I have searched everywhere for a 04 max with journey. obviously no one has black/black or blue/black. but my question is why must i wait 2 months for it to come in if ordered? anyone have an answer for me.

 

Because they have to put your order in at the end of the line. Every car built is ordered, a good portion, just by the dealers for their lot. It takes about a week for the car to go through the assembly line, and then is railed to the regional rail yard, then from there trucked to the final destintation. It is not uncommon for shipping via rail to take 3 weeks, as they shift around cars. A lot of the time, the rail car that your vehicle is in will be moved to a rail center, and then sit for up to a week, until the next train going your direction comes, sometimes that happens more then once.

 

There are even other variables.

A completed vehicle may wait at any point in its journey in order to have a full railroad auto rack/highway auto hauler going to the same area.

I remember special ordering a vehicle and following it via inquiry (I knew the # of the railroad auto rack it was on) all the way to Atlanta, where it sat at a dealer pickup point for ten days until I threatened to cancel the order if they didn't pick it up immediately. They picked it up next day.

An additional problem at present is the ongoing recovery from the May hail storm in Smyrna that messed up thousands of '04 Maximas. Many Atlanta dealers have dozens of hail-damaged Maximas, and most local dealers have half the inventory (of undamaged cars) they had in mid-May.

The hail problem was so bad I did not see an '04 Maxima TV ad from the end of May until two days ago. I saw many dozens of such ads in April and May.

Those determined to avoid the long wait can go to the Nissan site and plug in any zip in the country and examine every '04 Max at every dealer within a hundred miles of that zip. Tell your dealer exactly where the car you want is, and tell him you want to get it thru him, if he is willing to cooperate. Most dealers will try.

 

Yeah, at first I wanted a car with Journey package. But, after looking all over the country and finding a few with dealers that didn't want to part with them. I decided to go ahead and get the Elite pkg, because it was here and it was at a great price. I paid 500 over the real invoice. Not that fake invoice they put on the cars.

 

Even this method has its shortcomings. I did the same thing when I was looking for mine, and most of the time one of two things happened: either the dealer didn't have the car anymore (already sold - website isn't updated frequently enough) or they weren't willing to part with it. It's certainly worth a try, but be prepared to order one in the event that things don't work out. A two month wait wasn't a big deal for me, because I got *exactly* what I wanted - and with the money I was paying, I wanted just that. I admit that it may be a showstopper for others...YMMV.

 

I have to ask, what was the fake invoice amount, and the real invoice amount?

 

Hell, I ordered my Majestic Blue, Black Leather, Journey package in June and was told that I may not see it until October just last week. The dealer did a search and found one car in Florida that matched my options/color choices. I paid $200 over invoice and the cost to ship it would bring me right up to, if not over, MSRP so I'm waiting. If I liked any other cars even close to the Maxima I would bail on Nissan. I thought it was the dealer being a ****, but a call to Nissan confirmed that orders are taking a full four months to deliver. Their customer service is pretty close to ****ty while they want to bring the Maxima up to the luxury car level?

 

Unfortunately, if the car costs $10,000 or $40,000... you still have to build them. The new car fairy won't just make them for us anymore

If you read through the thread/site you will see that there was a huge hail storm that ruined thousands of cars at the plant... so that puts you that much farther back in line. It has nothing to do with luxury or cost.

 

Thanks for pointing out the obvious. And I didn't ever know that a new car fairy ever existed.

I have read through all of the hailstorm threads and do understand that thousands of cars were damaged as a result. In fact, I started one of them. My dealer even offered me one at a discount. I actually gave my dealer a downpayment on May 12th for the car and he ordered the car in early June because they can only order once a month. Yes, I also realize that they are supporting over 1,100 dealerships throughout the US. But, you would think that Nissan would put those customers who ordered a car as a higher priority than the regular dealer stock.

 

I don't think the factory a) knows who ordered it, b) cares, to be honest. I wouldn't if I were them. I would just pump them out as fast as possible.

 

I'll have to get the papers so that I don't misquote it. But, I got the dealer to produce the MSO, which is what they paid for the car in truth. On the door they put what the invoice would be if you bought only on car. But what dealer do you know that buys only one car to sell?

The actual invoice price that I read from my sticker in the window was somewhere around $1,500 above what the dealer actually paid for the car. When it was all said and done I paid 31k and some change TTL. Everything except the Sun Roof because I didn't feel that I would be opening it that much and didn't want to deal with getting leaks fixed. I got the Sky View.

 

Funny thing is the Sky Views are the only ones that have had leaks, at least the only ones I have read about

$1500 under sounds about right. The "invoice" is exactly what you said, the cost of the car if the dealer bought it with out any incentive and not in bulk.

All of that doesn't even begin to touch on things like the lot fee that Nissan pays to the dealers.

 

The "real" invoice is every invoice price you see. It doesn't matter if they order one or one hundred, they pay the same amount. However, the invoice price does include what is called a "dealer holdback" This ranges from 1 to 5% On a maxima, it's about 700 bucks. This is to cover the space on the dealers lot, the advertising, and maintence, also the destination charge also covers the waxing and full tank of gas you get when you pick up the car, along with the shipping from Nissan. Also, the options have an invoice and a MSR price.

I know on my maxima, the Retail price was 35050. The base invoice price was 25140. (including destination) The Retail price of my options was about 7550. The invoice price of my options was about 6500 bucks. I payed 35200 out the door with tax, title, additional shipping from another dealer, and license. Which works out to be 800 dollars over invoice with free shipping. So a total of about 32400 for the car its self.

So what you may have seen is the invoice price plus the retail price of the options, which isn't a true invoice price. I never stated the actual price that I was going to pay, I just told the salesman 800 over invoice, and he did the paper work, and it was right. So if they try to pull the other crap on you, I would just leave, because that is pretty low.

 

Yeah, I know.

Iwas talking to one of my friends that worked for Nissan and he told me all the incentives that the dealer gets from the manufacturer. That's why I went in with my mean face on and told them that I wasn't paying that much for the car. It was listed at 35K and that's without the TTL.

I know this chick that works with me that bought a G35 and after I told her how much I got the dealer down to before I walked out. She was and .

Ol' girl paid 37K for that car and I talked the guys down to 33K with TTL. I wanted to get him to 32K, but he wouldn't move. So, I did my patented, "Thank you Sir, but I can't pay that much. Have a nice day" turn and walk out. That usually follows with the guy coming out behind me saying everything he can to make me take the car at his price.

 

Yea sounds like your coworker paid too much for her Infiniti, however Nissans always sell for way under sticker where Infinitis do not as much.

 

Your thought process is flawed then. Any manufacturer should care about the person who has actually committed to purchasing their product and put those orders at a higher priority. Why worry about the car that hasn't been sold via a customer order, that may sit on the dealers floor for weeks, or even months. That's not to say that Nissan shouldn't keep cars in the showroom for those people who walk in and don't want to wait FOUR months to get a car. Yeah, eventually they'll sell both cars, but they may be destroying a relationship with a long-term customer that may buy any number of cars from them in the future. That's called customer service.

 

I agree, of course we all know Nissan's customer service is in the toilet, at least they are consistent treating their customers like $****, even from the beginning.

 

It's just odd that you can buy a G35 for a few thousand more and get excellent customer service. These cars for coming from the same manufacturer! Why is there such a difference in the service between the two?

 

G35 are not always more than a Maxima. Dependent of course how they are optioned, but a fully loaded 04 Maxima is 35K+, as is a G35, maybe 36-37K for the Infiniti. That being said, Infiniti will cost more because a discounts are less compared to Nissan. Why is the customer service so different? Ifiniti is known as a "luxury brand" which Nissan isn't. That is the difference between the two divisions of one company.

 

That seems quite high for an invoice price. Did yours come with gold floors or something? What model and options?

Dealers get incentives, they get hold backs, they get lot fees, they get destination on top of invoice.

They are not paying what you see as the invoice price, it just doesn't happen that way.

 

That is very idealistic, sure they *should* care, but if car manufacturers really cared about how the public viewed them they wouldn't have a bunch of crooks running the dealerships that sell their cars. They would have a price, just like every other thing you buy.

Why would the manufacturer care? They get paid the same amount whether the car sits on a dealers lot for a day or a year. It doesn't matter to them at all. Plus, long waits mean that the car is in demand in some peoples eyes, and there are always those that need to have what is popular.

"That's called customer service." The buyer isn't Nissan's customer, the buyer is the dealer's customer, the dealer is Nissan's customer. The dealer just says his hands are tied and there is nothing he can do, his customer may be ****ed, but if he wants the car he has to deal. The dealer can only get his cars from one spot, Nissan.

Would the dealer really want to get the customer his car before getting one for the lot? I doubt it. If a customer is willing to order a car, then that is pretty close to a done deal. The dealer then wants to try to get cars on the lot for those people that aren't willing to order one (like me). If the car isn't there, then I will move on, and a lot of people are like that.

 

Idealistic? Maybe so, but I think that it is more of a reality than you think. Do you think for one minute that Nissan believes their only customer are the dealerships? Come on man, step away from the pipe. If that is the case why can I pick up the phone and call a CSR at Nissan? Wouldn't my only contact be the dealer if they didn't give a **** about those driving their cars. They are not so short-sighted to believe their only customer is the dealership. The dealership is the middle-man who sells their cars. A necessary evil.

"Plus, long waits mean that the car is in demand in some peoples eyes, and there are always those that need to have what is popular." Long waits can have very different affects on a product. You said you wanted a car now. What would you have done if the dealer said you had to wait four months for your car? Probably drove to the nearest BMW/Infinity/Lexus dealer because they'll have a car for you, right?

Yes, Nissan gets the same amount a car sits on the lot for a year, but what is that saying? If cars are sitting on lots for months then that dealer is not buying more cars to replace those that sell so I would say that Nissan DOES car if they sit on lots without selling. That equates to lower sales.

The approach that you have with wanting a car immediately goes the same with those who order the car. When the dealer says that you'll get your car in two months, but when two months is up and it'll be two more many people will bail on the deal. An order is not a done sale in this case. The purchase agreement should have a date when the car will be delivered and an opt-out statement if the dealer cannot get the car. Guess what? Now the dealer is on the hook to sell the car.

 

I got a 2004 SE, Auto, Elite Package, with the moon roof, mats, and mud flaps. The invoice on the car would be around the 31800 dollar range. Nothing seems to astronomically priced to me.

The dealer hold back is the total of the fee's the dealer has. The Invoice price is the total average that a Nissan dealer would spend to sell the car. The invoice equals the cost to the dealer.

I know many car salesmen, I know many dealerships, I've worked at one. They do not make much money off of a new car. About 10% of a dealerships income from new car sales. Over 50% of it comes from servicing. And a good 25% comes from used car sales. The remaining income comes from in house financing and other odds and ins.

Car sales isn't like it used to be. A dealership does not make 20-50% commission on a car any more. How many rich car salesmen do you see? If there was a lot of money to be made selling new cars, then how come the salesmen that sale near 50, 20-50,000 dollar priced cars a month don't make much more then 100,000 a year?

 

i actually found my black on black 04 journey. love the car.