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Are all dealers as screwball as the ones FL?

15K views 58 replies 37 participants last post by  lrod1707 
#1 ·
Thought I’d post this here just to share my Nissan dealer experiences..

TL;DR why are all Florida Nissan dealers apparently dicks lol

Full version:

If anyone’s seen my build thread, you know I totaled my old Honda before buying my Fronty. I waited until I had the insurance check in the bank before shopping around for my truck - so I had cash in hand, intending to pay in full once I found what I wanted.

I started at one local dealer (Jenkins) just to test drive. They had a bunch of Desert Runners, but nothing 4wd. I mentioned to the salesman I was looking for a 4x4, so he knew that from the outset. After the test drive, the guy pressured me inside “because it would earn him points with his boss if I would sit and let him work up some pricing paperwork.” Ok whatever, I wasn’t in a hurry. So what that comes down to is the dude did this whole dog and pony show, writing numbers on the paper starting at 30k “what would it take to get you to drive out of here in that truck tonight”, all the while writing lower and lower numbers lol. He got down to 23k before I said well that’s in the ballpark but I really want to look at a 4wd. Finally excused myself and booked it out of there..

Next day I went to another dealer nearby (Hill), and test drove an SV 4x4 with VTP. This salesman was just a good ol boy, let me take it off road in an orange grove to try out the 4wd and everything. Really would have liked to bought it from him - but asking about the price, they wouldn’t go lower than 31k(!).

Started shopping online, and found several different dealers that had what I was looking for, an SV 4x4 with NO vtp, but with the towing package. Drove up to the nearest one, about an hour away, to look at it. Super nice kid working there, his 3rd week on the job. He was (over)eager, but all around did a good job on what turned out to be a sale.

The truck had been on the lot for 6 month according to cargurus, so I knew that coming in. We went out to see it in the lot, and it wouldn’t start lol. Tried jumping off, no luck. Assumed the battery was bad, so ok that just means I’ve got one more thing to bargain with. We go inside, and the kid tries to run my credit. I told him hey you don’t need all that info, just let me talk to the sales manager on price. So he goes and gets the guy. I asked him, what’s the best price you can do. He vanishes, comes back with a sheet of paper with his “best price” on it. I looked at it and laughed.. and pulled out my printout of their online price that was nearly $1000 less than what he quoted hahahaha. I pointed this out to him, he got all flustered and disappeared again, coming back with another price that was magically like $400 less than the Internet price, $25,300. Ok, have a nice day, and I walk out.

I spent the next day calling 3 other nearby dealers who had what I wanted. The first had 3 of them, and wouldn’t go lower than $29k. The next, same story. The last one (2 hours away) literally told me “well if you’ve really got a dealer willing to take $1000 less than us, then save your gas and go buy it from them.”

So I did :)

I seriously considered driving up to the other guys dealer just to show him, after the save your gas BS. But not for 4 hours round trip haha.

The kicker, turned out that it wasn’t a bad battery-they had lost the original keys for my truck and had to make some new ones. Then, their 3rd party locksmith contractor was supposed to get me the missing key fobs-which took 2 weeks and multiple calls to him AND the dealership after he stopped returning my calls. The dealership finally got them from him and overnighted them to me.

So, again, I have no idea what it is but out of 6 Nissan dealers I tried to buy my truck from, only one (Hill) seemed to have their act together. The rest were super ghetto about everything and either trying to rip me off or blow me off.. then the key thing as icing on the cake. I wish Hill would have come down on price, because I would rather have dealt with them but theirs had the VTP so I guess that factored in to it.

My parents bought 2 Fords in the past year, and the Ford dealers were far more professional and easy to deal with. What’s with the FL Nissan dealers??
 
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#5 ·
I don't think it's just Florida Nissan dealers. Nissan dealers as a whole have a scheister aura about them (IMHO).
That's the thing that was so weird, love the truck but I wouldn't go back to any one of those dealers I visited for anything other than a warranty claim... you can forget letting them do any maintenance after the key fiasco lol. It's like going to one of the "authorized dealer" verizon stores instead of a corporate one, or our local cable contractor (vs the corporate level service guys) who will install you another cable line for $20 under the table lol. Just not very confidence inspiring at all.
 
#3 ·
About the only car dealers now adays that will treat you right on the sale are the Established single owner ones that have made their money on their reputation.


The Big conglomerates dont train the sale people and dont give a rats arse about anything but the bottom line.


I bought Chevys and dodges for years hear in Covington just because of this (good dealers) till the Dodges started acting like Dodges (more time in the shop then on the road) and would have bought another Chevy until GM abandoned its warranty customers on bankruptcy in 2008 (I think)
 
#6 ·
Weird thing is locally I've had bad experience with the honda and nissan guys. Yet both Ford dealers that I went and visited when my dad was shopping for his f150 and my mom a transit van have been totally different. They wound up buying both from Greenway, which is a huge multi-brand dealer complex up near orlando and the experience was great both times. And they have all their service done at the local Jarrett Ford dealer, and they are great to work with (enough that they took the service manager a gift card for christmas one year after going over and above fixing my dads '06 f150 with the frozen spark plug issue at 100k miles). Maybe it's just a foreign car dealer thing, with HondYotaSsan, who knows... :serious:
 
#7 ·
Here in NY, I found a similar trend with car dealers but they all seem hell bent on your monthly budget. And believe me, I understand why and what they're doing.

I had two Nissan dealers tell me, oh we can meet your monthly budget, no problem. 1 of them wanted me to lease a 2018 midnight edition and the other thought I was just going to be ok with double my budget down and payments for 77 months!

As I tell every dealer, I don't care about the monthly number -- that's going to be whatever it is. I want to know the total price.

Having a trade-in is another wrinkle in the mix and just adds to the hilarity.
 
#8 ·
at least none of my dealers tried to push a more expensive option on me, the only one that tried to sell me something different was the one guy with the desert runner. TBH if they still had the rear locker, for the price (23k) I would have seriously considered it. But, I don't really understand the point of a 2wd off road package with no locker.. just for looks? For only 3k more I wanted to go 4wd for sure.
 
#10 · (Edited)
I got my Frontier at Crown Nissan in St Pete and the transaction was super easy. Talked to the sales guy over the phone, explained the situation, explained the truck I wanted, sent him some pictures and info on my trade, they had it up front and detailed for me when I showed up and I traded in my car, signed papers, and was out of there in about 25 minutes total.

That being said, before I did that I went to a dealer in Delray Beach, they had a Frontier listed on their site for either 19,995 or 20,995, I can't recall, the ad had no mention of any applied discounts, incentives, etc. They had the same truck on Autotrader, the same thing, no incentives, no discounts, etc, and priced the same.

I show up, test drive the truck, then the sales guy says "So what do you want to pay for the truck" and I respond "Your full asking price, plus tax tag and title" and he looked at me kind of dumbfounded and responded "well MSRP on that truck is 28xxx dollars, we can't sell it at that price" so I responded "well, no-one buys at MSRP, and if you can't sell it at that price why did you list it at that price?"

He then went on to explain to me that the price was if I met all of the requirements to earn the incentives/discounts, *which were not mentioned in either the autotrader ad or their site*, and the kicker was that the incentives that they stacked together to reach their fictitious sales price were physically impossible to meet. They said that if you were a new Nissan customer you would earn $1000 off the MSRP of the truck, then they said if you were an existing Nissan owner you would get $1000 off the MSRP of the truck, then stacked on a number of other discounts (Military, AARP, some farming thing, etc), but the total discounts/incentives they applied to the MSRP included both the new Nissan and existing Nissan customer discounts, which is physically impossible.

So after attempting to explain away that bullshit and wasting about 45 minutes of my time he asks what I do for a living, I explain to him I sell car parts and operate a retail part website, so he goes "ahh so you know what I mean, the price online isn't what you actually pay its all marketing and gimmicks" and I respond "my companies website moves over 10 million dollars of parts a year, the price you see when you hit check out is the exact price you are billed. Thats how it works." and walked out.

Also, just to keep my rant going, the **** some sales guys spew at the dealerships is outright insane. I got my girlfriend a new Scion iM a few years back, I walked to go look at a Tacoma, I come back and the guy is trying to sell her on an extended warranty (which their dealership already apparently offers lifetime drivetrain warranty if the service is done at the dealer on schedule) and he's telling her **** like if her alternator or starter goes bad it could cost her $2500 or more. I looked at him and asked "What world are you living in that it costs $2500 to replace an alternator. Cost on that part is maybe $250 for OEM, and it MIGHT bill out 2 to 4 labor hours MAYBE, at what, $95 an hour, plus shop fees and tax, so were at $700 on a REALLY bad day, but realistically its probably more like $500" and he just kind of stopped talking.
 
#21 ·
He then went on to explain to me that the price was if I met all of the requirements to earn the incentives/discounts, which were not mentioned in either the autotrader ad or their site, and the kicker was that the incentives that they stacked together to reach their fictitious sales price were physically impossible to meet. They said that if you were a new Nissan customer you would earn $1000 off the MSRP of the truck, then they said if you were an existing Nissan owner you would get $1000 off the MSRP of the truck, then stacked on a number of other discounts (Military, AARP, some farming thing, etc), but the total discounts/incentives they applied to the MSRP included both the new Nissan and existing Nissan customer discounts, which is physically impossible.
I realize this post is from 6 months ago, but I had to respond because I recently learned that this is apparently a thing now, at least in some markets. After talking to my local dealer, I went on Autotrader and somehow had the search distance set to unlimited. I was seeing PRO-4X models listed for the price of a base model, or about $10k off of MSRP.

I knew this was too good to be true, but I was curious so I asked my local salesperson about it, and she explained that this is just is what some dealers do. They stack all the discounts and incentives together, even mutually exclusive ones, to come up with this totally unrealistic number. I guess it's especially prevalent down south, but one of our local Chevy dealers stacks their price with a trade-in bonus AND a lease loyalty bonus. In theory you could get that if you happened to be returning your lease and also had another late model vehicle to trade in as well, but how many people are going to find themselves in that situation? Generally it will be one or the other.

I come back and the guy is trying to sell her on an extended warranty (which their dealership already apparently offers lifetime drivetrain warranty if the service is done at the dealer on schedule) and he's telling her **** like if her alternator or starter goes bad it could cost her $2500 or more. I looked at him and asked "What world are you living in that it costs $2500 to replace an alternator.
I got burned by one of those some years back, after my car had been totaled and I was in the process of buying a replacement. I was still sore from the accident and tired from dealing with the car buying process, so I probably wasn't in the best mindset, and somehow I ended up signing up for an extended warranty on a car that already came with a 100k mile warranty. Thankfully, I realized my error a few days later and was able to get it cancelled and my money refunded, but the whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth. Moral of my story is, don't buy a car when you're injured and sleep deprived.
 
#11 ·
Problem with Dealers in general they don't care anymore like they used to

The Demographic has changed and most of the people buying cars can't really afford them and their credit is the only reason why

When you have a suitable amount of money to buy they don't even hear it they only hear getting a long term deal

I had a Dealer straight tell me putting money down on a Vehicle is useless these days because it only takes $20 off every 1000 you put down so pretty much he said if I put down $5000 I would only get $120.00 less off my monthly payment which is actually good

Anyway after running the numbers credit no money down I got a good deal and ended up in a 2016 PRO4X 18,00miles for 5 years but since I been paying extra I knocked off a year already ::grin::

so I have like 3-1/2 years left to pay already had it a year been thinking should I just make bigger payments and just knock it out in 2 more years
 
#15 ·
…. The Demographic has changed and most of the people buying cars can't really afford them and their credit is the only reason why …
That's so very true. It's the root of why educated and informed shoppers like those of us on this thread get little respect at most Dealers. I think salespeople are used to a quick sale to the crowd of buyers who are bad at math and have credit approval. When people like us enter a Dealership, they fail to realize that a different selling technique is required and they have no idea how to respond.

We've lived in our current home for 30 Years, yet have never bought locally. Because our local Dealers are so useless, we've bought all of our cars out of state.
 
#12 ·
I guess the moral to the story is if you find a "good" dealership that is a pleasure to work with then patronize them. I have been dealing with Lamb Nissan in Prescott, AZ since 2014 and they are wonderful. Sales, service the whole 9 yards. I am told that Coulter Nissan in Surprise, AZ is also very low pressure and good to deal with so it appears that not all are horrible. Good luck.
 
#13 ·
I have been dealing with Lamb Nissan in Prescott, AZ since 2014 and they are wonderful. Sales, service the whole 9 yards.
Thanks for the input ghmph; I spend over half the year near Prescott and have a 1998 Frontier with 236K (purchased at 100K miles) and a 2004 creampuff Frontier with 102K (purchased at 90K miles). I've never been to Lamb Nissan, and never have had a dealer do any service work period. Last fall the 2004 had its AC compressor seize on the way to California, fixed that myself; the 1998 still has original AC system except for a new high pressure line to replace the original which developed a pinhole.

I have purchased some parts from a Scottsdale dealer: a lug wrench and a plastic radiator fan
 
#14 ·
I bought my 2017 SV from Jenkins Nissan in Lakeland FL about a month ago.

Found it on Autotrader. Truck was a “certified” vehicle with 100k mile drive train warranty. Truck had 13k miles on it. Has the value added package, leather interior, running boards, tinted windows, trailer package, mud flaps, and bed extender.

Deal was super easy. Sent photos of my 2012 Frontier Sport with 55k miles up them made the deal over the phone. Bought the truck for $19400 plus tax and tag. They gave me $13400 for my truck. Drove up there and was out in 30 minutes!!

Had researched trade in and private party values on my 2012. Prices ranged from $10-12k. Getting $13400 was great!

I would recommend them to anyone in the area. Treated me great.
 
#17 ·
Jenkins is my closest dealer about 15 mins away, and was where they pulled the whole *come in the office for a price it’ll earn me points with my boss* thing. I was not impressed, plus at the time they didnt have any 4x4 models.
 
#16 ·
Buying with cash these days is no longer the incentive it used to be due to the sales people making big chunks on financing. I'd share your experience with Nissan directly. It really won't change anything, but it might make you feel better and then you can enjoy the truck.
 
#18 ·
I have learned that about cash in my last couple of car purchases. they tried to pressure me to finance mine for a couple hundred dollars savings, it honestly wasnt worth the hassle for me so I passed. Maybe if it had been 1k+ off I would have considered it.
 
#20 ·
No different any where else I have found. Last time I went to the dealer, I had the o ring leaking oil into a spark plug hole on my 2012, it was warranty. I also had them do a 4X4 service while they were at it. Shortly after I noticed oil in the driveway, come to find they left the fill plug loose on the transfer case. That is just the tip of the iceberg of why dealers suck. My 03 was sitting on the lot with a rusted out pipe hangar and they legally could not sell it without "fixing" it. Yeah a hose clamp. And why on earth was it a potential customers (me) job to crawl on their back on the lot to find these things??? Say it together now...cause DEALERS SUCK!
 
#22 ·
Wow....I SELL cars and those are some horrifying stories! A little insight, banks pay us when we use them for financing, some dealerships offer an incentive to do so (mine included) if you're trying to pay cash I will present you with that option and then tell you most of the loans we offer have no pre pay penalty. I just ask that you make 4 monthly payments before so we don't get a penalty from the bank.
Yes, some jackass somewhere thought it was a good idea to stack every rebate and incentive there is to advertise the lowest price possible. Why? Because everyone wants to save money, and if you can get the same thing for less, why not? So to stay competitive, everyone is doing it now (my dealership included) If your sales person has an ounce of morality, and a dash of skill, they'd ask what brought you in and asked if you saw the vehicle online. Then ask if you understand how we got to that pricing. I'd then explain how the rebates are being used and what you may or may not qualify for. Contrary to popular belief, most salespeople you encounter don't make decent money, at least not on a regular basis. Most of the time they sell on average two to three cars a week. Most are on commission and have a flat amount of $100 to $200 depending on brand and dealership. $300 a week isn't much to survive on. But occasionally, if they do the "hard" part of their job correctly, they can make a decent commission. The "hard" part of the job is demonstrating features of the vehicle you may not be familiar with or don't utilize fully. They also fail to meet you where you are in the buying process, and "selling" to you the way you want to be sold to. Yes we focus on your monthly payment most, yes it gives us a chance to maybe make an extra $50 to $100 on the sale, but most importantly (for me anyway) it let's me know if you have realistic expectations. For instance, you really really want that $45,000 vehicle, you have $1,000 down, and marginal credit. I ask you what your budget is, you tell me no more than $400 a month. Unless you have an additional $19,000 on top your $1,000 down, you're not going to see a $400 a month payment. $45,000 ÷ 60= $750 a month for 5 years at 0% interest. That's not including tax tag and fees. Pasco county Fl has 7% tax, tag fees from the dmv run $300 to $500 and then there's dealer fees and any add ons. You're going to be closer to $50,000 by the time it's all said and done. That's $833 a month before interest. Lowest rate I've seen in the past 6 months is 3.50% with a .25% shave for auto pay which makes your interest rate 3.25% up to 72 months. The rate jumps 4.25% at 84 months. If you want a decent idea of what you will be paying, use an auto loan calculator. Don't get too confused by all the boxes to fill in with them, put your total amount into the purchase price then select interest rate and term length and there's your monthly payment ballpark. Going to the right dealership with the right sales staff that actually understands how this works and having a bit of an open mind to at least hear how they're getting that number is probably the #1 thing you can do to eliminate a lot of the stress. Also remember, it's a negotiation. I want to be successful and have nice things too, I will ALWAYS ask for all the money just like you want ALL the savings. It's up to me to help you find the middle ground. Another thing to keep in mind as well, this is still a world where you get what you pay for, and if I'm more skilled and my service is of better quality than the ghetto dealership down the street, expect to pay for that. Whether I made a flat commission, or you paid for my next mod, you have made a deal with me, I don't stop serving you when you drive away. You can come to me 3 months, or 3 years down the road and I will still be there for you. That's what you pay extra for. Sorry for the long winded post, but I feel there are A LOT of bad salespeople out there and they make my job harder in the beginning of our relationship. But if you have any other sales related questions, don't hesitate to ask. My favorite type of guest is one who has done a bunch of research and know what they want.
 
#23 ·
But occasionally, if they do the "hard" part of their job correctly, they can make a decent commission. The "hard" part of the job is demonstrating features of the vehicle you may not be familiar with or don't utilize fully.
That's what I liked about the first salesperson I spoke with. The first thing she showed me was the "secret compartment" aka the upper glove box. Also the storage bins under the seats, and where the jack was located. Even though I already knew about those things from my research, I appreciated that she knew the product well enough to show those things to me instead of just rattling off the specs from the window sticker like the average sales drone.
 
#26 ·
I've been buying new and used cars for a long time (I've owned 60+ cars and trucks in my 68 years). Most Dealers are OK...I can count on one hand the bad ones I've come across. It's all in how you approach the deal and if you keep going back to support them. Gotta admit that buying my Fontier is one of my best experiences here in Florida. Another one was my first DATSUN at Bob Sharp Motor's in Wilton, Conn. in 1977. Harley Davidson Dealers are worse than any Car/Truck Dealers I've met. JMHO.
 
#29 ·
Anybody down here in Florida...Nissan of St. Augustine is giving $5K over on trade-ins for the end of the year, plus discounts on in-stock. I bought my 2019 Frontier CC Midnight there in September. They will deal...Window sticker $32K...Out the door TOTAL $23,500. Yes, Total.
 
#30 ·
Funny you mentioned Jenkins. People I work with down here in south Florida rant about their deals they've gotten there.

We have autonation nissan down here in pembroke pines florida and when I went to ask about a advertised price for a lease for my wife to get her a rogue. They could NOT come up with that advertised deal.... the guy kept coming back to me with off the wall numbers. I then asked WTF is this? This isn't the advertised special. He the manager claimed they "couldn't do that deal. It's impossible." I asked him so why advertise it then other than the old bait and switch routine car dealerships pull.

Needless to say I walked out and ended up doing a deal at another nissan dealership.
 
#31 ·
The only dealership I haven't had to fight with is the Nissan dealership in College Station. I have to bust out the fine print at the dealerships in Houston. Hopefully I'm done with them for forever.
 
#34 · (Edited)
lol,YES...i was a car sales man late 90's through 2008 up in philly area.,,,even sold early KIA's(man what pos's they were) and the crap we did to get people in the door and basically had saturdays where id w/ help of a "mgr" kidnap em for 6/8 hrs...and ironically i only ever once bought my own new car...a 2000 neon,,proly 1 of my fav cars ever,plus at the time chrysler financial were offering 0% for 72 months and a crazy discount if you were a employee
 
#36 ·
4, 5 years ago, I'd completely agree with your statement. Add in uninformed buyers, that $2,$3k you're talking about is true. Not so much anymore, with the internet, it's a race to the bottom and whoever gets there first wins,(sorta). A lot of dealerships do hand out Saturday spiffs. Pull a hat trick, get an extra bonus. All depends on the G.M. how much and when. Back end products pay out a percentage of profit. Usually somewhere between 3% to 5%. And on slower months, yeah, you're lookin at $300 a week, or when "the world is about to end!!!" People tend to stop buying cars. The point that I was trying to send home was, there really isn't a whole lot of margin for profit in there. Especially when you're looking at online pricing. Most of that is already a couple to several thousands below invoice. There goes your holdback, and then some. The days of consistently having 4+ pound deals are gone. Usually you're 2+ pounds front end looser. Used cars is a little different depending on the source of the car. Auction cars, forget it. Buying retired rentals, you could pay full retail and still make a mini. I'm pretty sure I covered getting a charge back with the pay a penalty bit if the loan is settled within the first 4 months. Whether it's a repo, or you pay the loan off. But yes, there are "other" ways a salesperson can make money other than just profit on the car. I in no way meant to insinuate that we're all starving no matter what. If that was the case, you'd be buying your cars from kids in high school and college just looking to make some money on the side.
 
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