[Steve70]

What is the percent difference between MSRP and invoice?

Does Subaru have a 2% holdback? More?

 

[Packard8]

What is the percent difference between MSRP and invoice?

Does Subaru have a 2% holdback? More?

"MSRP" is "Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price" (emphasis on "suggested"). "Invoice" is the theoretical price that the factory charges the dealer for the car, exclusive of holdbacks, advertising allowances, volume incentives, "spiffs" on certain packages and options, etc, etc, etc.

I'm not sure anyone other than the factory and dealership owner know what the actual cost of any particular vehicle is, there are just too many variables.

 

[sr21]

Placed a factory order for a 22 Limited in late October and picked it up from the dealer over the weekend. Used ASPCA VIP for invoice less 2%. No bogus fees or add ons and was also able to use my $500 loyalty certificate (my third Subaru). The price I paid was the out the door price I was quoted in October. Overall fantastic experience. I'm in SoCal.

Do you mind if I ask what your OTD price was, @G8k48OTP ?

 

[Jim_in_PA]

Ok and if you don’t like the pricing you jus forget the whole thing?

It's no different than any other way of dealing with a dealer. You either buy or don't buy based on the price offered vs your needs at the time. There is no magic wand that's going to get you better pricing than has been discussed.

 

[rlb81]

There's no commitment to "building" a car online. It's like looking at a menu for a restaurant online before you go. You pick what you'd like a-la-carte, then ask for pricing from there. In this case there's only 1 menu but hundreds of different dealers offering the same items at slightly different prices.

 

[Steve70]

"MSRP" is "Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price" (emphasis on "suggested"). "Invoice" is the theoretical price that the factory charges the dealer for the car, exclusive of holdbacks, advertising allowances, volume incentives, "spiffs" on certain packages and options, etc, etc, etc.

I'm not sure anyone other than the factory and dealership owner know what the actual cost of any particular vehicle is, there are just too many variables.

I agree. Throw the floor plan costs...how long they've been on the lot. ...etc

But just like the MSRP is the MSRP...there is a generic invoice price all vehicles coming to a dealership have. We bought our Ascent for 5% less than MSRP last month. I've only bought into the hold back once. That was with our 17 Ridgeline RTL-T, but like you say that was probably because they had accrued some bonus points in some fashion...or they had it too long.. etc. I flew to Scranton, PA for that one and still saved over $1500 from anywhere else I checked. My time is retired time ...and lots of it.

 

[Jim_in_PA]

But just like the MSRP is the MSRP...there is a generic invoice price all vehicles coming to a dealership have

True, but they change over time...it's a moving target. So what they are at the time of negotiation is what counts and neither account for other incentives the dealer might have available "at that time" which affects their actual cost for the vehicle from the manufacturer. The areas in the northeast US that have distributors between SoA and the dealers in that geography also have an added dynamic to pricing and policies.

 

[Packard8]

. My time is retired time ...and lots of it.

Yep, my hourly rates have dropped drastically since retiring.....lol. 👍

 

[Steve70]

True, but they change over time...it's a moving target. So what they are at the time of negotiation is what counts and neither account for other incentives the dealer might have available "at that time" which affects their actual cost for the vehicle from the manufacturer. The areas in the northeast US that have distributors between SoA and the dealers in that geography also have an added dynamic to pricing and policies.

No disagreement on that. It's always been that way, but to my knowledge there is still a base invoice regardless of all the criteria which could be involved. We have no control over that. High volume dealers reap rewards others don't get. It's like the destination price. You could pick it up at the factory, we have, and you still owe the destination price.

Edmunds shows a 9% difference between MSRP and invoice. Fairly typical. Whether it's accurate or not for the dealers actual cost at that time is immaterial. It's a relatively close starting point to negotiate up from. Of course, right now today, that's not readily possible to do.

 

[Jim_in_PA]

It's like the destination price. You could pick it up at the factory, we have, and you still owe the destination price.

The non-discountable "Destination" charge in the industry is "averaged" over the entire production and doesn't represent the actual cost for shipping a particular vehicle to your dealer. It's about the only sane way to do it. A lot goes into it, too...not just the truck/train, but all the other logistical support necessary to move vehicles from the factory door to the dealer's door. That would be way too complicated to do on an individual sale basis, even for a "pickup at the factory" which, in general, doesn't happen. So they tag a number and we all pay it.

9% does seem about right for the span between MSRP and Invoice historically. There's probably some business metric that makes it so. The price adjustments I mentioned used to generally hit at model year changeover, but in recent years, some manufacturers have made adjustments mid-model-year. I sure wouldn't want to be a "bean counter" in the industry these days and be faced with that kind of decision making!

 

[cindyascent]

I’m actually at the dealer and they changed the other side strut, spring, and strut bearing. Fast. Asked for the alignment report because no alignment is listed in receipt. Seems they are doing it now after telling me it was ready. Is anybody legit? You can’t do that without an alignment. We change our own all the time but have to get an alignment. learned that on forum- “can I have a copy of the alignment report” they tried to play it off but it wasn’t real good acting.

So back to The buying subject. Did the grand Subaru just blow us off with such a crazy four day later message? Basically make a car, that’s the msrp ,add $2000 and pay us?

 

[Packard8]

So back to The buying subject. Did the grand Subaru just blow us off with such a crazy four day later message? Basically make a car, that’s the msrp ,add $2000 and pay us?

It's a great time to be selling a car. Buying one?.....not so much.

 

[G8k48OTP]

Do you mind if I ask what your OTD price was, @G8k48OTP ?

MSRP $44,879
Invoice $41,408
OTD $45,508

 

[Packard8]

MSRP $44,879
Invoice $41,408
OTD $45,508

Pretty solid deal for today's market, congrats!

 

[ntotrr]

Yep, my hourly rates have dropped drastically since retiring.....lol. 👍

Hmm. My hourly rate went up since I retired. It's going to cost someone a lot to get me off of the couch.

 

[Steve70]

We're new here...don't even know what the VIP pricing thing is. We're at one month of ownership now and bought ours less than 24 hours after it arrived at the dealership. We had, by chance, stopped there to see what showed to be there on their website. Well, it wasn't there yet, but due in that very day. It was the only vehicle on the truck not spoken for. I said I'd like to have a look at it and have first dibs. They said yes. I crammed as much DD as I could into into the next 24 hours. The next morning the dealership called and said it was there and that someone had seen it unloading the night before and wanted it if we didn't. We went down, drove it, had a deal presented to us, went home, and called back a couple hours later saying we'll take it. No haggling..price presented. We accepted it. Our first Subaru, although as I've said eleswhere here, they've been popular in this neck of the woods for 50 years...starting when they were only FWD. Sometimes ya just gotta go with the flow. Brand new direction for us. You know what they say about variety adding to the spice of life

MSRP $44,893
Invoice $41,351 (according to Edmunds)
OTD $45,256 (we owed 6% sales tax on the entire amount)

They threw in a pair of 3rd row seat back protectors ...after the deal was done and I inquired about it. Installation was free. (I easily could of done it, but they offered) Actually, I assisted the salesman putting them in. 10 minutes.

Based on these numbers, quick math shows about 2.58% over invoice

 

[Jim_in_PA]

We're new here...don't even know what the VIP pricing thing is.

VIP pricing is a benefit of contributing to certain charity partners of Subaru. It's either 2% below invoice for most new Subaru vehicles and accessories purchased at the same time or at invoice, depending on the chosen charity partner. ASPCA and PHS (Pennsylvania Horticultural Society) are two that have the 2% below invoice Subaru VIP benefit available with membership. A $500 contribution gets you the benefit immediately with both and PHS also offers it after a 6 month waiting period for a lower contribution, such as normal membership. In the "best of times", most dealers participate in the program. Currently, many are not participating as they have constrained supply and feel they can make more money without it. Some will only permit it on a factory order currently to at least accept it. Both of our current Subarus were bought using the benefit. I like it because I can be very satisfied with the VIP price (PHS member here) and the energy not used for price negotiation can be focused on beating them up about a trade.

 

[Steve70]

@Jim_in_PA Good info! If there's another Subaru in our future, I'll definitely partake. We give a fair amount to charities every year. Thanks. It would seem we did as well as the VIP price listed above? Does that have someting to do with regional things? There's certainly not a 4.6% differential there?

 

[Jim_in_PA]

Dealers are independent businesses and some high volume dealers will, um...deal...very nicely. (in normal times)

We also do charitable contributions here for tax reasons, although most is "stuff" rather than money. But supporting one of the Subaru partners in this way and gaining the benefit is very much in line with how we do things. The level of charitable support that Subaru does is noteworthy across the board and sometimes even more visible here in the Delaware Valley because of them being headquartered just over the river. They support the local non-commercial radio station I have been part of for decades with major sponsorships for events, etc., including a recent food drive as well as music festivals, etc. They are very present in the community.

 

[G8k48OTP]

@Jim_in_PA Good info! If there's another Subaru in our future, I'll definitely partake. We give a fair amount to charities every year. Thanks. It would seem we did as well as the VIP price listed above? Does that have someting to do with regional things? There's certainly not a 4.6% differential there?

I think you got a solid price without VIP. Part of the difference might be that sales tax in our part of SoCal is 10.25%.