Invoice Cost vs. Selling Price vs. MSRP – Advice?
07-20-2018, 03:08 PM
#41
AudiWorld Member
Thread Starter
07-20-2018, 06:12 PM
#42
AudiWorld Member
Yes. I can relate to this. I did my homework to ascertain what i thought would be a very good price for the highly optioned S5 I wanted to order - I had already sorted exactly the car i wanted. My expectation was this would only be achieved with protracted negotiation, if at all. There is only one Audi dealer in our state and doing deals interstate is more difficult in Australia than it appears to be in the US.
The salesman suggested that the sales manager had the national boss there that day (true) and was particularly keen to close as many deals as he could to impress him. I was skeptical but invited him to do his best offer. To my surprise, this exceeded my expectations by quite a margin. Moreover, they sent me off on my own in a new S5 for the afternoon for me to confirm that I was making the right choice. That almost backfired as, for some reason, I didn't find the car as comfortable or impressive on that drive as I had before or after, but that was only a marginal thing and I put it down to decision pressure - probably a big factor.
I did make the mistake of not locking in the firm offer of a trade-in price as I thought it would be quite easy to sell my current car at considerably more than they were suggesting. I did get more for it in the end, but the difference wasn't worth the time and hassle. I also found out that it wasn't worth as much as i expected to order a highly optioned car in the most desirable colour combo and maintain it meticulously - basically the premium over a very ordinary example was quite disappointing.
Overall, though, I sold a car I wanted to sell and bought the car I wanted and was very happy with the deal. But, if it had ended up costing me a few $K more, it wouldn't have been a big issue and wouldn't be something I'd be thinking about now. Perhaps, in a few years, when I'm trading/selling the S5, I'll feel better for having paid less as the depreciation will be correspondingly lower.
The salesman suggested that the sales manager had the national boss there that day (true) and was particularly keen to close as many deals as he could to impress him. I was skeptical but invited him to do his best offer. To my surprise, this exceeded my expectations by quite a margin. Moreover, they sent me off on my own in a new S5 for the afternoon for me to confirm that I was making the right choice. That almost backfired as, for some reason, I didn't find the car as comfortable or impressive on that drive as I had before or after, but that was only a marginal thing and I put it down to decision pressure - probably a big factor.
I did make the mistake of not locking in the firm offer of a trade-in price as I thought it would be quite easy to sell my current car at considerably more than they were suggesting. I did get more for it in the end, but the difference wasn't worth the time and hassle. I also found out that it wasn't worth as much as i expected to order a highly optioned car in the most desirable colour combo and maintain it meticulously - basically the premium over a very ordinary example was quite disappointing.
Overall, though, I sold a car I wanted to sell and bought the car I wanted and was very happy with the deal. But, if it had ended up costing me a few $K more, it wouldn't have been a big issue and wouldn't be something I'd be thinking about now. Perhaps, in a few years, when I'm trading/selling the S5, I'll feel better for having paid less as the depreciation will be correspondingly lower.
07-23-2018, 09:10 AM
#43
AudiWorld Super User
Very interesting conversation. Thanks for everyone for sharing those bits of inside baseball.
I have a very different attitude when it comes to buying cars. All of the above just seems like too much work for me, from the car searches to the competing dealers to the negotiating for a week while trying to extract the last dollar out of a deal while hoping the car doesn't get bought out from under me. I feel like I'm lucky enough that I can just use the money I earned to make that all just go away. I walk into the dealer (same dealer I use for every Audi), talk to the salesman that sold me my last 3 cars, tell him what I want and he tells me what he can sell it to me for. Usually the number he has in mind is very close to the number I have in mind, certainly close enough not to waste any time dickering over. We shake hands, I leave a small deposit and then let him go to work getting the car ready for delivery.
As long as you are happy with your purchase, you got a good deal.
I have a very different attitude when it comes to buying cars. All of the above just seems like too much work for me, from the car searches to the competing dealers to the negotiating for a week while trying to extract the last dollar out of a deal while hoping the car doesn't get bought out from under me. I feel like I'm lucky enough that I can just use the money I earned to make that all just go away. I walk into the dealer (same dealer I use for every Audi), talk to the salesman that sold me my last 3 cars, tell him what I want and he tells me what he can sell it to me for. Usually the number he has in mind is very close to the number I have in mind, certainly close enough not to waste any time dickering over. We shake hands, I leave a small deposit and then let him go to work getting the car ready for delivery.
As long as you are happy with your purchase, you got a good deal.
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