Big Box? Nissan Note the First-Ever Car You Can 'Buy' On Amazon 182
cartechboy writes "You knew the day was coming when they started selling diapers. Amazon is now dipping its toe into car sales by selling a single car: the 2014 Nissan Versa Note. Amazon users hit a real live Versa Note product page, but instead of "Add to cart" you provide your ZIP code so Amazon can connect you with a nearby Nissan dealer. The first 100 Versa Note customers whose car purchases are initiated through Amazon receive $1,000 Amazon gift cards. Best part: Customers who end up actually buying the Note *will* receive them via boxed home delivery. Now, that's a big box." (The linked article says that "some" customers will get their Versa boxed; maybe this is only if you specify gift wrapping.)
That's nice and all, but... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:That's nice and all, but... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:That's nice and all, but... (Score:4, Interesting)
Why not download the specs for use in my 3D printer?
Re:That's nice and all, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
Why not download the specs for use in my 3D printer?
Whooosh [knowyourmeme.com].
Though I was thinking the same thing. >_>
Re:That's nice and all, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
Every time I saw that ad, I thought to myself, "Nope, I'd totally download a car. Why wouldn't you?"
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Every time I saw that ad, I thought to myself, "Nope, I'd totally download a car. Why wouldn't you?"
Masochism.
Seriously, it seems evident that whoever came up with that idiotic bumper sticker has never actually bought a car, if they can't understand why anyone would want to avoid the process.
Enthusiast to 3D-print full-scale Aston Martin DB4 (Score:2)
You bet your sweet ass I would [gizmag.com].
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Free shipping? (Score:2)
How many pens do you have to buy to get Free Super Save Delivery?
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No a real Amazon item (Score:2, Informative)
This just links you to buy it at the dealer. Amazon is not the seller just the contact broker. It does not even have an ASIN assigned.
Re:No a real Amazon item (Score:5, Insightful)
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Yes, and the pricing problem from dealers is still there with a note
[1] [...] Dealer sets actual price.
If I go to Amazon and get my orders fulfilled by them is the "this is what it costs". Sometime sellers play you with "this is 0.05 dollars, but with $10 shipping", but you're fairly aware of that.
If Amazon doesn't offer the "No BS" pricing, this is just ridiculous.
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Yes, because heaven forbid that dealers sell cars for something like actual MSRP without a 45 minute song and dance involving options, extended warranties and the alleged mood of the salesperson's immediate supervisor.
If dealers can't survive on that model, they were perfectly free to sell something other than Saturns.
Re: No a real Amazon item (Score:2)
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Warehouse Deals (Score:2, Funny)
Let me know when it's available through Warehouse Deals. I'm ok with "Used - Like New" with a few scratches.
I wish this was real (Score:5, Interesting)
It just sends you to a dealer. I wish you could buy cars like everything else. No instead you have to fuck around with dealers who try to add fees, refuse to special order cars, try to convince you to take what they have in stock, or try to show you crap you are not interested in.
Car dealers please go out of business.
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It's already being made illegal
If by 'already' you mean, has been illegal for decades, sure.
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Their existence is the worst kind of anachronism. Their overall value-add to society is zero, actually less than zero...
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I had the same thought.
Bug your state legislators (Score:5, Insightful)
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Should I also mention the sky is blue and water is wet?
If you are so disconnected with reality that you think car dealers serve their market the way any other retail outlet would you should be kept in a padded cell not elected to public office.
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I typically use TrueCar to get a quote from dealers for the car I want, who are nearby, but not the closest 3. I then take the best quote, go to a my nearest dealer and they always match the price of the quote. From there, it's a haggle. My innate indecisiveness and shyness works well for me, because I sit there for a few minutes contemplating the deal they're offering, and I easily outlast even the most patient dealer. They always offer me better deal because they get impatient. This happens a few tim
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Try to find a slightly unusual car that way and see what happens. For instance a Kia Forte5. Not that I wanted that, just an example. I ended up buying a Honda Insight because that car was a hatchback, was good on gas and the dealer was not a total cockbag about about. If I ask for a hatchback why you ever try to sell me a sedan?
Re:I wish this was real (Score:5, Insightful)
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I had to give up on that requirement. The CVT is still 100 times better than any slushbox. Finding a hatchback that also has a stick is like finding the holy grail it seems.
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I know of CVTs will hundreds of thousands of miles on them. They were quite well proven in the Insight 1 which came out many years ago. They are way to old to be shiny gadget of the month. Hatchbacks are still very hard to find. With a stick near impossible.
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Well the Versa was pretty good and a decent car but with the new 2014 if you get the stick, you can't get any of the nice options, which is really just stupid. My '07 Versa is a 6spd manual with the tech package and it's served me well.
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I am not in Europe. Nor do they sell cars in North America.
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Unless you live in France, don't buy a French car.
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I have had french cars before, what is wrong with a modern Renault?
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I had to give up on that requirement. The CVT is still 100 times better than any slushbox. Finding a hatchback that also has a stick is like finding the holy grail it seems.
uhm.... The Mazda 3 and Ford Focus both still have the third pedal as an option, and that's just off the top of my head. Now if they're on the lot... that's another story entirely.
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No, slushboxes still suck (and I say this driving a car that by God should have a good one).
A few sports cars have robot shifters. Robot shifters kick ass. Eventually that will reach "normal" cars, and then you'll be right.
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Computers can upshift faster then a human. They can't see that you are about to turn right and downshift going into the corner.
Also note: When you are sitting at a red light waiting for it to turn green, your slushbox is in top gear. It has to kick all the way down before you have good power.
Buying without driving? (Score:2)
Would you really buy a car without ever driving it first?
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Some cars sure. Other cases let me drive the base test model then let me order the options I want.
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Is the experience of a test drive worth the $1000+ the dealer is going to gouge you for?
For new cars, I would rather pay 50 bucks to rent the same model for a day and get a feel for it -- without anyone trying to hold my driver's license hostage or demanding my home phone number.
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You don't need to buy a car, just because you test drove it.
In fact you can use their methods against them. Say you need a car for an evening. Test drive one. Him and haw about buying it. The salesman will suggest you take it home overnight, knowing that usually closes the deal. Use it, then say no, this car sucks.
Re:Buying without driving? (Score:5, Insightful)
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I'm in my 40s, and I've never driven a car before buying it, though I once drove a vaguely similar car at a dealership first. I do my research to pick a model, and I use a car buying service to buy the car. About half the time I never even see a dealership (though the car was purchased from on for me). I've been happy with my choice each time, from econoboxes to luxury sedans.
Really, there's very little that matters that you can learn from a test drive.
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Really, there's very little that matters that you can learn from a test drive.
I rather disagree.
First, I'm 6'8, I can find out whether I fit in the car. Second, I can find out whether the build quality meets MY definitions of acceptable. Finally, I can find out if I like to drive it, for some people a half second turbolag is no big deal, for some it's a huge deal, and still others they have no idea, since they've never driven a car with a turbolag.
There are some things that are very specific to people. True story: I once went out to test drive a truck, turns out the exhaust not
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Of course I would. The useful information I get out of a test drive is pretty minimal, actually.
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where do you buy your cars?
in NYC i was looking for a toyota camry with leather seats and the dealer found one in stock in the area. it had some i didn't want and he said it would be no problem to order it.
honda's have feature packages so one will always be at your dealer
what fees are you talking about? every NYC dealer i have been to you pay the sticker price plus tax plus state fees. if you get a costco discount then some dealers will add on fees to clean it, etc.
even if you could buy direct you would sti
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Western NY.
If you paid sticker you got screwed. I mean transport fees and the like. They can and will be waived if you complain.
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Grow a pair. Or stop being a prima donna and blaming the world for your social dysfunction or because you don't have the backbone to deal with salesmen. Because the last thing I want is to buy cars like everything else - either prepackaged and designed for th
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Salesmen can be annoying, and customers tend not to like annoying things.
Same reason people started to buy stuff online, even with stores price matching; when I visit a store I'll have sales people walking around pestering me, and at check out getting a hard sell to sign up for their extended warranty, their mailing list, their rewards program, and best of all their news letter.
Compared to most online retailers where I have opt into those services, and can proceed with but one click of the mouse.
> Specia
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> Grow a pair. Or stop being a prima donna and blaming the world for your social dysfunction
It's not my social dysfunction that's the problem.
Car salesmen have very much earned their place as one of the most despised creatures in modern society.
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... You're a car salesman, aren't you?
Re:I wish this was real (Score:4, Insightful)
Grow up, jackass. I have no problem telling them off. What I have a limited amount of is patience and time.
I want to be able to order the car I want, like it appears you can do with the design your ford website thing or whatever. I do not want to check to see what numbskull ordered what options for their lot.
Car salesmen are not specialists, most know less about the cars than I do. They are not on your side and are not worth paying.
Re:I wish this was real (Score:5, Interesting)
Not a matter of backbone, but rather, of the pointlessness of it all. I don't make it a habit of intentionally dealing with wolves, either, even though a modern firearm will make short work of them. I simply have no interest in the whole negotiating game. For my last car, I found what I wanted, went to the nearest dealer, took it for a ride, came back and told the salesperson what I would pay for it (a fair price, not the most profitable customer of the day but not a loss, either). As soon as she started to play the "I'll need to talk with my manager" bullshit, I headed for the door (and would have left) when she backpedaled faster than Lance Armstrong on Oprah. I drove it home half an hour later after filling out the annoying ream of paper (getting rid of that wouldn't suck, either, but I realize most of it doesn't have anything to do with the actual dealer).
Specialists and middlemen exist for a reason, I pay them to make my life easier.
No, they don't. You haven't bought a car in a while, have you?
You don't get to customize them anymore. You pick one of a small number (half a dozen or so) of equally ugly colors with stupid names you don't even recognize, you pick one of a small number (less than three, usually) of standard trims, and you might have one or two options you can select (like alloy vs steel wheels); in most cases, upgrading to option-X requires upgrading the entire trim (or buying it after-market). Oh, make no mistake, I have no doubt you could get it with whatever you want. But whether they say it or not, you will pay for trim-package-B when they "throw in for free" the 17" rims.
But the best part about all that? You could just as easily choose all those options via the dropdown size/color/etc boxes Amazon already has. So no, I don't have any use whatsoever for salesmen; and those particular middlemen haven't counted as "specialists" in a good 20 years (if they ever did, which I somewhat doubt).
Now, as for this listing on Amazon - Amazingly enough, I currently need a new car. And I have considered that exact car as an option. I went to that page fully intending to add it to my cart and order (you won't do much better than $1000 off a $14k car anywhere else, so paying MSRP really doesn't much matter here)... And sure, I understand that a "real" dealer would technically have sold it to me, but at least I wouldn't have needed to actually deal with them.
And as one further perk, most dealers won't actually let you put a whole car on plastic (usually limiting it to something like $5k or 10% as a down-payment), but that woudln't present a problem on Amazon... Except... It did, and in fact, just cost them a sale. That page doesn't sell you a car, it amounts to nothing but an ad. You can't just buy it there and check out, "Purchase or lease must be completed at Nissan dealer within 30 days of submitting your contact request". You don't buy a car at that page, Nissan buys you as a sales lead.
So fuck you, car dealers, and fuck you too, Amazon - Oh, and fuck you too, Slashvertisement on the FP. I can't wait for Tesla to come out with something under $30k; Once they do, I'll never go to a physical dealership again in my life.
Re:I wish this was real (Score:5, Insightful)
There's a science behind it, and it turns out customers prefer the limited options overwhelmingly to having the ability to pick and choose every little thing. It also turns out to be surprisingly cheaper because you get to standardize parts.
The trim package one is annoying, but sometimes it's essential because if you want say, leather seats, they come with a bum warmer (because most people buy them with bum warmers in the past, so it's easier to build one seat than two - one with and one without), which requires a button for your dashboard to control it. But that button also requires an extra fusebox relay and a interior control computer to manage it. Of course, the computer software isn't flexible so if you get it with that option, you get the onboard navigation system as well, which means you need the upgraded trim level just to get leather seats.
Navigation systems generally cause this because to put in the screen requires electronics changes and the dash changes, which means again, upgraded trim level because you're changing so many things (navigation means you need a central screen, perhsps interaction buttons on the steering wheel, integration with the instrument cluster screen, etc. which changes everything.
Do this more than a few times and the number of parts and assemblies required balloons immensely which just complicates the supply line, complicates the car computer software etc. etc. etc.
yup, just another ad (Score:2)
hehe, my dad bought a new Fusion and got away with putting the whole thing on his rewards card. Never hurts to try...dealer didn't really have a policy per se. Now he can fly anywhere he doesn't want to drive :)
I don't give a hoot about most 3rd party sellers on Amazon (and seemingly every other big site now) especially one pointing me somewhere else to close. It is possible some of us want to buy from the company whose website we went to. I looked up an item on Walmart.com and got over 1000 results from li
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Because the last thing I want is to buy cars like everything else - either prepackaged and designed for the lowest common denominator or having to spend days or weeks wasting my time trying to learn the arcana of a field in order to make a simple goddam purchase.
Too late. That's how you buy cars right now anyway, especially from a dealer. If you don't spend days or week learning the arcana of the field before setting foot in a dealership, you will be ripped off.
I pay them to make my life easier.
Then you're wasting your money in the dealerships. They do the exact opposite of making your life easier.
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Cardirect.com is a terrible website for what I want. It appears you can't even get a price without giving up your information. Ideally they would shield you from the dealer. I don't want those folks knowing anything about me.
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cardirect.com redirects to carsdirect.com, not sure what he was doing to get requests for personal information but he wasn't at the wrong website.
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For a long time I used Enterprise Fleet Services' car buying service (not sure if they still do that it you don't finance through them, but they used to). It was perfect, though not the "internet buying" experience. You tell them what car you wanted and how flexible you could be with colors and so on, they were upfront about likely prices and such, and just not annoying weasels in any way, and they'd find what you want at a better price than you'd ever get yourself (when you buy 500K cars a year, car sale
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You're saying because you look like and are a sucker, they treated you better?
$1000 off? (Score:5, Interesting)
Can I pay them an extra $1000 and buy directly from amazon? Why get a dealer involved?
(Not that I'm interested in a Nissan Versa. But my point is the same. Car dealers are the scum of the Earth.)
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I would absolutely give amazon an extra $1000 for a car, provided like all other products on their site I can pick exactly the one I want and I get some assurance that no standard car dealer was involved.
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Can I pay them an extra $1000 and buy directly from amazon? Why get a dealer involved?
(Not that I'm interested in a Nissan Versa. But my point is the same. Car dealers are the scum of the Earth.)
There are laws that prohibit this. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/02/why-you-cant-buy-new-car-online [motherjones.com]
Until the law changes, Amazon, or anyone else for that matter, cannot directly sell cars online.
I too would love to be able to buy a car from Amazon. I had to buy a new car this year and it reminded my why I hate the process. The sales and manager guys were fine and kept it light while we played the negotiation game, but the finance guy was a tad slimey. He tried to get me into a higher interest
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You can order them from HP, I know I have done this.
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Can I pay them an extra $1000 and buy directly from amazon? Why get a dealer involved?
(Not that I'm interested in a Nissan Versa. But my point is the same. Car dealers are the scum of the Earth.)
So long as I can still test drive and physically inspect the thing prior to handing over the cash, I'd be all for it. $1000 is a pretty cheap price to pay to not have to deal with dealership financiers.
You think salesmen are dicks, wait until you try to buy a car with your own financing, from a place that 'offers' it in-house... and by 'offers,' I mean 'will lie through their fucking teeth to convince you to finance it through them, up-to-and-including refusing sale of the vehicle.' I know, I dealt with thi
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Can I pay them an extra $1000 and buy directly from amazon? Why get a dealer involved?
A dealer gets involved so they can get that $1000 back from you. Familiarize yourself with the Four Square Worksheet [edmunds.com]. You probably won't see the physical sheet, but they're using it. It's a shell game where they get you to pull the trigger on the purchase by giving you a deal in one area but they get that money back, and then some, in another area. Half the reason the salesperson keeps going to visit his boss is so the boss can ensure the salesperson got the money back somewhere else on the four square. The
Finally (Score:5, Funny)
Finally, a package that the delivery guy will really, really regret drop-kicking off the back of the truck.
Re:Finally (Score:5, Funny)
The trick to proper delivery by forklift is to find a long approach path, so you can get up to full rolling speed in advance. Then, coordinate tipping down the forklift blades with slamming on the brakes, and you should be able to toss the package over the recipient's fence with ease. Bonus points for lifting the package by skewering the forklift blades through it, instead of coming from underneath.
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Illegal in Texas (Score:3)
If this were real and not just a link, wouldn't it run into the same problems as Tesla and be illegal in Texas?
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Yeah... that will happen. I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop in Texas as the guy behind Tesla is also behind some spaceport thing right?
Hmm (Score:2)
Nothing worse than a big box.
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Probably the size of the package that's the problem.
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Well, the package *is* the box. Probably you meant the size of the contents, but that's not really suitably insertion-imagery-inducing.
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In American idiom; men have packages, women have boxes.
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cars.com tried this (Score:2)
That was the original idea for "cars.com". They were really going to sell cars online. But they ended up just being a lead-generation service.
1897 Sears Catalog (Score:2)
My novelty reprint of the "1897 Sears Catalog" lists dozens of buggies, phaetons, wagons, surreys, traps and road carts available to be crated at the factory and drop-shipped. They promise a 5 day order turn-around at the factory, and freight-shipment by rail or boat to your nearest depot/port/etc. Getting your crated vehicle unpacked , assembled and back home is your problem, I guess. But anyplace big enough for a depot probably is big enough for carriage repair shop, I guess.
They really were the Amazon o
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They even sold entire houses. [searsarchives.com]
Those were the days. Cars, houses, plows, flour, medicines to "restore female regularity" . . . Sears had it all.
If you get a chance to see it, the National Archives has a short film by the Ford Motion Picture Laboratories Educational Weekly series about prefab houses like the Sears House. "Home Made," from 1919, shows a young engaged couple deciding to buy a prefab house, shows the manufacturing processes behind it, and finally the on-site construction. It even has the cute "calendar page tear-off" device
I guess phone books are also dealers (Score:2)
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Safety regulations make cars very expensive to engineer and test. $5,000 for the car. $8,000 to make it safe.
However, it does mean that that tin can is probably far more survivable than most cars prior to 1965.
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I own a 1960 Chrysler Saratoga (6000lbs, 2 doors). It has a _tiny_ ding on the back bumper where a 90s car was totaled (in the 90s when it was still valuable). Must have had their heads up their asses or been so busy trying to figure out what it was they stopped driving.
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Right now all Amazon is doing is driving more business to the dealers, so I don't see why they would complain....
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Because they are simply going to have the dealer in your area drive it out to your house.
Then I wouldn't pay new car pricing on it, because the second someone else drives it off the lot it's not a new car anymore.
Side note: Next time you look at buying a car from a dealer, make sure to point out how the value drops by 1/3 the second you sign paperwork. They fucking hate that :)
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Next time you look at buying a car from a dealer, make sure to point out how the value drops by 1/3 the second you sign paperwork. They fucking hate that :)
I'm sure they do hate that. However, if they had two brain cells to rub together, they would probably counter by asking if you can think of any other retail item which you could get more than 2/3 of retail value after you walk out of the door with it. Oh, I'm sure there will be a few things, but for the most part, you would be lucky to get 1/2 of retail from somebody once you walk out the door.
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Next time you look at buying a car from a dealer, make sure to point out how the value drops by 1/3 the second you sign paperwork. They fucking hate that :)
I'm sure they do hate that. However, if they had two brain cells to rub together,
Well, these are car salesmen we're talking about...
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Then I wouldn't pay new car pricing on it, because the second someone else drives it off the lot it's not a new car anymore.
ALL cars on dealer lots have been driven OFF the lot. It's called road testing the thing prior to delivering it to a customer and I'd wager is probably the law.
That a dealer employee is driving to your house? Still in possession of the dealer and as such is still a NEW car.
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I managed to get almost $4,000 knocked off the price of a "new" car by pointing out that it already had 800 miles on it.
Just sayin', it's worth at least trying to work the dealer over. After all, as I told the guys at the VW dealership, 'If you're not willing to give me the deal I want on the car I want, I can always go give my money to someone else.'
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