic in San Antonio all the way back through Austin, the purchase was quick and painless. Actually, the traffic allowed variations in engine RPMs, shifting gears, and enough braking to do a proper bedding of the brakes by the time we got home.

 

[97K15004WD]

Sam's Club.

Also as @Astro14 mentioned USAA.

I bought my last two new vehicles using the USAA service. Then bought the manufacturer's extended service contracts (warranties) from the lowest price offered by an online dealership (same manufacturer brand dealership, offered at approximately 300.00 less versus where I bought the vehicles).

Both times I did this style of purchasing, it was painless and I was done in less than 30 minutes (in the door and out the door).

And while some enjoy the back and forth, I've lived long enough to where my time is worth more to me than arguing over a few hundred dollars. I don't want to waste what time I have left

 

[dogememe]

You could use something like Delivrd but I don't think it'll end up cheaper if you are willing to put the effort in. But I think you're probably better off finding the one you want and trying to negotiate with that dealership vs having your local dealership find one for you and dealer trade for it whatever. But that's just my uneducated opinion.