Best way to find a good price on a Titan

[rawze]

i just got my titan today-i have a 710 credit score and could have got the 1.9. i bought it for invoice--the 5000 off is after the dealer adds and includes the rebate-if you buy for invoice you save about 500 depending on the options it has-the more options the more mark up over invoice

[llgardner2]

Originally Posted by MemTitan

Thanks for the info. Do you think a local dealer could tell me the specifics of the Tier 1 and 2 credit, or would they have to run a credit check to find out if I qualify?

Tier 1 is mostly for 700+ Beacon scores, but Tier 2 are usually for 675 and up. Nissan also has a Tier 3 special apr which is 3.9%. Sometimes a dealership could probably get you approved for the Tier 2 actually. It just depends upon what's on your credit. The score is one thing, but what's actually in your credit report may be another. I have seen some people that have 675 credit scores, and they have some bad stuff on their credit. So with that said, the best thing would be to go to Nissan's website and see if you can get the Tier 1 approval.

[jsc]

I went thru the website Friday night, approval was emailed to me Saturday morning.

[lcbrownz]

Originally Posted by jsc

I went thru the website Friday night, approval was emailed to me Saturday morning.

That approval, alone, doesn't qualify you for the 1.9%, but your dealership can find out by calling NMAC and verify the approval.

Good Luck on your future Titan.

[MemTitan]

To those future Titan owners, Nissan uses equifax to get the credit report. However, Nissan calculates score using their own method. They do not use the FICO score that is reported to you when running your own report. My score calculated by Nissan was 28 points lower than my FICO score. What a crock! How is a consumer prepared when Nissan has their own scoring?

[travism]

After lurking on this board for a while now, I'm finally getting ready to go to the dealer and try to negotiate a deal. I think I have enough research done on the price to know what to ask for. What is reasonable for the dealer to add on for tags, title, licensing? I've read somewhere that "dealer prep" is a BS fee that I should try to get them to come off of as well. Are there any other usual tricks they try to throw in that I should be aware of?

Also, CarsDirect.com is showing the rebate being extended until 8/2/04. Can anyone confirm?

Thanks in advance and I've loved all the great info on this forum and I haven't even bought the truck yet.

[titanwild]

If you finance with a non-Nissan bank or credit union, my experience is that you can sometimes have your financing institution disallow the $50.00 Documentation fee, so you save that at least.
Enjoy the new Titan!

[TriKKy]

Originally Posted by travism

Also, CarsDirect.com is showing the rebate being extended until 8/2/04. Can anyone confirm?

Thanks in advance and I've loved all the great info on this forum and I haven't even bought the truck yet.

I know that the 1.9% was extended, since I bought yesterday. The dealer didn't know how long it would be good for, since technically the old one expired 7/6/04. I'd say early august sounds about right.

Incidentally, you can get deals like Invoice + 500 AND the 1.9%APR, I just did it.

Best advice: Go to edmunds.com, print out the sheet with invoice, msrp, and TMV. Take it to dealer and tell him you aren't looking for the best deal in the world, but you think it is only fair you pay what others are paying. You'll find the good dealers very receptive if you approach them in this manner.

[travism]

Actually, I got itchy over the weekend since the cash rebate was ending and bit the bullet as well. I'll update my profile and post pictures once the truck is actually delivered to my local dealership from a dealership in another state.

But, I think I did well by getting a CarsDirect.com price for the truck I wanted and took that to the dealership. CarsDirect.com quoted a price of $50 over invoice minus the $1000 rebate, so $950 below invoice total. Edmunds's TMV price was higher than that, but I don't remember how much. The dealer told me I had done my homework, so he would match CarsDirect's price, which I'm happy with. I didn't accept their trade-in offer and bought it without financing, and that didn't affect the price. Incidently, the dealer's first offer to me was almost MSRP minus the rebate which I laughed at and pulled out the internet printout to show them what I could get elsewhere. I did worry about the "Dealer fees" of $500 that they tacked on that I asked about above, but let them have that without too much of a fight.

Bottom line: check out all the internet sites talked about in this thread, print out the lowest price and take that with you to the dealership for negotiating power.

[syntrix]

Originally Posted by CaliforniaTitan

The bottom line is buying a car is a negotiation. If a dealer wants to be stubborn and not give you XXXX for your trade or not come down on the price, you as the consumer have the ability to go elsewhere.
Dealers on the other hand live and die by reputation. IF they want a good one, they evaluate the deal not only in terms of numbers but in terms of 'how many other people can this person bring me' or 'What is our sales target for this month overall and for this specific model" and "What incentives is coperate offering me to move XX number of XX vehicle" etc.

I'm a true example of that advertising! I think I made money on my trade ins, but we have purchased from them in the past. So that's probably why they were willing to work a smokin' deal!

Also, have you ever been a bird dog? That has a LOT to say! If you bring them 1-2 deals a month, they know who you are. In fact, it's much better for them cause they don't have to pay you a salary, just a small comission, which I usually give right back to my friend that buys

[caltitan]

Bought my Titan a few weeks ago. Far better than the Ford F150s I used to drive at work. “Price” was the biggest issue I had in deciding what truck to buy. Even after all the research and test driving. I used a non-Nissan source to help fund the purchase. Here in Southern California where there is quite a bit of competition between dealerships and manufacturers, it was hard to ignore those huge rebates on the Chevy and Dodge. However, I was able to negotiate a Titan at a sale price that was below the Carsdirect.com invoice price before applying the $1000 Titan rebate. I went through the internet sales department and it was easy as we did most of the negotiating via email. I told the sales rep exactly what trucks I was considering and that if he could come down on the price I would choose the Titan even though I could get an equally equipped Silverado or Ram for much less due to the rebates. He made the deal with the agreement that I trade-in my 1995 Honda Passport (which was in good to excellent condition). We agreed to trade it in at $200 below the Blue Book private party value which would allow them to try to make a profit on its resale. I am figuring that the dollar difference when compared to the Silverado and Ram will be eliminated by future resale value when I eventually purchase a new vehicle and trade or sale the Titan. Another factor I discussed with the Nissan dealership was that I would be driving this truck to various job sites where there are lots of work trucks and contractors (construction sites, refineries, manufacturing plants). What better way to market than that, and believe me, I have had a lot of Ford, GM, and Dodge guys tell me they like this truck. Still, I do not see this truck hitting it off with the fleet sales because even the engineering firm I work for buys Fords because they are a USA-owned manufacturer and that is what most of our clients prefer their contractors to use. As far as I’m concerned, I know my Titan was made in the USA. I know I couldn’t get this deal at most dealerships, especially if I lived in a small market area. Doing my own research not just on trucks but also on the various dealerships in the area paid off (I tracked inventories online for a few weeks to see who was or wasn't selling trucks). And the timing of my purchase was great as it was shortly after the Titan rebate was introduced because sales had been lagging due to the Big 3’s rebate wars.

[mchinna]

For those of you in MA, I got mine through the internet sales desk at Clay Nissan in Dedham, MA for $550 below invoice. I was still able to get the rebate, so the final price was $1550 below invoice. There was no way I was going to get an F150 for that price. Plus the Titan was my first choice anyone. Although the dealer did try to sell me the extended warranty and the protection sheeting, I was able to say no and thus didn't get any other add-ons. John Norton was my sales guy if your interested. By the way, I have no relationship or any benefit from this - just passing on my experience.

[lcbrownz]

Originally Posted by mchinna

For those of you in MA, I got mine through the internet sales desk at Clay Nissan in Dedham, MA for $550 below invoice. I was still able to get the rebate, so the final price was $1550 below invoice. There was no way I was going to get an F150 for that price. Plus the Titan was my first choice anyone. Although the dealer did try to sell me the extended warranty and the protection sheeting, I was able to say no and thus didn't get any other add-ons. John Norton was my sales guy if your interested. By the way, I have no relationship or any benefit from this - just passing on my experience.

Was the $1000.00 a better deal than the 1.9% financing? To me the 1.9% financing saved me about $2200 and still purchased my Titan only $85.00 over invoice.

p.s. It goes in the shop next Wednesday for heavy vibrations in the front suspension and vibration in the the engine (maybe a loose vacuum hose). Only 1230 miles.

[htn123]

Originally Posted by lcbrownz

Was the $1000.00 a better deal than the 1.9% financing? To me the 1.9% financing saved me about $2200 and still purchased my Titan only $85.00 over invoice.

p.s. It goes in the shop next Wednesday for heavy vibrations in the front suspension and vibration in the the engine (maybe a loose vacuum hose). Only 1230 miles.

I calculated $25K at 3.5%APR to be $385/month vs $26K at 1.9% to be at $382/month. Not much difference.
If you have a good credit, pick the $1000, because the diff between say your 3.5% APR and their 1.9% isn't much. And just incase something happen to your truck, you have $1000 less to have to pay off.... Happened to me with one of my car.... but that's another story

Also, you can go here to do some comparison http://www.bankrate.com/brm/calc/rebatecalc.asp

I am in the process of negotiating Titan crew cab SE with bigtow, popular pkg with bench, utility bed pkg. OTD price right now is $29000 WITH 1.9%, that's right at invoice minus $1000 rebate. I am pushing for about $28000. Will see what happen. Will update when I get the truck.

PS: according to one of the sale guy, your FICO credit score has to be above 699 to get the 1.9%.

[syntrix]

Yup 700+ for 1.9%, but there are other variables on your report that might affect if you qualify or not for 1.9%.