Two for One Subarus in Texas

Yes, you read that right: Subaru of Plano, a suburb of Dallas, is selling a pre-paid two-year lease on a new Subaru Impreza for $1 with every purchase of a 2009 Outback. Buyers will have to pay the sales tax and bank acquisition fees on the Impreza, which starts at $17,495 and has a national lease deal of $179 a month for 36 months. The Outback starts at $22,295.

Dealership owner David Thomas — no relation — says he got the idea from a Best Buy sale. He started the deal on Black Friday, the traditional big retail sales day after Thanksgiving. He brought it back for the Christmas holiday because it had been so successful, nearly doubling sales. Thomas says the local Nissan dealer is now offering a similar incentive.

There is one little problem, though: The deal only pays off for Thomas if the Impreza’s resale value holds up after two years.

The campaign is going on through Jan 2, so if you need two cars for the price of one, at least for two years, get down to Plano, Texas.

Subaru dealer entices buyers (Dallas Business Journal)

Comments

These deals are rarely as good as they seem because you must pay MSRP + whatever else they want to tack on (accessories, service plans, stain treatment, etc) on the non-free car to get the "free" car. The dealer also keeps any incentive from the manufacturer and usually they make you use their own financing at a higher interest rate. $179 x 36 months is $6,500 and it's not hard at all to make that much profit or even more on a car if it sells for MSRP + holdback + extras + a high interest loan.

I agree you'd probably pay a premium price on the Outback to get this deal. The story didn't mention the terms of the lease - some of them only allow less than 10,000 miles per year and if you go over that you pay a lot. Also, the Impreza better be in perfect condition when you turn it in or they'll likely hit you with wear and tear charges on that end too. This might be a very good deal for the cautious buyer who needs two cars and takes care of stuff.

Yeah, but it's apparently working. It may not be good for some, but great for others. Think of the father whose kid needs a car. The savings more than offsets the extras.

So is there any price negotiation on the Outback? Is it on all Outback trim levels? Is the Impreza a stripped down model? I am kind of interested.

What? You guys wouldn't trust a guy named David Thomas? Sheesh.

Seriously though...this is one of the largest Subaru dealers in the country I believe so it wouldn't hurt to give them some credit.

J,
I would suggest you give the dealer a call and ask about the deal and what Outbacks they have in stock.
They've got six Outbacks listed on Cars.com
http://www.cars.com/go/search/search_results.jsp?sortfield=PRICE+descending%2cDISTANCE+ascending&certifiedOnly=false&cname=&pageNumber=&largeNumResultsPerPage=0&numResultsPerPage=50&sortorder=descending&tracktype=newcc&mknm=Subaru&makeid=45&dlid=&ct=25&amid=&rd=30&cid=&mdnm=Outback&ddrd=30&modelid=2996&aff=national&zc=75024&criteria=K-|E-|M-_45_|D-_2996_|N-Y|R-30|I-1%2c7|P-PRICE+descending%2cDISTANCE+ascending|Q-descending|Z-75024&dgid=&searchType=49&aff=national

Ranging from $24-$29K

This seems odd coming from a Subaru dealership as Subaru is one of the very few automakers that's actually doing pretty well this year. I think they are actually posting a sales increase for the entire year.

Subaru is doing well, but they're probably not as big a seller in Texas as they are in the north country where the all wheel drive comes in handy on snow days.

Good point. Here in Seattle Subarus are as common as Hondas

One report I read says you pay full sticker for the Outback to get the dollar Impreza lease.

There's a network of dealers in Wisconsin offering a used car for $1 with the purchase of any new car. The used car has to be valued under $10k, and I doubt the deal is nearly as good as it sounds, but they do sell a lot of different brands of new cars including Toyota and Honda. The owner says the promotion has been working really well.

I saw this a while back on the Subaru forum NASIOC.

Pretty good idea if you ask me; it certainly gets a lot of internet attention towards your dealership, that's for sure!