QuestionQUESTION: Jeff, We've been seriously looking at buying a new 350z, but as we live in Alaska, we have to order one through the factory. The dealer here in Anchorage, and 2 in Seattle have told us that to order one, we have to also purchase these other options, floor mats and either a navigation system or XM radio. Neither the navigation system nor the XM radio will work in Alaska, but I have to buy one or the other? And they want $100 for the floor mats. All I want is a Daytona blue car, grand touring, with side impact curtains. The car comes with everything else we want. Is this true? I have to buy options that aren't really options? Thanks for your help. Victoria
ANSWER: Dealers in Alaska certainly are frustrating, aren't they? They still think they have the market there to themselves; must never have heard of that thing called "The Internet." When I was selling Fords here in Rochester, NY, I actually sold an F-350 diesel to a guy from Eagle River because the local dealers wouldn't honor the Ford Employee purchase price (his brother worked for Ford). They wanted full sticker, but the employee price was $7,000 less. Even with a one-way plane ticket to Buffalo and the fuel to drive back, he STILL saved about $5,000.
My point is: don't limit your purchase power to just the local area. Contact dealers in Seattle or Portland to see what they can do. It should be relatively easy to buy out-of-state, pick up the car using a temporary tag from that state, then go directly to the Alaska motor-vehicle office and title & register the car yourself. In NY we call the temporary tag an in-transit permit, and it costs just $10.00. It gives you 30 days to drive the vehicle home and register it. And the permit allows you to avoid paying any sales tax in NY as long as you live out-of-state and register the car elsewhere. You'll pay tax when you register the car in Alaska.
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QUESTION: The out of state thing is exactly what we were thinking about, but even the dealers in Seattle are saying we have to purchase XM or Navigation. How do we find out if that is really true? And why would a car company call them options if they in truth aren't? Isn't that misleading to the buying public? Thanks again.
AnswerI searched the two best sources for new-car pricing info (edmunds and carsdirect.com), and neither one mentions having to purchase certain options on any particular 350Z. On carsdirect you actually "build" the model you want, and if you try to order it incorrectly it will stop the process and tell you what you're doing wrong. The only thing I can think of is this: is the 350Z built in Japan? Often times the importer (the in-between company that the dealer buys the vehicle from) forces the dealers to buy certain options, whether they (or you) want them or not. This practice was very prevalent in the 70s and 80s, but has fallen off dramatically as foreign manufacturers set up factories here in the States. Easier to give you what you want if the cars are made here, with shorter order lead times. If the Z is made overseas (it will tell you on the window sticker), then this might explain the "non-optional option." If dealers in different states are telling you this, then I tend to believe there's not much you can do to get around it.
