RE: S4 (deposit and A4 trade in)

[RELAYER@aol.com]

In a message dated 9/18/98 1:11:55 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
jeremiah@wbsnyc6.wbs.com writes:

> OK, what's a reasonable deposit to put down to hold one then?  Even more
>  important, will the dealer give a good trade-in allowance on a '98 A4Q
>  with probably 15-18k miles	

Jeremiah,
I don't know what people are putting down on an S4, but I doubt it is more
than $2,000.  Your dealer may want more, if he does, tell him he needs to put
it in an interested bearing account so that you can still earn some money on
the deposit.

As for trading in your A4...don't do it.  Sell it yourself.  The dealer will
offer you 2-3K less than it's retail value.  Since your A4 is still under
warranty, you should have no problem find a buyer for it.  I never trade cars
in...I usually get a short term loan for the down payment, buy the car, then I
can sell my old one at my leisure and not have to take a low offer because I'm
in a hurry.  Then I pay off the short term loan, which cost me very little in
interest over 1 or 2 months.

Now, sometimes it is good to trade in your car.  If the money he gives you for
your trade will reduce your new car sales tax by 2,000 - 3,000.  But, I doubt
that will happen since you probably haven't paid much of your newer A4 off.
That only works on cars with high trade in value when you have it mostly paid
off.  Let's say you trade in a car that is paid off and worth $20K, that trade
in would save you $1200 in sales tax on the new car.  BUT, the luxury tax
CANNOT be reduced by this method.  The luxury tax is on the sticker price
(portion above $35K), not the price after trade in.  Good news is that the
luxury tax is being phased out and is less every year until it is completely
repealed sometime in the next 3 or 4 years.

I may have just told you something you may very well be aware of, if so, I
didn't mean offend you.  I'm not an accountant, but I do play one on TV.  Feel
free to criticize my advice!

  /\        _I        Christian J. Long (& Breeze Heller - fiancee)
/    \ I_I I_I I      Orlando, Florida, USA
                       University of Central Florida Alumni 1994
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'98 Audi A4 1.8T            Low pressure V2 rocket
'96 BMW 318ti              Will be replacing with a CGT or 4KQ
'90 Audi 90                   Now in the hands of the mother in law
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Past Audis: '84 CGT, '85CGT, '87.5 CGT, '90 CQ