Buying a Car Tomorrow

[Dash man]

https://www.bestbuysubaru.com/new/S...-Springs-57f9a5eb0a0e0ae7143e7952fc9c2cfd.htm

I'm guessing a lower end impreza can be had for about $20K, but he wants all the bells and whistles...

We bought a 2018 Impreza for just under $22k out the door for our son and daughter in law in December. It has all the new safety equipment, but but no leather or nav. It had 6600 miles on it since it was a loaner vehicle for the service department before we bought it.

 

[travelover]

......... walked on the lot cold , knowing about the lowest poss. price.

Then the painful pitches for dealer installed crap, 3rd party warranty, and supplemental insurance.

.........

The only time I visit the dealership is to either take a test drive or to pick up the car. All negotiation is done via email. Why play on their turf?

 

[Nick12]

Easy peasy for me. I buy need vehicles every 12 years and negotiate thru email. I get approx 10 offers , 3 dealers in my city and 7 within a 4 hour driving distance. One of my rides I bought in 2016 was a V6 Accord stick ( I'm a purist) MSRP 32k bought cash out the door $25.5K with 9 miles on the odometer. When I traded in my car I still got 4K for it and the look on the dealer's face when the fuel gauge read empty!

 

[redduck]

Hmmn, never occurred to me that I was a man of my word. But, we did buy a car today: the Impreza, using the Costco price. It's being delivered this evening.

Everything went smoothly until we got to meet with the finance man. Very pushy. He wanted us to buy a $3200 warranty and we needed to buy it before we left the lot. After his 3rd or 4th go-around, I said, "We'd like to pay for the car now." That worked. Other than this guy, so far, so good.

Yesterday, I contacted via email two other local Subaru dealers. One didn't seem interested in beating the Costco price and I guess the other one wasn't interested as he never go back to me. There was a third dealership out-of-state that did respond but since he was 1500 miles away, I just ended up thanking him for his time.

 

[COcheesehead]

Hmmn, never occurred to me that I was a man of my word. But, we did buy a car today: the Impreza, using the Costco price. It's being delivered this evening.

Everything went smoothly until we got to meet with the finance man. Very pushy. He wanted us to buy a $3200 warranty and we needed to buy it before we left the lot. After his 3rd or 4th go-around, I said, "We'd like to pay for the car now." That worked. Other than this guy, so far, so good.

Yesterday, I contacted via email two other local Subaru dealers. One didn't seem interested in beating the Costco price and I guess the other one wasn't interested as he never go back to me. There was a third dealership out-of-state that did respond but since he was 1500 miles away, I just ended up thanking him for his time.

Dealers don’t do deals via email. They all want you to come in. People who say they email dealers for pricing, I don’t think have actually tried it.

 

[Nick12]

Dealers don’t do deals via email. They all want you to come in. People who say they email dealers for pricing, I don’t think have actually tried it.

Hmmm, worked for me.

 

[pb4uski]

Nah, I got email pricing for my last two vehicles.

 

[COcheesehead]

Nah, I got email pricing for my last two vehicles.

Not for me. Got lots of attention, but zero quotes.

 

[Jerry1]

Not for me. Got lots of attention, but zero quotes.

I think that’s what would happen in Detroit land. I’m going to try it next time though. I’d be afraid that your best deal would be a ways away and then when you get there they jerk you around. Still, I’m going to try. Plus, it’s better if you have service at the dealer where you bought the car. That means it’s better if you stay closer and buy from the dealer you actually want to take it for service.

 

[travelover]

I think that’s what would happen in Detroit land. .....

I bought my last 2 cars in "Detroit land" via email.

 

[tulak]

Dealers don’t do deals via email. They all want you to come in. People who say they email dealers for pricing, I don’t think have actually tried it.

Me too. I bought my Forester through the internet sales department at the dealership.

Very easy and a good price.

 

[brucethebroker]

And if you're worried about dealers pestering you long after, as soon as you tell them you bought somewhere else, they disappear.
Good luck.

Set up a "fake" email account with yahoo, gmail, etc. Contact dealerships using their "chat" function (one will pop up 10 sec. after you visit the dealer site). Ask internet sales mgr. to contact you only through fake email. NEVER give your phone number-they will try to get it but just say "I prefer to be contacted by email".

We recently went through the process and it was really nice to have all the "car business" emails in one place, without intrusion into our daily private lives.

 

[Nick12]

Set up a "fake" email account with yahoo, gmail, etc. Contact dealerships using their "chat" function (one will pop up 10 sec. after you visit the dealer site). Ask internet sales mgr. to contact you only through fake email. NEVER give your phone number-they will try to get it but just say "I prefer to be contacted by email".

We recently went through the process and it was really nice to have all the "car business" emails in one place, without intrusion into our daily private lives.

Good info. Car salesmen that I know noted that the dealer sets up an account based on your phone number and every time you call back they can look up info that they compose notes on you based on your interactions with them. They will deny it but not a surprise.

 

[HadEnuff]

get a quote from the colorado dealer - I've found that they are about the cheapest in the nation

That's interesting. My son lives in Steamboat Springs, Co, and he's a certified, card-carrying member of the Subaru Cult. You see Subarus everywhere there because they are great snow cars. The number of Subarus you see reminds me of the all of the VW Beetles we used to see on college campuses in the late '60s and early '70s.

In fact, on more than one occasion I have tried to gain entry to a Subaru that I thought was my son's, but wasn't.

DW had an Outback, '04 if IIRC, and she loved it. A tad cramped for me, and I'm not all that big (5'10" 175). I loved how it handled, but on trips of more than a few hours I got pretty sore. At 80K miles we had the dreaded Boxer Engine Head Gasket Issue, and had to replace it. Not cheap.

 

[HadEnuff]

Set up a "fake" email account with yahoo, gmail, etc. Contact dealerships using their "chat" function (one will pop up 10 sec. after you visit the dealer site). Ask internet sales mgr. to contact you only through fake email. NEVER give your phone number-they will try to get it but just say "I prefer to be contacted by email".

We recently went through the process and it was really nice to have all the "car business" emails in one place, without intrusion into our daily private lives.

How did you make out with internet pricing. I employed this technique when we bought DW's Honda CRV. Only one dealership got back to us with a number any better than the local guy, who was strictly MSRP. IT was a popular mover at that time. I was very annoyed by a few "internet sales agents" who insisted on dealing face-to-face, without discussing numbers via internet. What? Are you joking? In the end the dealer who saved me money, only 35 minutes farther away than the "local" guy, got the deal.

 

[Nick12]

That's interesting. My son lives in Steamboat Springs, Co, and he's a certified, card-carrying member of the Subaru Cult. You see Subarus everywhere there because they are great snow cars. The number of Subarus you see reminds me of the all of the VW Beetles we used to see on college campuses in the late '60s and early '70s.

In fact, on more than one occasion I have tried to gain entry to a Subaru that I thought was my son's, but wasn't.

DW had an Outback, '04 if IIRC, and she loved it. A tad cramped for me, and I'm not all that big (5'10" 175). I loved how it handled, but on trips of more than a few hours I got pretty sore. At 80K miles we had the dreaded Boxer Engine Head Gasket Issue, and had to replace it. Not cheap.

Subaru owners gotta love their cars. You are correct. Both retired buds of mine have Suburas that had the dreaded head gasket problem too and another had the burning oil consumption drama. Subaru service mgr in town said it’s a known issue.

 

[tbfavero]

Having dealers play off each other is a good way to go. Also, if you have not purchased, (Today is February 1), there are more incentives for dealers to cut prices towards the end of the month. You may want to start looking again in Mid-February if you have not purchased. Also remember, we are almost halfway through the 2019 MY and each month, those new cars will be less and less once you take it off the lot. Check out Edmunds.com for what others are paying for cars in your area, and you can also try truecar.com, but they want you to put in contact information so dealers can contact you. Don't be afraid to play hardball and walk away either.

 

[Happyras]

I am not a fan of Suburu, but do need some insight if it exists for buying an Audi. Time to move up before we lay down you know. I really like the idea of the new eTron which is a version of the Q5, just more money and no gas required. Audi is making it hard by requiring a deposit just to get one in the Que, as they intend to do order only on this model. I could place the deposit and try to negotiate a price, but it looks like this locks you into one dealer. I would order one for Euro delivery, but they stopped that program.

It looks like we are in a spot where Costco pricing might be our only chance at a best price scenario, but curious what others think. My next step is to have a friend of a friend work with me who is a manager at the local Audi dealership. Or we wait until the fluff of intro is over and negotiate when the market is saturated, at the risk of a long delivery. The new Q8 is nice, but without a diesel option, its just a little less appealing. The eTron seams to have the same tech as the new Q8, but smaller and batteries included.

 

[redduck]

Thanks for the info, tbfavero, but we bought the car about a week ago. We contacted the dealership via the internet and had them give us a Costco price. We are still trying to figure out how some of the driver assistance features (along with other features) work on the car.

 

[rick55]

I had a 2010 forester, it was great in the snow, but the seats were too uncomfortable on long drives.

 

[redduck]

We were cautioned about the uncomfortable seats (very hard seats with not much give). Turns out to be true. Bought a seat cushion for the car. Haven't been in the car long enough to see if it makes a difference.

 

[Caskem]

Reasonable price and Subarus are bulletproof. We have had seven over 38 years. Never regretted getting them.

 

[RunningBum]

I always wonder about that "buy at the end of the month" advice. If they haven't met their incentives, sure, you can get a great deal. But if they have, they'd probably rather have you wait until the next month and count toward that incentive, so they won't come down on prices much at all. Worth a shot, I guess, but if you aren't getting a deal, wait.

 

[pb4uski]

I always wonder about that "buy at the end of the month" advice. ....

Back around 2006 I negotiated a deal on a new Hyundai Sonata... agreed on out-the-door price, signed contract and made deposit... but the car was in transit. I go away for a business trip and am getting back late on Friday, September 30 so I arrange to pick up the car on Saturday, October 1.

Saturday morning I check the internet and find out that Hyundai introduced an additional $500 cash back incentive overnight.... I get to the deal and mention it to them, expecting that they'll say that since I had a deal negotiated that it wouldn't apply... they tell me that I was eligible since I was taking delivery in October. ka-ching!

 

[COcheesehead]

I had a 2010 forester, it was great in the snow, but the seats were too uncomfortable on long drives.

We had a Forester too for only a few years. We have transmission issues and finally just gave up on it.