Does the "end of month" thing apply for Subaru dealerships?

[Monique]

My earlier quest notwithstanding, we're probably going to test drive a V6 Outback this weekend.

1) Is it true that waiting till the end of the month may get you a better deal? Does that apply if they need to pull inventory from another location?

2) The sales manager I spoke to said that various membership discounts like IMBA or PSIA aren't any different than what you'd get anyway. Thoughts?

3) Anything else I should consider?

Ultimately it has more room than my current Outback, has better seats for my husband, automatic for traffic, and can fit in our garage and my new office parking garage with a roof box (might need slimline).

 

[Ron]

use buying clubs! Costco and the above will most likely get you the best deals and will make the buying process sooooooo much simpler. you can compare who give you the best deal and then find a participating dealer. They have to show you all of the pricing details. I bought my JGC that way. Saved a ton and literally bought it via email.

 

[scott43]

Dealers own the cars. The longer they sit on the car, the more they're into it for. So they're incentivized to get rid of old stock. Notwithstanding corporate deals that are advertised. In general, the more unsold inventory, the better the deal. They trade with other dealers but rule 1 still applies. Call a broker and see what they can do. I had a broker give me a price of $23k for a car..best the dealer would offer was $26k and you go through all the BS just to get to that "lowest possible price". I told the dealer I could get it for $23k from a broker and he matched the price instantly.

 

[Philpug]

The "end of the month" usually goes until the 2nd or third of the next month.

 

[Chris Walker]

Sorry I know nothing about getting the best deal, but it's nice to see you are looking at Subarus. If you live in Colorado, it is just unavoidable.

Resistance is futile...

 

[MattD]

The "end of the month" usually goes until the 2nd or third of the next month.

^^^^
Second what Phil said above. Just bought a 3.6R Limited '18 Outback last month ... actually bought it in the first 2 days of October, but the "end of month", "for today only" kind of deal held over. Takes some research and patience, but there is always a dealer more highly motivated than others to hit some numbers/incentives for the month/quarter reporting period.

 

[Monique]

Sorry I know nothing about getting the best deal, but it's nice to see you are looking at Subarus. If you live in Colorado, it is just unavoidable.

Resistance is futile...

My cars (2) have been Subarus since 2004.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

Good Luck!! Happy Subaruing.

 

[Chris Walker]

My cars (2) have been Subarus since 2004.

I never realized how many Subarus there were here until I got one myself...

 

[surfsnowgirl]

There's an insane amount of them in Vermont too, I always joke it's the state vehicle.

 

[Snowfan]

Monique,

6 cylinder Outbacks are running up to 5000 off MSRP. Check out this thread http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums...58858-msrp-invoice-purchase-price-thread.html There are 500 pages so it might be a good idea to start a few pages from the end.

 

[Monique]

I never realized how many Subarus there were here until I got one myself...

On the road and in parking lots, I play "count the contiguous Subarus." Just counting visible Subarus would be too easy.

 

[fatbob]

There's a great podcast somewhere (possibly This American Life) where the reporter spends a week embedded basically with a dealership talking through the highs and lows of what I think was a quarter end. People who were sure things suddenly walk out and random sales appear from nowhere. They lose track of how many vehicles they've sold and all sorts of admin mishaps. Quite entertaining for the layman or everyman customer.

 

[Dryheat]

use buying clubs! Costco and the above will most likely get you the best deals and will make the buying process sooooooo much simpler. you can compare who give you the best deal and then find a participating dealer. They have to show you all of the pricing details. I bought my JGC that way. Saved a ton and literally bought it via email.

I'm going to give the exact opposite advice. I got a Costco price on my Forester and it was basically at MSRP. Horrible horrible price and the dealer put in a ton of high margin dealer addons that I didn't want. Truecar and those that contract to them (Costco, usaa,etc) have evolved into little more than sales lead machines to the dealers. Simpler, maybe. Better deal, highly doubtful and not without a lot of work.

@Monique from what I've seen, try to aim for 85-86% of MSRP. Might be a bit harder since we're newer in the model year. Always negotiate cash price and AVOID talking monthly payments... There's a ton of games a car sales guy can play to rip you off with a lower payment.

 

[Started at 53]

Anything at or below 91% of MSRP is typically a good deal.

Offer 91% and no addons and see if they go for it

 

[Ron]

hmm, not sure of the specific costco deal on subies but for jeep it can be 1-2% below dealer invoice plus any incentives. didnt you check the specifics of the deal first?

 

[scott43]

Also keep in mind, some vehicles are higher demand and you can't bargain on them. When the Honda S2000 came out they were selling for $10k over MSRP. Not saying your Subaru is in that boat but the laws of supply and demand do apply. I'm trying to find the months of vehicle inventory report. Gives you an idea of how desperate folks are to sell.

So I found a summary and Subaru's right now are at 41 days of inventory, which is below average for auto companies. So I'd say that's a bit of a tight market. VW has 104 days of inventory on-hand..

 

[John O]

I'm going to give the exact opposite advice. I got a Costco price on my Forester and it was basically at MSRP. Horrible horrible price and the dealer put in a ton of high margin dealer addons that I didn't want.

hmm, not sure of the specific costco deal on subies but for jeep it can be 1-2% below dealer invoice plus any incentives. didnt you check the specifics of the deal first?

Yeah, we just bought a Mazda CX-5 and the Costco pricing was very good. About 1.6% under invoice before applying the current factory incentives, and no add-ons that we didn't want. It obviously varies depending on the make, model (and dealer in the case of the add-ons), though.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

That happened to my guy when he went to look into an outback 4 years ago. They didn't even have a comparable one for him to test drive, let alone sell him. There wasn't much dealing going on. Same with my Jeep, a very high in demand vehicle so the dealers don't play when you are looking at one. Hopefully you have no issue with your subie and you can get the one you want. I'd love to see that report if you can find it, would be cool to see.

 

[scott43]

Oh one other thing..the same company sometimes owns numerous dealerships..so if you're going to threaten to go elsewhere, make sure you're actually going elsewhere!!