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Subaru Outback Prices Paid and Buying Experience

3393 messages,  Last post on May 23, 2013 at 9:11 AM

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What is this discussion about? Subaru Outback, Wagon, SUV

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#3283 of 3393 Bought a 2013 Outback Premium with moonroof by nassaujur

Dec 01, 2012 (10:05 am)

Hi, I got a lot of help from the posts of this forum the past couple weeks.. so I figured I would share my experience a little. I bought a 2013 Outback Premium with all weather + moonroof packages (includes rear vision camera by default) + popular package #2 + some other minor accessories (wheel lock, cargo net, carpet mats, rear seat protector and maybe a few more). This is in the Northeast region btw (tristate area mainly) Took me about a few days of intense emailing back and forth with two dozen dealers. Just following advice given here, I was set on not going into dealerships before agreeing on an OTD price and seeing the buyers order in my email box. My target price was $2000 under invoice before TTL, which some people at the Outback forum seem to believe achievable--in my experience, it was not achievable at all in the northeast region--either my submitted offers were ignored and followed up on after a few days or it was flat out rejected. The last day of the month, I knew I was really growing sick of car shopping and I was determined to get it done that day. I submitted more "reasonable" offers of under $1400 invoice and got some responses back from the dealers 2 hours away. On the last day of the month, a few dealers were willing to come down to about $1000 under invoice--I tried to select volume dealers (based on the # of reviews at dealerrater.com) out of those. On the last couple days, I submitted my offer as an OTD price including all fees and TTL to avoid further haggling at the dealership. Btw, I might have had a hard time of achieving the elusive "$2000 under invoice" because the premium w/ moonroof is not stocked very well and even in volume dealers they carry only about 10-12 cars at most--then again, the dealership I bought from had only one premium in their inventory with the moonroof option. You might have better luck if you're looking for a Premium with just all weather pkg.
 
I tried to have these deals matched or beat by other dealers who claim to "beat any deals by $300" (Subaru in Ramsey), but they all abruptly stopped communicating with me. I figured this would be as low as it could go. The dealer and I agreed on a price of $28800 OTD (including all fees, 7% NJ tax) and they were pretty straight forward in sending me the buyers order via email. Most dealerships won't even give you a solid number via email fearing competition--which made the whole process more frustrating. I emailed a couple of volume dealers in VA and Maryland and they straight out quoted me about $1500 under invoice--but I didn't want to drive six hours, I probably would have to save another $500 but I have a busy schedule ahead of me this weekend. So, down south where there is less snow, Subaru seems to be not as popular and dealers are much more willing to give good deals.
 
Anyway, with the buyers order in hand and all the details worked out (I even asked if I would qualify for the promotional APR rate of 0.9%--the sales person told me I would easily--anybody with 700 or higher should be no problem, and I have credit score of mid-700.) Walking into the dealership, I hoped to be out and driving the new car in 20-30 minutes. Turns out they had a whole team of guys waiting to intimidate me into accepting their 4.9% offer, if that. I realized how these games are played and I was not going to accept their APR. Remember I drove 1.5 hours to get to this dealership and it was two hours before they were about to close on the last day of the month. In order to convince me I should accept their 4.9% financing offer ("which is determined by the bank, not themselves", they told me many things including "first-time buyers never qualify for these and can sometimes get 10% or higher rates but we were able to work out great deals, you never took out such a big loan in your life previously etc etc" --I almost believed them, too. But I remembered what I learned on the internet and called their BS--I told them I was walking away because this is a deal breaker. They were visibly set back by my statement and even the finance dept guy who supposedly has nothing to do with sales and just punching the numbers seemed to be taken aback. I was more and more convinced it was BS and I shouldn't accept their offer. I really needed to buy the car that day and it made me so angry they made me drive 1.5 hours to play a few more games. So, I simply walked away. About two minutes later, the manager called me back into the dealership offering me the 0.9% rate. I got back in the dealership and they show me how I am a "tier 3" buyer but the manager was really able to call the bank to bump me up to "tier 1" etc showing me all the documents they created--I didn't believe none of their remarks.. at this point, they completely lost my trust and I felt like I was getting even cheated by the 0.9% offer as I saw some other dealerships offering 0% financing on the new Outbacks. I decided to make them come down in rate to 0% and but they wouldn't even budge. Anyway, I walked out one more time and this time they didn't call me back so I knew I was getting a good deal (the one I originally knew I was getting anyway)--plus the dealer was closing in a few hours and I didn't want to have to drag it on for another week. I came back in, signed the papers and now I'm a happy Outback owner! The moral of the story I guess is that if your credit is good enough, you should never settle for anything less than the promotional rate promised by the manufacturer.
 
That was a long post. Hope someone can benefit from this experience--esp. first time car buyers like myself.
 
tl;dr Paid $28800 OTD (all fees + 7% tax) on a 2013 Outback Premium moonroof + all-weather pkg, which is about $1000-$1100 under invoice in the NJ / PA / CT / NY region. Negotiated the APR to the promotional rate.

#3284 of 3393 Re: Bought a 2013 Outback Premium with moonroof [nassaujur] by caringdoctor

Dec 01, 2012 (10:34 am)

Replying to: nassaujur (Dec 01, 2012 10:05 am)
Unbelievable deal! Congratulations!
 
Which dealer did you get the deal? I want to get exact the same model and options, if you have time to list them! Thanks!

#3285 of 3393 Re: Bought a 2013 Outback Premium with moonroof [caringdoctor] by nassaujur

Dec 01, 2012 (11:23 am)

Replying to: caringdoctor (Dec 01, 2012 10:34 am)
Beyer Subaru in VA offered the best quote at $25959 before TTL and probably their doc fee. Might come down a few hundred more if you haggle.
 
Colonial VW Subaru & Subaru in Cherry Hill in PA , they quoted me similar prices $28800~ $29000. Ended up buying it at Colonial in PA because Cherry Hill was closing too early and wanted $500 more for the color of my choice for essentially the same vehicle--the manager did reach out to me to make the deal work later, but it was too late.
 
Hope that helps.

#3286 of 3393 Re: Can this be as good as it gets ? [vtkahns] by caringdoctor

Dec 01, 2012 (4:10 pm)

Replying to: vtkahns (Nov 29, 2012 6:41 pm)
What is the TTL?

#3287 of 3393 Re: Can this be as good as it gets ? [caringdoctor] by longo2

Dec 02, 2012 (9:09 am)

Replying to: caringdoctor (Dec 01, 2012 4:10 pm)
OK then, this is an offer on a "Used" 2012 Outback Limited, 4 cyl, CVT leather, back up camera, roof, and a few other odds and ends. It has been a company courtesy vehicle and has about 11,000 miles on it.
 
They want $26,800 and I offered $25,000. We are at $25,500 and I am stalling.
 
Any thoughts?

#3288 of 3393 Re: Can this be as good as it gets ? [longo2] by fendertweed

Dec 02, 2012 (9:49 am)

Replying to: longo2 (Dec 02, 2012 9:09 am)
FWIW,
 
Edmunds TMV in my zip code in Silver w/ those options (I just picked a color) is right in that range ... 25,276 for private party sale, 26,686 for dealer retail.

#3289 of 3393 Re: Decent Deal? [nassaujur] by samyj

Dec 02, 2012 (11:49 am)

Replying to: nassaujur (Nov 29, 2012 8:37 pm)
I also live in NE (CT). Could you please share some of your preferred volume dealers in MD and VA? Or the actual dealer you went with? Thank you.

#3290 of 3393 Re: Can this be as good as it gets ? [caringdoctor] by nassaujur

Dec 02, 2012 (2:15 pm)

Replying to: caringdoctor (Dec 01, 2012 4:10 pm)
tax, title, and license.

#3291 of 3393 Re: Decent Deal? [samyj] by nassaujur

Dec 02, 2012 (2:17 pm)

Replying to: samyj (Dec 02, 2012 11:49 am)
Beyer Subaru in Virginia.
 
Around the tristate area, the dealers in Cherry Hill and Colonial VW Subaru near Philly had the best quotes. Took me about 6-7 emails with each of them to get to that pricing on the last day of the month.

#3292 of 3393 Re: Can this be as good as it gets ? [fendertweed] by longo2

Dec 02, 2012 (2:25 pm)

Replying to: fendertweed (Dec 02, 2012 9:49 am)
If my offer is almost dead on the TMV and they countered and didn't mention anything else, that worries me.
 
Tomorrow I will send of another e-mail to the dealership and find out what else is up their sleeve on their counter offer....doc fees, it's Monday fees, we are doing you such a favor fees, we are your new best friends fees, etc.

Messages Page 330 of 340

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