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Ask a Subaru Dealer

159K views 714 replies 194 participants last post by  TheWolverine 
#1 ·
Hi Guys,
As some of you may know I am a Subaru Dealer in North NJ. Quite few people asked if I could answer car buying questions for them so I thought I would put together a thread to help you guys out! Let me know what questions you may have. Lets keep this civil please and please no thread jacking, if you have advice for folks make your own thread, I dont want to be associated with other people's mis-information. So... Go ahead ask away!
 
#638 ·
This may have been covered somewhere in this forum, but I'm new and I apologize in advance. I'm considering leasing a 2017 WRX and was curious how the buy out usually works. I do get bored easily-I haven't finished paying off my current car, and already want to upgrade to a WRX. The difference from what I owe and what its worth is $300-500 bucks so I'm not super worried.

My question is if I decide to buy the car after I lease it, does all the money I put into it go towards purchasing the car? For example after the lease is up I would have put around $12,000 into the car over 3 years. Would I have the option to buy the car $28,000 - $12,000 for a total of $16,000? And how do the taxes work out in this situation? I wont have to pay the taxes twice right? lol

Thanks for any help guys!

EDIT: Forgot to mention I don't plan on doing any crazy upgrade if I lease. The only thing I would want that I couldn't have is a new exhaust. Not a deal breaker in my opinion.
 
#639 ·
Basically when you lease you are buying a percentage of the car in exchange for the privilege of driving it for a certain amount of time. So you are paying tax on that percentage of the sale price.

Here's an oversimplified example:

The car is being sold for 25000

The residual ( in other words the percentage of the car that is left over at the end of the lease, the part you are NOT paying for over 3 years of the lease, aka the buy out at the end) is 60%.

So 25,000 sale price x 60% residual = 15,000 buy out at the end.

So, if you're still with me here, when you leased this car, you are paying for the first 10,000 of the car, paying taxes on that 10000, and paying a rent charge percentage on that 10000 (like an interest rate on a loan) called a money factor. You are also paying fees associated with a lease, like the bank fee aka acquisition fee, and the dealers typically have a document fee as well. All these costs divided by 36 months will equal your lease payment.

Now at the end of the lease, you can either turn in the car, or buy the car at the remaining 15000 residual plus tax, dmv, and fees.

So its not that you are being charged tax twice, its that you are paying the rest of the tax that you did not pay during the first 3 years.


With regards to the exhaust system, if you want an exhaust I'd recommend ordering the car with the STi performance exhaust upgrade from the factory, and as long as it is ordered with the car, you would only pay for 40% percent of that as well since it would just be part of the price of the car. If you add it on later you'd have to pay the whole thing just to use it for 3 years.

I hope that helped, I know it can be a bit complex but dont let leasing scare you there are some great deals out there, WRX included.
 
#640 ·
Hi Clayton!
I've recently been told on "the other forum", that my VIN was not assigned to my order / VON, until my WRX arrived at the port of entry.
This was an SOA car, received at Vancouver, WA.
So you know if this is accurate?

Also, do you know if package #22 is installed at the port of in Yokohama?

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk
 
#641 ·
That sounds accurate to me, although as you know I dont work in SOA region so I cant say with 100% certainty.

Package 22 is definitely done in Japan, not the port.

Congrats on your order!
 
#646 ·
Those specials are monthly, and will be replaced by new monthly specials. WRX always leases pretty well due to the shockingly high resale, I wouldnt feel like you need to do a lease right now or feel like you missed the boat, thats not the case.
 
#647 ·
Clayton, what is the invoice on the new 2017 Impreza Sport 5 door with manual transmission and no other options? I know the MSRP... Thanks in advance.
 
#648 ·
I cant post that here due to Subarus corporate rules, but send me a PM and I can let you know.
 
#650 ·
Yes you can finance 72 months on a WRX, currently Subaru's rate for that is 3.9%, but a lot of times the dealer will source the loan through another bank to get a better rate.
 
#653 ·
They should be able to do that for you, but if the seller was smart enough to divorce the tune, then disconnect the battery for a while and then reconnect it, they may not find anything out even though it may have been tuned.
 
#659 ·
Yes we typically do wash them here. They come to us dirty and covered in adhesive backed plastic sheeting. Dealership washes are going to vary by dealer, but in general they do a basic hand wash to the car at most places. If you wanted to be the first one to wash it, or plan on taking it directly to a guy to opticoat it, you can ask your salesman to skip the wash and they should be happy to do so if that is what you prefer.
 
#657 ·
Is Subaru having any warranty claim issues with paint on MY16 WRX's?

Reason I'm asking is that while I love my 2016 WRX, my only issue so far is the paint. In 9 months of ownership I'm seeing what looks like water spots on the top horizontal surfaces. They remain even after attempting to clean them off with mild polishing compound. If I look at them under magnification I can see that the clearcoat is literally eaten away. The paint also seems to be very susceptible to chipping on the frontal area.
 
#660 ·
What you are describing sounds like the result of sap or bird sh*& sitting on the clear coat for a while. The acidity actually burns through the clear coat. Modern cars use more environmentally friendly painting methods, which is great for the planet, but not quite as durable as the old ways. Unless you're going for that rally car look, make sure you have extra protection on your paint. I would recommend opticoat if you can make it work with your budget, or at least a good coat of wax so you have some barrier between your clear coat and the world. As for rock chips, they are what they are. However, I can wholeheartedly recommend Dr. color chip for those. The kit costs less than $100, and it works amazingly well. It made my bugeye's rock chips all but disappear from the hood in minutes and held up for years.
 
#658 ·
Very sorry to hear that about your paint. I know when I order a new car, I have repeated, explicit conversations with the dealer to not have anyone wash the car. -- and most will agree to and honor that (though I doubt what you are describing was caused by one car wash at the dealership).
 
#663 · (Edited)
That does sound good for your area, but I can save you a lot of money if you don't mind renting a car one way and dropping it off here in NJ and driving your wrx home (you can do this with enterprise). PM me, or shoot me an email Cmantell (at) Ramseysubaru.net

Even if you preferred to pay to have the car shipped to you and do the paperwork by mail, I can still save you serious money.
 
#665 ·
Send me the details, vin, miles etc and I can get the trade value figured out to see if it works. If you can attach pics of any areas of concern that would be helpful too. I have done plenty of clubwrx trade in's remotely, and only had 1 issue in the last 6 years (hundreds of sales) and that was because the guy outright lied to me about the car having been in an accident and it was just obvious, the headlights were different colors and there was overspray everywhere. He even admitted that we paid more than he was quoted anywhere else even after reducing the value due to the accident history too.
 
#666 ·
@rexxx0486, is it possible to order a regular WRX from factory without the spoiler and have it come with the STI wing instead?

The wife and I are buying our first home towards the end of the year and either in Q4 of this or the first half of the next I am looking to pickup a base/premium WRX (depends on the deal).

Thanks for your time!
 
#668 ·
I believe it's titled "official trunk swap".
[emoji106] [emoji2]

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#671 ·
PM me I can use that I believe, I just want to get the details on it.
 
#674 ·
I am looking to lease a 2017 WRX Premium, I can't find an idea of the cost and what is a good deal for this, I am new to this thread and Subarus and could use any advice. I am also young and a girl so any advice in the buying process to be taken seriously is also helpful as this isn't usually the case. I am looking in the Central NJ area
 
#675 ·
Hey Meagan,
I really would need more info to put together a quote.... Since you are fairly local, my advice is to just skip your local dealers on this one and come straight to me so I can make this an easy experience without all the usual BS. Call me directly or stop by and I can save you a ton of money and aggravation vs dealing with another dealer who is likely to try to take advantage of you. I typically can save you over $1000 compared with the average Subaru dealer, sometimes much more so this should be well worth your while so the extra hour of travel time should be well worth it. You can reach me at 201-327-0070 x 5211
 
#676 ·
Hey Guys,

Just trying to help everyone out that's looking, just bought a 2017 Premium with Short Shifter, Arm Rest Extension, and All Weather package in Detroit MI area.

Selling price was $29,250, MRSP of the car was $31,069. This was about $600 over dealer cost, I felt I got a good deal since no other dealers in this area quoted under MSRP, and I got a good price on my trade-in (which is why I didn't want to bother looking up quotes on the forum and making travel arrangements)
 
#681 ·
im leasing a g37x atm, i have the car until the end of october. i really want a 2018 base model wrx, 0 options, the only things i care about is manual transmission and red or blue color.

so do you think it will be possible to place an order early enough on an 18 to get it by the end of october?
 
#682 ·
Can not speak for any dealer (whether they have allocation, and the number on his/her list of folks ahead of you for a 2018 WRX), but responding for the whole process, and the answer is YES.

The 2018's will be arriving months before October. As you live in New Jersey, just send our forum vendor the dealer behind this thread a PM (rexxx0486) soon. He has lots of allocation and GREAT pricing.
 
#684 ·
Hi, sorry if this has been posted before, I'm in the market for my first WRX (as you can tell by my member name you'll understand the reason LOL) and I'm looking at one that is a year old. Is the dealer required to disclose any mods done to the vehicle? It's not a Subaru dealer but it's a big one with a decent reputation.
I can tell the wheels don't look stock and the shifter knob neither although there's no mention of short throw option installed. Both, wheels + shifter say STI on it but it's a just a WRX car model, not STI. Many thanks.
 
#685 ·
If you linked the ad, folks could tell you what they notice about this WRX.

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk
 
#688 ·
I cant tell much from the pics but since it has the STI wheels and shift knob, it may have the whole STI pkg. (exhaust, short throw shifter, sti knob) Its a loaded limited looks to have been serviced well for the miles.
If the CARFAX is accurate (and not all are) Nothing to me looks out of the ordinary BUT

I would take the VIN to a Subaru service department and have them check to see if Subaru USA ever Flagged the car for warranty void because of an ECU flash or other mods. Also have them check the rest of the history on the car. You may find warranty repairs etc done that Carfax wont list.
 
#691 · (Edited)
I ran the VIN in Subarunet and Carfax for you, and both look fine. :thumbup:
 
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