What I paid for my 2012 Nissan Versa Sedan S Model

Hi guys,

I'm new to the forum so I'd like to start by saying hello!

I just purchased a new 2012 Nissan Versa Sedan (S Model). Since I used this site as an educational tool for my buying experience, I thought it would be prudent to come back and fill you guys in on what I paid. I hope this post helps prospective Versa owners.

This is my family's second Versa in 3 years. The first was a 2009 (purchased at the end of 2008) and quite frankly, I was a bit disappointed by the whole buying experience. My burdened emotions doubled down when I realized I had paid $2,000 more than I should have.

This time around I did as much research as possible and I armed myself to the teeth with information in order to deflect the many sharks I would eventually encounter at the dealership. So here's how I fared:

I walked out of the dealer with a 2012 Nissan Versa 1.6L Sedan S Model for $15,000 OTD (including tax, dealer fee, tag and transfer, etc). The car is pretty basic: automatic transmission, cruise control, CD player with ipod connection, alarm, etc. The only downside, for me, is that the car doesn't have automatic windows and locks. However, I feel that I can cope without those extras. All in all the experience was pretty typical. I had to haggle, haggle, haggle until I felt I was getting a pretty good deal. Who knows, I could have probably fought harder for a better price, but I think I did pretty good considering the new model just hit the market.

On top of the $15,000, I added GAP insurance, which came out to $699.00. I know this sounds high but I shopped it around and this was the lowest price I found. However, here's a quick tip: I will be canceling my gap insurance at about the two year mark and get a prorated reimbursement. GAP is only necessary when you're upside down on your loan. Once you have paid down the loan to the point where your car is worth what you owe, you no longer need GAP insurance. At said point, you can simply contact your dealer and have them cancel the GAP insurance. Once it's canceled, you will receive a check by mail for the prorated leftover. With that said, I will probably receive a reimbursement check for $500.00. So, in reality, I will spend about $200 on GAP insurance. I hope this helps.

They tried to stick it to me in the end with the financing. At first, they offered a 3.99%. Then they tried to sell me an extended warranty, which would increase the monthly payments by $20. I didn't feel this was a good deal because the extended warranty only covers five years or 60,000 miles. Personally I felt that the 36,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty was sufficient and that an extra two years didn't merit an additional $1,500 dollars. However, the sliminess kept coming... The finance guy proceeded by offering the extended warranty for only $10 more a month. This sounded like fair price, so I decided to go with it. Once I received the final contract, I realized that the warranty seemed like a deal because the interest rate had dropped from a 3.99% to a 2.75%. I quickly brought this up to the finance guy and he tried every trick in the book to convince me that the interest rate was lowered because I accepted the extended warranty. I asked to speak to his manager and I got a nasty look from the finance guy. The manager came in and, ah ha, I qualify for the 2.75% rate with or without the extended warranty. To make a longer story shorter, the room was quite and I could feel a negative vibe from the finance guy, while my paperwork was being finalized but, frankly, I don't give a hoot. He tried to screw me and he got caught.

I walked out with a 2.75% loan on a $15,000 balance, which comes out to $227 a month for 72 months (I paid the GAP insurance separate with a check). Nissan didn't have any financing specials on the new 2012 model, so I think I did pretty well.

Sorry for the long post. Again I hope my experience helps anyone looking to buy a Versa. Feel free to give me your feedback...if you think I got a good deal, let me know and vice versa (no pun intended). Also, if you have any questions, shoot!