I've been looking for a pretty specific IPL and have been turning up with few options. I came across this non-traditional dealership that essentially does it for you. Here's my best summary of their service:

You give them your list of requirements (IPL, graphite shadow, < x miles, black interior, illuminated kick plates, BUDGET, ect). You put a deposit down (comes off price of car at the end) and they find your car within 30 days. Flat commission based off price of car (in IPL case would be $1500). Everything is line itemed: They list the purchase price down, shipping cost, resurfacing of that wheel, replace one kick plate or something, commission. You see it all. Their profit is right up front, $1500. They have no incentive to buy a more expensive car or to lie about the quality of said car. They will point out every single scratch or ding. They can buy auction cars and cars that dealerships don't even know they have yet, thus the cost savings compared to a retail car. Cost wise, what it really boils down to is: is $1500 commission + shipping cost <= retail car mark up.

How to Find Sport Luxury Vehicles Nationwide - Pure Pursuit Auto

Just wondering what all your 2 cents are on this kind of thing. I'm located in the midwest, IPLs are few and far between... literally. I've got no problem driving ~8 hours to get one, but I can't be driving to CA to see a car for the first time in person, that's a huge investment. Thanks for your replies!

 

Everything has it's pros and cons.

I have car brokers buy cars from us before for their clients. If you have the money, it is nice. They do the leg work and like you said, they have no reason to lie about the vehicle or cost, because they work for you. If I had the money I probably would have, but...

I don't think it is that hard to go on Autotrader, cars.com, kbb.com, ect. and search for cars. The only thing I look for is that the vehicle is coming from a major brand lot ie Ford, Chevy, Nissan ect. I don't want to buy from a used car lot because they can sell junk and have no one to answer to. A major manufacturer would not allow a dealership to continually sell crap under their name, does it happen, I'm sure, but they have more to lose and it happens less. If you find a certified pre-owned at an Infiniti dealership, there would be no worries and I'd rather travel for a CPO and spend the extra 2-3000 for a CPO then spend it on a broker, personally.

I live in Mass and found my car in FL, flew done, checked it out and drove it back up that day.

So just ask yourself, what is your time worth and piece of mind knowing that they will inspect the car in greater detail then I could, maybe not you, but I'm not to mechanically inclined. If I had the money, I probably would, but that was also some of the fun of my car. Searching for it, finding it, negotiating, going to get it & spending 26 hours driving it home and get antiquated with it.

I bought my car online, left a $500 refundable deposit if I didn't like the car, flew out there inspected it and took delivery that day. If I hadn't liked it, I would have either flown back that night or got a hotel and left in the morning. It was the first car I bought like that, it was a little nerve racking, but the dealership was nice about it, understood that it was stressful negotiating about a car I could physically see, worked with me and when I look for my next toy, I will probably do it the same way....unless I go for a 370, then I'll just sell it to myself.

Just my .02, again, if you have the extra money and it is worth it to you, then I would, but it's a personal decision. I don't have any experience with a service other than selling a broker a car for a customer, the broker I dealt with did a good job for their customer negotiation wise and inspection of the vehicle to make sure it was mechanically sound. Hope this helped

 

I guess my problem with doing your situation (flying to FL and driving back) is the cost of doing so. I'd be looking at $200 for plane ticket + $200 in gas + $150 hotel.. That's $400-$600 just to go look at a car, whether you buy it or not. One dealership that's relatively near by (~400 miles) wanted a $1000 non-refundable deposit down. They are awful to negotiate with and I don't want to even deal with them at this point.

I'm also not too mechanical savvy. I've been doing the cars.com/autotrader.com thing for awhile... the stock is diminishing at the moment.

 

When I found the car I wanted, I added those extra expenses and it was still a better deal then the other cars I was looking at. & I had talked to them, they weren't awful and I knew when I went down there, as long as what they said was true and the Infiniti dealership I brought it to said it was good to go, I was buying it, so there was a less than 10% chance that I wasn't buying it. Had I not bought it, in the long run, it would have cost me more, obviously.

I did my homework though, I ran carfax and autochek, also had an Infiniti dealership run the VIN to see if the warranty was voided or to see if there was an unusual maintenance or red flags. It appeared to be dealer maintained and everything was all good. It took a week of research and talking to them before I decided to go down, then a week after that I left. It's a risk reward thing, for me, the risk of not buying the car did not out weight the reward fo the deal I got including travel expenses. My expense were about 150 or less for the plane ticket, I think I filled up 3 times so about 180 and no hotel, I slept in the car for a few hours...worst car to sleep in btw, lol. So for me, less than about 300-380 approximately was worth it oh and cab fare from airport was like 40. Fly cheap, drive slow. but everyone's different, if it doesn't make sense to you, then it doesn't, everyone and every situation is different.

And the stock will start to diminish now because of the time of the year, this is sports car season, but there is always a great deal just around the corner, just have to wait it out or take what's there now...or hire the broker. I'm not against it, just for me, the extra $ didn't make sense and I liked the process of searching for the car and traveling to get it, a little adventure. But do what you think is best for you and good luck with whatever you decide

 

YES!!!
I had more then 5 companies looking for a car for me and NON of them found it.
It was either
A: They were sending me ads for every car except the car I was looking for. It was soooo bad that the only thing the car I was looking for and the car ads they were sending me was that it was an Infiniti. And

B: They were only looking for cars with in a certain area (20/30 miles).

In 5 months I Never saw the car I was looking for in my area.
I ended up going elsewhere

 

Oh man, this company has already done a preliminary search and told me 12 are at auction that meet my exact requests (which is pretty damn specific). They seem really good at what they do, and professional. They certainly do nationwide searches as well.

 

Hm,
I wish I had this a month ago.
After 4 months of not hearing from any of them and seeing the car I was seeking in other parts of the country AND that included 3 Infiniti dealers.

I was all set to fly to TX and FL to look at a car but were sold before I got a chance to see them.

I was excited to just say "here's what I want and it's the only thing I want now go find it"
Did feel kind of cool and refreshing.
But after me telling them Do not send me any more ads for cars that is not the exact car I was looking for. I never heard from them again.

 

Were they both gray IPLs? If so, I know exactly which ones you are talking about

 

2012/2013 Liquid Platinum/Black Infiniti G37S 7AT