I'd liked to thank everyone on this board for all the info I've gathered over the past few years. “Little” story about my car purchase. (alright, long story sorry)
Old car:Volvo 850 GLE 95 222,000km. This was a gift from my father back in Dec 2005, I drove 35,000km with it and invested a little less than 4000$ in repairs
But now, the car still needed new brakes, new tires and a timing belt. Even after investing close to 2000$ in those repairs, the car would still have needed a new exhaust manifold and AC evaporator. I decided to ditch it. I'm gonna miss the comfy seats...
About me:I have 2 young kids (1 and 4) and live in Quebec City. I drive about 14,000km a year. Since I'm 6'5", I was looking for a roomy car and lots of space for the family. No mini-vans
Car Shopping:Last Wednesday I decided to ditch the Volvo and get either a Legacy Wagon or a Forester. I thought about a Nissan Altima 2002-2003 but I've read too many error stories here. I went a Subaru dealership nearby and test-drove a Legacy L SE wagon 2003 AT and a Forester X 2003 AT. I liked both cars. He offered only 1000$ for my trade-in. Also, the salesman told me that the price of the cars weren't really negotiable (
who know today with the internet and all 
) but he was willing to throw in a 3y, 60k warranty (not from Subaru). I told him fine and walked away.
Thursday, I tried to find a Legacy from a private seller. Nothing was really available in Quebec City, most cars had too much mileage. Through the Montreal Subaru Club, I talked with a subaru salesman in Montreal, he was willing to deal somewhat on the price over the phone. I talked to a few people at work who own Subaru cars and they told me to take a closer look at the Outback. But still, nothing interesting in my area for a private seller.
That night, I called back the salesman at the local Subaru dealership. Told him I would be in the next day at noon to test-drive the Outback base model in both 4AT and 5MT. If I liked the car, I was going to make an offer but that there was no way I was paying near his asking price for it. I did some research on the 4 OBW he had on his lot. 3 were 2003 with 67,000 to 81,000km, 1 was a 2002 with 62,000km.
I found the black book and vmr canada prices for each car. His asking price was about 5000 over black book. Since I plan on keeping the car for 5-6 years, I thought it won’t matter in 2012 if I buy a 2002 or 2003. I thought I would try to shoot for the 2002 5MT OBW.
Black Book 11180
VMR Wholesale 13700 Retail 16000.
Asking 16500
I got there early noon Friday, inspected closely each of the 4 cars and the 2002’s exterior was in great condition. The salesman arrived 10 minutes late, sales tactic? We took the 5MT 2002 for a drive, it had been more than 2 years since I had driven a MT, I really enjoyed it. I’m no expert but the car felt great, no engine pinging and I completely forgot about getting the 4AT. New clutch and a bunch of other stuff was done on the car, he would also put new brakes.
The Sit Down:I was pretty direct, I told him about my research and what I thought was a fair price for the car 15000 and 1000 for my Volvo. In retrospect, maybe I should have started at 14500. Anyways, he told me that my numbers didn’t mean much to him since he had gotten the car in December (probably a lie). He had paid more than 13700 at auction. Yeah right! He showed me the old sticker price they had for the car. I barked right back at him that it wasn’t my fault he hadn’t sold the car yet, he was paying for the depreciation, not me.
After that, I kept pretty quiet and he called his manager and countered with 15500. I looked upset and asked him to run the numbers again, even if I knew that it meant roughly 15$ more a month. Sorry, 15500 can’t do it (I could but didn’t want). I stood up and he jumped on the phone to call his manager again. They made it sound like I was getting a great deal... blah blah blah. They accepted my initial 15000 offer. Maybe I’m wrong but I think it was a fair price.
I should be getting the car tomorrow and I will post pics. This was my first time buying a car, hopefully I did good. I was in a hurry since I’m driving down to NYC this week for my sister-in-law’s wedding.
Almost forgot, carfax for the car is clean
