Purchasing Tips

[dark_rex]

well, DONT be drooling!

PRE ENTRANCE
Set a price that you want to pay. my general rule is if they can't give me 10% of sticker, than i won't buy the car. I would suggest using 10% as a starting point. BE PREPARED TO WALK AWAY THAT DAY! You may not buy the car that day, and that is fine. Go in there dressed casual, but sharp, and act like you own the world. Look good, and confident. Walk the lot, and count how many rexs there are, including the one on the showroom floor. Remember this number.

THE ENTRANCE
Think: "I don't need this car, im just curious." Walk and parouse on your own, sit in the thing. (like you havent berfore!) Don't wait for a salesman to come to you. you are shopping for salesmen here too. DO THIS FIRST! Walk in the door, and pick the person that will sell you your car. Pick the youngest, most inexperienced looking joe in there. if someone asks you if you want help, and they're not your choice for a salesman, say "im just looking thank you." Stay away from women or older men (no offense!). When you are ready, and have shown what you are there for, then go ask the person you want for help.

THE TOUR
The guy will start blabbing now. Avoid talking about price at all costs. Discuss ALL the options, even the ones you don't want, or are too expensive for you. Ask lots of questions. trunk space, show me the spare, mileage, stereo, who makes this, the warranty, the flat four (they love jabbering about that) etc. Think of EVERYTHING. Don't even hint at your price range. your biggest weapon is keeping information about what you want/need and hiding your budget/price range. That leaves them no ground to stand on. (after all, what you give them is all they have for information!) ESPECIALLY DON'T HINT AT THE COLOR YOU WANT! Drag the process out, and act uninformed. even ignorant. "air to air intercooler? hmmm..."

THE DUCKETS
<from above>"Before you go in, set a price that you want to pay. my general rule is if they can't give me 10% of sticker, than i won't buy the car. i would suggest using 10% as a starting point. BE POREPARED TO WALK AWAY!" <end> There are more rexs out there ALWAYS, even if not at that dealer. The point is, the salesman knows your serious about your dollar limit if he sees you are willing to walk away. Find out what colors are available NOW (like if you were to buy the car immediately)-(this is good for two reasons, the salesman is always willing to help if you are going to buy right away, even if your not, hint at it, it gets them in the right price moving mood. Second, you want to know how many cars are NOT accounted for right now by other customers. -This is important for haggling.- Again, remember this number.) Even if it takes another week to drive this sucker home (my purchase took 18 days), this is the way to get your price. I know its tough, i loved the car from day one. But act like you DON'T NEED IT! BTW, this step is usually where the test drive comes in. Have fun!

PRE-HAGGLE GAME
When the person is done showing you the package you will finally sit down to discuss price. List out all the options you DO want, and a few more that you DONT. Opt for the body skirt and the spoiler, or the upgraded stereo too, and other things you don't really want/can't afford, even if it means that they have to install it later or import it from a distributer, or wait for the parts(the short shifter was key here for me). Basically get the price for a car that is MORE than you want. The guy will give you a price for the "more than you want" car. This is your basis.

THE GLORIOUS HAGGLE GAME
This is the easiest part believe it or not. and it really is a game. View it like that and you will do fine. Do the least amount of talking possible. Most of the time, especially with an inexperienced salesperson, the guy will dig his own hole. let your silence do the work for you. Subtle facial expressions of discontent are generally more than enough to make a point. When he gives you the number, tell him it is too high, and say "can't you help me out a bit?" Remember, even if they ask, do not give them a number that you are looking for, work from what they give you.

It is at this point that everyone is saying now is "the dealer just said "no way, there is way too much demand" inside, you are laughing now. How many were on the lot again? Probably b/w 3 and 10. How many were accounted for ie: (how many cars were available when you asked what colors were availale if you bought it TODAY)? heh heh. i had trouble containing myself when this part came. i actually said. "Come on, there are a ton of them on your lot! Stop giving me the runnaround" (there was at least one in every color, and most had a few in each color) i don't know if this outburst was smart or not, but the point is, you will have a tangible grip on the real demand this dealership is seeing, and know that you are that much better off walking away if the guy won't budge. You have no idea how much this person wants the commission on this car. if the person still doesn't budge, ask for a business card, and say thanks for your time today.

LEAVE.

call/go back a week or so later and see how many of those rexes moved. (probably one if they are lucky. U know my dealership was moving one-two a month.) Start the haggling over again, and use that basis price he gave you last time. I was able to slowly chisel away at the price (without ever really giving my price ceiling away) saying "no no no, that's still a little too much."

Once you get at or close to your 10% number, start ditching the items you don't REALLY want. "Well, what does the price look like if we ditch the skirt/short shifter..." etc. Becasue the salesman got to your 10% number with all the options, (thats where their profit margins are, options.) when you start ditching the extras, you switch the savings to the actual car instead or those unwanted options.

FINANCING
Once you get the right price, have your financial calculator ready becasue many places like to tell you your financing terms then hand you a sheet with a higher rate or different terms and make money under your nose.(this is NO joke. beware here, i have heard too many stories...) Make sure your signing on the car you haggled for, and that all your options are there.


ANOTHER TIP:
I actually test drove it a bunch of times at three different dealers.

At Natick, after i went and checked out the car, my salesman said he wouldnt be in on firday for the test drive. so i went in on friday anyway, and made another salesman (some old dude) give me the whole pitch again. (a little briefer b/c i had heard it) When i was ready to go back in and do the final haggling, i actually called the first guy and said

"I knew I said I would come in on saturday to test drive, but i couldn't do it. I spoke with yadda yadda salesman, but -I'd much rather give you the sale- you were the first guy i talked to, and to be honest, your a better salesman. I'd much rather give you the business. Will you be in on monday?"

A little ass kissing never hurt, and telling him that I'd rather give HIM the commission than a competitor was grest.

Also, if you can pit rival dealerships against eachother in price in a similar fashion... "I'd much rather give natick subaru the business than arlington..."
You may get somewhere there too.

good luck.

dark_rex

[Caster Troy]

Wow that was a long post dark rex. I second everything you said, but to eliminate a lot of BS by going to the fleet manager. It eliminates a lot of the fake crap that the salemen feed you in order to pad their commissions. Also, don't take on any more options that you haven't thought about. Do real thorough research on the net, at places like edmunds.com. Happy hunting

[Root]

But also don't forget that the drooling guy like me at MSRP made it possible for you to play cool and get a good price. Just kidding, I paid MSRP because I was the sucker and it just came off the truck with a few others and they weren't wheeling and dealing yet. They should be out long enough to get a good price by now.

[BlazinWRX]

I paid MSRP too... sigh, with the money I saved I could of bought some nice mods.

[Caster Troy]

Hey don't feel bad, I say just chalk it up as a learning experience. Luckily I had a cool head with me (my dad), course the dealership people didn't think that he was exactly that level headed

[Sherb]

I paid MSRP also and the only deal I had was the short shifter. I'm still waiting after a month for it. I bought the only REX available from the three dealers near me.

[mr bob]

You really had to be willing to travel to get a good deal. I just do not have that much time in my life right now. Some areas such as Atlanta were not good for getting deals when I got mine.

ONE THING to remember!!! You will always have the upper hand with your financing in hand before you step on the lot. I went to my credit union and got that out of the way before I even went shopping. If they offer you a better rate(highly unlikely on the WRX right now) then take it. But they can easily screw you in the finance office. You think your all done then they really put the screws in.

p

[ August 16, 2001: Message edited by: mr bob ]

[BlazinWRX]

Also watch what they say. My salesman told me that I was able to boost my WRX up to 260-280HP w/o a problem while keeping my warranty. Guess what? Next month almost everything I plan to do will terminate my warranty with them.

[dark_rex]

bump

[WRXed]

Excellent advice DR!

[masanz1]

When I bought my rex I
1) was preapproved
2) had a quote from a dealership from autobytel
3) dealt with the floor manager(basically the closer)
4) did count the number of rex'x on the lot

Went in there with my check, quote and 3 car ads in the Saturday paper and invoice numbers from edmunds. They wanted $27950 for the wagon. Invoice was 22800. I basically told them I'll give them 200 over invoice. After showing them I could go to another dealership and by it from them they agreed on 23000. They did not have black so they did a dealer trade. While we waited for the car to get here we finished all the paperwork and was ready to go. Car came done deal. Imagine my surprise when I noticed this wagon had the 1100 performance upgrade on it(short shifter, turbo guage and sti knob). So in a sense I paid 21900 for it. All i have to say is research b4 you buy.

[WRC_Obsessed]

d r...

what dealer did you go with? i am in boston and going to talk with the natick and arlington dealers this weekend. any info on one dealer over another?

thanks

brian

[dark_rex]

i bought it at natick. i 've had great luck with their sales department but their SERVICE SUCKS DONKEY A$$ (not slander, i've had 10 visits to them, so this is FOUNDED HATE). go in there with the edmunds quote on invoice, and don't give them more than a couple hundred over that.

i talked to arlington, but never drove with them or had any experience personally. i have heard good things about them though. i plan on switching to them eventually for my service center as natick is pretty far from me.

jose cruz was my salesman. he was pretty easy to push around so i could get what i wanted. if you have any other questions, go ahead and email me or pm me.

dR

[pache11]

I live in Illinois and purchased my new WRX for 300 over invoice. They included any additional accesories at invoice as well. Purchased through Roto Subaru in Arlington Heights.

[gifty74]

I just bought my WRX last week, and paid about $2500 under invoice. The way it worked out was this: we traded in our Mitsu Galant, worth at the most $8000, and that is being generous. It was the last day of the month, luckily for me, and they were ready to deal this sedona red one they'd had there for a little while. Anyway, they gave me $10,500 for my trade, so I was $2500 to the good. Then, they gave me the car at invoice, $23000, and threw in the shift knob and armrest extension. So, I pretty much paid 20k for mine. I was pretty pumped on scoring that deal. Only problem is that is the car I drove the week before when they gave it to me for a half day. I hit some back roads and spanked it pretty good, hit redline a few times to be honest, with only about 120 miles on it. I know this is not good at all, but is there any data, or any experiences that have shown this to be problem causing? Don't you guys think a good majority of these WRXs are spanked by service employees getting them ready, and taking them off the trucks and stuff? Just wanted your opinions.

Steve G