Still Subaru hunting...

Dom,

Thanks for that great info. I had planned to walk in low and work up incrimentally if I have to. Do you have any URL's for where I can get the dealer cost info at?

Bradley

Reply to
Bradley Walker
Loading thread data ...

Interesting. We're leasing our 1999 OBW (now has 79k on the clock), and when the lease is up in Dec. 2006, we plan to purchase it for the residual value of $5,000. Just fyi: that's what the dealer has priced the car at, and it's a very good car. Good luck on getting what you want for it. I for one would not pay that much because I think it's way overpriced. Come down just a little: my mother sold her 1998 OBW Limited, loaded with leather, 89K miles, last summer for $8k. The car ran/runs perfectly.

Reply to
KLS

The car is not for sale. $12k is what I would take if someone came up to me and offered it. I realize I could not sell it for that price. My problem (and point) is that I have a very hard time getting rid of something works so well.

BTW, before you do the residual buyout, try to get the dealer to do the timing belt and front oil seal. That's coming up soon and will save you some money.

Reply to
Jim Stewart

My post was in response to Jaba, but your points are well taken. -LK

Reply to
lkreh

I looked at those prices and felt there were really high as well, but then again maybe that has something to do with the region you or I are located in? I'm in the Northern Virginia (DC/Maryland/Virginia/West Virginia) area where about 1 out of 12 vehicles on the road is a Subaru. Goto the mountains for skiing like I did last week and that is more like 1 out of every 4 is a Subaru.

Back in December a dealership was hosting a repo show where banks came together to sell their repo stock and I found a 2001 5spd Limited Ed. Navy blue outback wagon. It had around 50k miles and they were wanting $19,200 for it, really outrageous. Well I walked in with my 93 Explorer 219k miles and they wanted to give me 2k for that and I eventually talked them down to the point that the bank manager himself came over and started begging and throwing offers at me. The offer I was going to take him up on was $220/mon for 60mon with $0 down and no payments until Feb. (This was done on Dec 9) I agreed and went back to my office to grab financial papers and headed back a few hours later, only to find it was sold. Probably to some unsuspecting idiot that overpaid. I did notice when I was speaking with the bank manger that the salesman himself I think was ticked off and upset that he was loosing commission because he withdrew himself from me and the bank managers conversation and seemed... dejected at best.

Reply to
Bradley Walker

I am located in the north east US. With all due respect, yes - the value of the car may be $8000 Kelley Blue Book RETAIL....or maybe not... I dont know because I haven't taken the time to look it up. Regardless... How many of us WANT to pay FULL RETAIL VALUE for a depreciating asset??? Not me. Ideally, you want to pay as close to the current wholesale TRADE IN VALUE - not RETAIL value. I'll use the $8000 RETAIL VALUE since its already being quoted as fact here...but... What is the WHOLESALE TRADE IN VALUE for this car? Alittle research will tell you that it is in the range of $4000 - $5000 depending on condition and the market you are in (obtained right off Kelley's website - go into SELL YOUR CAR to get the wholesale information). Do I expect that he will pay only wholesale? No...a dealer is in business to make money - not give away cars. But Bradley can certainly can do better than the FULL RETAIL price of $8000. In this deal, the dealer would be making 3- 4000 dollars profit (minus the cost of warranty to the dealer...which is much less in cost for the dealer than it would be for Bradley).

If he goes in with a $5000 dollar offer (to start) for the car and work up from there, he stands to do better in the end. If the car has been sitting, and the dealer paid $4500 for the car - he may sell it for 6000 to get it off the lot - even possibly with a warranty.

"RETAIL VALUE" of $8000 and work down to maximize his profit - thinking that if he can get the buyer to bite at $7500, the buyer will think he is getting a fair deal - when in fact, he is paying $2500+ more than the car is ACTUALLY worth to anyone.

I still insist that he should get the wholesale dealer cost for the car (also available from Kelley...refer to SELL YOUR CAR section for this info) and start from there. The extended warranty does offer some security....at a cost! He shouldn't be lured into thinking that he is getting it for free in this case. In this case - it doesn't appear its free at all. The dealer knows what he paid for the car, he knows what the warranty will cost, and he knows how much $$ he will make if sold at or near FULL RETAIL.

If I were Bradley, I would:

1) get WHOLESALE TRADE IN VALUE for the car. 2) find out how much the warranty coverage (or similar) is by itself PRIOR to negotiating anything. I would call around for similar warranty coverage elsewhere (AAA offers a good warranty policy) to get an idea of the value. When I understands what a warranty policy would cost me to obtain on my own, I am a better position to negotiate for the car - WITH a warranty - and - WITHOUT the warranty. The dealer should be willing to negotiate both ways.

But always....always...always start low at dealer wholesale cost - NEVER pay full retail value for a car.

Case in point - When I bought my Subaru, the extended warranty for 5 yrs/100,000 miles was almost $1800 through the dealer. I got the same coverage thru AAA for half that cost....saving myself hundreds. In addition, my car was on the lot for sometime (its a stick shift). Being that stick shifts dont sell quickly in this area, I was able to get a great deal ($200 over dealer cost) on my car because he needed to unload it.

Keep in mind too - the used car market pricing is more depressed these days do to the glut of used cars on the market....just another reason not to pay full retail value.

Best of luck -

Reply to
Dom

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.