6 Steps to Negotiating the Best Deal on Your New Audi
Shopping for a new car can be a stressful, here are 6 steps to help ease the process of getting into a new Audi, and get the best possible deal.
1. Shop at the Right Time of Year/Month
It's most important that you begin your car search at the right time of the year. Manufacturers tend to give great discounts and rebates during holidays such as Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, and the end of the model year. Despite that, you may not find a great rebate on the model you want, but this tactic of shopping at the right time can still save you money. In general it's great to go in at the end of the month when sales and commissions for the dealership are getting calculated, this is the time when dealers are most inclined to make a sale and boost their numbers for the month. The first months of the calendar year are also a great time to go in, as this is typically when sales are lower after the holiday season. Dealerships will have relatively low foot traffic, especially if you live in the snow belt, and work hard to get any sale they can.
2. Use TrueCar and Edmunds True Market Value
Sites like Edmunds and TrueCar are very useful for new car buyers because they basically do a little bit of the haggling for you. Edmunds website offers a handy tool, the True Market Value (TMV), that gives you the actual market price for any vehicle based on reported transaction prices and even allows you to spec the car exactlyas you want in order to get the most accurate pricing. In addition, you can use Price Promise, which searches through their dealer network's inventory and emails you a certificate guaranteeing your savings on a specific car. TrueCar works in a very similar fashion, but with a different data source and different network.
3. Check Out Dealership Inventories
It's best to start your bargain hunt at home on the computer. Before you venture out to your local dealership, check out inventories on the model you want. This way you don't waste time going to a dealership that may not even have what you're looking for, but you can also figure out which ones have more of what you want. A dealership that has more than a few of a specific model may be more inclined to budge on the price. Sometimes you can also tell from the website how long a particular car has been in inventory; older cars tend to have more room in pricing.
4. Travel to More than One Dealer
You may have an Audi Dealership local to you, but there is a good chance they won't have the best deal on your new Audi. It's important to travel to different dealerships in your vicinity and shop the offers you may get. Several dealers will attempt to match what others give you and some may even beat them. It's a good idea to go to 3-5 dealerships, if you live in a major metro area, and give them your contact information. Most likely, you'll get a call from the salesman you walked out on within a few hours trying to convince you by sweetening the deal.
5. Play Hardball
This is a very crucial step. When a prospective buyer walks onto the lot, the dealership will try to do everything to get you to drive off in a new car, whether you got the best deal or not. It's important to know when to walk away, but it's also important to stand your ground on the price you want. If you want to pay $60,000 for a specific car, and Dealer A offers you $61,500, you should take that $61,500 offer to other dealerships. Even if they can't beat the price, dealerships will attempt to match it and might throw in extras to sweeten the deal.
6. Don't Trade in Your Old Car
Dealers will always want your trade-in and will make it seem like you're getting a fair price for it. More often than not however, they will cleverly add up the numbers and you'll end up having lost money on your trade in. The best idea is to sell it privately, you're guaranteed to get a couple hundred and in some cases a couple thousand dollars more than you would as a trade in. OF course, selling your own car can be a hassle, and that is what the dealers are hoping you think, so they can shortchange you on the trade.
For help with service on your car, check out the how to section of AudiWorld.com