Re: Audi Factory Direct?

[George Harrison <harrison@indigo.ie>]

Jeff Kimbel wrote:

> can arrange to purchase a car directly from Audi and pick it up at the
> factory.  They deliver a U.S. market car and the price (10% below list)
> includes a delivery to the U.S. when the buyer returns.  They also give a
> tour of the factory and put you up for the night.
> 

Jeff,

My understanding (from my recent visit to the factories) is that this 
service is available to Audi's German customers only. Put you up for the 
night???? 'fraid not. The way it works is you purchase the car thru your 
dealer as normal but have the dealership arrange with factory for car to 
be collected by customer at factory on a specific date. A day or so 
before collection the customer phones the factory to let them know 
roughly what time they want to take delivery of car and if they want a 
tour and lunch (the choice is yours). When taking delivery, the person 
who actually hands the keys over to you is one of the people directly 
involved with the development and production of your actual vehicle, so
ANY question you hit him (or her) with can be answered on the spot in 
detail. There is a cost involved in all this (about 250USD) which Audi AG 
bill the dealership with, but normally the dealer will absorb, though 
sometimes they might charge to customer. The price of the vehicle is not 
discounted at all. 

Again if my memory serves me right, all this applies only to German 
customer at present. I'm open to correction on this.


HTH,

George Harrison,
County Kildare,
Ireland.