[Author Prev][Author Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Author Index][Thread Index] Re: a4q test drive. Pricing, anyone?
In article <Mutt.19970104010223.jeffw@jane.smoe.org> you write: >you able to agree on? My preliminary talk with the salesperson >(Pass & Weiss) ferreted out that they would be looking for 2k >over invoice for the base car, and then dealer cost for all >options. On a loaded car (all packages) it translates to $1180 >off list (or a 4% discount). Has anyone done better? > >I realize that the 1.8T is shaping up to be very much in demand, >but I'll be ordering for late March/early April delivery. >From what I understand, ordering now is for late March/early April delivery. The dealer I spoke to in Colorad 2.5 weeks ago said they had just sent in their orders and would have to see if they could change it -- this was for early March delivery. As far as price -- all I can tell you is that it's VERY prudent to shop around... The local dealer was unwilling to actually find the car (it's fine if we wanted something that was on their lot, but they didn't seem interested in ordering). We called a dealer in Colorado that we had stopped by and talked with before the '97 was available -- they weren't interested in budging from $2K down and $750 under cost ("The demand is too high."). This was on a 2.8L with all the toys but Bose radio. They were the ones who were quoting early to mid March... I told them that it seemed like it was common to find them for 5% over invoice, and considering that it would be $2K down and wouldn't sit in their inventory, I woudln't be wasting their time on test drives, etc... They weren't interested in budging... Then I called Schaumburg Audi in Chicago and talked to Alex. I just spoke to him tonight and the car is prepped and ready to pick up. Unfortunately we're gone for a week at Usenix, but will be flying into Chicago on the 17th. I told Alex what car I was looking for, and he said he'd need to check the computer. We were looking for a 2.8L Yellow with black leather, all the toys except for the bose radio, manual trans. He called back half an hour later saying that they found one on the boat, it was coming to another Chicago dealer, and they had already made the trade for it. Did I want to talk money? Their first offer was like $500 less than the CO dealer wanted, but this car has a $660 more expensive radio in it. I ended up getting the car for around 6% over invoice without ANY hassle. PLUS, I get the throttle-body modification on it! I *HATE* having to do the haggling on the price -- feeling like I can't get a good deal without leaving the dealership. That was what our last attempt at buying an Audi ended as. It was in August and we were looking at a '96. They originally wouldn't budge below $750 off MSRP, so I finally said "fine". While I was waiting for them to send the Buyers Order to me, I read the q-list and found '97 was going to have a trip computer and come in Yellow. Over the next couple of days I received several calls from several "managers" at the dealership, still playing the price game. "So you aren't even interested if we could do it for you at $29,995?" "Are you offering that?" "Well, I'd have to see what I bought the car at..." Yeah, like he doesn't know EXACTLY what they paid for it. On top of that, they wanted a premium on a car that had 250 miles on it! "How much are those 250 miles worth to you." I knew he'd laugh if I said $5K, so I didn't... But I would rather have a brand new '97 with <10 miles on it for MSRP than a '96 with 250 miles on it for MSRP-$5K... I HATE having to deal that way with a car dealer... I know 5% to 7% is fair for what I'm asking. I was lucky enough to find a dealer that would do a reasonable price on it. Sure, I may have been able to drop another couple hundred off, but it wasn't worth it to me... First off, I had a figure in mind I thought was fair. Other dealers played the "We can't do it for that much" game on me, and Schaumburg gave me that price without screwing around. I'd rather give them the $500 I could have driven the price down (maybe), than have had to give $2000 more to a different dealer... Go to http://www.kbb.com/ and find out the EXACT invoice price of the car with the options you want. Calculate that price plus 5%, 7% and 10%. Laugh at anything over 10%, and unless you're really burning up their time with test-drives and all, don't take anything over 7% unless you REALLY have to. In addition to Schaumburg being reasonable on price, they found me the car I wanted in 3 weeks instead of 3 months. No affiliation with them except as a happy customer who hasn't actually picked up the car yet. :-) Sean -- "McGuyver stole all his tricks from Dr. Who." Sean Reifschneider, Inimitably Superfluous <jafo@tummy.com> URL: <http://www.tummy.com/xvscan> HP-UX/Linux/FreeBSD/BSDOS scanning software.
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