Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Way OT - Buying Subaru Legacy
howard gorman
Used to be you'd negotiate a price based on the dealer invoice. I see from a pricing service that they are showing percent down from MSRP. Haven't bought a car in a while, has this changed? Anyone recently buy this car, I know the whole story with chip shortages and leaner dealer inventory. Thanks
Re: Way OT - Buying Subaru Legacy
John McGaw
I bought my loaded Outback Touring 3.6 in 2018. I knew roughly what the theoretical dealer cost was IIRC from Consumer Reports and what the usual markup was and bargained from that. I don't know that there is any true standard about where one starts the bargaining just that sometimes you need to be willing to walk away if they are too fond of their own price and are totally unwilling to consider your offers. Honestly I didn't bargain very hard on this one since I knew what I wanted and already had saved enough to just write a check for it. I had even told the dealer in September that I'd be back in January to get one.
You are probably lucky that you are looking at a sedan rather than one of the SUV-types since the supply of those may be a bit better although, even there, the choices of colors and such might be restricted by market conditions. I hear that Subaru is having a hard time moving the Ascent off the lots but that everything else is selling pretty quickly.
Re: Way OT - Buying Subaru Legacy
walta
The last car I bought was a 14 that is forever in this game. But I found truecar helpful.
Today the dealer more or less expects you will know the cost from the net so the money is not made on the price of the new car so to get a good price they need to think they will get you another way. The profit comes from getting the trade in cheep so let them give you the low ball price and refuse only after you have locked in the new car price. The finance man is the real profit center so let them think you may finance until after the new car price is set or finance and pay it off next month. Also say no to the extended warranty.
Before you buy... *LINK*
David Yoho
You can learn a lot about the tricks and traps the dealers use to take money out of your pocket when making the deal by checking out Kevin Hunter's You Tube videos. He discusses and explains everything from how to figure the right price on a new car or trade-in, to the finance office tricks, to not revealing how you plan to pay until the deal is set, and other things that will save you money.
Check the link below for ways to beat the dealer at their own game.
Kevin Hunter - The Homework Guy
not that most will find it useful...
David Weaver
..but I call dealers ahead of time, tell them I'm bringing two sets of keys and that I'll probably pay cash and tell them what I expect (which is to come at an off time if needed and have the car test driven right away and be in and out in a half hour and what number I'm looking for - if they were going to do a little better, I don't care).
They don't like stuff sprung on them, either, not that they can honestly say they deserve not to, but I tell them what I'm looking for which is the amount that's going to be on the check that I have to write, net of trade. I know from online inventory which car they have that I'm looking for and tell them, too. Nothing unknown, and we start from the standpoint of "this is the total amount that will be on my check, no matter how you want to draw up the sales details".
(had a dealer tie me up 15 years ago by pretending they didn't know where my keys were - they were busy and trying to waste peoples' time and keep them at the dealership so they felt like "we've spent so much time already, we might as well conceded").
Re: Way OT - Buying Subaru Legacy
Bill Howatt
Yes, the money is made on the extras like financing. I have been told by more than one car person that a consequence of the internet is that they pretty well have to put their "best" price in their ads/websites because they are so easily compared.
When I bought my last vehicle in 2017, how the application of discounts, loyalty rebates, financing options, trade-in etc to the price was enough to make your head spin.
Bill
Experience with taking bids
Wiley Horne
Very few want to go ‘sit in the box’ at the dealership and hassle the sale. David’s way eliminates that altogether.
Here’s one other option if you have a clean deal. Last car I bought (top end 2012 Camry) was no trade-in, no financing. It was not convenient to go to the dealership at all, even to look at the car. But I knew what I wanted. I used Consumer Reports, but same service is offered by all insurance companies these days, and others. Went online to Consumer Reports at about 9 am, spec’ed the car. In less than 30 minutes, I had 3 bids from dealership fleet managers. The bid scatter was about $400 on a $30,000 car. I knew from researching that I was leaving probably $300 on the table, compared to David’s method.
By 9:30am, all 3 were calling. I particularly liked the lady with the middle bid—she was $200 above low bid, so now I was leaving $500 on the table. The dealership’s google reviews were great. I wanted the car delivered, and she had all the right answers, ‘yes, we have that car; yes our bid is the bottom line, no ups; yes, we’ll bring it to your driveway this afternoon.’ This dealer was in Long Beach, about 40 miles from me. I filled out a brief credit report, but I think they already ran me and had no questions.
She said, we’ll have the car there about 3:00pm washed. I asked whether they needed a signed order or money before they left Long Beach. She said no.
At 3pm, the fleet guy rolled into my drive, and the lady I had talked to was in a chase car, so they could get home. He explained everything about the car, demonstrated the nav and the cell phone bluetooth business, etc etc. Was willing to spend whatever time was needed. Finally I said, we’re good. At that point, I wrote the check, signed the sale papers, and they asked where was the nearest Starbucks.
Done. I’ll probably buy one more car, and will do it the exact same way. 3as really satisfactory the way it fit my life at that time.
Wiley
Re: Way OT - Buying Subaru Legacy
Jesse Cloud
I recently bought a Subaru through the Costco auto sales program. No charge to the customer, saved about $2K. They also have good discounts on service for just about any car.
Might be worth a look.
Sounds good to me..
David Weaver
...one thing I do in exchange (as you mention leaving money on the table) is coming up with a reasonable estimate, vs. trying to get bottom dollar. I guess some of that is in principle (I don't begrudge the dealer making some money, nor the salesmen, just want convenience and honesty).
My version is much like yours, but I may actually be leaving money on the table by coming up with my own number through research, but I'm OK with that.
one thing youtube has educated me on is something I hadn't thought of before, and that's that dealers themselves often get scam buyers who change tags and trim bits on cars to make a trade in look $5k more valuable than it is - I'd never catch some of the things they show, though I guess the VIN tells those details.
My dad on the other hand, free coffee and a smile from a salesperson and he'll take their word for everything without getting anything in writing.
Free coffee is a sign of honest, we all know that
Kinda funny thing about it
Wiley Horne
I had been piddling around for probably a month making a ridiculous project out of this simple task, comparing, spec-ing, pricing, pricing options and packages, this car against that car, dealer’s cost, yadda yadda blah blah.
Finally, one morning early, as I settled down with yet another comparison, my wife just got exasperated and fed up, and couldn’t restrain herself. She burst out, ‘Why can’t we just have a new car??!!’ I said, well I like this Subaru and this Camry, and….’ She broke in, ‘get the Camry!’ I was getting a lesson in executive decision-making. Nothing left but say ‘OK’.
Thats when I went and pulled up Consumer Reports, and 5 hours later we had a car washed and gassed in the driveway 
.
Wiley
Just bought a new truck
Mike L
I have to admit I get X-plan from Ford, so the cost is set before I pull in.
Before I had X-plan I would go and look at a car or truck. When they took my trade for a test drive I would ask for my keys back when they parked it. If I got stuck in an ever ending box long enough I would order a Pizza delivered to the dealer. With all these food deliveries services you could have a cheese burger in your hand faster then the salesman walk to the desk. I also would say to the sales person you have two trips to the desk before I walk out the door. After they come back the first time and I say no, I then say this is your last chance to make a deal.
In finance they will try and sell you different extended warranty's. If you choose to get one make sure it is the MFG policy not an external insurance policy.
Test drive it, ask if you can keep it over night to make sure it meets your needs.
If I never owned the style of car or truck I was thinking about buying, I would find one and rent it for a weekend.
Mike
I got ice cream when I bought my last car.
Re: free, too, I'd bet!
Once...
David Weaver
...You do it that way one time, it's hard to go back to the old way!
Re: free, too, I'd bet!
Steve D, CT
It was! How did you know?
They must have estimated that I can put away ice cream with the best of them so they elected to deliver the car to me at my DMV to protect their freezer.