bk6000

Not sure if this is the right place to be posting this but I wanted to share my experience buying my 18 A4 from my local Audi dealer. This was my first time shopping for a car at a dealer and was a little surprised at how it went.

I first found an A4 on the dealer's website that I liked and emailed to ask if it was available. They sent me a video of the car and set an appointment for me to go look at it later that day, and gave me the name of the person to go see.

When I got to the dealer, I asked to speak with that person and when I saw them they didn't know who I was or why I was asking to speak with them. After a minute they sent me over to another guy who showed me the car and barely told me anything about it. He said "you're welcome to drive it" and copied my ID and gave me the keys. They didn't ride along with me (which I was happy about but also surprised). When I came back I shared that I liked the car but wanted one with the upgraded sound system.

The guy didn't seem very interested in helping me find the right car. I had to keep asking questions to get him to help look for one and was on my phone looking at their website trying to locate a better car simultaneously. I eventually found a car I liked and decided to buy. Barely anything was explained to me about servicing the car, they didn't explain anything about the certified pre owned warranty and how that works, told me I get free car washes but never gave me the details. When making the purchase I was using my own financing but they didn't offer to try and get me a better interest rate.

I'll say it was nice to not feel pressured at all, but at the same time, it would have been nice for the dealer to act like they actually wanted me to buy a car from them. Is this behavior typical of Audi dealerships? I looked around online and found some similar stories, but it was a little disappointing to me. I still find myself with questions about the car... like how Audi care works (I learned about this online later)... Absolutely nothing was explained.

Maybe it was my age or appearance and they just didn't think I could actually buy a car from them? I don't know. Do these guys work off of commission?

Spartan-S4

I found one Audi dealer in my area kinda off-putting. They definitely didn't seem to want to sell me a car. I went in a few weeks earlier and was looking at an S5 and when I came back to talk again about an S4 instead the guy I had dealt with barely wanted to even bother with me. So I went to another dealer and got treated like I should have been and they got my hard earned $$$.

mplsbrian

Absolutely not typical at all. Can't believe you actually stayed for more than 5 minutes let alone bought the car.

You didn't share your demographics in your post, but while there's a chance it could have been your age or appearance, in sales you learn quickly that you can never know who is a millionaire ready to give a small fortune to the first person who offers them a bottle of water. In car sales especially there are a lot of socially inept rich kids who can barely groom themselves, but who work for software companies on $150k+ salaries and no college debt to speak of, or that bought bitcoin 2 years ago and are now retired at 25.

Hopefully your ownership experience is better than your buying experience. I might suggest you find a new dealership to take your service business to...always good to get that figured out before you need it.

ghostrider990

I'd like to know which store that was.

njspeedfreak

Not in my experience, but I've only had experiences at 2 dealerships. My first 2 Audi's came from the first dealer, and then after moving to another part of the state the next I bought the next 3 from the second dealer. Even had the same sales associate for the last 3. Never once did I feel like they were disinterested in helping me find the right car. I also had private financing through my bank and they went so far as to negotiate me a better rate *from my own bank*. As for explaining the car, I have the opposite experience - they spent too much time going over every little nuance. I just wanted to take the damn thing off the lot and start driving it!

Now it probably helps that I'm a repeat customer and maybe I would get different treatment if I was younger and didn't have a purchase history with them. Also I'm sure every dealer is different but so far for me it's been all positive.

Aviator6

My experience with my local Audi dealer was excellent, as far as the sales person was concerned. He spent as much time with me as I felt that I needed on the day I picked up my Audi. I went back on a later day to get the Audi Connect configured. The part of the sale that irritated me was the finance/closing person. He kept pushing for all the extras that I didn't want and was rude to the point where if I hadn't waited months for this car, I would have walked out. I told the sales manager that I felt like I needed to have my attorney along, and he apologized. If I hadn't figured out exactly, to the penny, how much the bottom line was going to be in order to complete the sale, he would have sneaked something in on me.

numerobis

Similar thing happened to me 20 years ago at a Honda dealership. I had done my research and I knew what I wanted. Went to purchase the car, but wanted to test drive it. The salesman asked my why I wanted that particular car and whether I could afford it. I thanked him and immediately walked away and drove across town and purchased the car at another dealer. Then called the sales manager and informed him politely of my experience, and explained to him why I did not purchase a car from them. Maybe it was my age or appearance... but I payed cash for the car.

Yesterday, at an Audi dealer in the Montreal area... Salesman would not give me the time of day and could not answer any of my technical questions about the S4 . I ended up getting the parts guy to answer my technical questions about the S4. Will definitely not be purchasing from that dealer.

alex6speed

I went through 5 Audi dealerships across LA and Orange Counties before I reached the one I actually made a deal with.

- The first dealership, I dealt with a much younger salesperson (and I was only 36 at the time) who treated me like a high schooler looking to buy an STi. While he did let my wife and I test drive the S4 (and go hammer down on the throttle), he didn't want to negotiate anything about the car with us. He simply said he was heading to China for 2 months, but to call him through his cell anyway, so that he can do the work from China. Shady AF.

- The second dealership was a pure online conversation who said they don't do test drives because of the location they're in, but was willing to do numbers. The person was nice enough, but when she realized I was trying to talk the price down too low, she immediately mentioned I should just get an A4 and handed me off to someone else's email. The was interesting.

- The third dealership was some miles out, and a rather small dealership at that. The weird thing about this dealership was the sales guy we were talking numbers with got screamed at by his floor manager in front of us, and demanded we talk to the finance / closer person, who was quick to say "We have exactly what you want, but it's at the port, in a shipping box. We need a deposit immediately, so that we can request that box." Yeah, no.

- The fourth dealership actually went well! This older gentleman not only let us test drive an S4 but also a new A5. Since the dealership was closing in about an hour, he told us negotiating through email was perfectly fine. He would not budge below MSRP price, saying "These cars are extremely rare and would be crazy to sell below MSRP. Not even employees can get a price that low." At that point, we kept mentioning why not ordering an A5. Kept them in the loop but knew nothing was going to happen.

- The fifth dealership presented something very interesting. We were there about 30 minutes before closing. When we mentioned we wanted the S4 at our price point, the sales guy said absolutely not. The floor manager overheard us and asked how much down we were going to place. When I mentioned $20K, he said "Write me a check for $20K right now, and I'll give you 15% below sticker." Sadly, I didn't have the money then, as some of that money was still in stocks waiting to clear sales, then wiring to my account. Because it was the end of the month, the manager mentioned he could only offer it at that moment. We passed, but he mentioned, "Come back this week, and I'll give you a good offer, just not like now". I want to say it was between 6% - 10% - This was back in April 2017, so and it was crazy tough to get anyone budge. Once I had the money ready to go, the sales guy asked that the money be placed in a cashier's check. When I asked why since the floor manager only asked for a check a few days ago, the sales guy said "Because we want to make sure the money really is there".

- The last dealership treated us extremely well from the beginning. When I talked to the internet sales person, I told him straight out the last dealership offered me X amount off. Beat it by even a penny, and we're good. The dealer looked at it, smiled, and accepted. The were glad to accept my check, and we sealed the deal. Even today, the dealership treats me crazy well. I'm glad I went through that entire cycle, as I've found a dealership that I could totally back, even before we struck a deal.

On a final note, I texted the 5th dealership, telling them I had gone to another dealer and made a sales deal with them. The sales guy's response - "What? How much? We can beat that by 10%" ... guess the arrogance disappears when the money does too.

I can share a story about the Subaru dealer I dealt with for my wife's SUV 5 years before. Simply put, work with a dealership you feel comfortable dealing with over the long run. It doesn't matter if it's an Audi or a Toyota - customer service varies. Always award the good ones with your business.

markcincinnati

Many "Premium" auto brands seem to employ what I call "horizontal sales reps." These reps must show up for work, are dressed in the "dealership look" which is often casual or dressy casual, then each rep is given a mild sedative. The reps present themselves as virtually indifferent to the customers. This, perhaps, is simply because management wants to completely eschew the pressure-filled (and caffeinated) sales approach that many of us have experienced. When the customer is ready to purchase, they must -- almost literally -- wake the (horizontal) rep up to initiate the transaction.

Another approach is where the sales rep will spend about 99% of your/his time together in rapport building, which is, actually, good, but it isn't helpful if your goal is to get information about the vehicle, the brand, the dealership, financing, service, etc.

In some cases there is a rationale behind both of these approaches: The cars sell themselves, so the tactics are full-on ignoring you or full-on schmoozing.

I have no idea, specifically, what Audi of America actually wants, but my rep has given me a peek at what kind of training materials AND tests he must pass. Yesterday, when my wife and I were at the dealership, one of the reps -- who we know well -- got out his phone and showed us the videos he took last week in Munich while he was on a 600 mile "get acquainted" training class in Germany and Austria for the new A8L. He was so excited and showed us some really cool features available including self-parking, level-3 automation, and some touch screen "tricks" that the new A8, A7, and A6 will offer.

We were there after a stone hit the window of our SQ5 and a pin-***** sized chip had become a 15-inch spider vein -- we were there to ask if they thought we could keep driving the car until Wednesday when the new "Audi" glass was shipped from the west coast (we did not want aftermarket glass). The dealer took the car, put it inside and without hesitation gave my wife a 2018 Q5 P+ for four days ("just put gas in it.")

So, to the OP, "NO!" your experience seems like the "Horizontal-sales-rep gone wild." The experiences we've had since 1977 have been with two ownership groups of one of our two Cincinnati Audi dealerships, one of our two BMW dealerships, one of our many VW dealerships, one Acura, and one Infiniti dealerships. We have purchased 33 Audis from one dealership (the one under two ownership groups). We've had three VWs, three BMWs, one Acura, and one Infiniti. We've shopped at one of our city's three Mercedes dealerships, two VW dealerships, one of our three Lexus dealerships, one of our multiple Cadillac dealerships, and so on. Most of the premium class dealerships here are very professional, the reps very knowledgeable and the demeanor "mostly" semi-horizontal and the style replete with the "just right" amount of rapport building. The Infiniti dealer's reps didn't seem to know much about their products -- without looking at the brochure. We knew more than the reps, that is.

But, to be fair, we're outliers -- we come into the dealership having read a minimum of three reviews, and having virtually memorized all pertinent specifications pertaining to the model(s) we are looking into. What is refreshing is how professional and "into" their vehicles most of the dealers' reps have become. Your experience is/was one that would completely turn us off. No way would I purchase a car from either a completely "horizontal" and/or indifferent rep/dealer or a "full-on schmooze/rapport-building" rep/dealer. It seems like they got the "no-pressure" part, but took indifference (and perhaps ignorance) to an extreme.

Another thing I am turned off by is the rep who spends even one-second putting the competition down. I don't mind the rep asking what I am cross shopping his offering with -- but after that, I don't expect or appreciate the Lexus rep dissing BMW, etc. Finally, I really appreciate it when the rep offers a test-drive and offers to allow me to go solo or to ride along. If the rep doesn't go with, I also appreciate a brief introduction to some of the controls and features so that I can get the most out of the test drive. Typically, in this class, it is somewhat difficult to actually get the rep to ride along, probably due to the fact that one rep may have several "test drives" being taken by shoppers simultaneously. My rep, on a sunny Saturday, will have up to five test drives "out" at the same time, so I am patient with him -- and I very much appreciate being given the option of a solo test vs a ride along.

Your story, were I a representative of AoA, is cringe-worthy. I just can't imagine your characterization of the dealership experience is the one Audi wants its dealers to portray.

Hopefully your service and support experience will be different.

I'm wondering how much time was spent with you during the delivery? For my 2018 S4, my rep spent about two-hours (my S4 was equipped as Prestige and with DAP, however.)

bk6000

Interestingly enough I'm talking about the Beechmont Audi in Cincinnati.

Your description of the horizontal sales rep makes perfect sense. There was not even rapport building though which I also found odd. Anyway, as far as the delivery goes, the guy who walked me through the car spent a decent amount of time going through all the settings on the car and showed me how everything works. When asking about whether or not traffic data was automatically included, or whether or not I needed to pay for certain features like that, he didn't know. I'm still confused about how Audi Connect works and surprised they didn't know much of anything about it. One of my questions was if there was any advantage of paying for LTE service and if I needed to do so to get traffic data. He said no, it must be bought through AT&T and the only advantage is that it allows people in the car to connect to WiFi, but if you have a phone with a hotspot it would be pointless. I'm pretty sure this is wrong from what I read online.