Purchasing Tips

[yo vanilla]

without delving too far, most cars don't have enough gross in them to be able to be discounted 10% (in the wrx's case, that would be $2500! in order for them to give you that much off, the manufacturer would have to be offering incentives OR the dealership would have to be ok with losing money selling the car. certain times we are, but you can't give everything away for no money or your doors would close sooner or later.

[yo vanilla]

Originally Posted by JoeeZnutz

.... so basically i took it home for 21,760 before taxes and licensing, which the dealer said ws actually "losing money" because it was like 70 dollars below invoice price, i think they're full of *#(...hahaha well that's my .02

actually if you don't gross $1200-1600 on a new car sale, you've lost money because of overhead costs.

[E-Wrex]

I would suggest finding the "internet fleet" dealer in your area. I saved like 2 grand offa what i would have spent at some of the other local dealerships. I paid 22,600 for my rex with 25 test-drive miles on it, and the dealer I talked to told me that they made about 500 on the car. I told them I could live with that.

[ITSXRW]

DESERT PROTECTION PACKAGE

I love this! BIG RESPECT to the dealer that pulled that out of their butts! you really gotta hand it to them! I love the whole car deal making process, its fun. Im 34, Ive owned and leased 16+ cars. I've gotten some super sweet under invoice deals and some over MSRP deals (even been screwed by a dealer I used to work for). Car dealers are (and I hope they stay exactly that) DEALERS!

[wrxboy2003]

Originally Posted by 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

I wouldnt worry cause the same thing happened to me.. beat on a test drive and ended up buying it that day... after telling the wife not to worry as we would never buy it cause I beat on it so much... but I am just over 40000m and not one issue yet...

sorry if I dug up an old thread..

[Doc Dub E]

I used to be a salesman and have worked with many car salesmen. There are two times a sales "associate" will drop the price of the package. The first reason is if you are about to walk away. As long as you have something picked out, they will try and do something to overcome your objection and get you to stay.

Sometimes threatening to walk is not enough. The other time a salesperson will give you a better price is when you give them the impression that the one more thing you wanted will seal the deal. The best way to utilize this is after they have already spent a considerable amount of time on you (especially you shop over a number of days, but make sure its within a tight timeframe so they know you're serious, otherwise they think you're just wasting their time). Do not hesitate to make trips to competing dealerships and use their own numbers as leverage against each other.

A used vehicle is marked up on average $6,000. Never "buy" the extended warranty if the car is used. This part comes from personal experience I have had replacing the clutch on my '03 35k wrx purchased with only 8k on it. If they say they can't give you a better price but they can give you something else in lieu, that's bulldoody. Words I'll never forget my father taught me, "Theres no such thing as a free lunch". Don't be duped into getting parts or service programs you do not need when you can be geting more of a discount on the car.

The last piece of advice I have is never trust a salesman. Anyone who has been doing it long enough to make a living has been corrupted into a dirty, greedy, untrustworthy liar. The way they see it is that if they do not manipulate you, they will not make enough money.

Boy am I glad I quit, I can have a clear conscience now

[MrRage]

I found it that using the internet and leveraging a website that will give you a better than invoice price works well. The last two cars I got were $500 over the invoice price. $500 over invoice sounds great at the time you sign the papers, but really it could have been less.

For the WRX I thought I’d give the Internet a shot and found a website that would give you a better than invoice price for a car. I was offered $1000 off invoice (not MSRP) on a TR that I passed up, and later took a WRX limited for $200 off invoice. So that’s $700 less I would have paid if I tried to haggle with a dealer directly. The end price of my limited was $25,625 and the invoice was $25,775.

So its worth giving the internet a shot if your in the market for a new car.