New Car Buying Advice Needed

Owned 50+ cars, never a new one. 
Not breaking that trend now either.  I'm going to help my mom buy a new car and I need some help. Here's the facts:
She knows exactly what she wants, Subaru Outback.....or a Subaru Outback. She might also consider a Subaru Outback.   
There are two Subie dealers, each about 50 minutes from us. One is 50 mins north, one is 50 mins south.
She is not trading in a car.
This is a cash deal.

Here's what I (think I) know:

• Do not discuss the lack of a trade-in. Not sure how feasible that is, but I've always read the trade in and the purchase are two different deals. If they know there's no trade in, they will be less likely to wiggle on the price. 
• Do not let them know it's a cash deal. They make money on financing. If it's cash, they will be more firm on the price because they can't make money on the financing.

Here's the challenges to typical negotiations that I have:

• She wants one make and model. There's no "well, I'm going to the Nissan store" if things go a little south. I mean, I can say that, but she's not a good actress
• There isn't another Subie dealer to cross shop, at least not easily. She is not in the position to go to both dealers, and I can't take endless days off work to go to multiple dealerships.

Any advice from the hive?

Do the entire purchase online. Email online sales rep for both dealers and tell them what you want and how much you're willing to pay. 

yupididit said:

Do the entire purchase online. Email online sales rep for both dealers and tell them what you want and how much you're willing to pay. 

I second this idea.

Subaru continues to have really low supply of new units, which means they're unlikely to budge on the price. Depending on the dealership, they may even still have "market adjustments" on top of MSRP.

Your best option would be to let them gouge you on financing in order to discount the purchase price, then pay the car off as soon as the first bill arrives. Make sure you read the fine print re: early payoff. Nearly 20 years in the industry, and I've never seen a pre-payment penalty, but YMMV.

If she can afford to wait a few months, the situation might improve towards the end of the year, but w/o a trade and locking herself into one specific model really shifts the balance of power towards the dealer

I am here to say the same as above. If she already knows exactly what she wants email with the sales reps for each dealer and get a price you are comfortable with before you ever leave the house. Once you have that price make sure they send you a document saying that is the final out the door price and that it wont change when you get to the dealership. 

Geez, I didn't even think of doing everything via e-mail. That's a great idea.
I also like the idea of letting them go nuts with 50% finincing and pay it off at month one.  

See, this is why I turn to the hive.  

Now, since i have your attention, I have this rash you should look at......

Has she cross shopped a Subaru Outback?  Might be a nice alternative. 

Scotty Con Queso said:

Has she cross shopped a Subaru Outback?  Might be a nice alternative. 

Did you read my post!?  She's set on the Subaru Outback, why would she cross shop the Subaru Outback!? Two TOTALLY different vehicles LOL.  
Personally, I think she would like the Forester better, more upright and she's in her mid 70s. But what do I know lol.

if she knows what she wants, why limit yourself to those two dealerships?

In reply to camopaint0707 :

Those two are by far the closest two. If she buys from a greater distance, transportation costs would probably negate any money saved since I don't think she's really going to save much money on a cash deal.

Wouldn't hurt to shop further out. Tell them you are shopping locally but would be open to having them deliver. It's a thing that happens.

Not sure if they have regional "lines" but worth inquiring. 

I strongly suspect the email tactic won't be fruitful, but it's low effort, so it's worth a shot 

Agreed on the transportation. My Mom bought a Lexus RX350 and the dealer offered to deliver it the three hours to her at what was still the beat price at the time. 
 

I'm old fashioned but I would call rather than email. You'll sound serious on the phone rather than an anonymous "what's your best price" email. 

I bought two VWs from Virginia, I am in Florida. The price difference covered the airplane ticket, and drive down ... for me, my wife and three kids. 

I see the cheapest Outbacks are in Va. 

BTW, I was also buying them for my mom and cash. The dealer asked me if it would be ok with me to use VW Finance and then pay it off as they would get some sort of kickback. I said no problem, all they asked is to keep the account open for 90 days and then pay it off. 

All papers were mailed to me in advance so there were no surprises. Actually one of the cars  I picked from the lot at 10pm after they had closed due to a delayed flight ... they left the keys on top of one of the tires. 
 

I would definitely widen my serch. 

My elderly mom is considering a new Subaru as well. Initially she was zeroed in on the Out ack like your mom. But, after I started paying attention to them, I realized that mode has gotten REALLY big. Now that she's compared them side by side, I think she likes the Forrester better (as suggested above). It's still a good size but much more manageable than the Outback and a better seating position. 

Definitely widen the search and do everything online, even if you plan to buy locally.

Pre-covid advice that might be somewhat useful:

Your only goal is to get your first price sheet. Many dealers will try to get you in the door to give it to you. Don't do that--insist they email it.

Once you have one price sheet, email it to every other dealer on your list (including those who wouldn't give you a price) and ask them to beat it for [arbitrary reason]. "It's worth more to me to buy from [other dealership] because the seats are blue or Bob is a nice service manager or whatever." Repeat this cycle until they tell you to go away.

I just bought my F-150 in Texas and drove it home to Florida, but you don't necessarily have to travel to get a better deal this way. Take the lowest price sheet to your preferred dealer and ask them if they'll do the deal. Last time I tried this, they said yes. 

Post-covid advice that might also be somewhat useful:

These days, it seems like more and more dealers post their best price online and aren't willing to budge. And, well, it actually is a competitive price. If you find one of these, make sure they don't add any extra add-ons and then buy the car. Way easier.

Slippery said:

I bought two VWs from Virginia, I am in Florida. The price difference covered the airplane ticket, and drive down ... for me, my wife and three kids. 

I see the cheapest Outbacks are in Va. 

VA has an $800 doc fee, so factor that in, might make the savings go away

If you are a Costco member you should look into their car buying program.  Don't know how much of a discount it really is, but it would be a shame if you went through all this work to just come up with the same price you would have gotten if you just went through Costco.   I believe you can do it all online.   

Steve_Jones said:

Slippery said:

I bought two VWs from Virginia, I am in Florida. The price difference covered the airplane ticket, and drive down ... for me, my wife and three kids. 

I see the cheapest Outbacks are in Va. 

VA has an $800 doc fee, so factor that in, might make the savings go away

This is true. At the end of the day its math. 

For some reason the cheapest ones are always around Virginia, they are $10k cheaper than anything close to me. 

I bought VW from Sheehy and Stohlman with no problem. They both sell Subarus, I can give you my contact at Stohlman if you want. 

Years ago, we decided to buy a new XC90.  Went to the closest dealer - they wanted $5k over sticker for a stripper model in a color we weren't crazy about.  Was in Sacramento for business, so got online through Costco.  Went to the dealer and walked out with a very well-optioned XC90 in the color we wanted and got it for less than the MSRP at the first dealer.

YMMV, but we'll worth checking.

Just going to say there is no reason to pay above MSRP on an outback now. My local dealership already $1500 under MSRP on 24s. They are not a dealership that adds a ton of fees either. When I got my BRZ in 22, I literally just paid the sticker price. Nothing additional at all and it was #2655 BRZ built. 

Long ways from you in Omaha but just a temperature check. 

Most dealers are not in the Costco program at the moment because there are no discounts.

Realistically the easy way is go to the dealer website, see what they have in stock, see if the advertised price works for you, then buy the car.

In the Saturn thread people were saying buying was easy because they put a price out there, and no games.  Same principal. 

My only advice would be "No, do not buy a Subaru!  You will regret it!"

To each his own.

I don't know how Subaru is doing, but supplies of many makes are still quite tight.  Makes getting a good deal a lot harder when 90% of inventory is already sold before it hits the ground.