I wish this was about a year and a half from now. I’ll be looking for a car for my then graduate from DPT school. She can drive a manual transmission and if I’m correct the Subaru manual transmissions have a hill holder feature that keeps them from drifting backwards until the gas is engaged. Until then she gets to drive her 17 year old mini van. 
Yes…my Outback has the no roll…and it’s well equipped!
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The average car on American roads is over 12 years old according to this KPMG / Kelly BlueBook report:
My husband’s lease (Infinity SUV) is up in late March. He needed tires and had them done at the dealership this week. Before he paid, they asked him to come talk to the sales manager. They offered to buy out his remaining lease, gave him another $3,000 above the value and said the service and tires would be on them. Put him in a 2021 SUV with 50 miles and his lease price is the same as it was on his 2018. We were worried there would be no cars in March (work pays for his lease), so he jumped on it. Did to less driving in COVID, his 2018 only had about 40,000 miles on it. I’m thinking the dealership knows that they can make more on reselling that.
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Much higher mark-up on used cars than on new cars.
The dealer made two sales with respect to the transaction with your husband while retaining a service customer.
Appears to be a great deal for all parties involved except the original leasing company. Congratulations !
That’s been very common for over a year in a RAV4 Prime group I follow. One guy from TX put out a finder’s fee to get what he wanted and it worked. It started earlier with that model because it’s only available in about a dozen states (or at least was).
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@youcee, what is the Reddit sub? I am looking for a RAV4 Hybrid. The other day I pressed the button on the true car dot com and got several emails/calls/texts from some dealerships but any real info is definitely helpful. Thanks!
Edit: I’m not looking for a Prime, just a Limited Hybrid, so if the list is just for Primes, I guess never mind! Thanks!
Hi, the one I was referring to is specifically for Primes. I did find this general RAV4 subreddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/rav4club/
There is also this site which I’ve used for info in the past:
If by chance you live in SoCal, Longo Toyota in El Monte is one that will sell at MSRP, even Primes. There will be a waiting list most likely though. Good luck, I’m sure you’ll really enjoy it when you get one. @jellybean5
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Very handy and timely! Indeed, I’m going to the dealer today to see how upside I am on my current lease and how it can hopefully help for my upcoming lease.
The one downside is that there are few PHEVs on this list, and PHEVs in California are even harder to come by if they qualify for the carpool lane sticker. With Bay Area traffic, that sticker can be an enormous time-saver, and it is exceedingly difficult to find one here now.
Thank you for posting.
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After a new car purchase is made,the car dealership applies for the car buyers license plate (tag) & car title. Typically takes about 4 weeks to receive one’s license plate & vehicle registration from the state after the sale is completed. During that period, I had a recurring dream that my new license plate would read:
PD2MCH
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We usually just transfer our plates from the old car we had to the new one. That takes no time at all. Of course, with a lease, I don’t think that works.
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Did not work in my state unless the plates were personalized.
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We can transfer any plate…and it costs less to do that than get newbies.
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Just bought a new car sight unseen, never test drove it. It’s a Volvo S60-recharge. About 3K below MSRP. The salesperson will bring it to me tomorrow night and we will complete the paperwork at my house.
I had initially been looking for a used Ford Fusion for DS but the prices were so high. I’m going to give him my Ford Fusion instead and upgrade my ride to the Volvo.
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We just had to buy a car for my daughter- BIG HACK we discovered- purchase a stick shift!
It was about 8-12K lower than anything comparable in age and miles. It is a beautiful car! It took us a few days to teach her how to drive stick. We have to buy my son a car in the summer and plan to buy another stick shift. The dealership offered to teach us how to drive it - for anyone who may not know how.
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Enjoy! Make sure you try out the charging at home - I bet you like the ride when it’s in EV. 22 miles range isn’t a lot, but will work for errands around town or a short commute. You may find your current EV range is lower than 22 miles and improves as the weather gets warmer.
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Yep…that’s how we got a four year old Outback wagon for $11,000 about five years ago. No one wanted it. Had been on the lot for 90 days plus.
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