and finally test drove the a4 avant, manual, sport pkg & quattro. sweet ride, but still a bit soft for my taste. i guess i can learn to love it though.<p>well, when i was discussing w/ the salesman the cost, i was explaining to him about this site and how i know what kind of deals others around the country are getting. i also told him that the dealer's cost was easily accessible on the internet. so i warned him that when i'm ready to buy, i'm gonna come in with a price in my head and won't be willing to deviate significantly.<p>then, he came back saying that he could probably do something like $800 off of msrp, but that would be it. he also claimed that the dealer prices off of the internet don't include such "hidden costs" that the dealership bears, such as prep work and stuff. any truth to this?<p>to calculate the markup, are you guys starting with the dealer cost, then adding prep costs? i don't think so, but i may be wrong.

There is no 'prep work'.<br>What you see on the internet web site is what you get.<br>Tax, License, Registration, and possibly a 'delivery or destination' charge of $450 I think. Otherwise, the guy is screwing with you. The only other thing I can think of that qualifies as 'prep' work is a document fee that they may try to get you to pay which is what they charge for filling out all the papers and putting you into the computer and setting up an account with the service etc...but thats a BS charge too.<p>$800 under MSRP is also a load of crap. You should be seeing closer to 5% over invoice if you can. <br>

I ordered an A4 for $2000 below MSRP, which amounted to $1020 above the invoice price. About 4-5% markup. Add to that figure tax, tags, registration, and, if you didn't already figure it, the $495 delivery fee. If his $800 below MSRP is an "out-the-door" price which includes all of those fees, then it could be a good deal.

The delivery/freight fee, which I believe is $500, is included in both the invoice price and the MSRP.<p>Also, any quoted price does not include the tax, tags, and registration, so those would be added on to the MSRP-$800 figure the dealer is quoting.

Invoice + 5%, + Destination, Tax, Title and Registration (and possibly a documentation fee which should be about $50) is what you should pay. Prep, or anything else, is bull****. Offer him this amount, have him put it in writing on the contract, and you have a good deal. If your dealer doesn't give it to you, walk out the door. Someone else will. In fact, your dealer might run after you as you're leaving.<br>

My dealer started with this stuff on my 98.5. Mentioned paint protectant. I told them I read Consumer reports and don't want any of that stuff. They then said 'we won't insult your intelligence' and they dropped that line of discussion. I raised my offer from 3%, to 4%, to 5% over invoice. Then they wanted to add advertising (~$400). I said no and left (they didn't want me to leave but wouldn't change their price. Well, my salesman paged me the next day (I had given him my number). He asked me what it would take to complete the deal. I told him the number I last discussed with you. He said he'd talk to the sales manager. He called back and said 'come on down, you have a deal'. <p>Moral of the story: Know your price, don't go over it. I was willing to shop a lot of additional dealers before raising my price. They caved but I had to walk out to have them do it. YMMV - this was for a car on the lot, 98.5 year. Your local pricing/supply could be different.