CPO 2011 G37s Coupe Buying Experience
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Registered Member
Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 81
Likes: 3
From: San Francisco, CA
CPO 2011 G37s Coupe Buying Experience
Hi folks. I'm new to the forums and to the Infiniti / G community and thought I'd share my car buying experience with everyone. For the record, I'm not trying to one up Dave (DdotRoq) or anything with this write up. I've only owned my G for about 3 weeks and have found MyG37 already an excellent resource so this is my effort to try and give back. Hopefully it helps someone or at least find it a little entertaining.
The topics I'm going to discuss are my research
, my negotiations 
, and financing 
.
Settling on a G37 and Research:
First off, I was deciding between a 2011 335i CPO or a 2011 G37 non-CPO. I leaned towards the G37 because it was significantly cheaper (BMW was around 32k OTD and the G37s was around 28-30k OTD). Another factor was longevity. German cars are notorious for high maintenance costs and reliability issues (compared to Japanese cars at least). I wanted to buy my car for the long haul and not feel the need to trade in every 4-5 years. Plus, my family's owned several Nissans ranging from the early 80s to early 00s. Shoot, my dad's Datsun truck made it to 350k miles with regular maintenance. I saw reliability and longevity first hand so I knew an Infinity would be reliable. Now let's talk about CPO vs Non- CPO. To me, it really depended on what I wanted to do with the car since I already had peace of mind the car was reliable. Here are some scenarios to think about:
Scenario 1: You plan on driving the car for only a few years and trading in (say 5 years or less). It would make sense to go with a CPO and with less mileage because it'll help your resale / trade in.
Scenario 2: You want to trade in your car in maybe 5 years but you're into the tuner scene and don't want to potentially void a warranty. It'd make sense to find a lower mileage car that's non-CPO. This offers your the flexibility to go as far as forced induction and engine work without worrying about the warranty restrictions.
Scenario 3 (my situation): I'm already confident with the reliability and know I will keep this car a while. Plus, I'm not a serious tuner but choose upgrades more for looks, sound and drive-ability. With that, I had absolutely no interest in buying a CPO (even went through some negotiations asking to remove it). I also care a little less about the miles because 10-15k miles isn't that big if I'm going to drive a car to 150-200k miles, especially since this is a weekend car. I only bought the CPO on this car because this CPO out the door (OTD) was only $500 more than what I wanted non-CPO. So I figured I'd just be mindful of my mods and not do anything too crazy until my warranty is over.
Now, I'm confident I want a G37s so now I do my research...
Most of you already know the general stuff.. Check KBB, Edmunds, NADA etc. That's the first step to researching a car and finding something in my price range. Next, I checked Craigslist, Autotrader, and Cars.com to see how the actual market prices look. Keep in mind that these are all ASKING prices. If they're still for sale, either something's wrong with them, the price is too high, or both! Since I know asking prices, I was able to figure out how much I want to put down and how much to finance / find my monthly payments. There's a ton of calculators online which can help you. I knew I could afford to put around $14k down and to finance the rest. I condensed my search for 2010+ G37s coupes because I liked their style and still preferred something with around 30-40k miles (although I said earlier it didn't matter to me that much).
Buying tips: I've read that it's advantageous to negotiate / purchase cars on M-Th and towards the end of the month. Mondays are usually "clean up" days. I guess it has something to do with how the dealerships book their monthly performance. Also, it seems like dealers drop the asking price every 3-4 weeks of the car sitting on the lot. The first sale date is usually on the carfax report as a reference. If a car is getting near the 8th week or so, the dealer seemed to be pretty inclined to move the car.
Negotiations:
Everyone has their own negotiation style. Shoot, my buddy negotiated a new R1 for $4500 below invoice and made them throw in a set of high performance tires with 0% financing! I, however, don't have any heroic stories like that and this definitely isn't one of them. I started negotiating the old fashion way- finding cars I was interested online, going to the dealership, doing the song and dance and then realized their bottom dollar and my limit number were too far apart. My top dollar was $29k OTD for a lower mileage G37s that wasn't black or white. I started negotiating cars online / through email and it ultimately became fruitful. I didn't have to waste time dancing around at the dealership or sit there for a whole day to find out our numbers are too far apart. One of the best parts about negotiating over email is that I could see the dealer's bottom dollar in writing, say $30.1k non-CPO or $31.7k CPO, for a 2011 G37s with 33,XXX miles. I was able to play this number to another dealer because I had the numbers in writing for a 38,XXX mile G37s with the same specs for $29.8k. Both cars actually sold a couple days later and the dealership notified me to 1. rub the deal in my face a little
and 2. give me an idea what market price was 
. The trick with talking to these internet managers is to ask them to work with you on the price. If they won't work with you then, you either pissed off the internet manager or that price really is their bottom dollar (which I doubt). It's usually better to make the dealer drop the price on their own rather than haggle it out IMO.
Later that week (July 31st), I saw a 2011 G37s CPO with 37,000 miles on it at SF Infiniti and they were asking around $27.8k and puts the OTD round $30k. I simply sent in an offer on their website and the internet manager said he couldn't discuss price through email even though they have a freakin "Submit Offer" button on the website. I replied calling the dealership's BS for not being willing to give me a price or at least tell me if we were in the same ball park. The internet manager said that the dealership was at $29.8 OTD and told me to come down because they might be more flexible with the price. I get to the dealership and they give me a freakin invoice showing the $29.8 OTD and ask me to sign. I get annoyed and told the dealeship's negotiator that I was told the price would be flexible if I came all the way down for a visit. With a little attitude, the guy said giving me a 2011 G37 CPO in its condition for $29.8k OTD already was a sign of good faith (which I would agree with given the same car with 34k miles sold for around $31.7k earlier that week). I calmly replied that he already knew my number was $29k coming into the deal and to stop jerking me around. The price dropped to $29.5k OTD and I made him throw in an Infiniti keychain as my way of being kind of a **** to him. My real bottom dollar for a CPO was $29.5k because I consider the extended warranty as $500 which is worth it to me.
Financing: I ended up putting $14.5k down and financing $15k since I already knew what I could afford prior to car shopping. I was expecting a rate from the dealership in the ballpark between 2% and 3%. They hit me with a godzilla rate of 4.79% even though my credit score was around 780! Most people usually rate shop prior to buying a car but my mom actually gave me a less stressful strategy- shop for a refinance rate AFTER getting my loan from the stealership. The reason being is that the dealer usually tries to make up some profit during the financing phase (like in this situation). So I followed my momma's advice like a good son and refi'd my loan at 2.84% at BOA, which has surprisingly one of the lowest rates around.
The whole research process literally took me months to figure out since this is my first car purchase. Remember the buyer is 100% in control of the situation no matter what the dealership wants to make you think. With some knowledge and patience, I ended up saving some money on the car AND on my loan. I hope this write up helps someone during their car buying experience.
This is my very first write up / thread so please feel free to provide some feedback as to how I may improve (seemed a bit long). Please feel free to reply / PM questions to me and I'll try to answer them.
The topics I'm going to discuss are my research
, my negotiations , and financing . Settling on a G37 and Research:
First off, I was deciding between a 2011 335i CPO or a 2011 G37 non-CPO. I leaned towards the G37 because it was significantly cheaper (BMW was around 32k OTD and the G37s was around 28-30k OTD). Another factor was longevity. German cars are notorious for high maintenance costs and reliability issues (compared to Japanese cars at least). I wanted to buy my car for the long haul and not feel the need to trade in every 4-5 years. Plus, my family's owned several Nissans ranging from the early 80s to early 00s. Shoot, my dad's Datsun truck made it to 350k miles with regular maintenance. I saw reliability and longevity first hand so I knew an Infinity would be reliable. Now let's talk about CPO vs Non- CPO. To me, it really depended on what I wanted to do with the car since I already had peace of mind the car was reliable. Here are some scenarios to think about:
Scenario 1: You plan on driving the car for only a few years and trading in (say 5 years or less). It would make sense to go with a CPO and with less mileage because it'll help your resale / trade in.
Scenario 2: You want to trade in your car in maybe 5 years but you're into the tuner scene and don't want to potentially void a warranty. It'd make sense to find a lower mileage car that's non-CPO. This offers your the flexibility to go as far as forced induction and engine work without worrying about the warranty restrictions.
Scenario 3 (my situation): I'm already confident with the reliability and know I will keep this car a while. Plus, I'm not a serious tuner but choose upgrades more for looks, sound and drive-ability. With that, I had absolutely no interest in buying a CPO (even went through some negotiations asking to remove it). I also care a little less about the miles because 10-15k miles isn't that big if I'm going to drive a car to 150-200k miles, especially since this is a weekend car. I only bought the CPO on this car because this CPO out the door (OTD) was only $500 more than what I wanted non-CPO. So I figured I'd just be mindful of my mods and not do anything too crazy until my warranty is over.
Now, I'm confident I want a G37s so now I do my research...
Most of you already know the general stuff.. Check KBB, Edmunds, NADA etc. That's the first step to researching a car and finding something in my price range. Next, I checked Craigslist, Autotrader, and Cars.com to see how the actual market prices look. Keep in mind that these are all ASKING prices. If they're still for sale, either something's wrong with them, the price is too high, or both! Since I know asking prices, I was able to figure out how much I want to put down and how much to finance / find my monthly payments. There's a ton of calculators online which can help you. I knew I could afford to put around $14k down and to finance the rest. I condensed my search for 2010+ G37s coupes because I liked their style and still preferred something with around 30-40k miles (although I said earlier it didn't matter to me that much).
Buying tips: I've read that it's advantageous to negotiate / purchase cars on M-Th and towards the end of the month. Mondays are usually "clean up" days. I guess it has something to do with how the dealerships book their monthly performance. Also, it seems like dealers drop the asking price every 3-4 weeks of the car sitting on the lot. The first sale date is usually on the carfax report as a reference. If a car is getting near the 8th week or so, the dealer seemed to be pretty inclined to move the car.
Negotiations:
Everyone has their own negotiation style. Shoot, my buddy negotiated a new R1 for $4500 below invoice and made them throw in a set of high performance tires with 0% financing! I, however, don't have any heroic stories like that and this definitely isn't one of them. I started negotiating the old fashion way- finding cars I was interested online, going to the dealership, doing the song and dance and then realized their bottom dollar and my limit number were too far apart. My top dollar was $29k OTD for a lower mileage G37s that wasn't black or white. I started negotiating cars online / through email and it ultimately became fruitful. I didn't have to waste time dancing around at the dealership or sit there for a whole day to find out our numbers are too far apart. One of the best parts about negotiating over email is that I could see the dealer's bottom dollar in writing, say $30.1k non-CPO or $31.7k CPO, for a 2011 G37s with 33,XXX miles. I was able to play this number to another dealer because I had the numbers in writing for a 38,XXX mile G37s with the same specs for $29.8k. Both cars actually sold a couple days later and the dealership notified me to 1. rub the deal in my face a little
and 2. give me an idea what market price was . The trick with talking to these internet managers is to ask them to work with you on the price. If they won't work with you then, you either pissed off the internet manager or that price really is their bottom dollar (which I doubt). It's usually better to make the dealer drop the price on their own rather than haggle it out IMO. Later that week (July 31st), I saw a 2011 G37s CPO with 37,000 miles on it at SF Infiniti and they were asking around $27.8k and puts the OTD round $30k. I simply sent in an offer on their website and the internet manager said he couldn't discuss price through email even though they have a freakin "Submit Offer" button on the website. I replied calling the dealership's BS for not being willing to give me a price or at least tell me if we were in the same ball park. The internet manager said that the dealership was at $29.8 OTD and told me to come down because they might be more flexible with the price. I get to the dealership and they give me a freakin invoice showing the $29.8 OTD and ask me to sign. I get annoyed and told the dealeship's negotiator that I was told the price would be flexible if I came all the way down for a visit. With a little attitude, the guy said giving me a 2011 G37 CPO in its condition for $29.8k OTD already was a sign of good faith (which I would agree with given the same car with 34k miles sold for around $31.7k earlier that week). I calmly replied that he already knew my number was $29k coming into the deal and to stop jerking me around. The price dropped to $29.5k OTD and I made him throw in an Infiniti keychain as my way of being kind of a **** to him. My real bottom dollar for a CPO was $29.5k because I consider the extended warranty as $500 which is worth it to me.
Financing: I ended up putting $14.5k down and financing $15k since I already knew what I could afford prior to car shopping. I was expecting a rate from the dealership in the ballpark between 2% and 3%. They hit me with a godzilla rate of 4.79% even though my credit score was around 780! Most people usually rate shop prior to buying a car but my mom actually gave me a less stressful strategy- shop for a refinance rate AFTER getting my loan from the stealership. The reason being is that the dealer usually tries to make up some profit during the financing phase (like in this situation). So I followed my momma's advice like a good son and refi'd my loan at 2.84% at BOA, which has surprisingly one of the lowest rates around.
The whole research process literally took me months to figure out since this is my first car purchase. Remember the buyer is 100% in control of the situation no matter what the dealership wants to make you think. With some knowledge and patience, I ended up saving some money on the car AND on my loan. I hope this write up helps someone during their car buying experience.
This is my very first write up / thread so please feel free to provide some feedback as to how I may improve (seemed a bit long). Please feel free to reply / PM questions to me and I'll try to answer them.
Registered Member
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 53
Likes: 2
From: SoCal SFV
just purchased 2012 G37C CPO in Monrovia after searching around LA for 2 months. i did the right thing , got pre-approved for 25K @ Logix credit union for 1.9%. Sticker price 28,700. miles 23500. paid 28000, got 19" New Enkei's & Hankooks as part of the deal, I put 13K down,plus paid cash for TTL. Auto withdrawal drops the apr to 0.9%. my payment is 354.00 x only 48 months.
I remember finding my G. The dealership would just not drop the price at all they were stiff as a board. After several hours they thought they were breaking me down because I was really interested in the car but it really surprised him when I said "have a good day." I got in my car started it up, put it in reverse and sure enough two sales reps, the finance manager and the sales manager were speed walking to my car and sticking their heads in my windows saying they would work with me on it if I stayed, lol. Like you said, the buyer has the power but you have to know how to work it.
It's always good to do as much research as possible and it seems like you did your homework. Like zrixter said, your best bet might have been to refinance with a credit union. With a 780 you would probably get the best rate available at around 1%
It's always good to do as much research as possible and it seems like you did your homework. Like zrixter said, your best bet might have been to refinance with a credit union. With a 780 you would probably get the best rate available at around 1%
Thread Starter
Registered Member
Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 81
Likes: 3
From: San Francisco, CA
just purchased 2012 G37C CPO in Monrovia after searching around LA for 2 months. i did the right thing , got pre-approved for 25K @ Logix credit union for 1.9%. Sticker price 28,700. miles 23500. paid 28000, got 19" New Enkei's & Hankooks as part of the deal, I put 13K down,plus paid cash for TTL. Auto withdrawal drops the apr to 0.9%. my payment is 354.00 x only 48 months.
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