So, I signed for an XV - one with the lot (S, auto etc). Expected delivery end of June/early July, in other words it hasn't been built yet!
Here in Adelaide we have one dealer in the CBD, one in the suburbs (where I bought my Forester) and three, I think, in "near" country areas. Not a lot of choice. I had already decided that, as with most things I buy, I would approach the dealers, tell them what I wanted, and ask them for the best price they could do. I would not discuss their price with other dealers, it would largely be based on whoever gave me the best price straight up.
Pretty optimistic of me, huh?
I had already discussed it with a country dealer (where I test drove it), and was waiting for him to get back to me with a price.
Next stop was the suburban dealer. At that stage we were going to get an L (mid-range), as my wife only decided afterwards that we'd get the S. She drove it, and then we sat down with the salesman (we'll call him Bob, not his real name, of course). I told Bob that I wasn't going to sign that day, all I wanted from him was his best price on the car. Eventually, he hinted at $35,000 ($3500 below retail) if I'd sign that day. He gave us the usual guff about end of the month/end of the quarter deals. Then he pulls out some prices and says he'll work off the fleet price, which also gives a discount. (Hmm, thinks I, I'm not a fleet buyer, someone is going to have to falsify the paperwork and it won't be me!). I think my wife would have signed then and there, but I said no, but do you think I could get a firm figure from him? When he realised I wasn't going to sign, I got the feeling he sort of lost a bit of interest.
So we left.
A couple of days later I went back the the city dealer. I hadn't intended to, as my first visit left me feeling a bit uncomfortable with them, nothing I could put my finger on but there it was. Anyhow, they gave me over to a young, fresh-faced kid (mind you, compared to me almost everyone is young and fresh-faced) and I told him the same story, that I wouldn't sign anything yet and just wanted their best price. After a while it became obvious that "the kid" understood the cars they were selling, and also much of the opposition. It also transpired that he went to school (in a country town) with my son-in-law! I tell you, Adelaide is a small place!!!
He called over the sales manager, I went through my spiel (again - no, I wouldn't sign...) so they worked up a deal for me to talk over with my wife. A very good deal, in fact, and based on their figures (and I have no reason to doubt them) they basically dropped their profit margin on the car. They said that if I was a happy customer then it would repay itself in recommendations plus hopefully I would get the car serviced there. Fair enough, I thought. So the next day I went back and signed (managed to screw them for a set of car mats
). They did, however, also offer me one other thing. Because I needed the second car by the end of May, when my daughter and her family return from overseas for a while, and mine obviously wouldn't be here, they offered me a loan car to use until mine was ready. No charge, free, gratis. And it would be a current demo, probably a Forester or Outback. Now that, I thought, is customer service. Gotta be happy with that.The country guy rang back, and he was only a couple of hundred $ more, so I think I would have been quite happy dealing with them too, they seemed pretty straight about things.
This afternoon I got a call from Bob, asking me where I was up to with the car. I told him I had signed, and he asked me how much and then said so it was pretty much what he had offered and was disappointed that he didn't have a chance to deal. I told him I had asked him for a price and he wouldn't give me one (unless I signed), and he had had the same opportunity as the others.
Based on the figures I had been given, Bob's original "suggestion" was something like $2000 below the base level when the dealer's margin is taken out. There is obviously no way they would have sold a new model/new car to me at that price.
A couple of things became apparent during my "journey of discovery". The S model is easily outselling the other two, and the auto is outselling the manual. The feeling seems to be that Subaru have under-priced the S model, relative to the others.
And they vastly under-estimated how many XV's would sell in Australia.
I had also forgotten how much I hated buying a new car!!
. I guess he didn't think I was serious about the way I was doing it.
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