I’ve read a bit about how dealers may give year end bonuses to move old inventory out, and that the bonuses can end up being so large it offsets any discounts or loss on individual leases and sales, but what are the main factors?
For instance, I’ve been seeing that in SoCal Subarus are straight up being given away right now. I live in Northern Nevada and I’d say about 25% of the vehicles on road are Subarus. They retain their value extremely well and are highly sought after. So of course there’s no deals to really be had on Subarus here, even with pre negotiated deals or brokers. But on the flip side RWD sports cars and convertibles seem to have awesome deals, especially around winter.
The obvious take away is supply and demand. Obviously in an area that gets a decent amount of snow and is freezing for 3 months out of the year, a RWD sports car isn’t going to be flying off the lot. And in an area with perfect 70 F weather year round with little to no snow, an AWD SUV isn’t what people want to own. But is that the main driving factor behind most deals? Or are there other large factors at play and what are they?
looking at inventory/what is selling and what is not selling
Dealer deciding what their willing to sell for a loss vs “we know what we have”–no way to predict this I feel like unless you have an in-which quite frankly may not mean anything still (lol)
Either hunt the deal or hunt what you want And if the stars align, you can succeed in getting both with one deal!
But welcome back to 2026 - forget whatever nonsense you read, especially regarding Subarus.
You previously asked a question near the end of this thread
Scroll to the top of that thread and read the first dozen or so posts. Use a broker or get VIP pricing if you want a Subaru, stop trying to psycho analyze the sales manager at a particular dealer.
That’s why I posted this thread. Brokers in my area can not get deals on Subarus. I’m just curious as to why and if it’s as simple as supply and demand.
That’s what it is: your local dealers are competing in-market. You can always get one from a broker out of market and ship it or fly/pickup/drive. Or you can join VIP and get VIP pricing in-market.
And if the stars align, you can succeed in getting both with one deal!
