i believe ordering a car costs moe, becausse its like you have to tip for delivery, also it costs money to ship the car u want. ud have a better chance of getting a better deal when the car is already in the dealers lot. correct me if im wrong.

 

Ordering as far as I know does not offer a better price. Someone said something before about all dealer invoices being the same no matter what options. Well, the car with the premium package has a higher invoice, around 24,500, than the standard wrx which is around 22,300 if im not mistaken. Tack on the destination charge since they come into the west coast, and whatever other bull**** they charge. Mine with the premium pacage, upgraded stereo, autodimming mirror and armrest came out to 25,500.

 

An ordered car does not cost the dealer more on the invoice in any way. Destination charge is the same no matter what. Most people pay slightly more than their best deal though for the convenience of getting exactly what they want. It's not cost based, it's value based.

 

dont dealers get cars for wholesale prices?

 

Call me crazy, but I don't quite understand how dealers can sell cars for invoice, give or take a couple hundred bucks. Do they make all their money on service and extended warranties, or what? They must pay less than invoice, or else how could some smaller dealers afford to keep the place running. Do dealers get sales commission or subsidies from the manufacturers? Am I a moron?

 

i think theres a wholesale price, which is what the dealers get the cars for.

 

There is another small profit margin called Dealer Holdback. Essentially, it is a small fee that the dealer recievies from the manufacturer to pay for the interest on the car for 90 days. Yes, dealers finance the cars they buy to sit on their lot- you didn't think they opened the store with $1-3 million for inventory did you? Anyways, the sooner they sell the car, the more of that money they get to kepp- and if it takes longer, then it starts cutting into the profits from the sale of the car. This is especially true of used vehicles- if you happen to know that a used vehicle has been sitting around for a long time, you can usually get a better deal b/c the dealer wants to cut his losses on the unit.
But I digress. Holdback essentially brings the dealers cost under "invoice"- depending how long it takes to sell the unit. When you order a car, they keep nearly every bit of holdback of course. So why are some dealers so opposed to factory orders? Simple, two reasons- one, they get lazy and don't want to do the necessary paperwork because they don't feel like it. The other reason is the fact that when they order the car, you haven't technically bought it, no matter how hard they will insist otherwise. By ordering it and leaving, you could still change your mind when the car came in. Because of this, some sales managers insist that their salesman sell what's on the lot and not even offer to order.

 

you should in fact get a better price if you order your car because, like many people have said, the dealer gets to keep nearly all of the holdback, and also because all of the options you order will be factory installed. lets say for example that you picked a car off the lot. the car may have been sitting there for a month, so they dont make as much from the holdback, second any options you want installed on the car that is not already there will have to be installed by the dealer; which means labor and parts cost. options on an ordered car should ALWAYS be at invoice. i ordered my White 04 back in April when they first came out. I paid 250 BELOW invoice and was offered any options i wanted at invoice.

 

basically i got mw 04 wrx under msrp, its easier than the STi since the STi is more rare and in high demand and very special.

my wrx was 26,200 out the door.

 

Did you inquire about how much more it would have been per month for the sti? Just curious.

Matt