Dealers Begin Subaru BRZ Price Gouging

Derek Kreindler
by Derek Kreindler

Well, we knew it would happen. Some dealers are already starting to ask for markups on the Subaru BRZ. And some people are dumb enough to pay them.

According to an email received by Inside Line, a dealer is asking for a $5,000 “non-negotiable” markup on their BRZs. Apparently, their allocation is small (gee, wonder why!) and many of the cars have been pre-ordered. Hopefully, nobody is dumb enough to indulge this dealer. These cars are going to be readily available in a few months, once all the early adopters have flooded the forums with endless shots of stock BRZs and poorly photographed Monroney stickers. I wonder how Scion dealers will get around their “no haggle” pricing policy? Lots of dealer accessories and rust proofing, no doubt.

Derek Kreindler
Derek Kreindler

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  • Solracer Solracer on Apr 13, 2012

    This is why even though I might normally have considered one I haven't even bothered looking at the BRZ, while it's a decent $25,000 car it's a pretty lousy deal at $30,000...

  • Richard Richard on Apr 13, 2012

    All you people that are walking around with a piece of paper saying you can get either the Toyota or Subaru version of this car are fools.When "YOUR CAR" arrives at the dealership the person who is willing to pay the most will be driving it. You will get "YOUR CAR" when the dealer feels like giving it to you,but you will get tired of waiting or having your calls being ignored, and you'll go and get your deposit back because you will be so frustated. Remember the dealer always has the upper hand,especially with such an Emotional Purchase as this, thats why the dealer always wins, to him it's only about making the most money. Our policy on a model is we don't take deposits until the car arrives and it's first come first serve,and we get the real buyers, and people pay what we want because the can see and touch the car they are going to drive home in 2 hours.This policy really separates the men from the boys..

  • FJ60LandCruiser FJ60LandCruiser on Apr 16, 2012

    To preface, people were paying 4k over list for the PT Cruiser when that POS came out over a decade ago so that says a lot about how dumb the car buying public can be when they want something. ...also, I am always dismayed when a popular and desirable new vehicle comes out and the career criminals who are obligated BY LAW to serve as a middle man between the manufacturer and the consumer jack the price up by a few grand and then say it's "capitalism." The car dealers lobby to have their lucrative price gouging empire, put up a barrier of hidden fees and imaginary costs between manufactuer and consumer, then cite the fact that if SOME people are stupid enough to overpay 5k for a product, you must as well if you want it. So the real question is if such practices can kill interest in such a car, because everyone who could potentially buy one gets turned off by the limited availability and cost and dealer bullshit... Then after all the idiots with too much cash to spend buy their Scions and Subarus, the rest of us move on and spend our money more wisely and the dealers are left sitting on their 5k marked up FT-86 inventory that NO ONE wants to buy and cry to the manufacturer to send them something that sells and the remaining stock is traded for some Outback wagons or new Avalon sedans and Toybaru pulls the plug on production. It's all hypothesis, but I can see the "super low production" FRS/BRZ being axed because of price gouging killing off all interest for the car.

  • W126 W126 on Sep 07, 2012

    Funny how people describe a Subaru BRZ/Toyota FT-86/Scion FRS as "the new best car", as if it's a McLaren MP4-12C. It's a mass-produced, underpowered coupe that will be out of style in a couple years. I actually liked the concept of the BRZ i.e. a sensibly priced, rear drive, lightweight car with good handling, but I'm not going to convince myself that it's the finest automobile on the market, not even close. The problem is most people don't know how to negotiate when buying a car and they are unable to walk away from a bad deal. Let's face it, if all the people who were paying $5,000 markups on the BRZ were super rich, they wouldn't be buying a BRZ. If everyone had common sense when it came to car buying, dealers wouldn't be able to get away with their mark ups.

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