Selling a Subaru WRX or STI

Photograph the Car You Are Selling

A WRX or STI buyer is shopping a body, a trim, and a generation. The photos have to settle those three before anyone asks. Sedan or wagon, WRX or STI, and which generation, have to be obvious in the frame. Shoot in daylight, in focus, and take more than a couple of pictures. A tight shot of a gauge is a picture of a gauge.

The modification list and the photos have to describe the same car. A part on the list appears in a photo. A part in a photo is on the list. Pictures of a different car — a manual sedan when this one is an automatic wagon — are a different car, and the buyer will treat them that way when they arrive.

Price a Subaru From the Car You Have

Kelley Blue Book, Edmunds, and NADA are the guides. Enter the options that are on the car, the mileage on the odometer, and a condition you can defend in the driveway. The figure that comes back is the start of the ask. A guide built from equipment the car lacks, a mileage lower than the odometer, and the best condition box produces a number the car cannot support. Marking that number up again produces a listing people scroll past.

The original window sticker is the price of a new car in a past year. Maintenance you already paid for, including a long run of oil changes, is the cost of having owned it. Neither one is a line on the buyer’s check.

A used WRX with an ask in new-WRX territory is priced above the used market. Buyers in that spot buy the new car. That overpricing is common, and it is why listings sit.

How Modifications Change a Subaru Sale

List every modification that is on the car, and list nothing that came off. If you state what a part cost, state what you paid. The retail price of a part bought used is a different number. Adding that retail figure, plus a shop’s install price, onto the guide price treats the parts as cash in the buyer’s pocket. A parts-and-labor total stacked on the car is how asking prices leave the market.

A body kit installed at home is a home install. The retail labor for that job stays off the ask. A wheel that came from another Subaru, another year, and another model is that other wheel. Name the wheel that is on the car. A close color match is still a different wheel on a WRX.

Put the Title and the History in the Ad

Say where the title is: in your hands, at a bank because of a lien, or with a title-loan lender. Say in the same place if the title is reconstructed. Flood history goes in the ad. A vehicle-history report with a long record of damage, owners, or title events goes in the ad. The visit is for confirming what you already wrote.

If the car will not drive without a part that is missing, the ad says the car will not drive and names the part. A small cut in the price does not stand in for that sentence.

Send Rust Photos Before Anyone Drives Out

Buyers ask for specific photos because they have already made a long drive and found the damage in person. One shopper looking for another 2004–2007 STI went through 22 cars in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama. Sellers would not send pictures of the spots that shopper named. A three-hour drive then ended at rust in those spots. That shopper stopped looking at used cars.

A car in a warm state still rusts, and a car from a salt state still gets advertised in the South. Send photos of the frame rails, the shock towers, and any spot the buyer names, on this car, before anyone gets on the road.

A Color Count Is Not a Rare Subaru

There are no rare Subarus in the way a for-sale ad uses the word. A count of one color with one option list in one year is a production mix, and it leaves the price where the guide and the condition put it. The cars people mean when they say rare sit on another scale: 25 Porsche 917s, or 51 Tuckers. A WRX in a less common color is still a WRX.

A car sold new in the United States, with the steering wheel on the left and a 17-character VIN, is a US-market car. The year, the model, and the trim are the label. A JDM tag on that car describes a different car than the one in the driveway.

Before You Post the Subaru

Answer the question the buyer asked. Two questions get two answers. A full inbox and a vague reply to half of one message tell the buyer the car is work. The same photo and price rules apply to a set of wheels or another part: an ad that sits is still an ad with a price or a picture in the way.

1. Photograph this car. Daylight, in focus, enough frames to show body, trim, and generation, plus the parts you listed.
2. Run the guide on this car. Real options, odometer miles, and a condition you can stand next to. Keep the ask under new-WRX money.
3. Write the parts from the driveway. What is installed, and what you paid if you name a cost. Leave retail labor and old maintenance off the total.
4. Lead with the title and the damage. In hand, bank, or title loan; reconstructed if it is; flood and a long history report; any part missing that the car needs in order to move.
5. Send the photo they named. Rails, towers, a wheel, whatever they asked to see, before they drive.
6. If it sits for months, change the ad. Price, photos, or the unanswered question. Time on the market is the ad, still.

FAQ

What photos does a Subaru WRX listing need?

Daylight photos of this car that show sedan or wagon, WRX or STI, and the generation, plus any part you listed. A gauge close-up is a picture of a gauge.

How do I price a used WRX with Kelley Blue Book?

Use Kelley Blue Book, Edmunds, or NADA with the options on the car, the real miles, and a condition you can stand next to. That figure starts the ask. An ask in new-WRX territory is above the used market.

Do modifications add their retail price to a WRX?

List the parts that are on the car. If you name a cost, name what you paid. Retail price plus retail installation added onto the guide price pushes the ask off the market.

Do I have to say the title is rebuilt?

Yes. Say whether the title is in your hands, at a bank, or with a title-loan lender, and say in the ad if it is reconstructed.

Are any Subarus rare?

A less common color and option list in one year does not raise the price. Rarity on the scale people borrow for that claim is a few dozen cars in the world, such as 25 Porsche 917s or 51 Tuckers.

Is a US-market WRX a JDM car?

A car sold new in the United States, left-hand drive, with a 17-character VIN, is a US-market car. Year, model, and trim are the label.

Should I send rust photos before the buyer drives out?

Yes. Send pictures of the spots they name, on this car. One shopper went through 22 2004–2007 STIs in five southern states and found the rust only after a long drive, because those photos never came.

What if the car is missing a part it needs to move?

Say that it will not move, and name the part. A small discount does not replace that sentence.