Where Your Author Sells a Subaru During a Pandemic (Part II)
Today brings Part II of my 2012 Subaru Outback’s sales and ownership story, as the green all-terrain wagon recently pulled from the driveway for good. If for some reason you didn’t read Part I, find it here.
Now we press on with the vulgar topic of money.
It seemed commerce was picking up a bit at the beginning of June, so I relisted the Outback on Facebook around the 10th at an ask of $7,400. I listed it with some new pictures (post hail damage), even though it wasn’t really noticeable unless the body was examined closely. As noted last time, I decided not to fix the hail dents even though my comprehensive insurance covered it in full. It didn’t seem fiscally prudent to fix relatively minor damage on a car I was fully finished owning. And I figured any buyer would either fail to notice, or fail to care. The $1,898 in my pocket felt nice.
Interest throughout June was somewhat low, with the usual “Is this available?” type questions with no follow up, and offers of “$5,000 cash, firm” — whatever that even means. Things changed on July 7th, when a buyer showed up on time to check out the car. They were impressed with the cleanliness and condition (and didn’t mention the hail damage). After a short test drive they made a reasonable offer, and had cash on hand. The painless process took about an hour altogether. Sale price: $7,000.
The Outback was purchased on September 2nd, 2017 with 159,683 miles. Purchase price was $9,254, or $10,202 out the door. Once more I proved how little mileage my vehicles accumulate, as when I transferred the title to its new owner, the odometer read 167,809. During my ownership span, I had just two unexpected servicings. When I drove the Outback in the dark for the first time, I noticed the headlamps were almost entirely ineffective. Turned out they were installed upside down by someone careless, perhaps at the selling dealer, perhaps elsewhere. The dealer put it right for $45.
On a warm day in April 2018, I noticed a strong smell of coolant while driving (I headed home immediately), and a puddle under the radiator formed once it was parked. My independent mechanic discovered a rubber bypass cap split in two. The part was $11, and the labor and coolant refill $66. Other than that, oil changes at the dealer were complimentary, as was the Takata airbag exchange on the passenger side. All in all, the high-mileage Outback had a pretty low cost ownership experience.
I know the green egg will serve its new owners well and carry the small dogs they’ll be putting in the back. As for me, the Outback marked my one and only ownership experience of a CVT-equipped vehicle.
[Images: Corey Lewis / TTAC]
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
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I'm waiting for Part Three, "Where Your Author Shares The Newly Acquired $7000 In Wealth."
I still shudder when I see the exaggerated, perfectly semi-circular wheel arch "brows" stamped into the fenders of the first Outbacks of this generation. Fortunately, Subaru softened them significantly in subsequent model years, improving the overall look of the car, IMHO. My '07 Outback LL Bean 3.0 H6 is still going strong on the original 5 spd automatic transmission at 304k miles. (I replaced the engine with a lower mileage one a few years ago when the head gasket began to leak). I can't see myself ever driving a CVT by choice.