Negotiating A5 Purchase
03-26-2014, 11:58 AM
#11
I sent an email today to a local Audi dealer asking for their best deal on a 2014 A5, with all the options I wanted
(NAV, Side Assist, B & O radio, etc.). I also specified a color and an interior choice. I said I had researched the car with these options and asked if the dealer would meet or beat the fair market price per Kelly Blue Book.
It seemed simple enough. I had negotiated my 2009 A4 by sending emails to dealers and asking for their best price
on the car with specific options - and had received price quotes.
But today the internet manager said they only had one A5 in stock with my preferred exterior color.
The car was a basic, stripped down model with none of the options I specified. The manager asked me to call and come in to discuss this car. Nothing about the car I am trying to buy. Nothing about prices!
I am confused. Is it too late to order a 2014 A5? Am I limited to dealer stock? (None of the local dealers have much in stock, and from looking at their inventories for weeks now, they have had this same unappealing stock for a while now.)
Or has it just become difficult to get price quotes/bids from Audi dealers via email? (I am also considering a BMW 428ix, and the dealers are very competitive.)
Any help from someone who has recently purchased or leased an A5 (or S5) would be most appreciated.
(NAV, Side Assist, B & O radio, etc.). I also specified a color and an interior choice. I said I had researched the car with these options and asked if the dealer would meet or beat the fair market price per Kelly Blue Book.
It seemed simple enough. I had negotiated my 2009 A4 by sending emails to dealers and asking for their best price
on the car with specific options - and had received price quotes.
But today the internet manager said they only had one A5 in stock with my preferred exterior color.
The car was a basic, stripped down model with none of the options I specified. The manager asked me to call and come in to discuss this car. Nothing about the car I am trying to buy. Nothing about prices!
I am confused. Is it too late to order a 2014 A5? Am I limited to dealer stock? (None of the local dealers have much in stock, and from looking at their inventories for weeks now, they have had this same unappealing stock for a while now.)
Or has it just become difficult to get price quotes/bids from Audi dealers via email? (I am also considering a BMW 428ix, and the dealers are very competitive.)
Any help from someone who has recently purchased or leased an A5 (or S5) would be most appreciated.
03-26-2014, 08:57 PM
#12
04-09-2014, 12:56 PM
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New member here and didn't want to start a similar thread asking for advice on price negotiations so jumping in on this thread.
I'm looking to buy a 2014 Audi A5 here in Houston, TX. Pretty much a base black on black with minor upgrades, so the MSRP comes out to $42,745. The salesman at the dealership showed me his "invoice" which said the dealerships cost is $40,220. The best price he offered me is 5% off MSRP, which is $40,608.
The dealership is part of the "Sonic Automotive Group" which I've seen at a few Audi and BMW dealerships, and the "TruePrice" online is $40,601.
Any advice on negotiations? He showed me the drive out price which came out to over $43k, which included some "dealer charges" for amounts like $279, $149, etc. I think they were BS charges minus the state sales tax and title and license fee. Are these negotiable as well?
Also, I was going to try to have them throw in the AudiCare which is $850.
Thanks in advance for any advice/information.
I'm looking to buy a 2014 Audi A5 here in Houston, TX. Pretty much a base black on black with minor upgrades, so the MSRP comes out to $42,745. The salesman at the dealership showed me his "invoice" which said the dealerships cost is $40,220. The best price he offered me is 5% off MSRP, which is $40,608.
The dealership is part of the "Sonic Automotive Group" which I've seen at a few Audi and BMW dealerships, and the "TruePrice" online is $40,601.
Any advice on negotiations? He showed me the drive out price which came out to over $43k, which included some "dealer charges" for amounts like $279, $149, etc. I think they were BS charges minus the state sales tax and title and license fee. Are these negotiable as well?
Also, I was going to try to have them throw in the AudiCare which is $850.
Thanks in advance for any advice/information.
04-09-2014, 01:28 PM
#14
AudiWorld Super User
Anything is negotiable but most dealers will have some sort of "prep" or "handling" charge. In my years of buying new cars, the most I have paid is a couple of hundred before state fees and sales tax. 5% off is not terrible (7% from MSRP before freight plus full freight is dealer invoice cost). You might be able to work those extra "fees" down. The ACNA 6% discount would probably not be of value to you as the extra 1% would amount to about $400 at a lifetime membership cost of $750 unless you join on a year by year basis and have 6 months you can wait for delivery.
You can try for free Audi Care but cost to the dealer is not much less than retail price so the dealer might balk at paying $775-$800 or so to provide it to you free. You might be able to at the least, get a discount though, so it's definitely worth a shot. Also, there are loyalty discounts for owning a recent vintage Audi or another qualifying, luxury brand of car.
Also, keep in mind, the dealer is getting close to MY2014 end of life so you never know. On the other hand, the S4 is a more limited model. You don't say if it's on the lot or will be ordered but inventory or allocations, local competition and desireability play a role in how big a discount one can get.
I always go in prepared, negotiate as hard as I can for the car I want and at some point, if the deal is reasonably close, I buy it. Then I enjoy the car, hopefully for several years. There will always be someone, somewhere at some time who paid less. At the end of the day, I don't worry about a few hundred dollars either way spread over the years of ownership.
Good luck!
You can try for free Audi Care but cost to the dealer is not much less than retail price so the dealer might balk at paying $775-$800 or so to provide it to you free. You might be able to at the least, get a discount though, so it's definitely worth a shot. Also, there are loyalty discounts for owning a recent vintage Audi or another qualifying, luxury brand of car.
Also, keep in mind, the dealer is getting close to MY2014 end of life so you never know. On the other hand, the S4 is a more limited model. You don't say if it's on the lot or will be ordered but inventory or allocations, local competition and desireability play a role in how big a discount one can get.
I always go in prepared, negotiate as hard as I can for the car I want and at some point, if the deal is reasonably close, I buy it. Then I enjoy the car, hopefully for several years. There will always be someone, somewhere at some time who paid less. At the end of the day, I don't worry about a few hundred dollars either way spread over the years of ownership.
Good luck!
04-10-2014, 04:32 PM
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Anything is negotiable but most dealers will have some sort of "prep" or "handling" charge. In my years of buying new cars, the most I have paid is a couple of hundred before state fees and sales tax. 5% off is not terrible (7% from MSRP before freight plus full freight is dealer invoice cost). You might be able to work those extra "fees" down. The ACNA 6% discount would probably not be of value to you as the extra 1% would amount to about $400 at a lifetime membership cost of $750 unless you join on a year by year basis and have 6 months you can wait for delivery.
You can try for free Audi Care but cost to the dealer is not much less than retail price so the dealer might balk at paying $775-$800 or so to provide it to you free. You might be able to at the least, get a discount though, so it's definitely worth a shot. Also, there are loyalty discounts for owning a recent vintage Audi or another qualifying, luxury brand of car.
Also, keep in mind, the dealer is getting close to MY2014 end of life so you never know. On the other hand, the S4 is a more limited model. You don't say if it's on the lot or will be ordered but inventory or allocations, local competition and desireability play a role in how big a discount one can get.
I always go in prepared, negotiate as hard as I can for the car I want and at some point, if the deal is reasonably close, I buy it. Then I enjoy the car, hopefully for several years. There will always be someone, somewhere at some time who paid less. At the end of the day, I don't worry about a few hundred dollars either way spread over the years of ownership.
Good luck!
You can try for free Audi Care but cost to the dealer is not much less than retail price so the dealer might balk at paying $775-$800 or so to provide it to you free. You might be able to at the least, get a discount though, so it's definitely worth a shot. Also, there are loyalty discounts for owning a recent vintage Audi or another qualifying, luxury brand of car.
Also, keep in mind, the dealer is getting close to MY2014 end of life so you never know. On the other hand, the S4 is a more limited model. You don't say if it's on the lot or will be ordered but inventory or allocations, local competition and desireability play a role in how big a discount one can get.
I always go in prepared, negotiate as hard as I can for the car I want and at some point, if the deal is reasonably close, I buy it. Then I enjoy the car, hopefully for several years. There will always be someone, somewhere at some time who paid less. At the end of the day, I don't worry about a few hundred dollars either way spread over the years of ownership.
Good luck!
What would your recommendation be on how much to realistically negotiate off of MSRP since like you said, a)this is getting close to MY2014 end of life and b)they actually have 2 of the exact same car sitting on the lot (both black on black, same features, same MSRP. ALSO, I saw that another Audi dealership in town has the exact same car, black on black, same MSRP - so its not like this is a hard to find car).
P.S. You mentioned the S4 in your message, but to confirm, I'm looking at the 2014 A5.
04-10-2014, 04:33 PM
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Thank you so much for the response snagitsteven! I really appreciate it.
What would your recommendation be on how much to realistically negotiate off of MSRP since like you said, a)this is getting close to MY2014 end of life and b)they actually have 2 of the exact same car sitting on the lot (both black on black, same features, same MSRP. ALSO, I saw that another Audi dealership in town has the exact same car, black on black, same MSRP - so its not like this is a hard to find car).
P.S. You mentioned the S4 in your message, but to confirm, I'm looking at the 2014 A5.
What would your recommendation be on how much to realistically negotiate off of MSRP since like you said, a)this is getting close to MY2014 end of life and b)they actually have 2 of the exact same car sitting on the lot (both black on black, same features, same MSRP. ALSO, I saw that another Audi dealership in town has the exact same car, black on black, same MSRP - so its not like this is a hard to find car).
P.S. You mentioned the S4 in your message, but to confirm, I'm looking at the 2014 A5.
04-10-2014, 07:56 PM
#17
AudiWorld Super User
Thank you so much for the response snagitsteven! I really appreciate it.
What would your recommendation be on how much to realistically negotiate off of MSRP since like you said, a)this is getting close to MY2014 end of life and b)they actually have 2 of the exact same car sitting on the lot (both black on black, same features, same MSRP. ALSO, I saw that another Audi dealership in town has the exact same car, black on black, same MSRP - so its not like this is a hard to find car).
P.S. You mentioned the S4 in your message, but to confirm, I'm looking at the 2014 A5.
What would your recommendation be on how much to realistically negotiate off of MSRP since like you said, a)this is getting close to MY2014 end of life and b)they actually have 2 of the exact same car sitting on the lot (both black on black, same features, same MSRP. ALSO, I saw that another Audi dealership in town has the exact same car, black on black, same MSRP - so its not like this is a hard to find car).
P.S. You mentioned the S4 in your message, but to confirm, I'm looking at the 2014 A5.
In my experience and following the threads over the years, it seems dealers are loathe to discount year end models until the new ones arrive. I suspect this may have something to do with when Audi provides them with incentives to move out last year model inventory (which is not always the case). It's still 3 or 4 months away from first 2015 arrivals and they usually won't have too much excessive inventory for a couple of months after that, depending on allocations. So, if you;re not willing to wait, year end discounts now are probably premature.
Nevertheless, all of the other things mentioned still hold true. You could try playing one dealer against the other but use caution - they can often see through that and may decide to let you walk, especially if one suspects they are being leveraged and assume you will buy from the other dealer.
I'd take the 5%, see if you can get a hefty discount on Audi Care, try and whittle down the extra misc charges to about $200 plus taxes/license fees and call it a day. At some point, it's just not worth the angst to fight for that last coupla' three hundred bucks. Once you are enjoying the ride, all the buying stuff will quickly fade from memory. Then you can place that buying energy into making a friend of the service manager.
04-25-2014, 11:56 AM
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Sorry for the model miss. As a mod, I'm all over the website and sometimes I forget which forum I'm in.
In my experience and following the threads over the years, it seems dealers are loathe to discount year end models until the new ones arrive. I suspect this may have something to do with when Audi provides them with incentives to move out last year model inventory (which is not always the case). It's still 3 or 4 months away from first 2015 arrivals and they usually won't have too much excessive inventory for a couple of months after that, depending on allocations. So, if you;re not willing to wait, year end discounts now are probably premature.
Nevertheless, all of the other things mentioned still hold true. You could try playing one dealer against the other but use caution - they can often see through that and may decide to let you walk, especially if one suspects they are being leveraged and assume you will buy from the other dealer.
I'd take the 5%, see if you can get a hefty discount on Audi Care, try and whittle down the extra misc charges to about $200 plus taxes/license fees and call it a day. At some point, it's just not worth the angst to fight for that last coupla' three hundred bucks. Once you are enjoying the ride, all the buying stuff will quickly fade from memory. Then you can place that buying energy into making a friend of the service manager.
In my experience and following the threads over the years, it seems dealers are loathe to discount year end models until the new ones arrive. I suspect this may have something to do with when Audi provides them with incentives to move out last year model inventory (which is not always the case). It's still 3 or 4 months away from first 2015 arrivals and they usually won't have too much excessive inventory for a couple of months after that, depending on allocations. So, if you;re not willing to wait, year end discounts now are probably premature.
Nevertheless, all of the other things mentioned still hold true. You could try playing one dealer against the other but use caution - they can often see through that and may decide to let you walk, especially if one suspects they are being leveraged and assume you will buy from the other dealer.
I'd take the 5%, see if you can get a hefty discount on Audi Care, try and whittle down the extra misc charges to about $200 plus taxes/license fees and call it a day. At some point, it's just not worth the angst to fight for that last coupla' three hundred bucks. Once you are enjoying the ride, all the buying stuff will quickly fade from memory. Then you can place that buying energy into making a friend of the service manager.
According to TruePrice.com, 8 people got the car for around 7.3%-7.8% off MSRP. Should I be aiming a little higher for my starting point on negotiations?
04-28-2014, 12:24 PM
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UPDATE:
So I went to the dealership two days ago on Saturday, 4/26. Sat down with the salesman and started talking numbers. I originally asked for 8% off and told him I also wanted to work in AudiCare, maybe going 50/50 on it. As he left to talk to his GM, I had a number in my head for drive out (including sales tax, title, license fees, etc.).
He came back and was like, "Great news! Only for today I can get you 10% off and you can buy the AudiCare with the additional 2% savings". I looked at the document, but as I had mentioned before in my first post, there were a lot of dealer charges for misc. things that still made the car more than I would pay for, not including the AudiCare. I told him that was the issue and I didn't think all the other closing costs/dealer charges were necessary. He told me that was the best he could do (and being pretty rude about it), so we couldn't come to an agreement and I left.
Fast forward to this morning, the salesman calls me and leaves me a voicemail saying he would do the price including AudiCare. I'm busy at work so I send him an email outlining what I want: $42,745 MSRP -10% +$850 AudiCare with the sales tax and $200 for title/license/misc. fees. He responds saying he can do it, but until Weds. only (end of month), makes sense.
So, regardless of him being rude when I was leaving on Saturday, I think I'm going to go for it. Only minor issue, the car doesn't have the version of the stock rims I prefer. The salesman said he could get me in touch with someone who could switch out the rims for me (at a cost of course). Any idea how much additional I should expect to trade out rims A for rims B? Both base options are available at no charge if I ordered the car from factory...
snagitseven (and anyone else), thoughts? I’m assuming the 10% off is due to timing (mid-year, 2015 models fast approaching) and the fact that the car has been on the lot all month (and not sure how much longer before that).
Thanks in advance, appreciate the help so far and look forward to contributing in the future once I'm an Audi owner =)
So I went to the dealership two days ago on Saturday, 4/26. Sat down with the salesman and started talking numbers. I originally asked for 8% off and told him I also wanted to work in AudiCare, maybe going 50/50 on it. As he left to talk to his GM, I had a number in my head for drive out (including sales tax, title, license fees, etc.).
He came back and was like, "Great news! Only for today I can get you 10% off and you can buy the AudiCare with the additional 2% savings". I looked at the document, but as I had mentioned before in my first post, there were a lot of dealer charges for misc. things that still made the car more than I would pay for, not including the AudiCare. I told him that was the issue and I didn't think all the other closing costs/dealer charges were necessary. He told me that was the best he could do (and being pretty rude about it), so we couldn't come to an agreement and I left.
Fast forward to this morning, the salesman calls me and leaves me a voicemail saying he would do the price including AudiCare. I'm busy at work so I send him an email outlining what I want: $42,745 MSRP -10% +$850 AudiCare with the sales tax and $200 for title/license/misc. fees. He responds saying he can do it, but until Weds. only (end of month), makes sense.
So, regardless of him being rude when I was leaving on Saturday, I think I'm going to go for it. Only minor issue, the car doesn't have the version of the stock rims I prefer. The salesman said he could get me in touch with someone who could switch out the rims for me (at a cost of course). Any idea how much additional I should expect to trade out rims A for rims B? Both base options are available at no charge if I ordered the car from factory...
snagitseven (and anyone else), thoughts? I’m assuming the 10% off is due to timing (mid-year, 2015 models fast approaching) and the fact that the car has been on the lot all month (and not sure how much longer before that).
Thanks in advance, appreciate the help so far and look forward to contributing in the future once I'm an Audi owner =)
04-28-2014, 06:18 PM
#20
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You can get a rough idea as to how long they had the car by looking at the manufacturing date on the sticker inside the driver door sill.
If it says 7/13, that means it was built in July of 2013. Now figure about a month to ship to the dealer... So they've had it since around August of 2013... It's a rough estimate, but will put you in the ball park.
Typically, the longer the dealer has the car on their lot, the more incentive they have to move it. All depends on the dealer. Some dealers are just as eager to sell cars that just arrived as well.
If it says 7/13, that means it was built in July of 2013. Now figure about a month to ship to the dealer... So they've had it since around August of 2013... It's a rough estimate, but will put you in the ball park.
Typically, the longer the dealer has the car on their lot, the more incentive they have to move it. All depends on the dealer. Some dealers are just as eager to sell cars that just arrived as well.