dcmetro

Just curious. Manish, How'd you get them to lower the price once you'd already ordered. I thought the price is locked in at that moment.

spoon2000

A suggestion when talking about price (and maybe the mods can put this in a separate thread and make it sticky): The things that are TRULY relevant in an apples-to-apples comparison are

a) the amount above or below dealer invoice
b) paperwork fees (which can range from nothing to hundreds of dollars)
c) other intangibles where the dealership may have recouped some of the discount relative to invoice, such as value of a trade-in, price paid for Audi Care, the price paid for a 7/70 warranty, price paid for floor mats, etc.
d) transportation fees if the dealer had to obtain the car from another location
e) freight and pre-delivery inspection, even though they're a constant everywhere, they're usually worked-in to the bottom-line price

Aspects of the transaction that are really not relevant include things like state and local taxes, title and license plate fees, advertising consortium fees (because these may differ from place to place and don't affect the dealer's bottom line), and loyalty or conquest rebates, which are specific to individual buyers and don't affect the dealer's profit one way or another.

In our case, we paid $850 below invoice plus a $399 paperwork fee, freight, and dealer prep. No other aspects of the transaction impacted the dealer's profit (including the loyalty bonus cash).

McGills

Ok, so I put $500 down as a deposit for my A6 about a week ago and I'm suppossed to get it next week. I did not sign the contract. I got $1000 off MSRP along with tint and winter floor mats thrown in. This is my first Audi, so I'm not familiar negotiating with them. Anyways, do you think I will be able to negotiate the price down more when I go to pick up the car? My A6 is a brillant black, dark walnut, black headliner, prestige, innovation package, 20 inch sport package, and cold weather package. Any info would be much appreciated.

tenspeed

I wouldn't think so.

spoon2000

No. When you show up at the dealer for delivery, they'll know you'll see the car sitting there and will want it badly. As a result, you will be in a substantially inferior negotiating position since it will be much more difficult for you to walk out the door. Moreover, they'll be mad at you for screwing up what they think is going to be a completed sale.

I think you are overpaying. The free mats and window tinting combined are worth probably $500 IMO, so what they're really offering you is MSRP of $66205 minus $1500, which works out to $64705. That's too much. You should be paying dealer invoice of $61634 or else $500 or so above dealer invoice, plus $500 for the mats and tinting, which in your case would total out at $62634. That's a difference of over $2000, which is HUGE in a business where salespeople will fight like crazy to sell a car for a $100 profit.

I would tell the dealer asap that you have been shopping at other dealers and on the Internet and want your money back because you have found better pricing elsewhere. See what they say. Have a firm idea of the revised pricing you think is appropriate, because chances are they'll immediately start asking you what you think that more appropriate price is (suggestion: tell them you'll pay invoice for the car and options, $875 for freight, $500 for the mats and tint, $100 processing, $195 for dealer prep, plus regional ad fees which should be 0.5% of MSRP without freight everywhere except Southern California, where they should be 1.0% of MSRP without freight). Check with Edmunds.com for details on invoice pricing breakdown. If they balk, tell them you'll file a dispute with your credit card company to get the deposit back (when I put down a deposit recently, the dealer insisted that I provide a faxed or emailed acknowledgement that I was making a non-refundable deposit on a car, and if your dealer didn't make you do something similar, you have wiggle room). Check out truecar.com -- who knows -- the dealer where you put down $500 may be one of the dealers participating in that program. Black A6 cars are a dime a dozen (because the dealers and Audi know they're popular) and the dealer should have no trouble selling the car you've been looking at to someone else (which means that you backing out of the purchase won't really harm the dealer in the grand scheme of things). Even in a worst case scenario if you have to eat the $500, you can probably still come out ahead at another dealer.

There is nothing special about dealing with Audi dealers relative to other brands. The key (with any car purchase) is always to negotiate UP from the invoice price, rather than to negotiate DOWN from sticker price (as you did).

One more warning: even if the dealer ends up giving you the price you want, they may try to win back some of their lost profits at closing when the finance manager tries to sell you an extended warranty, paint protection, etc. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DECIDE ABOUT THESE THINGS AT CLOSING unless you want to bundle them into a loan. Regardless, do your homework and don't blow your negotiated savings by making a poor decision on these add-ons. For what it's worth, the 7/70 warranty can reportedly be had for as low as $1700 (or around $1900 from FD-Warranty.com), the tire and wheel protection package can be had for as low as $800 (again from FD-Warranty.com), etc. Audi Care (pre-paying for scheduled maintenance through 45000 miles) seems to be pretty-much non-negotiable at around $800. If you live somewhere where there are no potholes, you probably don't need tire and wheel protection, and if you want to change your own oil or have a local mechanic who will do it, you probably don't need Audi Care. And there are other options for extended warranties such as Geico's Mechanical Breakdown Insurance (higher deductable than the Audi's extended warranty, but much cheaper, you pay each year so if your car gets totaled you haven't lost your investment in the policy, and you don't have to get service at an Audi dealer).

Keep us posted and good luck. And welcome to Audiworld.

manishaudi

NOTE: I did not order my car, I gave my sales guy my options list and he found my car with an extra option (LED Headlights). It was already coming into Port, without any takers at the time.

NOTE #2: On any car purchase, even one you custom order from the factory, until you sign the new vehicle contract you are not locked into anything. My cousin picked up a Mercedes E-Class a few years ago that someone ordered through EuroDelivery but walked away from.

I operate on the premise that until I actually take delivery of the car, negotiations are still live.

I agreed on the price and put down a deposit on the car, which was coming into Port(San Diego in my case). From that point the car was locked to me. I was still talking with other dealers about pricing, seeing if they could beat the price I got. I told my Sales guy and he was cool, he gave me the additional break.

at1183

Thats actually what i did too... listed all the options i wanted, he saw what was already in production, and found me exactly what i was looking for. hopefully my wait til is under a month until its here. I am starting to 2nd guess getting the 18" sport package (especially since this NY winter was a joke, and its practically spring now)

manishaudi

I agree with spoon2000.

Are you in the US?

In the US(Owners from other areas can chime in on this) Your deposit is fully refundable at this point. Until you sign the new vehicle contract, only do this when you take possession of your car, you have full power. If you find a better price anywhere else, you can either get your dealer to match it or refund your deposit and walk away.

First go to sites like Truecar.com, edmunds.com, and kbb.com - Find out what the invoice price is for the car. Then call around to all the dealers in the area and see if they will match or beat your target price. Mine was the Dealer cost plus destination and ad fees and I got pretty close.

Also sites like the onces I mentioned above will let you generate a price certificate for a confirmed price from a local dealer. I used TrueCar.com myself.

Most important things you should remember is:
1)That you can negotiate all the way until you take delivery and sign the contract (I did it until the day of)
2)Always be willing to walk away

Good luck!

McGills

Yeah, in the US. I really appreciate the advice. I have spoken to many dealers during this process and the reason I pulled the trigger so soon was that, well out of all the options this was the one I could get the quickest. Now, yest a guy from another dealership is going to be able to get me one by the end of Feb. For a way better price. So, I emailed the saleman I'm dealing with at the place I put a deposit down and laid down the f-ing hammer. I really appreciate all the advice from you all! You know, when you go from a 10 year old car that was less than 30K to buy back in the day and now you have been blessed to be able to purchase a dream car it can be hard to hold back the emotions and impatience!

wolverinewizard

Congrats! Be sure to post pics when you get it!