[kamikazeH20mln]

Hello all! Long time lurker.

I just purchased my first 20k+ car on 3/28/2008 at Nissan's end of quarter and end of year with a Nissan 2008 Altima 3.5 SL CVT Sedan in Precision Gray. Got her fully loaded from the dealer:

- Premium Package (leather, fog lights, heat seats, moonroof, 264W Bose 6 speaker + sub, etc)
- Technology Package (aka Nav, XM, 6 CD changer, aux, Bluetooth Phone, full spare)
- Moonroof deflector
- Splash guards
- Rear Spoiler
- Vehicle Dynamic Control
- Aluminum Kick Plates
- Carpet Mats


Final result:
negotiated at $28,875k for the car (minus warranty, fees, rebates, title, taxes, tags) for a $33,740 @ MSRP / $30,171 @ dealer invoice
$943 for the manufacturer 72mo / 100k, $0 deductible, gold plus warranty at dealer invoice cost
Free oil changes, car wash, and tire rotation for life from the dealer
$5k for trade in of my 2001 Honda Civic EX with a busted bumper, slipping automatic transmission, and 5 panels repainted from accidents/vandalism (car max said it was $4.5 k...so I got $500 more without asking :-) )
$1250 manufacturer rebate in addition taken off final total

Ohh, and paid in cash...been saving since 4 years ago after I paid off my Civic from Honda Finance :-)

Process took a month plus a week:
-- One month of test drives of the Altima coupe and sedan vs the Honda accord coupe and sedan
-- 3 days to collect dealer info, call for interest, and background data on the sedan from FightingChance.com
-- 2 days to send bid request to 10 local dealers
-- 1.5 days to reduce to 5 local dealers and provide best price to beat
-- 2 hours to decide the final dealer to go with based on price, distance, and service department ratings
-- 6 hours of waiting and paperwork at dealership on a Saturday. negotiations all done over email and phone before stepping foot into the dealership while i watched other become the victims of sales sharks..some even double teamed!

I had only wanted the SL premium package, kickplates, and moonroof deflector, but noticed it was only $1k more for the fully loaded.