Re: a4q test drive. Pricing, anyone?

[jafo@tummy.com]

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.