fair price in this economy for 2007 forester 2.5XS (L.L. Bean?)

sadielady

I'm looking for 2005-2007 foresters to replace my totaled 2005. I found one 2007 LL Bean that I like quite a bit and am going to go check it out. It has 20K miles and from the listing is in excellent condition. The asking price is 20,700 which seems rather high to me even for an asking price. This is a Southern California dealership.

The Edmunds TMV with this car's specs is $18,620 which is more than I'd like to pay. Trying to sort out whether I have a shot in this economy to do better than that (I'd like to pay no more than $17 before tax and title), or if not, if I should just steer clear of this trim level and keep looking. If it is really $18,600 after haggling, I probably need to discard this option. My only other forester purchasing experience was with my 2005 X when it was new and I came in about $500 under the TMV on that one.

Any thoughts welcome about what sort of price I might expect to get through bargaining in this economy.

Thanks in advance,

Sadie

sadielady

Update: I just found this exact same car listed by the same dealership for $19,788. I didn't realize Subaru dealerships listed on craigslist. I'd like to go in and ignore the $20,700 price as if this price I see on Craigslist is the asking/listed price. How will that affect the negotiation? Any ideas about how far I can get them to come down? Sorry if that is a novice question --- I just hadn't realized there might be 2 advertised prices by the same dealer for the same exact car and want to figure out the best way to approach this and what my chances are for the best price.

Thanks,
Sadie

p0926

Sadie- Since you can’t know how much the dealer paid for it, it's difficult to determine what a dealer's true rock bottom price is. But with the economy the way it is, you are certainly in a stronger bargaining position.

Edmund's TMV shows about a $3k spread between dealer retail and trade-in value for a 2007 Bean. So if the dealer is using that formula, $17k would be less than he paid for it. However, it's more likely that the dealer has simply inflated the asking price.

Assuming that Edmund's TMV is accurate (and it isn't necessarily), $17k would be at the low end of what you could reasonably expect the dealer to accept and still make a profit. It certainly can't hurt to make an offer for that amount. However, you will no doubt have to put up with a lot of drama about how they couldn't possibly sell for that amount, they'd be losing money, etc.

So tell them up front that $17k is your best and final offer and then be willing to walk away. Either the dealer will eventually accept your offer or he won’t. If he does, great! If not, there are other dealers and more used Foresters out there.

-Frank

aatherton

"... looking for 2005-2007 foresters to replace my totaled 2005. I found one 2007 LL Bean that I like quite a bit and am going to go check it out. It has 20K miles and from the listing is in excellent condition. The asking price is 20,700 which seems rather high to me even for an asking price."

If you like the LL Bean package, go for it. 2007 was the best year, I think, as that Bean had the black rubber floor and black vinyl sides in the cargo area, and the rear leveling suspension and an alarm system. Aside from missing those, I love the features of my 2008 Bean. With $1,000 worth of options on the sticker, I paid Consumer Reports invoice price for it, $26,000, before fees, tax and license. A nice low miles 2007 Bean for $21,000 does not seem bad.