If you're in the market for a new car in the United States and have less than $18,000 to spend, you'll find plenty of choices – but they'll mostly be econo-boxes like the Chevy Sonic, Kia Rio, or Fiat 500. You wouldn't expect to find something like a brand-new Infiniti crossover among them, yet that's just what one couple in Kentucky got.
Chris and Sherri Cooper saw an ad on Facebook for a 2017 Infiniti QX30, listed for $17,790 instead of the $35k MSRP (or <$30k base price). “I snapped a picture of it real quick and showed it to (my husband) and was like, ‘This is crazy. Look at the price of this brand new car,’” Sherri told local station WDRB.
So they called the local dealership in Louisville, who said they would not honor the advertised price. “There's no possible way that we could do that,” said sales manager Cam Meredith. “I mean that's $17,000 less than what we should be selling it for.”
A blatant case of false advertising, or a glitch in some system somewhere? Hard to say. These things happen, and there's often some small print protecting the automaker and dealers in such an event. But here's where it gets interesting.
As reported by The Drive, the sales manager called Infiniti's US head office (located not far away in Franklin, Tennessee), which instructed the dealership to honor the deal, and that the manufacturer would cover the difference.
More than money, corporate told the dealer, "What matters is our integrity and our reputation." So just like that, the Coopers (who you might think would be driving a Mini) got a brand-new Infiniti – even if it is the entry-level model – for half off, or about the price of a Mitsubishi Lancer. And Infiniti set about fixing the system before they find themselves writing off another seventeen grand.
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