dgj

1. If dealer does a vehicle trade for me, how does it work? The mechanics of this process. Bottomline, when getting car from another dealer, is he paying any additional $$$ for that, as compared to if he had the same car on his lot?
2. Does AUDI have a holdback? Any info on how dealers make proffit (besides markup) - factory incentives, discounts, volume bonuses....?????

SFV A4

Having to trade takes extra man-power and ends up being a "hassle." I think the best deal is when you walk in there and go for a car they have in stock. The less hassles for them, the higher likelihood for a better deal, right April?

CEB

No holdback on VW/Audi etc.

April

deal ( nearby dealer, they trade all of the time ). I've done very complicated 3 way trades from Seattle to LA, to Sonoma - although only upon receiving a non-refundable deposit of $2000. The rest of the deal was worked out already, but we held off on signing the paperwork until the trade was inspected. That was for an A8 where we were making good money.

Another way a trade can be done, is with a car already built, but on it's way from the factory to the dealer. The dealers call this trading "in air". They swap cars via paperwork, and the factory/truck company swaps the drop-offs.

There is no holdback on an Audi. Zero ! What they can see near model year end is an incentive that can be applied to the deal on inventory that remains to be moved. It varies tremendously by region, depending on dealer inventory. This is often called "trunk money". Often seen in Sept thru Oct. Wait too long, and selection vanishes along with the deal.

What dealers can see, is quarterly CSI ( cstomer satisfaction index ) money. However, this requires that the dealer be in the top three scores for both sales and service for that state/region, and exceed a minimum set by AoA. So the only bargaining power you have there, is to offer to man the customer service desk for 3 months and make sure all the dealer customers are happy..;-)

There are other salesperson bonus programs based on CSI, but those are in the $30 to $100 a month range.

So the choice is to take what is on the lot, and get the lowest price, or order or trade, and pay a little more for the time the dealer needs to spend to get the car you really want. Frankly, for a few hundred extra, I'd rather get exactly what I want. I'll remember the car for a long time, but the money I can make more of.