X-Trail SE AWD 5-Speed
· Vehicle purchase price: $27,700 (approx. 2000 below MSRP)
· Freight/PDI: $1,000
· Nissan genuine trailer hitch (installed with wiring) $600
· Winter tires (BFG Winter Slalom) mounted and balanced on steel rims: $850
· Air Tax $100
· Gas Tax $75
Total: $30,325
I'm leasing at 4.7% for 36 months, "0 down", and my monthly payment including taxes is $544. My first payment consisted of an NFC admin charge of $75 or so, first and last month's lease, plus the standard security deposit of 50% of the payment rounded to the nearest $50.
I'm pretty happy with the deal I got. Here's how I did it:
1. Contacted 4 dealerships in my area by phone to ask to speak to a salesperson.
2. Asked the lucky random salesperson if he'd be interested in bidding on my business via email. I obtained his email addresses.
3. I did my own research on each of the items I wanted. I used the Nissan.ca website and other sources. In my case, I happened to get the factory invoice price from a leasing company who was also bidding on my business (they didn't get the deal because their admin fees were too high). In my email, I offered $400 over invoice in my target price for the vehicle, and broke out all the line items to eliminate confusion.
4. I sent the email indicating the targets, and requested a response indicating if they could meet the targets, including the monthly payment, and if there were any other charges. I used my own leasing calculator to ensure they were disclosing everything when I double-checked their math. If I was out to lunch on a particular target, I asked them to correct me.
5. One of the dealers never responded. Another insisted I come in to the dealership to be "taken seriously". Another simply couldn't meet my price on some items, and wasn't providing prices for others. The last guy, Brian at St-Clair Nissan, phoned me up and said "Yeah, we can meet these prices, except..."
It turned out I hadn't properly factored in the labor to install the hitch (fair enough) and he couldn't sell me the tires that cheap. When I told him a local tire shop was selling that very package for $820, he said no problem, they'd buy the tires there and add them to my lease. For the convenience, I had no problems with them marking the tires up a bit. The numbers he gave me all checked out when I calculated them myself.
Overall, it was the best car-buying experience I'd ever had. No nonsense, no BS, no hard sell. I was able to double-check all the numbers in the comfort of my own computer chair, instead of being pressured and confused at the dealership while the salesguy played good-cop/bad-cop with the sales manager.
Anyway, I highly recommend St-Clair Nissan to other folks in the Greater Toronto Area. Their service department is friendly (although they haven't yet fixed my rattles...) and the sales guys are great. And no, I'm in no way affiliated with them and I'm not receiving any payment for this endorsement.
