Factory "Premier Purchase Plan" vs. buying outright vs. lease

[Valerie Delane <valerie@savina.com>]

Greetings,

I have been lurking on <news:alt.autos.audi> for a while, and I just
joined this list. Several hours of searching the net (including these list
archives) have not resulted in any information about a particular type of
Audi factory financing, the Premier Purchase Plan. Before subjecting
myself to salesmen in local meatspace--who, in past experience, are
exceedingly disinterested in discussing financing until you commit to a
vehicle on their lot anyway--I thought I would see if anyone here or on
the newsgroup knows anything about it. 

(Presumably there is not too much crossover between this list and the
newsgroup, given the high noise there; if there is a lot of crossover,
apologies in advance from the department of redundancy department.)

Best regards,

--V, 
Amateur Audiphile in California
valerie@savina.com

---------- 
Date: 10 Apr 1998 18:58:28 -0000
From: valerie at savina dot com
Subject: Factory "Premier Purchase Plan" vs. loan vs. lease
Newsgroups: alt.autos.audi

Hello All,

A decade ago I owned one of the early Quattros and just loved it. Now I am
salivating in anticipation of obtaining a new A6, so I have been doing a
bit of research, particularly on financing.

First, I wish to thank David McNerney for his mar 19 post regarding good
techniques for purchasing a new car.

Second, I wish to ask if anyone is familiar with the Audi U.S.A. factory
Premier Purchase Plan very briefly described at
<http://www.audiusa.com/financial/premier.htm>. Audi claims this plan has
the better combined features of a loan and a lease, for those people who
want lease-sized payments for 1-4 years, and--so long as that particular
vehicle does not turn out to be a lemon--intend to make a final ballon
payment to own it. Not having done the lease thing before, I have been
reading at <http://www.excite.com/channel/auto/leasing/> and elsewhere
about leases with purchase options anyway, so the Audi factory plan sounds
attractive to me. The obvious question is, how much extra (roughly) would I
pay at the bottom line for a 2 year Premier Purchase Plan on a, say, $45k
(including destination, tax, license, etc.) vehicle in comparison to an
outright purchase? In comparison to a vanilla 2 year lease exercising the
option to buy?  Care to share your experience with the Premier Purchase
Plan?

Thanks!

--V

valerie at savina dot com