almondcookie Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 does anyone know how much it costs a dealership to transfer a car from another dealership to them? i'm so close in getting my wagon but i'm looking for white or silver and apparently the state of Maryland has none of those. the is only 1 dealership that has both and is located in Rockville. unfortunately, their starting price for the gt wagon is 1500 more than almost any other dealership, so i was wondering would it be cost effective to buy the car and another dealership and have them flatbed the white one from the rockville site to a dealership closer to my house. one of the senior sales people said that there's actually several different choices: * get a person to drive it (not liking that) * flatbed the car (my first choice) * intercept a shipment for another dealership * order one (takes the longest) your thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rallispec Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 depending on how far away it is - most dealers will be glad to sell you a car from another dealership. (usually they work out some kind of trade with the other dealer to get the car that you want) -- but chances are they wont flatbed it to the new dealer. They'll drive the trade car to the new dealer, and drive your car back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almondcookie Posted February 10, 2005 Author Share Posted February 10, 2005 well i made an excel cheatsheet of how much the pricing of the car i want with the options i want and i'm shooting for 26.5. basically they want me to add back the dealer holdback before anything else happens. that's 812$ on top of 26.5. the manager didn't have any issues of me paying invoice for all the options and all that but he was pretty focused on that 800+$. the dealership i went to was the one on Route40 (baltimore annapolis pike). The rockville dealership is about 40 miles away. for 800$, they should gas the car up and drop it in front of my house and take a taxi home. =|. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viperenvy Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 It does cost money to bring in the car and it's not all in the actual process of bringing the car in and paying someone to do so. Here is a quick summary of how it works. Say you want to buy Car A thats 40k with 2k of holdback for example and they don't have it. They call another dealer who has it so they agree to swap but almost always the dealer with the desired car wants a cheaper car in return. How does that hurt you say? Well say its Car B thats 20k with only 800 of holdback. The dealer who got the car first gets the holdback. So in reality your dealer would be losing money here and thats not something the average consumer sees. I don't see an issue with having them drive it don't you plan to drive it after you get it? I understand the concern with someone beating on it but you have to worry about that wherever the car was or when they go to fuel it for your delivery. I also understand no one wants a new car with over 100 or 200 miles but if you pick a rare car and you want mega low miles be prepared to wait anywhere from a month to three if you want to order to avoid all of that. On the basis of you not wanting them to drive it here is some other info for you. Our dealership never test drives Sti's cause who wants a 32k sports car with 80 or more miles done a 1/4 mile at a time? No one has to test drive that car if you know you want to buy it. It's not a family van or rs wagon that rides soft, its an all out no comfort thrills sports car. Where with the legacy you need to test drive it to make sure you like it cause it has a lot of competition out there. If you want the car trailered in you should pay for it cause you can't say they pay for it and discount everything cause it does cost. I hope that helps you out!!! If dealers would just tell customers this then they might believe them for once. Honesty so rare in this business.... 2017 F150 Platinum EB 2009 SWP Spec B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almondcookie Posted February 10, 2005 Author Share Posted February 10, 2005 Just out of curiosity, why would the other dealer ask for a cheaper car in return? Wouldn't both dealers be more on a buddy-buddy level? Something like "we have a customer here that wants this car in white with a couple more options that what you have, no problem we'll add them when the car gets here .. we'll trade you that one for one of ours. Our car is blue and has almost the same options, so it's about the same." Guess it doesn't work that way i suppose. I was totally cool with the sales rep. He was a young guy that has a black sedan and was telling me what i wanted to know and answered all my questions. But when he got his manager that's when it went south. I went to the dealership after work so i'm there around 7:30-8pm and with a combination of people being sick and on vacation and whatnot, there was only 2 people there so it's dead quiet. Well all i hear from his office is "you get that money back no matter what". I calculated the price and the numbers I ended up with were in line with the ideal market numbers that I should be paying to be deemed "a good buy". So it wasn't like i had some fairy tale number like 10k for a 30k car. basically the deal boiled down to the last 800$. I told the sales rep that i'm even willing to do the mutual thing. i'm willing to go higher if the boss lays off the holdback a little. Meet half way or some kind of number split - 60/40, 70/30 but not all 800$. I'm looking out for myself finanacially and i understand he's looking out for the dealership to make some dollars but the manager didn't want to hear any it. maybe something will work out when he calls me. not sure. it would be a shame to have to do the dealing thing all over again at a different dealership. i agree with honesty. that's how i bought my honda. i gave him my cheatsheet and we worked the numbers. no BS no redtape no "well i don't know.." jive. i ended up paying 200$ more than my estimated numbers. that whole process, from greeting and handshake to the manager's pow-wow to discuss my numbers to me signing took all of 15 minutes. car buying should not be painful process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viperenvy Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 Just out of curiosity, why would the other dealer ask for a cheaper car in return? Wouldn't both dealers be more on a buddy-buddy level? Something like "we have a customer here that wants this car in white with a couple more options that what you have, no problem we'll add them when the car gets here .. we'll trade you that one for one of ours. Our car is blue and has almost the same options, so it's about the same." Guess it doesn't work that way i suppose. car buying should not be painful process. Being on good terms means basically willing to swap stuff. This is a business so you have to look out for yourself. No dealership is going to lose money by giving another dealer a car for their sale. A lot of the times we try to do even swaps if possible. It's not a good practice to have 200 Forester X's and 5 Outback VDC's. I mean if they take an outback from us we try to get one back as they are great sellers. Don't want to be the number one RS wagon seller hehe. Your last statement is ohhhh sooooo true. Sadly I have had friends who worked at other dealers where their boss never showed them invoice or nothing. They only did stupid payment negotiations. He had to stand on the lot all day and wasn't allowed to come inside till he had the customer's name and phone number on paper to show his manager when he walked in. Here it's the total opposite. We let every customer walk the lot and if they want a car they can walk inside and we'll greet them then. Who wants to be jumped on the lot and not given a chance to see colors and options for themselves? Probably once a month or two someone calls and complains no one came outside to greet them then we explain and they tend to understand. If someone looks lost after a half hour or so then we go to help hehe. 2017 F150 Platinum EB 2009 SWP Spec B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almondcookie Posted February 11, 2005 Author Share Posted February 11, 2005 Well the dealer called me back and apparently they're confused at how I came up with my numbers. I magically made them up or something. Edmunds maybe? That's the national average, we're not the average. So they give me the info and said that the car will now cost 1000$ more because the dealer where the car is sitting now is charging 1000$ more. So "what we pay, is what you have to pay". A big nono is the sales rep guy gave my work number to the finance manager - so now i have two people pushing their story to me. Great deal, come on in and we'll work something out. So just for kicks, i call up another dealer and I asked them how much would it be to transfer a car. "this is the color you want .. you're right, this other dealership does have it" .. "fee? there's no fee involved, we'll be happy to transfer the car from there to here - once we do all the paper work." So i asked how long will it take. "well if you give us enough notice, i can have it here on the same day or the next morning." see? how hard is that? i'm not trying to launch the space shuttle. just trying to buy a car in the color i want. sheesh =P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viperenvy Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Yeah there is never a fee. Don't fall for his trap there isn't a fee. You get there and the price is the price but it's not a fee. You asked how much to transfer the car which no one is going to say there is a fee. I haven't met anyone that thought the word fee meant anything good. Someone will tell you ANYTHING you want to hear if you aren't there to get you to come in, make sense? Though you may have a completely realistic dealer you called where the numbers make sense to them to get the car OR in many cases here is a scenario. Dealer A called me and wants one of my cars, I tell him I'll call him over the weekend or Monday and tell him what I want. I sell a car I don't have but by luck he does, sweet deal!! Now instead of guessing on a car I might sell I take from him I get rid of one car to him and sell what he brings me works perfect!! 2017 F150 Platinum EB 2009 SWP Spec B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almondcookie Posted February 11, 2005 Author Share Posted February 11, 2005 Yep I've concluded, in my case, that using the internet - asking for quotes and generally trying to be more efficient in buying a car isn't working. I'm going to go old school and visit a couple dealers in person this weekend and see if I can finally get something going. This other dealer I'm talking to seems to be starting at a better price and giving me less lip service but like you said, they'll say anything to get me to come in. I have about 2 more dealers that I can visit before I start searching out of state. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGT Posted February 12, 2005 Share Posted February 12, 2005 Almond - what car are you looking for? I, too had an issue sourcing the one I wanted (white LTD wagon with balck leather and 5sp). There were only two in the country and on the west coast. I ended up getting an ABP one instead, to take advantage of the Guaranteed Trade Program that ended Nov 1. I assume you have checked out the regulars....FitzMall.com, etc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almondcookie Posted February 13, 2005 Author Share Posted February 13, 2005 I'll start a new thread to help the future owners since the rest of the story doesn't really apply to this thread. But to conclude this topic on car transferring. Transferring a car from one dealership to another basically boils down to what kind of sales person, sales manager and dealership you're asking. If the sales person or manager is looking out for themselves or for his/her dealership (numbers), then they'll make it extremely difficult/reluctant. Several scenarios could occur. They could do it with no problems (ideal situation), or they could make it extremely difficulty but still do it, or some type of monetary value will be placed on you. A transfer fee or some sort of extra charge or "whatever we have to pay is whatever you have to pay". While the thought may be to pick a smaller dealership because their service is more personalized or whatever, having a middle to larger dealership helps you out because they have a larger selection. In some cases, one or two dealerships my share the same inventory (i.e. overflow lot or whatever the case may be) and you will have a higher chance of getting the car you want with whatever options or colors you want. For the record, I was told by one dealership that it would cost me an additional 1100$ to have the car transferred from one dealership to the current dealership. In another dealership, they wanted a "transfer fee" of a couple hundred dollars. And finally in the last dealership I went to, they shared the same inventory as another subaru dealership so transferring the car would be 0$ and no problem. Get want YOU want and don't settle for something else. Ultimately getting the color or the options or whatever that you want and none of the dealer's extras makes you happy. If they're not willing to help you, take your business somewhere else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SBT Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 One thing I did find out when I was sourcing my SWP LGT Ltd Wagon from a distant dealership, was that I could buy it at one dealership, which had located the car, and then pick it up myself at the dealership that actually had the car. I just needed to work the deal and sign all of the paperwork at the dealership where I was buying the car. Once I had all the paperwork in hand, then I was free to go pick it up rather than having someone else drive it, or trailer it, to the selling dealership. My understanding was that the two dealers would work out all the necessary paperwork details between them and let me know when the car was avaialble for pickup. This sounded reasonable to me but I ended up ordering the car exactly as I wanted it and then waited 8 weeks for it to be built and delivered. Holidays and winter snow/season really slowed up the delivery. SBT - Pro amore Dei et patriam et populum - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viperenvy Posted February 18, 2005 Share Posted February 18, 2005 Yeah one should never settle on a car or color. Because all you'll do is hate yourself everytime you see it in the garage/driveway and get pissed at yourself. Sadly though money tempts everyone into getting certain colors most of the time. 2017 F150 Platinum EB 2009 SWP Spec B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGT Posted February 18, 2005 Share Posted February 18, 2005 I don't agree 100%. I ordered a white GT-L wagon (always had a thing for white cars). Atlantic Blue Pearl was my second choice. I found out the ordered car was delayed, meaning that I wouldn't be able to trade the WRX in under the GTP which ended Nov 1. The dealer sourced the same car but with ABP and gave me the choice to buy it or wait for my ordered car. Somewhat reluctantly, I went with the ABP, due to the financials involved. I am glad I did. I really like it better now than the SWP car I ordered. It took that to kick me of the white car habit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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