I just got a Forester using Fighting Chance. It's the only way I'll buy a car again. I had a very oddball version of the car I was looking for and still got it for $1000 under dealer invoice. I called the other dealerships to see if they could match or beat. No one even came close and a couple said it was a bullshit offer.

matthew wrote:I swear by my Subaru.I need to second, third, fourth, w/e on Subaru. I'm about to go on my second Outback. I love my first for so many reasons. My point is that the first one has made extremely easy to move to the next, because they have such a high resell value.

Our Forester is an '08 and I love it. Zero issues beyond basic stuff so far at 85,000 miles. 227,000 seems like a lot of miles on a car to me. If I had a car with that many miles I'd be looking to get rid of it regardless of if it was running great.

So my son (16 yrs) needs a car. Looking into a 1999 Subaru Impreza with 227K miles, 5spd. Clutch and belts were changed at 220K. Owner says everything good, smogged. The brakes just started to squeak is the only issue. Body in very good shape, interior is good. I know these 4 cyl. Subarus have been known to go 350K, it's not uncommon. Asking $2K. Worth it?

Subaru guys?

re: Subaru:My 2001 Outback has 365k on it currently and Faiz is not allowed any where near it, lest it burst into flame.AirCon is acting funny this summer, that's the biggest problem. It blows cold until it gets up to highway speed and then gets uneven. Haven't had time to sort this out.

tbone wrote:I mean seriously, don't people accidentally back into shit way more than they accidentally coast forwards into shit?Maybe... before the whole txting while driving fad started.

Tbone!I believe the preferred method is -- get the price of the new car in writing, and don't even get into the trade-in situation until you're closing the new car deal.Know what the trade-in is worth, and don't trade the old car in if they're trying to screw you over -- either sell it privately or take it to CarMax or something.The car I traded in might have had a BlueBook value of 3 times or so what the dealership gave me for trading it in, but it was a small miracle that the old car even made it to the dealership in one piece, so I took their offer (the transmission was all but dead).Good luck!

tmidgett wrote:His basic thing on trade-in is do not negotiate the trade-in until you have a price for the car. Trade-in and method of payment are not connected to the price. If they want you bad enough to give you a great price, they should want the deal bad enough to give you a good trade-in as well, so why throw them a bone by doing it all at once?Yes.This is a thing I did wrong when I did the Fighting Chance -- I probably could have gotten another $500 - $1000 on the trade-in, but I wanted that p.o.s. out of my sight so badly I played softball on that after FC-ing like a boss through the rest of the process.And -- I'm not exaggerating when I say that car may not have made it back home.Tbone, I suspect you are not in this position. Good luck!

Dudes! I have been thinking about buying a new car when the extended warranty ends on this Ford Escape I bought used in 08. Pretty set on the CR-V although I am willing to entertain other options. But the real reason I bumped this thread was in regards to the fightingchance.com stuff. I am pretty sure I'm going to use that. I like what I have heard on here and in researching it on that web site. It sounds a lot like you just have different dealerships quote you prices and then beat each other up, which is a lot like what I do at work when purchasing IT equipment, and I'm pretty good at getting some great prices that way.Did any of you guys use fighting chance when trading in a car? It looks like they provide some sort of advice but I was wondering how that worked out for you. I am envisioning the dealer being like "yeah you get this crazy smoking hot deal on the purchase, but...uh...your trade-in is only worth half what you think. Sorry dude."