I'm in the market for a 2016 Maxima (SR) and trying to determine the true dealer cost (as best I can ). I found Holdback is 2.8% off Total Invoice price, ignoring any volume incentives they receive for moving cars, etc. since I can't find this anywhere.

Hoping someone knows the answer to this related to Nissan's current promotion offers:

1. $2,000 rebate (secure own financing)
2. $500 rebate (NMAC financing - 0% for 60 months)
3. $2,500 rebate (NMAC financing - 0.9% for 72 months)
4. ~ $500-750 each for other discounts (new grad, military) I don't qualify.

My question: If I take option #2 (0% financing +$500) - does the dealer keep the $2,000 (#1) for themselves that they could have given me had I financed on my own?? That being said...do they keep the other discounts as well.

 

Did you try posting on the Edmunds forum? Good find on the holdback!

 

I've never heard of a 2k rebate if you finance through an outside company. Nissan is giving incentive to customers to not use NMAC (their bank). Doesn't make sense.

But if that is true, this vehicle wouldn't qualify for the 2k rebate and it wouldn't go anywhere. So no, the dealer won't keep that because there's nothing to keep.

 

And also, the 72 month finance literally is your best option. The $2k difference is almost twice as much as your would be paying in interest.

 

From Edmunds: http://www.edmunds.com/nissan/maxima...0732061/deals/

I interpret the $2k with outside financing as an incentive if I paid in cash...perhaps I misinterpreted it.

 

Where do you see $2500 rebate AND 0.9% for 72? That sounds too good to be true but i hope it is!

 

It is too good to be true:

• For the 0% or 0.9% financing you get $500 rebate.
• If you take the $2,500 rebate and finance through NMAC (they quoted me 3.99% for 60 months).
• Through NMAC and $500, it should be better deal to take the 0% financing.

I THINK if you pay cash (or finance outside NMAC?), you get the $2,000 rebate.

 

0% for 60 months, best option. Free money.

 

Yep!

 

It's not free money. It costs you $2000 to get 0% financing. It might be a good deal anyway depending on your credit score and down payment.

 

Agreed. The 0.9 for 72 mos is a promotional APR and will disqualify you from the $2k incentive. You will do best taking the $2k plus the $500 captive NMAC financing (non-promotional rate, probably around 2.5% apr for 60 mos if you have excellent credit).

Figuring out true dealer cost is very difficult, as it is clear that there are some unadvertised incentives going to the dealers from Nissan to move the Maxima. What I did was to look at autotrader.com with a large search radius, and I sorted the results to list the lowest price first. There are several dealers who list an Internet price that includes all available incentives. This price is way lower than you would calculate from invoice and the known incentives, so you can get an idea of what the dealer is getting under the table from Nissan if you do the math. Just pay attention, as these listed prices usually include several incentives that you will not qualify for.

When I bought an SL back in March, the incentives were $1k worse than they are now. My calculations at that time suggested a dealer bottom line around $7k off MSRP for an SL. This included $1500 incentive cash and additional $1k from affiliate purchase program (discount through work.)

I hope that helps.

 

Very helpful. I'm thinking there might be mfg-to-dealer unadvertised incentives out there for around $1,000-$1,500...purely speculative though.

I had one dealership offering me quotes that were MSRP - all available incentives (~$4,000, including military and new grad, which I am neither), which is very misleading even though they admit it includes them when you ask. This originally led me to believe that the dealerships might be able to keep any offered incentives not passed onto customers for themselves [my original question on this thread].

Currently, my best quote is ~$4,500 under MSRP ($1,100 - $1,600 under invoice; my invoice number is lower than quoted) for an SR Midnight edition with several extra options (before rebates); ~11% under MSRP. I think this is a fair offer but believe I can negotiate a little more.

On the financing side (according to my calculations), the sweet spot on financing between 0%/60 months (+$500) or NMAC financing +$2,500 is a rate < 2.90%...One dealer I went in for a test drive quoted me 3.99% for 60 months (+$2,500 rebates), which makes the 0% financing better in my case.

I suggest anyone somewhat familiar with spreadsheets (like Excel) to build a model to ensure you pay out the lowest overall cost after factoring the price of the car + rebates + down payment + TTL.

 

I'm working on a deal now as well. An SL with some options, msrp 39,805, dealer quoted me 33,125 after 2,075 lease cash. I'm planning to go down there today to finalize and hopefully get it for 32 and change. I think there's a big Nissan to dealer bonus/kickback this month going on.

 

6k discount? How come we never get those kinds of discounts in Canada??

 

Sorry I forgot to comment on your original question. The dealer can absolutely pocket your rebates if you are not careful, but this is extremely shady and I've only heard of something like that once or twice. I think that you are having a bit more resistance in negotiating than others because you are getting a midnight edition. These are still in higher demand, as stocks of them are somewhat slim, but they are growing fast. If I were you, given the rebates you qualify for, I'd be targeting at least 6k off MSRP and captive financing of 2.5% or less if you have excellent credit. Don't forget that you have to negotiate hard on the rate. This is often the most difficult part of the negotiation because the dealer wants you to feel like it is a formality. The dealership I bought from even tried to get me to sign over my trade title before finalizing my rate!!! When I bought mine in March, they came in with 2.99% captive financing for 60 mos. I had to really work to get them to lower it to 2.39%.
Finally, check out PNC bank. In March, they had 1.9% and right now it looks to be 1.99%. It was still better for me to take the $500 captive cash, but in your case it may offer a better option as you could take the $2k inventive and leave the $500 on the table but it would still be better than your current 0% scenario.