USA Subaru Dealer in Montana

[syscon]

Can anybody recommend Subaru Dealer in Montana to buy from?

I'm from Alberta and Montana has no sales tax and is closest crossing point from Alberta.

[rockhopjohn]

I recently visited the DonK Subaru in Whitefish MT to look at cars and talked to for quite a while with their sales staff. They seemed like typical salesmen to me, they only started to give ground on pricing after pushing them fairly hard, and showing them I knew what I should be paying for a car.

If I were you, I would request internet quotes from a variety of dealers in northern MT, and simply see who will give you the best deal.

[syscon]

Are you from Canada? Did you make any deal?
I think sometime in 2008 SOA change something in agreement with USA Subaru dealers to prevent them selling directly to Canadian Customers, isn't it?
Now, it is harder to find a dealer willing to sell it to Canadians directly.
If I find one, will SOA still provide the warranty?

[up_north]

Syscon, I'm also looking to buy from Montana. US dealers can sell Canadians - the sale just doesn't count toward their quota for dealership bonuses. But of course they'll still make a profit from the sale.

As for warranty... SOA will cover warranty but on a reimbursement basis (i.e. you pay for the work, submit the bill, and cheque comes to you some number of weeks later). Also, we wouldn't be eligible for US manufacturer to dealer rebates and other promos.

I haven't gone as far as getting quotes yet... but I do want to get at least US invoice price.... I also read in some places dealers might try to charge you a "documentation fee" of around $500-750...to prepare docs for export (which I think is no where near $500-750 of work...).

I'm not planning to buy until around end of May/June... so if you're going to be shopping around now, and happen find a dealer that's willing to sell invoice price (or lower) .... please do send me the contact

Rockhopjohn: were you able to secure ~invoice pricing?

[syscon]

You are correct, USA dealers are selling to Canadians. I just talked to Scott from Bennett Subaru
Bennett Subaru Great Falls, MT | New & Used Car Dealership | Subaru Parts, Service & Financing
They do all the paper works for Canadians and send them to the boarder at Montana. He did not mentioned anything about paper charge fee (nor would I pay for it).
But it seems to me we (as buyers) are at a disadvantage at the moments.
Orders from factory for 2011 are closed and they are preparing for 2012 models for June/July so it makes sense to wait for 2012 model in your case. Not to mention they are telling customers there are shortages due to situation in Japan; but I doubt it.
They don't expect big changes for 2012 model, (I just hope they fix all the bugs if they are any).
One thing I'm disappointed Subaru doesn't offer leatherette type material for the seats; it is either cloth or leather.
Leather is nice - for the first view years but it wears out faster, easier to scratch etc.

By "US invoice price" do you mean MSRP price?

[rockhopjohn]

Originally Posted by up_north

Rockhopjohn: were you able to secure ~invoice pricing?

I told them I wouldn't pay more than invoice, and that I didn't care whether I bought from them or someone else. And they tried to poor-mouth me, saying that didn't make any money, and that they were pillars of the community and that I could trust that they had competitive pricing and all this crap. I told them that they would have to prove it to me, and that I would let them compete for my business right along with everyone else when I was ready to buy (I was planning to order, sending my order to several dealers to see who'd give me , and that if they were serious about being fair, they'd have to prove it.

So I didn't secure invoice, but I did let them know I wasn't going to roll over.

BTW, I am not Canadian, I was just kicking tires at the time.

[rockhopjohn]

Originally Posted by syscon

By "US invoice price" do you mean MSRP price?

No, Invoice price is about $2000 less than the MSRP. Invoice price is supposedly what the dealer pays for the car, but it really isn't. The dealers pay invoice - holdback, and hold back is usually around $600-700, plus at the end of the year they receive a kick back from Subaru for every car they sell. So they will use the tactic that they aren't making any money, but that is all BS, don't buy it. Invoice pricing is usually the fair price for the car. Anything more and you haven't negotiated hard enough (in my opinion).

If you find a car you like at a dealer down there, you can go to Edmunds.com, and find out exactly what the invoice prices for the car is. I went to the dealer with this info, which forced them to pull out their paperwork for the car, which showed the invoice price (which I had already found), and their hold back. Without that sheet from Edmunds, that paperwork would never have come out.

[syscon]

Originally Posted by up_north

Syscon, I'm also looking to buy from Montana. US dealers can sell Canadians - the sale just doesn't count toward their quota for dealership bonuses. But of course they'll still make a profit from the sale.[snip]

Let me know where are you located, I'm in Edmonton.
Maybe if we combine our forces (buying 2-cars) we can negotiate an invoice price deal with one of the dealers in Montana.
drop me an email at 'syscon780 at gmail dot com'

I was looking for 2.5i Limited w/Moonroof
Does this package include "All-Weather" if not how much would be "All-Weather pkg"?

[up_north]

Yea, like rockhopjohn said, invoice can be found by using edmunds or truecar. There's a dealership in New York that sells at invoice price to Canadians no haggling... so I feel this is the "fair price" as well, though this will be below the "average paid" number. I haven't asked for quotes yet, but I am certain that, as a Canadian buyer, they'll try as hard as they can to milk us ... and I'm sure most Canadians won't be as price sensitive, since we'd already be saving a lot by going cross-boarder, but for me I really won't bite unless I get it to invoice +/- 200. It might mean that where I'd buy from won't be the closest dealership to the border... but driving a bit further down would be fine by me. As what rockhopjohn did, I also think we need to show them we won't be willing to pay more than invoice... and then have to play the waiting game a bit with the sales people.

We can definitely work together to search for that dealer who'll sell it to us at invoice... I'll send you an email this weekend. I'm actually in Ontario, but frantically trying to wrap things up here so that my move to AB next month will be a smooth one.

[syscon]

edmund.com is showing "Invoice Pricing" eg.
2011 Subaru Outback Dealer Price Quotes - Edmunds.com
OB Limited 2.5L 4-cyl. AWD CVT Automatic $27,455 MSRP $29,220
(not sure if this include Moonroof on not)

truecar.com is not mentioning Invoice Pricing (I think it is MSRP):
2011 Subaru Outback 4dr Wagon H4 Auto 2.5i Limited Pwr Moon - New Car Price Report
OB Limited 2.5L 4-cyl. AWD CVT Automatic Pwr. Moon $29,280

I'm not in a hurry to buy, but just talking to one dealer I can see that they are trying to take advantage of us (Canadians). He would not talk about anything except MSRP pricing, citing shortage and difficulties with production due to Japan situation.
Looking at the forum folks posting their deals "Invoice Price" less % and for us they are not even willing to talk anything less than MSRP.

Did anybody do any deal withJoe Spitz ? I think he is the expert from Seattle in selling Subarus to Canadian.