Submitted by ssnhl t3_11avd5u in pittsburgh
We are buying a new car - Subaru Crosstrek. Haven't purchased any vehicles in 7+ years, thankfully. What's it like buying a new car right now? Any negotiating / haggling? Or is it just sticker price, take it or leave it? Any particular Subaru dealerships to avoid? We're planning on visiting Baer, Baierl, & Moon. Maybe Sendell & Cochran. Any other relevant advice is welcomed. Thank You
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I have leased several Subarus from Moon, used their service center, and have always had good experiences there.
I was looking recently. Bowser was offering $2000 off sticker on an Outback.
Don’t go into the dealer. Send them each an email or fax telling them exactly what you’re looking for, including what you need vs what you just want. Let them respond to you and then play them off of each other. Make one of them win your business. You have no idea what dealer incentives are at play with each dealer, especially as it’s near the end of the month. They may all be close to one another in price, or they may not. If they all have what you need on their lot you could end up the winner.
Fax? What decade are you in?
Ask for a quote with the highest interest rate, since it can only go lower. Take the longest pay period and make extra payments when possible. Dont get little things that cost extra, amazon has the same thing but cheaper
Just bought a new car. No haggling. There were basically no new cars on the lot. You had to go in and reserve a spot. luckily they didn't need me to put down a deposit. Once the car came in we went out and test drove it and just bought it at MSRP. This was a Toyota dealer and this seemed to be what everybody was doing. We looked at other dealerships and nothing was any better. We wanted a specific Toyota.
In terms of used cars, there was really nothing on the lot either...
Just bought a new crosstrek from Cochran. No haggling because there were no cars on the lot. Everything was custom ordered and we waited 3 months for ours. Purchased at MSRP
Car dealers deal with the government. The government is behind the times. Fax is still very much a thing.
My general rule of thumb, for starters, is check Google reviews. Any dealer with less than 4.5 stars isn't worth the time. I say this because I've dealt with lower-rated dealers before and it absolutely sucked.
I worked in the car business from 2007 to 2019 and I can assure you that any customer request that arrived on our fax machine (the number to which was not posted anywhere) would've gone straight into the trash, if it was even found at all amidst all the junk the banks and vehicle wholesalers would fax to us.
Online is THE way to shop in this day and age.
I bought my last car from #1 Cochran Subaru in Monroeville in 2014. The experience was excellent, and their service department is also.
Do you want one now or in the near future or wait for a 2024? Dealers may have 1 or two available. I wouldn’t expect to get much money off it’s the fastest selling vehicle in America and extreme low supply.
We don’t have a fax machine? It’s 2023? Have you bought a car in the past ten years
Outback yes Crosstreks no
I bought multiple cars via fax between 2007 to 2019. Though, obviously not from the dealer where you worked.
This guy uses carfax
Why on earth would you want to, when email is an option? Serious question. Assuming faxes would work (which, whatever, that may or may not hold in some cases but clearly not all), was there some benefit?
Really? Outbacks are the 'higher end' model. The Outback starts at $5000 higher than the Crosstrek.
It wasn't part of your list but we had a good experience at South Hills Subaru in January 2022. I had emailed a sales rep about a Forester coming in in a few weeks. I didn't negotiate and paid MSRP with them matching the carvana offer for our trade in. We showed up at the dealer and were out within 45 minutes with our new car. I wish all car buying could be that easy.
Two possibilities to get under MSRP without haggling:
I was able to head this off by going in on a random friday, meeting with a sales guy and telling him what I wanted, and then he "reserved" one for me. I brought in my DL, insurance card, etc. etc. They knew what was coming in so they printed me off the financial statement. I didn't have to put down a deposit, and I could still test drive it and say no. They called me 5 days later when it was ready and we went in and completed the sale.
so if you're really interest in something (for OP...) you may need to go into a dealer and talk to someone first and figure out what's coming in when, and put dibs on it.
The guy over the phone said I'd have to put down a $500 refundable deposit, but the salesguy said a handshake was good enough... I'm sure they do that for everyone, unless you seem extra shifty. Part of the "we think you're great!!" sales technique.
Very similar situation for me with a Kia dealer as well.
Probably just showing the demand for crosstreks. For me, the outback has gotten WAY too big the last 10 years and the crosstrek is a way better size. Good for city driving but also enough cargo space for road trips. I’m sure I’m not alone in that sentiment
damn supply chains and demand...
If you’re willing to drive a little ways, look outside the city/Allegheny county. Sales tax is lower. Stuckey Subaru in Hollidaysburg has a great selection, no haggling, and a great website and staff.
We have outbacks we generally don’t have Crosstreks. I’ll discount vehicles I have multiple on
Ah interesting, is that due to a higher supply of Outbacks or a higher demand for Crosstreks?.
Curious because I just sold my 2020 Outback to a local dealership recently. I got a sales job that had a company vehicle and it happens to be a Crosstrek so I wanted to dump the monthly payments.
Have to say I liked the Outback a lot better, way more cargo space but still a small enough vehicle that parking wasn't an issue.
I just bought a new Subaru WRX last week after working with several dealers for several different types of cars. It’s all the same, if you want something very specific you’ll most likely have to order. I lucked out as something I ordered had a better model come in and I just said screw it and bought it.
Right now you aren’t able to haggle much, but it does seem most places stopped selling with high markups and are at MSRP.
I worked with Baierl and they were honestly fantastic. She was not pushy with me, they didn’t charge over asking, and they were very friendly. They also had some really good rates going right now compared to others at the moment. I had dealers straight up lying to me that cars on their site were either “available today” or “come reserve it” to find out that every single time someone had already reserved it or it was an order that someone had. It was so frustrating.
That whole “first one here gets it” is an old ploy to create urgency. Not saying it didn’t happen to your friend because yes the supply chain is so jacked up right now, but just putting it out there that that’s an old dealer trick.
You pay sales tax according to where you live on vehicles
Um I bought my car at Stuckey last year and I live in Pittsburgh. My sales receipt has the 6% per that area. But ok.
> Pennsylvania sales tax is 6% of the purchase price or the current market value of the vehicle (7% for residents of Allegheny County and 8% for City of Philadelphia residents).
Unless things have changed, #1 Cochran prides itself on its lower prices by refusing to haggle. They claim the prices are as low as they can make them and that's something they stand by. So if you go there, yeah, there probably won't be haggling.
Can't speak for anything else though!
It was a process I used starting before mainstream email adoption. The communication medium is not important, it’s just a means to an end. The value in my comment is that those of us outside of the industry don’t have any insight into the situation at any particular dealer at any given time. Do the deal remotely, get it all in writing and don’t set foot in the dealership until you’re ready to sign the papers.
Right. You said according to where I live. I live in Allegheny county (for about 7 years now). I bought said car in Blair county, charged 6%. I don’t live in Blair county (and for those bad at math, I didn’t when I bought said car). I was charged their sales tax. But thanks for….teaching you math and reading comprehension? Because I’m not sure what you think you’re pointing out to me.
I'd love to ditch the fax but that seems to be the only way shops and dealers will communicate. You ask for an email address and they get all sketchy like they're sharing their SS#
Dealers aren't AS bad, but service depts and smaller shops all still use fax.
I would not recommend any Baierl dealership. I’ve had bad experiences with them.
I’ve worked in dealerships in several different capacities, including finance, sales management, etc. dealers are well aware that this person is looking for a car and often times competing dealerships occasionally communicate with each other. Someone’s looking for specific trim level, and they don’t have it in stock They will call other dealers for trade. Most likely that dealer has gotten the same request for that car as well, the dealer that actually has that specific vehicle in stock can actually offer the best price on it because of holdback. If this person shopping for a car has a trade, I don’t care how many mimeographs you sent out requesting a quote, you have to get your traded appraised and that leaves a mountain of room for negotiating that cannot be done via US mail, fax machine, etc..
Not really anymore. Manufacturers are making less cars and keeping prices up on purpose now.
The Crosstrek has the exact same cargo space as the Impreza, which ain't much.
I bought my Crosstrek at Baierl and they have been great to deal with on the service side of things. They also gave me a much better trade-in amount for my old car than the other local dealers.
Data doesn't support that conclusion. Also economics doesn't either. They can't jack up the price of cars enough to make up for the millions of extra cars they could sell has there been enough supply.
Incentives for outbacks but not Crosstreks supports your assumptions
I used to get mimeographs from the school office and bring them back to class when I was in elementary school. They were wet, warm, and stinky.
You’re not haggling. It’s whatever they want for the thing.
If your credit is good, that’s a huge plus.
Sales tax for vehicle sales should be calculated on where the vehicle is registered, not where you bought it. You got lucky where the dealership didn’t notice this mistake. I live in Allegheny County and purchased a vehicle from a dealership in Westmoreland County and they charged me a 7% sales tax after initially including 6% in the final worksheet because they noted that the vehicle would be registered in Allegheny County. My guess is that if you do go far enough away to somewhere like Blair County where they don’t deal routinely with that situation it would probably get overlooked.
Used to ❤️the smell
Just bought a new Subaru. Had a smooth and stress-free experience at Cochran.
Kenny Ross can suck as egg.
I got my first Crosstrek at the one on Perry Highway. J worked with their online sales guy, Michael S-something, and he was awesome.
I got my second Crosstrek at the Moon location because Perry Hwy didn't have what I wanted. They added the extended warranty even though I declined it, and I caught it when they told me my monthly bill. I questioned it, and they were very insistent I agreed to the extended warranty. The car is great, and I've heard good things about them otherwise, so it may have just been a shady apple in the bunch.
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Wherever you go, make sure to buy it in orange. Orange Subarus are love
There’s like a discount program some employers have setup for Subaru - check and see if your work has this. I saved 3500 recently on my forester.
CarGurus is your friend for a good deal.
Avoid Baer. They are disgusting, unethical, and deceitful liars!
I purchased a 2022 Subaru Legacy from Baierl in June of 2022. I had a wonderful experience and our salesman was Michael. No negotiations - they just had the exact car I wanted delivered that morning & I knew if I didn’t buy it that day someone else would! (At least at that time)
I also worked with Michael, he really was awesome!
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If you're willing to drive a little ways, I got a great deal on my Outback at Huebner Subaru in Carrollton, Ohio. I will note that this was pre-pandemic, though. Could at least be worth a call or email!
I’m not sure if theres still a shortage on used cars but if there is, and if you’re trading in a vehicle, you may have some leverage to negotiate the trade in. I nearly doubled the offer on my trade-in near the end of 2021.
No Subaru dealer is participating in Costco.
We fax nothing to the govt in car sales
Bought new in 2021.
Shopped 8 dealerships for incentives. Didn't care what was on the lot.
Built the car on the website, gave them the code for the build.
$500 deposit, car arrived in a month.
Incentives I negotiated was 0% apr and $2000 off MSRP.
Any other method besides this is incorrect.
Bought a new Subaru in 2021.
Shopped 8 dealerships for incentives. Didn't care what was on the lot.
Built the car on the website, gave them the code for the build.
$500 deposit, car arrived in a month.
Incentives I negotiated was 0% apr and $2000 off MSRP.
Dealership was Stuckey in Altoona.
Any other method besides this is incorrect.
Since there is plenty of competition in and around Pittsburgh make sure you shop around. The market is starting to fail and discounts and rebates are making a comeback, especially if there is an abundance of the car you are looking for. Check the dealers websites and check their inventory for cars that they have had for awhile that could be an indication that they haven't sold much lately and being that it is the end of the month they may be more willing to have bigger discounts to meet quota.
End of month is typically the best time to buy so if you don't make a deal before March 1st wait until mid month to start looking again.
Good luck
Go to Ohio. I got my 2022 Impreza for 4k cheaper over there than anywhere I could find in PA a year and a half ago.
I bought my Crosstrek 2 years ago at South Hills Subaru and it was generally a positive experience. At that point, we were able to negotiate a bit, but that was within the context of my brother and I both buying cars at the same time, and my sense is that that might not be as possible right now regardless due to availability of vehicles. My brother (also bought a Crosstrek) opted for the lifetime oil changes, which I kind of regret not doing.
I had a negative sales experience at the Monroeville Cochran as well as an abysmal subsequent service experience there, and would recommend against them.
Must not have been an in demand car then
Good for you. This isn't happening in 2023 at least in my experience.
Fuck if I know. Forester sport.
Pretty bold to say any method besides yours is incorrect when you don’t even know how in demand the car you were purchasing was lmao
So that means you have your build code already? What is it?
I was trying to get a rav 4 and it was impossible. I moved down the line of similar model types that I would actually care to drive. Next one on the list bit.
If you refuse to look at other SUVs and all you want is a rav 4, you aren't getting a new car any time soon.
Yes and that’s why you could negotiate off of the msrp… for a car that doesn’t stay on the lot of more than half a day there is no negotiating at the moment
The lot doesn't matter when they're building the vehicle for you, to your spec.
The $2000 off MSRP was a standard incentive they were offering at the time. $2500 off an enclave, for example. They actually tried to pull it when my car came in, saying they weren't running it anymore. I told them they could keep the car and I'd go somewhere else.
The real negotiation was the 0% financing.
The goal here is to pit the manufacturer against the dealership. Imagine getting in touch with Subaru and saying "this dealership won't let me buy a car from you".
GargantuanWitch t1_j9u8ofd wrote
Based on a friend's experience with finally getting the truck he's been trying to buy for 2 years, it's not pretty. I wouldn't go in assuming there's any room for haggling, especially if the dealership has no stock.
Also, I wouldn't even bother driving around unless you've already called someone to set up an appointment to see an actual vehicle. My friend's dealership called him and said "a truck came in, we're calling you and one other person, first one here gets it."