Redd

Bell Audi is in New Jersey, so every car they sell should be "NJ legal" with all required equipment, and there's probably a law about that. If nothing else--they should know when a car will NOT be legal to put on the road in their own state.

I'd look up the NJ auto sales laws, or call the DMV and ask them about this, and then I'd politely ask to see the dealer principal, and let him know that (even if what he did was legal) it was deceptive at best, and that you'll be taking him to small claims court if he doesn't want to fix it. Since the dealership is a corporation, he will have to be represented by his attorney, and his attorney will charge him more for one hour than a front license plate holder will cost him.

So if he doesn't want to do the right thing, and he'd rather pay his attorney and get the state authorities to ask why he is selling non-conforming vehicles...that's his choice. Either way you're going to have a plate holder at the end of the day, the only question is, whether he wants to pay for it now, or later. Politely.

There's no excuse for this nonsense, Audi should have the ability to design and sell a 50-state-legal car to everyone, like other carmakers do.

bhagu

I talked to NJ DMV, they said dealer is not obligated to sell front license plate holder. I guess I will spend money and install it.

A6forMoi

Maybe you can find someone online that wants to do a swap.

Don Keener

Do I think its the dealers fault? Yes I do....

Its true the nobody forced the OP to buy it... however there wasnt disclosure by the dealer that the car didnt have the state required capability to mount a front plate. If it was disclosed by the dealer and the OP bought it anyway.. then its on the OP. As to 'the OP should have known'... I wouldnt expect a buyer to be expected to go over the car to determine if it meets state/federal requirements.. catalytic converter, check - OBD II present, check, California Emission, check - high mounted stop light, check... In my view it was the dealers responsibility to sell the OP a car that met the state requirements where the dealer and buyer were located or notify him that it doesnt and let the buyer choose for himself to take it or not or negotiate how to get it into compliance.

Now... there is one unanswered question... When the OP went to pick up his new baby... how come the issue didnt come up? He should have had another license plate that had no place to be mounted?? If he drove it off with Temps... then he should have gotten a big clue when his new plateS arrived and there was an extra...

bhagu

carlessness on my part. I am paying the price.

Don Keener

Well.. I dont think you have to give up just yet... Redd has provided some good advice. Talk to the dealer General Manager and lay out the problem and that you expected your car to be 'legal' in your state and ask if he can help get this fixed. Dealers dont want unhappy customers... This is pretty small stuff which they could fix pretty easily. I would respectfully suggest that the dealership should have a process in place to insure that this doesnt happen to someone else in the future.

uberwgn

Oh, no question about it. OTOH, do you really think it's legal for a new car dealer ship to be selling cars that aren't legal for operation in their state?


Bhagu, it could be the fault of the person at the dealership who orders the cars. He could have missed checking the appropriate box to produce the correct front mounting provisions. You can review the PR codes (on the label in the trunk area next to the spare tire) to see if your vehicle was ordered with or without front plate mounting provisions.


I looked at the Monroney stickers for our A6 and our Q5. The A6 says "no charge" for the front mount provision, the Q5 shows it's a $45 charge now.


Do you have any fotos of the car when you took delivery to show the mount was not present?

bhagu

Yes I do, see attachment ( bought May 12th, 2014, the picture taken is on May 13th 2014)

uberwgn

And there you have it !


AoA is giving you accurate info - - there is a charge for it now.


BTW, did you get a ticket?

BigGinger

Difference being that the license plate is the only one he can verify by simply looking at the car from 25 feet away.

Anyone with even a remote knowledge about cars and car buying, and who has bought a car before should know to look it over (whether new or not) to see if it's missing anything obvious or has any problems.

For the older people who buy these Q5's and are terrified of breaking the rules, a missing license plate should of been an obvious observation.

Mixed emotions about dealer refusing to install one considering this is a silly $100 expense that neither you nor your dealership should give a **** about. Ultimately they said no, so just go and replace it yourself.