Purchasing New 2013 FR-S Advice
 

Hello All,

I've scheduled an appointment to come in and (hopefully) buy my dream car, a Whiteout 2013 FR-S. I just wanted to see if any of you had advice for a first-time car buyer? I know the basic run-down: did the research, got my financing pre-approval, have insurance quotes ready to go, and all that jam.

My understanding is that Scion just doesn't negotiate on prices, period. Research on KBB and edmunds backs this up. However, I've been offered $1000 dealer incentive because they're clearing their inventory for the 2014 models. On top of that, I'll be receiving a $750 rebate for their College Graduate special.

I'd like to know if anyone's had better luck negotiating the price down or if I'm just set at my $24,500 quote. Also, if there's anything else I should know/ask about while I'm there, I'd really like to know!

Sound like you did your homework. I would just settle for the FR-S with all the extra accessories that you want then play hard to get. I really want this car but not the accessories - they might just deduct portion, or all, price of the accesories. Extra savings or they can just say, "you are in luck. We have a stock white FR-S in the back!":)

Yea unfortunately for me the dealer was willing to drive 300 miles to pick the car with the specs i wanted. They had a raven with some accessories that i didn't want but they were more willing to drive than negotiate the price, this was in July though, and no where near when they wanted to get rid of the cars. Maybe you will have better luck, I wish you the best and welcome to the club.

Sounds like you did your homework. Outside of waiting to see if the dealers get desperate to lower prices further, I think you are getting a good price. Just to be clear the car is $24,500 before the college rebate? So it is really $23,750 before tax, tag, and other fees?

You could really catch them off guard with this one. Ask them if in it's life it was ever shipped by rail. I'm sure their answer will probably be yes. Ask them if they have given the car a chemical wash to eliminate the potential problem.

What happens is that cars transported by rail will have a certain amount of rail (metal) dust settle on them and when taking delivery the car will look fine. But, with time and moisture those tiny little specks of dust that won't wash off with soap and water will begin to rust and you'll start seeing many tiny little brown dots on your car that you won't be able to remove. Dealerships are all aware of this problem but it seems that few of them do anything about it in preparation for delivery. It only becomes apparent on white cars. The dealership has a mild chemical wash that does no harm to the car but eliminates the problem. If they do it before you take delivery it will save you going back with a problem they could argue was caused by something else: you parked close to a factory, etc., etc.,

Congratulations, you're in for some fun times.

^^ You make a good point. I've heard about someone else briefly discussing that being a potential issue. I'd have them or your detailer of choice to chemically clean the car either at the time of delivery or very soon after.

To the OP, it sounds like your homework has been done. My question to you is, are you financing it via the dealership or your bank/credit union of choice? I know you're looking at the FR-S but when I was buying mine, Subaru was offering a 2.9% APR for a 60 month term. Although that's not a bad APR, my credit union was offering a 1.75% APR for the same term. In short, I'd look around before signing papers at the dealer.

Make sure they put PREMIUM fuel in the car.

Its 750 now for the rebate? It was 1000 before when I baught it. At time of purchase they tried to tell me "oh sorry thats actually being changed to 500 now". And then offer me a cheque. I said NOPE. They gave me the 1000 off.

Thanks all for the quick responses! Luckily for me, the car I want is AT the dealership I'm going to, so I can't think of any delivery issues. I wanted a bare-bones FR-S because I want to be personally responsible for any changes made to it, even if it's just installing a radio or spoiler. It might be financially smarter to get a car with pre-installed options and negotiate down from there, but I want this car to be an extension of myself. So I figure working on it and modifying it myself will help me learn about it much better.

That's correct, it should be $23,750 before tax, tax, and other fees.

I'll definitely ask about the chemical wash, I believe I've had that issue with my current car, 2006 Maxima. In any case, definitely good to know, thanks!

As far as financing goes, I've checked around, with my bank (Wellsfargo), I got this ridiculous APR of 12% when I've been quoted at 6% from various other dealerships. I was previously in the market for a VW GTI because I wanted a sporty yet somewhat practical ride. Plus, I've always loved the Golf and hatchbacks, although the AE86 has been my all time love, with the FR-S being my dream car since I saw it in concept in 2007. But I digress, but basically I was getting around 6-7% APRs at other dealerships. With the College promotion, along with a cosigner (if I have to), I'll be getting a 3.99% APR over a 60-month term which is great for me. Plus, the 0-down, 0 payments for 90 days really helps my impatience. (otherwise I'd have to wait until the end of the month, and who wants that noise?)

Wells Fargo tried to get me at 8% and now my current credit union has me at 2.2%. There's a reason they aren't my bank anymore.

He's in California, mine traveled less than 100 miles from port to dealer lot and 99% sure it was by truck. I'd say most of the state cars don't travel by rail unless they're really far North or in the Sierras.


In any case, they'll nail you on accessories, don't pay for them if you don't want them, always look at the price of the car, not your monthly payments. It took me 4 months to find a California dealer who would sell me a car without add ons I didn't want like bespoke and paint protection and wheel locks.

They changed it to $500 on Jan 1st, that's also when the price got bumped up $300. I literally lost $800 because of asshole dealers not being capable of giving a customer what they want :mad0260:

Also, anoter bit of a scrub question, what should I expect to pay in terms of out of the door fees if I'm going with the 0-down option. I want to get my funds in order and I realize now that I should've figured out a long time ago what this was but I can't seem to get any sort of direct answer.

Ask the dealer via email to provide you with the out the door price of the car including tax, tag, and fees. Watch out for dealer fees, and other add-ons and don't buy any of the protection packages (paint, seats, etc), and don't buy the extended warranties. You can always add those things later, usually at a much lower price.

Will I be paying the tax AT the dealership because I had assume that was being financed. The other fees I'm sure I can handle, but that wasn't including the tax. Just to clarify a little bit more, what will I be paying for at the dealership tomorrow? Worst case scenario, I'll just have to put it off, but I don't want to waste my or the agent's time.

Most people tend to say to add about 8% to take a car to "OTD" price, but in CA it might be a little more than that. Generally you're looking at sales tax + 1-2% in the form of destination/dealer doc fees/tag fees/etc.

Nor Cal SF Bay Area, sticker price $25,255
Dealer Doc Fee: $80
Out the Door (no rebates): $27,800 (roughly)

Fees the dealer took to cover registration = about $2,500

Those are my numbers. I think you can arrange to do the DMV forms and pay the taxes yourself but the dealer usually assumes they'll do it for you, I think that's the $80 I paid, I almost walked out and wanted to not give it to them but at 4 hours in I caved and let them handle the paperwork.

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/FeeCalculator...VehicleForm.do

Also watch out for bait and switch financing, they tried to jack up the interest rate on me.

http://www.edmunds.com/about/press/e...financing.html

Edit: the way I did it, letting the dealer handle it the licence plates + registration just showed up in the mail about three or four weeks later, very little hassle after I drove off the lot aside from them trying to screw my financing around.

Quick run through on a Carmax calculator says $3,425 to $3,750 in fees and tax. Is that what I need to pay at the dealership tomorrow?

If so, sad face.

You can roll everything into the loan as long as your credit is good and the lender approves the loan. That said, if you have nothing to put down, are you sure you are not getting in over your head?

It's not a matter of not having anything to put down. It's just that I'd be a little bit more comfortable financially if I didn't have to right this instant. Granted, this also means I could put off getting this car a couple more weeks to save up for a down payment, but my impatience is getting the better of me.

However, as far affording the car itself, it's within my budget comfortably. I just didn't want to walk into a dealership and be told I owe $3k at signing.

I paid just under $3k on top of the negotiated price in MD. I would imagine it will be similar in CA, if not a bit higher. Sales tax on vehicles here is 6%, for reference.

You graduated school? Wow.

Yeah, it's a little bit higher. I just wanted to know if I could have that on the loan or if I had to pay it when I went to sign. Seems like I might get a bit of a deal though, $24850 on a 2014 FR-S Whiteout. Gotta make sure everything is in order, but if it's really only 350 more than what I intended, why not?

My advice after you buy, watch out for parking blocks and steep inclines. Save your low front end,too late for me and many FR-S owners.

I don't understand your comment? I suppose I did 2 years ago and bought the car 1 year ago. Why the surprise?

Curious where did you buy your Frs? I'm checking out the bay area and saw a few in Redwood City going for 25k

I personally hate dealing with them in regards to loans, but only use them for a physical bank account. I received 0 credit after fully paying off my 2005 car by myself that I had with a co-signer. The co-signer got all the credit! :mad0260:

That and the fact they quoted me 12-18% when I had excellent credit established after using another bank for a previous loan. I went to a credit union and got...0.95% lol. Credit Unions are also good too. My BRZ is at 2%

Picked up my FR-S. Unfortunately, the $24,850 I was quoted at before was a typo. I knew it was too good to be true. Ended up being $25,850 at 4% APR.

Dozens of humiliating stalls later, my new baby makes it home.

Nice work! That white out looks so freakin nice.

In case anyone comes by later looking for pricing info. I just brought home a 2014 raven. There weren't any asphalts without a spoiler or other addons available, so I ended up with the raven + spoiler + LED accent lights. The dealer comped the addons, though, so I just paid for car + trunk mat.

Apparently, supply on 2014s can be fairly tight at the moment, so it can pay to play for what's on hand v. waiting a few weeks for a new ship into port.

I don't know what extras it has but my 2013 with only the touchscreen but no bespoke was 23.3k

CONGRATULATIONS!

Extra cost? ..... tax? Dealer prep? Other?

Oh, you'll get the hang of the clutch.....:thumbsup:

humfrz

It was around 28k out the door, and I had a bit of a shock. They called me back in the Monday after that weekend (picked it up on Friday) telling me that my loan needed some ironing out. Apparently, the Apr quote they give me didn't go through to tfs because it was so late...

Instead, they offered me 2.75%! I was staggered. Never expected them to offer me lower after the fact!

Well, just get out there and enjoy driving that new machine ...:thumbsup:

Doesn't it need gas?

Maybe drive over and check the tires pressures?

Maybe a last minute run to the grocery?

All of these trips should be separate ..... and clear across the county ..... stuff is cheaper over there .... ;)

humfrz

The biggest place you'll get discounts is in the aftermarket upgrades...I was able to get them to lower the cost of the car by 1000$ (like most people here) but couldn't get it any lower than that...

At that point I said I'm walking...
to which they offered me

- free remote starter
- free HID headlights
- $500 off an exhaust
- discounted pioneer head unit upgrade
- discounted tinting

You get the idea...If you have mods that you KNOW you're going to eventually put on, get them done at the dealer discounted big time
- you save on mods
- any remaining $$ is built into your monthly payments instead of having to put the money down all at once

http://www.cars.com/for-sale/searchr...AD&enableSeo=1

Frs are cheap in my area

13-14
Auto Manual Bot cheap

Northern Virginia