Debriefing of failed Subaru purchase.

[Dean]

Bradley,
Just buy a new car and stop whining about ysed car dealers. They
suck and try to rip you off . We all know that. You can either get
crushed or get a new car and start out fresh. The dealer probably gave
11k as a trade and they are selling for 15k.
If they wont sell for 13k go to another dealer. Its wrong to be stuck
on a particular car . That is a recipe for a ripoff. Try other AWD
makes/models. With the GM red tag pricing you can get a Torrent/equinox
awd for $22-23k new. A new car is always a better deal than a used one

Do you work for GM buddy? Yeah, the new car is a better deal until
three years after you pay $22k it is worth $10k.

I learned my lesson after buying a brand new car in 2001, then eating
several thousand bucks in depreciation when I traded it in on a
year-old Forester a few years later. I will never buy brand new again.
Unless I win a multi-million dollar lottery.

That said, I do agree that you shouldn't get hung up on a particular
model, unless it is something so ridiculously common that it is easy to
find a dozen different examples.

 

[bigjim]

Do you work for GM buddy? Yeah, the new car is a better deal until
three years after you pay $22k it is worth $10k. <<

No I dont work for GM. I just cannot believe suckers will pay that much
coin for a USED car. I paid $19xxx for my 04 Outback . Subaru sent me
a lettering offering 15k as a trade in value . I exceed the mileage
limits and the 06 designs are ugly anyway but thats not bad. I plan on
keeping this car for another 100k miles so I dont care what it's worth
when I sell. Maybe a sucker will pay 13k for it!!!! Depreciation
doesnt matter if you keep a car after its paid off. I bought a 94
Trooper in 1994. When it was totalled in 1/04 I got $3200 from
insurance . Not bad for an 8 year old car with 150k miles!!! I had 4
years without payments and minimal mechanical problems.

 

[j]

Depreciation will absolutely matter after it's paid off. For example,
had your Trooper been a 4runner you may have gotten twice the money.
For example, Chevy Impala and Honda Accord carry about the same sticker
price. Five years and 75,000 miles later, the Accord will still fetch
a hell of a lot more than the Impala. How could that not matter? What
you are suggesting isn't financially sound. I appreciate your opinion,
but you know what they say about opinions.

J

 

[k. ote]

That pretty much summed up me decision to walk especially after their
refusal to offer any sort of parts/labor warranty for the vehicle since it
was an "As Is" vehicle. What is the consensus here? Obviously this was a
jerk of a salesman but what could I or should I have done differently? I
would like everyone's input so that next time I go elsewhere to look for a
Subaru I can do something so as not to have the salesman stonewall me on
every turn.

So what you're saying is, you bargained them down to almost the exact price
you were initially looking for, and decided to walk anyway?

Hrm...

 

[zelda]

Bradley, where are you located? I am in Baltimore, Md., and I just
bought a 2003 Outback wagon (not the Limited) with 52K miles for
$14,400. There are lots and lots of Subaru Outbacks out there. I was
specifically looking for a 5-speed, so my choices were much more
limited, but I saw three of them for almost exactly the same price and
same mileage at a couple of dealerships around Baltimore. I bought
this one from a small used-car dealer, which normally I wouldn't trust,
but I had my favorite mechanic examine the car and got his blessing.
They were asking $14,800, I offered $14,000 and would have walked away
if they starting playing games, but the salesman quickly offered to
split the difference. So it was a painless purchase.

The alternator died two days ago, but that's another story.

Zelda

Zelda

 

[Bradley Walker]

Currently I live in the eastern panhandle of WV. For me Baltimore is a
matter of driving down Rt 7 to Leesburg, hitting Dulles Tollroad, and
finally hitting 495 upto Baltimore. Plus I have a friend that works at RKK
Engineering firm in downtown Baltimore.

Could you forward me any info on the cars there?

 

[KLS]

Currently I live in the eastern panhandle of WV. For me Baltimore is a
matter of driving down Rt 7 to Leesburg, hitting Dulles Tollroad, and
finally hitting 495 upto Baltimore. Plus I have a friend that works at RKK
Engineering firm in downtown Baltimore.

You also ought to check out Fitzgerald Subaru in Rockville, Md.; that
would take you maybe 1.25 hours at most to reach, and they have the
best prices in the region. My mother has bought two OBWs from them.
http://www.fitzmallsubaru.com/en_US/ If/when I get ready to buy
another Subaru, I'll be checking out their prices (I live by the
highest volume Subaru dealer in the U.S.: Van Bortel Subaru, but they
won't negotiate their price, and I've seen Fitzgerald's prices beat
theirs several times).

Love the eastern panhandle, beautiful, beautiful region with so much
history.

 

[Bonehenge]

"What if I wrote you a
check for $13,000?" He shot a pre-programmed response back of "No deal."

-- SNIP --

The appraiser came over and also voiced
the same thought that they were comfortable for selling the Outback for
$13,200 and absolutely could not or would not go lower and that they can
sleep at night doing that.

Your time is worth a lot less than mine. <G>

1.) You seemed to like the car. 2.) Used cars can vary in details,
options, and conditions. 3.) Your initial offer was $13,000.

You walked away @ $13,200?

 

[Bradley Walker]

Thanks for the heads up. I've always heard the DC area has a bit better
pricing, and I believe it to a great extent. If you ever get a chance to
come through Winchester, VA and cross the border into the panhandle
especially through Hardy Co. let me know. It's an area that is full of
civil war history. In fact my family on both sides along with neighbors can
trace our geneology back 200 years to people who lived in this county.

 

[Bradley Walker]

I walked at $13,200, but not because of the price. They were aiming to jip
me on the trade in, refused to offer any warranty in 'good faith'. I told
the salesman "If you are so confident in this product, then why don't you
simply attach a 3mon/3000mi warranty because nothing probably won't
happen..." he balked and acted like a jerk. Mainly it was about the trade
in because my current vehicle is worth nearly $3000, however I didn't expect
to get all of that. I was expecting at least a decent $2000 solid for it.
They refused to take it for mroe than a few hundred tops, however the one
appraiser guy who never did look at it let it slip that if I wasn't getting
the internet special price ($13,200) but getting sticker price ($15,900)
then they would have offered $2000 trade in value. That's poor business
ethics and I won't do business who is morally or ethically bankrupt in that
department.

 

[KLS]

I'm off to Akron, Ohio, for Christmas, but before I go, I wanted to
comment that now that I realize where you live, I think your choice to
move from the Ford Explorer to a Subaru is a very wise decision. My
folks have a house in Hedgesville (which is for sale, btw) and have
really appreciated the AWD of my mother's OBW when getting in and out
during the winters. Here in western New York, we love our Subarus
(but I admit to a preference for Audi Quattro cars and personally
drive a 98.5 A4 2.8).

Yes, the panhandle region has amazing history and artifacts; I still
haven't seen or done everything there.

 

[Bob H]

Buy what you want then sell the Ford after.

You'll surely get > $2k US for it if its in good//great shape?

 

[zelda]

I just used www.cars.com to search. BTW I was in sort of the same
boat as you, in that I had to sell my Chevy truck before I could buy a
car (but I have a rusty 15-year-old 4Runner that I keep as a spare
vehicle). I did sell the truck fairly quickly (8 days) with an ad in
the Baltimore Sun and cars.com The paper puts a Web ID in the print ad
linking it to the cars.com ad.

Zelda