RickG

Hi All, first time poster and should be soon a first time Audi owner.
I worked with a dealer who found a single vehicle matching the configuration I wanted. It was currently on a boat coming over and he was able to trade whatever dealer it was going to so that it would show up at his dealership.

The car is an A4 Prestige with the S-Line package in the color I wanted. Its an AT ( triptronic ) although I maybe would have preferred and manual. But as it was a sedan, I wasn't as hung up on it as if it was a coupe. I had really wanted to get something before winter ( need the AWD ) so it seemed to be the best option vs ordering something that might not get here till mid Dec or later.

I was told there wasn't much mark up and the MSRP is pretty much the price. Some browsing on various sites kind of agreed with that but other sites like truecar dot com made it sound like the average selling price was about 1k less than MSRP. If I had custom ordered it, I could see not really haggling, but as it was already on a boat coming over, I wasn't sure. I don't like a hassel but also don't want to feel like chump, so wanted to get some opinions on the best course of action.

Thanks for any suggestions.

snagitseven

You're going to get several replies but in a nutshell, no one should be paying sticker. Especially these days. Ordered cars are the best for discounts as the dealer has not paid any floor plan costs for a car sitting on his lot. Therefore, "custom" order price is usually easier to negotiate or at the least is irrelevant to the final price.

A4 margin is about 7% plus destination cost as I recall (check any of the new car cost sites, i.e. Edmunds for dealer invoice costs). You should strive for at least an overall 5% discount off sticker price. A dealer can smell when a buyer is in a hurry so you should be willing to pass on a particular car (or dealer) - you can always order one if you can wait.

People in the know will tell you to decide what you want to pay above invoice and call around to Audi dealer fleet managers until you get your price. You can always leverage one dealer's price against the others.

Don't pay sticker. The only one getting a good deal in that case is the dealer.

JD15

As others have said, there is no reason to pay sticker for an A4. When I ordered my 2011 in July of last year, I paid 6% below MSRP with the Audi Supplier Discount, which I considered to be fair.

snagitseven

Same here for me with the Supplier discount. However, Audi reimburses the dealer for half of that so in effect, we got 3% off at the time. If the buyer doesn't have access through his employer to that benefit, 6% might be a bit tough to negotiate. I'd not settle on anything less than a 4% discount off MSRP these days. (Unless you have access to the Audi Supplier discount). There's plenty of cars available and dealers have to meet their quotas like every dealer.

RickG

Thanks for the responses, I'll try figure out the best way to broach the subject.

As for your comment on the cars being available, I tried searching nation wide and didn't find any that matched what I wanted. I was on the fence between an A5 and an A4. It turns out the A5 couldn't even be ordered in the config I wanted because of some change happening. For the A4, the salesman only found one on the boat coming over. This is why I felt a bit sheepish in trying to haggle on the price. But maybe that really doesn't make a difference. Like was mentioned, that the dealer isn't suffering it sitting on their lot.

Mynoles1

I ordered new as well, and should be here within a week or two. You know that this is the easiest transaction they will have, and as mentioned, requires little capital investment or hit to their cash flow due to the speed of the turnaround. The dealers like to work on a $$ off of MSRP basis, but I am old school and use invoice as my basis.

I work from invoice up, and once you find a $$ amount over invoice you are comfortable with then negotiate total drive out price (includes TTL and any other fees that are right and reasonable). Don't just agree on the vehicle price and get all kinds of surprises in front of the F&I person from suddenly appearing fees, many of which are all dealer profit. It does no good to negotiate $1000 over invoice if you suddenly see prep fees, documentation fees and all this other stuff that makes your $1K deal suddenly $1600 over......Total drive out negotiation is something I wish I would have been aware of 20 years ago, trust me.

I got $700 over invoice, btw.

RickG

Does that include any protection packages like Audi Care or extended service plans? As of course all of those things are add-ons to the sticker price that I'm currently looking at.

Art234

As a general rule, you always want to work up from invoice. In my area, they usually get $1000 to $1500 over invoice, which is a great deal.....for the dealer. For most if not all dealers there is significant money "behind" the invoice such as holdback, volume incentives and marketing funds, so even if you get them to invoice don't feel bad...they're still making money.

Having been in the business for a few years way back when, I feel that the dealer should make money, but not be greedy. I was able to agree on $500 over invoice with my dealer on a custom ordered vehicle. When the car was invoiced by Audi the day before it arrived from the port, he sent me a copy and honored the deal.

My advice would be to offer $500 over invoice (or more if you are comfortable), but put on the order "all rebates and incentives to customer"...this assures they agree to give you any promotional rates or cash back offered by Audi on the front end.

Good luck...and enjoy the car!

Huey52

Six percent below MSRP sticker for any A4 (or A5 for that matter) should be easily negotiable. If not, move on. In this economy it's a buyer's market and you'll ultimately find a willing dealer. Be reasonable and you'll get a reasonable deal.

As already cited, easier to work from invoice (Zag.com and affiliates Amex, Bank of America and USAA provide invoice prices). I too got my new-ordered A5 for $500 over invoice and saved on the clear bra and AudiCare as well.

JD15

The alacrity with which the dealer completed the deal suggested that they would have discounted more than 3% off MSRP without the Supplier discount. As you mention, a discount of 4-6% off MSRP is a realistic goal.