The Old Bait and Switch
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Filed under cars bait-and-switch
I haven't bought a car in 7 years. The last time I bought a car, I bought it from Ewing Subaru in Plano. It was simple. I didn't even have to haggle much, and I got a great deal as it had some very minor hail damage. It was a good experience.
That was not the case for me yesterday. After a 6 month experiment of going car-light in a sprawling Texas suburb, my family and I decided it wasn't working. Expect a post on this at a later date.
I wanted a car that was reliable, and preferably electric, since I have gotten spoiled driving my wife's EV. Right now, the best deal for the majority of EVs is to lease, since many of the cars on the market do not meet the requirements for getting the Inflation Reduction Act's $7,500 tax credit.
The base model 2024 Subaru Solterra is easily the best deal in car leases right now. You can get one for 329 down, 329 a month (plus tax and title). It is this low because it is selling really badly - at least until they announced this deal a couple of months ago.
Interested in this deal, I called Ewing Subaru. They said that they had what I wanted - even if they didn't have a car on the lot. They claimed there was a car that they could get from another dealership in the garish color I wanted. So I decided to head down there on my day off. On my way down there in an Uber, they called me and said that the car was sold the night before but they did have one in a higher trim. Classic Bait and Switch. They said they might be able to find another base model (spoiler: they couldn't).
Since I was already on my way, I figured I would humor them. I did a test drive, and got the numbers. It was $6,000 down instead of $0 and $329 a month. Needless to say, I walked out.
I ended up with a Fiat 500e later that day. To be honest, it's what I wanted in the first place. I always said that my next car would be small, bright, weird, and electric. That's the 500e in a nutshell. The Subaru lease deal was just too good to pass up - which ended up really being too good to be true.
I think everyone should write their representatives about allowing direct car sales in the United States and Texas in particular. As Robert Evans has said many times, it would be good for democracy and consumers.