RE: Audi loses a sale to BMW

["David M. Robbins" <drobbins@xedia.com>]

Fluhr wrote:

> provided complete service with a loaner car for a few year.  Having
> known me for 8 years, the Audi A4 was high on his list.  After having
> looked at and test driven an A4 and an Infinity G20, he decided that
> he wanted an A4.  He found a Santorin Blue 1998 1.8t quattro with
> tiptronic tranny, convenience package, and Bose stereo on the North
> Atlanta Audi lot that he liked.  It had 254 miles and a number of
> noticeable scratches on it, and the salesperson claimed that they were
> trying to get rid of the 1998 models to make room for the 1999 cars.
> So, armed with the invoice I had given him, my friend offered first
> 3% and then 5% over invoice price for the car.  The salesperson would
> not take anything less than 7% however, so my friend walked out.
> Why would he pay 7% over invoice for a previous model year car with
> 254 miles on it and scratches in its paint, when he could order a
> brand new '99 for the same price??

While there is clrealy an air of arrogance, one might ask why this person
didn't use one of the Internet "no-haggle" pricing services.  While I have
seen mixed results from CarPoint (what a surprise, it's run by Microsoft),
many of the others make buying a car much more pleasurable.  If nothing
else, you can get a price and take it to another dealer to match.

One can also walk into (or call) dealers and ask if they have " fixed
Internet pricing".  It's amazing what you can get when you do this.

-DMR.