New Auto

For the past few weeks I have been in the market for a new vehicle. I have been strongly looking at the 2008 Toyota Tacoma. It is the best selling mid size truck, highest ratings for safety, and just an overall awsome looking truck.

My first visit to a Toyota dealer was with American Toyota, near my work. The guy I talked with, Jimmy Daniels, was incredibly knowledgeable about the truck and just anything car related. He told me they could sell me the Tacoma for $650 over invoice. The configuration I wanted was the crew cab (4 door) with the off road package (note: the tow, floor mats, 6 disc changer options are mandatory???). The cost came to about $29,900.

I then went to Karl Malone Toyota and was immediately met by a sells person, even before I got out the car (actually there was one in-front of my car and I could see another in my rear view mirror, OMG). I mentioned that I was in no means planning on buying that day and was just shopping around. My sales person was so incredibly pushy and insistent that I buy the truck today. Needless to say, I will not be going back there.

After doing some searching on the net, I was reading a comparison on the Tacoma and the Frontier. I own 2 Nissans (1997 Sentra and 1987 Hardbody) and know how good Nissan makes their vehicles. The Nissan actually was preferred by the testers over the Tacoma, but only slightly. I go to review sites and see that the Frontier is getting great reviews and comments on resale value. I go the Nissan USA site (http://www.nissanusa.com/) and "build my own Frontier". As I'm doing this, I notice that this truck comes with a more powerfull engine. 4 wheel vented disc brakes (Tacoma has discs front and drums back). More items standard (eg. fog lights, chrome bumber, 16" alloy wheels etc)...and Nissan was not mandating their options! Also, $2000 money back on the Frontier, but this encentive is for 2 more days!

I head down to my nearest Nissan dealer, Reliable Nissan. First encounter was with Juan, nice guy with much experience. He pawns me off to a new sales person, Mark. Mark was not as knowlegable on this truck as Juan, but he works hard to make sure my questions were answered and I was happy with my experience. I test drove a NISMO 4X4. It felt good on Paseo del Norte. I tried some tight turning (seemed reasonable). I tried some hard exceleration at around 50mph, not great but not bad.

We start negotiations.....if you have ever watched tv shows where people get way too emotional over pricing...it is spot on. I can hear people yelling over pricing and options and whatever they feel like making a pointless point about. I was hard set on my price based on Edmunds.com True Market Value (TMV) of this truck with these options (http://www.edmunds.com/new/2007/nissan/frontier/100813282/optionsresults.html?action=2). TMV is a price for what people are actually paying for the given selections. NOTE: this does not include tax, title and license (my first mistake). So I'm arguing that I want the truck for $27,000 OTD with the $2,000 Nissan incentive rebate. Note, if we use the Edmunds TMV of $27,881 and add 5% tax = 29,275.05 then add $87 for ttl = $29,362.05 the include the $2,000 Nissan incentive, the final cost comes to about $27,362.05.

I walked out of the dealer because my offer was not being met. Next day, I was walking on campus (UNM) and got a call from Mark from Reliable. Mark reminded me that the TMV did not include TTL, .....hmmm.....let me re-think this. I'm getting a pretty good deal if I can beat TMV. It may not be a great deal but a good one and that is good enough for me.

BTW, here is a link to the exact truck configuration/options I bought (http://build.nissanusa.com/configurator/en?service=external/Summary&mo=2007:fr&bs=frc&tr=_TE_C-OR-6&ec=BW9&ic=_ZC&us=12193855649&se=12193438485556468739&pv=111233738440414243550515455575866364656877389&pc=1219385564&psel=121934384855646873&ps=X941&zipcode=87113)

I come in on the last day of the Nissan rebate incentive. I finish all the necessary paper work. Now we had issues on financing rates. I won't get into that part, but I was very tried at this point. I agreed on a slightly higher rate then I was told. Warning, get ready for them to try to sell you the paint protector, Gap insurance and death insurance. They really push this. It may be good for someone, who?, I don't know or care, but not for me...I know I'm going to have full coverage with my insurance company which I actually trust to do me right, so I declined. After declining, we spent another 10 minutes talking about why he felt it is needed and me talking about how I don't believe that "EVERYTHING" needs to be totally insured. I'm a gambling man, but come on! Last stage, they do a survey on how satisfied you are with the overall service and process. This was kinda funny, cause no matter what I said, they would reply with "so you are Very Satisfied then?". Just thought it was a bit of a gimmic.

Yesterday, I sold my 1997 Nissan Sentra for $2,400. I placed it on albuqurque.craigslist.org Wed night and had it sold 2 days later for $1,400 over what everyone else wanted to give me for a trade in.

First advice when buying a new vehicle, have thick skin and lots of patience. Second, know exactly what you are willing to pay, but make sure this is based on facts not just a number you came up with. Third, check review/comparisson sites, you may find another vehicle that meets your needs but at a much better value. Last, don't settle on "fuck me" trade in prices. Give the web a try, if it doesn't work out then you can always sell it to CarMax for that "fuck me" price.

I just got a call from Mark as I'm writting this. They have a red NISMO on site, just off the truck. They wanted to know if I wanted to check it out and possible take this instead of the Majestic Blue truck. I like the fact that they keep me informed of things like this and give me options. I would recommend Nissan to anyone and if you are in the area of Coors and Paseo, then give Reliable a look. Tell Mark, "Sean sent me", no discounts for doing so, but it might make a good impression on them.