Did they raise Forester prices?

M

Mark W

I am going to be buying a Forester LL Bean edition, most likely within
a week but a salesperson I talked to today told me that the MSRP of
the Forester has been raised. He said I'd get a good price on the
cars on the lot but yet if I buy later and get newer stock that they
could cost more. I dont' know if this is true or not so am wondering
if anyone has heard anything about that on here. It just sounds odd
they'd raise the price so close to the 07's coming out.
 
Go to Consumers Reports or a car pricing service and get the "dealer cost".
This is different than "invoice Price". Invoice price is a virtually
meaningless number. Begin dealing with the dealer from the dealer cost that
you obtained from whatever service you use. Note that you may have to pay
$20 or so to get the true dealer cost. When you go into the dealer, tell him
that you have researched dealer cost info on the net and are prepared to pay
that + a reasonable profit for the sale...say $300 over cost and no more.
Educate yourself and save some substantial money. Win the game at the
dealership. They won't ;like you for being an informed consumer but they'll
make (or lose) the sale. Watch out for the fees they try to stick you with
too. I bought a Forester in 2004 and payed $280 over dealer cost which was
actually less than the "invoice price they claimed was as low as they could
go.
 
Mark said:
I am going to be buying a Forester LL Bean edition, most likely within
a week but a salesperson I talked to today told me that the MSRP of
the Forester has been raised. He said I'd get a good price on the
cars on the lot but yet if I buy later and get newer stock that they
could cost more. I dont' know if this is true or not so am wondering
if anyone has heard anything about that on here. It just sounds odd
they'd raise the price so close to the 07's coming out.

Likely a tactic to encourage to act quickly AND take delivery from stock
instead of ordering. Though sometimes there are price adjustments -
usually the delivery charges go up.

You might like to look at the pricing and news at www.cars101.com .

I dunno

Carl
 
This is the MSRP on the LL Bean on the US Subaru website as of today:

FORESTER - 2.5 X L.L.BEAN EDITION
Exterior: Evergreen Metallic / Steel Gray Metallic
Interior: Desert Beige Leather with Alcantara® Accents
Transmission: Automatic 4-speed



Base MSRP* $26,895
Transmission $0
Packages $0
Accessories $0
Destination & Delivery $625



Total $27,520

Is this the same as the sticker on the lot? Normally I see the price go up
on their web site first. Some one here the other day posted the last day to
order the 2006, not much time left, and the dealer should have no problem
giving you a price. Sounds like they want to move current stock before the
2007's hit the lot.

Blair
 
Thanks for the info.I thought at first he was talking about a 07 but
later realized he wasn't. Where are the links to get the actual
dealer price? I went to Consumer Reports and Edmunds but had no luck.
The most I found is on cars101.com and that's the base invoice which
seems to be the invoice minus transportation fees and advertising
fees. Is that the same as dealer cost?
 
No. the true dealer cost is invoice minus the manufactures hold back
amount which is typically 2-3%
 
No it isn't. I got my info from Carcostcanada.com. There must be a US equal.
You usually have to supply your zip and such because of shipping differences
etc. They may call the number you need either dealer cost or wholesale cost.
Good luck!
 
Mark said:
Thanks. that helped. From my calculations and from the fact it has
the group 1a pkg as well as homelink I get $23,264 for dealer cost so
willl try to bargain down to maybe within $300-$400 of that.

If you want to bargain down even more, keep in mind that the dealer
gets a holdback so he still makes some money even at dealer's cost.
There may also be dealer incentives from Subaru. We got down to $150
over dealer's invoice--the one he showed me, which I knew from research
was the legimate price--because we knew how much the dealer was getting
from Subaru. He still made a few hundred dollars off the deal, which is
reasonable.
-yngver
 
My understanding is that the Dealer Holdback for Subaru delivered in the US
is 3% of Total MSRP (including all installed options)
 
I'm reading this thread a bit late as I've not been online much for a very
long time. I ordered a new 2002 Outback Sport Wagon from the factory,
receiving it in late May 2002, about three months after placing the order. I
wad glad to wait though, as I got exactly what I wanted on the car and the
optional equipment is cheaper when done at the factory, instead of buying it
at the dealer and having them install it. In the first week of February I
purchased a 2006 OBS Special Edition. It has many upgrades over the 2002. I
bought both cars from the same dealer, even the same salesman. The really
nice thing about the new car, is that I paid only a FEW dollars more than I
did in 2002. The Special Edition package includes the following:

a.. Leather-wrapped 3-spoke steering wheel, shifter handle, and parking
brake handle
a.. Tailgate with rear spoiler
a.. Center console armrest extension
a.. Auto-dimming rearview mirror with compass
a.. 260-watt 6 speaker premium audio system with subwoofer and 6-disc
in-dash CD changer

If sold individually, I probably wouldn't have purchased each item in the SE
package, but at $500, I thought it was a fair enough deal, with the
financial advantage in my favor, if pricing the items out separately, even
if you count only the ones I REALLY wanted.

The options I had included were: a block heater - I'm in central Montana
where it can get pretty cold. The car is always garaged, but I thought that
if I chose to sell it, most buyers would like the block heater; I had the
back seat and rear cargo area windows tinted, had the lower trim
body-colored front and back splash guards installed, and added the rubber
corner rub strips to the back bumper, and a black front hood protector (AKA
bug deflector). Had the car not been a Special Edition with a rear spoiler,
I would have chosen a black acrylic rear dust deflector, as I had in my 02
car.

Some other changes/upgrades from the 02 to the 06 are:
-Disc brakes all around, instead of discs up front and drums in the back.
-Two cup holders up front WITHOUT the pullout one from the dash that was
never too reliable, plus two backseat cupholders where there were none
before.
-There is just a bit more horsepower from the same engine as the 02 had -
but it seems to have great acceleration and climbs steeply graded hills much
better than my 02. I go to a VA hospital about 90 miles from here quite
often and there are a couple of long, steep hills on the trip. The new car
can maintain the speed I set with the cruise control, while my 02 couldn't -
I had to come out of cruise and accelerate to try to stay at/near the speed
limit in the old car, but not in the new one.
-It has better headlights and foglights - they are the new smaller ones that
illuminate really well. Officially, Subaru says this about them:
Multireflector low-beam and high-beam halogen headlights. Projector-beam
halogen fog lights

-The remote keyless entry system and antitheft security system are now
standard. The keyless entry feature was an option in 02, but I'm not sure if
security system was even available then.
-The 06 has front-seat-mounted head/chest side-impact air bags which weren't
available in 02. Also new is a sensor for the front passenger seat that
indicates whether the SRS airbag is on or off, depending on the weight of
the passenger
-One of the new items that I am most happy with is to finally have an
illuminated ring around the ignition!
-Both visors now have mirrors, not just the passenger one, as my 02 had.
Personally, I see no reason for the driver to have one, but it is there now.
-The hood is now aluminum alloy, perhaps to increase gas mileage, I don't
really know. And I coudn't tell you what the hood of the 02 was made of,
sorry, but I know it wasn't aluminum alloy.
-The gas ratings went up by a single MPH for both city and highway on the
new car.
-This is kind of a nice change, the exhaust tip is now real chrome, whereas
on my 02 I ordered the option for that and it was just a screw on
piece...kind of cheesy. The new exhaust looks much better!
-The retractable antenna went away also, now the antenna is in the top
section of the glass on the back liftgate. I know other Subaru models have
had their antennae in the glass for some time. The only problem with this is
that now I have nowhere to put my Marine antenna ball.
-The 02 had RE92 Bridgestone Potenza tires which were very soft. I have read
many reviews of those tires from other consumers online and most felt as I
did, that they handled horribly on snow and ice. At times I was embarrassed
that I drove a Subaru and couldn't make it up the rather modest incline to
my garage without shifting to a very low gear (automatic tranny) and making
a couple of tries at it, before getting in. last year I got rid of those
tires and put on a tire that was far better suited for Montana winters, even
though the original tires had very low mileag on them. The 06 OBS has
RE92"A" Bridgestone Potenza tires. I spoke with the tire guy I got my last
new tires from and he didn't know anything about the "A" part of the tire.
He looked it up and said the softness (or hardness) rating was now 250, if I
recall. Anyway, he told me they should last longer and handle much better in
the snow compared to the original RE92s. Kudos to Subaru for making that
change.
-They also added a couple of new bars in the cargo area, to be used for
securing items, I am guessing. One thing I don't get, they have ONE grocery
bag hook in the cargo area, to be used to prevent groceries from rolling out
of the bag. There's plenty of room back there, why not have a few more, say
two per side? The cargo net they offer is listed online at $40, I got mine
at Wal-Mart for $8 and love it. I even got two, just to make sure I will
have one should something happen to the first one. It is partitioned into
three sections, which lets me pack my groceries in a manner that makes sense
and gets them home in the same condition as when I bought them. If you have
a wagon and don't have a cargo net, you should go to your nearest Wal-Mart's
automotive section and pick one up, you'll love it.

There are two things that aren't on my 06 OBS Special Edition that were on
my 02 OBS and their disappearance makes no sense to me, especially on the SE
package. Those things are: 1) The front floor mats aren't embroidered
anymore, not that I really CARE that much about it, but how much money did
that save them? It was a nice touch 2) The car came with no splash guards. I
had to order them. If my plain 02 OBS came with them, why not an 06 Special
Edition?

As an FYI, I now have the 06 because on January 26th I rolled my beloved 02
OBS. It wasn't even fours old yet, and still wouldn't be. It had about
26,600 miles on it. It was my "I plan to keep it forever car". I was on a
small county road, with very narrow shoulders and while taking a drink of
water, then placing the bottle back into an unzipped soft-sided cooler on my
passenger seat, I apparently pulled the wheel slightly to the left, while
the right hand put the drink away. I ended up somewhat diagonal across the
east and west bound lanes. And as occurs in many rollovers, I overcorrected.
My first roll was on the asphalt road, then for good measure I had one in
the far side ditch, leaving me up in the air, passenger side down. The car
was totally mangled, but I didn't have a single thing wrong with me. I got a
decent check for my old car and for my extended warranty. So with that money
and the fact that the new car cost hardly anything more at all than the
first, things worked out for me. If you were to look at my wrecked car,
you'd have to wonder if anyone was killed. I am now a true believer in the
safety of Subarus!

Stacey.


: I am going to be buying a Forester LL Bean edition, most likely within
: a week but a salesperson I talked to today told me that the MSRP of
: the Forester has been raised. He said I'd get a good price on the
: cars on the lot but yet if I buy later and get newer stock that they
: could cost more. I dont' know if this is true or not so am wondering
: if anyone has heard anything about that on here. It just sounds odd
: they'd raise the price so close to the 07's coming out.
 

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