How do dealers work

Okay I should be going over to Grand Prix Subaru over in Long Island sometime this week to test drive and hopefully purchase a LGT LTD. Now I'm looking for the car in BSM.. and looking at their inventory they only have it in a 5EAT. Now i'm still not sure if I'm getting the 5EAT or the 5MT until I test drive the cars.. but let's say I choose the 5MT... would they just send me off somewhere or trade cars with another dealer. I checked inventories in NY and noone seems to have it. Would they be willing to trade with dealers out of state just to get a sale. Sorry if this seems like a dumb question, I just don't know how this stuff works.

 

Also.. when haggling about price, when should I mention that I want to do a trade in. I heard its the best to mention it after you are set on a price.. or does it not make a difference.

 

And what are my chances of getting an 07' at invoice + incentives and 0% ? lol

Just FYI, if a BSM in 5-spd is what you desire, World Subaru in NJ has one in stock. I was there this past wknd and saw the car. Unfortunately they just sold a black 5-spd which I had my eye on just the day b4.

 

Any dealer will help you trade for a car you want, but your bargaining power is significantly lessened since there is MUCH LESS incentive for the dealer w/o inventory to do the deal, since they don't have any economic losses associated with that particular car. This is exactly what happened to me at World after learning the OBP was sold.

 

As for trade-in, I've tried both methods and found that it doesn't matter much. I'm having a hell of a time getting rid of my trade-in since its somewhat modded and dealers flat-out said they don't really want it, hence giving me lowball offers for it.

 

Lastly, your chance of getting an 07' at current incentives would be the summer of 2007, LOL. GL in your search.

I forgot to mention that negotiations w/World didn't end so well for me either, when I mentioned holdback and dealer cash they weren't too pleased with that and plainly said they will not release those incentives in order to sell a car. Maybe your situation will be different since they actually own the car that you're interested in.

0% haha this aint not GMC

but good luck with the purchase.

Good luck with Grand Prix. Do yourself a favor and go to Metric in Huntington. Ask for Mike, tell him Drew from LISC sent you. He will take care of you much better then Grand Prix, they suck.

Thanks for the replies.

 

Two-Five I actually emailed World and they responded. I will try to get a quote from them via email and hopefully drop on by there this week.

Thanks for the replies.

 

Two-Five I actually emailed World and they responded. I will try to get a quote from them via email and hopefully drop on by there this week.

 

Hopefully you'll get lucky and have Marty (internet sales mgr.) get back to you rather than a regular salesperson call you back instead. The girl called me on a monday asking me to go in but never followed up (as she said she would), presumably since she knew the car was sold. GL

Car purchasing 101. The purchase of your new car and the sale of your old car are two seperate transactions. The dealer will try and maximize the profit on each transaction. If you link the transactions (trade in) you will typically lose some visibility and leverage with respect to each seperate transaction. The three good reasons to trade in are: 1) savings on the sales tax for the value of your old car, 2) avoid the bother of selling your old car, 3) sometimes a dealer will really want your old car or be willing to pay too much for it.

 

The trade in inspection is also one tool the dealer has for the bizarre practice of artificially delaying the transaction so that you become more invested in the particular deal. I have never spent more than an hour in and out of a car dealer for a purchase, although I think the one time I did a trade-in it was about an hour and a half. Don't allow delays. Be prepared to walk or go to the manager (not the sales manager) if the delay game starts.

 

Always work out the price of the new car without mention of how you are getting rid of your old car. If the salesman asks, tell him your brother-in-law wants to buy it. After getting to the bottom line on the new car, you can introduce the trade in. This way you seperate the two transactions and can make a decision obout selling your old car yourself with all the facts. Be prepared for a disappointing trade in price once you have gotten to the real bottom price of the new car.

 

One funny observation about trade ins. Dealers make a lot of money spiffing up cars. A good detailling raise the sales price hundreds of dollars because it creates the impression of a well cared for creampuff. If you detail a car yourself before a trade in inspection, you can get hundreds more for it. It is strange, but the dealers fall for their own trick in my experience.

 

On the new car, think about your experience with the dealer. On a Subaru, you haven't done your job if you don't get invoice plus the current Subaru incentives or financing. So the question is, which dealer. The schlockmeister or the one with the good service department. If you can plan ahead, sign up for one of the VIP programs (IMBA etc.) and then just order your car at invoice. Voila! No haggling and the car you really want. You do have to gamble on the incentives that way but you can, for instance, plan on good incentives at year end and through the winter. I will admit you may be able to do better than invoice with some work and luck, but the VIP path is a sure thing and the dealer has to take the deal.

 

Check the sales contract in green eyeshade mode. Strike out unreasonable late appearing charges. I mean strike out! If you find a two hundred dollar paperwork charge as you review, take your pen and draw a line through it without prior discussion. Everything is negotiable and the paperwork whould be part of the deal or at most $50 for a clerk to run around for an hour. Be very carefull to look at the actual total price and the interest rate to make sure that no final switcheroos have occurred. If you do not have financing lined up, the most dangerous guy in the dealership is the finance manager. It is very wise to go to a credit union and work out a financing option, even when you are going to finance with Subaru rates, in case issues emerge like your credit score or whatever.