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Audi A4 Lease Questions
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It looks like the special leasing program is the bottom price and I am sure they will try to add on some other fees as you are dealing with them in person.
I will try to minimize my downpayment and monthly payments :-)
Thanks!
PS: My dealership is Crown Audi - clearwater, FL.
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Remember, by selling to the third party at resdiual, Audi will lose interest. AFS can certainly agree to release the lessee but they can also make up for this lost profit by charging more to the third party. Even if the lessee himself can eliminate the interest through a prepayment buyout, AFS has no obligation to grant this original contract inducement to a third party. By agreeing to transfer this price to the third party, Audi loses the opportunity to sell the car for the price and manner they choose. After all, it is AFS' car and they get to sell it at the terms they set. Again, AFS is under no obligation to provide a third party with the terms that they have negotiated with the lessee.
I never said that Audi is taking a consumer friendly position. I only said that I don't believe that such a consumer friendly practice is industry custom. Neither of your combined 5 or 6 posts has provided any support for the existence of this supposed custom, so I can only conclude that it does not exist. One thing that we can agree on is that lessees should not assume that Audi - who subvents these leases - will let them transfer favorable lease terms to a third party.
BTW, I never bragged about residual rates, just made a typo that a low residual is good. I meant a high residual is favorable. I did not get a great residual (.51) but I did buy at $1000 under invoice.
I did not say AFS was unethical - maybe unfriendly, yes. And I believe the original poster if he says his research indicates other car cos. will sell to 3rd party for same price as they will to lessee.
BTW, if you or I pay off a lease early- AFS will not charge interest on remaining payments so that is not the issue. Base payments + residual. But at equivalent of 1.29% interest, etc. who wants to do that? And as you noted, none of their terms -prepayment buy out of remaining payments due less interest + set residual (or if at lease end residual only) are avail to 3rd party. I have no problem with their terms - I just leased another Audi - and I fully understand the deal. But I thought Mcwenzel's point of view was perfectly legitimate and that he explained it quite well.
Very good that you got $1000 below invoice. Did you pay that $495 advertising/prep fee they claim is on their "invoice"?
They nothing wrong! You avoided payhing sales tax if you bought it.
I was at a southern california dealership today and while I was negotiating the price of an '07 a4 2.0t the dealer tried to throw in two fees: an "ad" fee, around $250 or so and an "inspection and preparation fee" around $175. He claimed that he was giving me the invoice price of the car, but with these two fees, it really seemed like $400 over invoice. I have heard something about a coop ad fee that I think is legit, but do dealers generally waive this after some negotiation? With the inspection fee, I feel like this is total bs--any input?
Also, I was under the impression that maintenance is part of the 4 year warranty, but learned with Audis only the first--5K or 10K? miles--is free. So they tried to sell me the Audi car care program for $590 and said because the residual value is 55% instead of 54% it practically pays for itself. He also claimed they require certain maintenance as part of the lease contract which ends up costing more that $590. What's the deal with this?
Appreciate your help. Thanks!
Audi Care is legit. Audi used to include free maintenance. Now they don't. If your lease is for 36 mos. get the Audi Care. And yes they will make you sign a doc saying you will use the Audi Care because they want to insure that their leased car will be maintained. Since you are paying for it it makes sense you would use it. But because it does bring residual up a point it is worth it.
So what was the final downpayment and monthly payment you got from them? I'm thinking about taking the plunge soon but I want to know how much they try to add on. Did you ask them about more mileage and how much that would cost? I'm not sure I could get by on only 10k a year.
As I mentioned, I negotiated to invoice except it was really around $400 over with the ad and inspection fees. When I go to the next dealership this weekend, I'll just aim for $400 below invoice, that way if they throw in the fees it will come out to invoice.
MF is .00054 (no security deposit but previously financed through volkswagen so they gave me the better rate)
I didn't end up leasing because they were trying to rip me off on my trade-in but that's another story.
(It's also a complete Rip-Off, as It *ONLY* covers 15K services (Mostly Oil Changes and a few Air Filters, No Brakes, or other items that Audi used to cover for free(!) Audi says you shoudl change the oil more under "severe service"... Right??? guess what... That's on YOUR dime, Audicare or NOT!
I just leased an A4 Cabrolet, and yes, the finance person pre-added AudiCare, and I pointed to have it removed. Magically, they dropped it and still leased the car. They only added that we can purchase it later if we change our mind, it'll be the same $590!... wow... amazing).
IT IS ILLEGAL FOR THEM TO FORCE YOU TO BUY SERVICE CONTRACTS... Google "Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act". That's Federal law, unless they want to do the service for free, they must allow you to have others service your car.
I called my local German Auto Repair (who works on my other Audi's that are no longer in Warranty), and found out that he will charge me, about $300 for the same work. He'll also validate the service book, no problems.
Funny is that my local dealer is famous for doing sloppy work. They use cheap Valvoline bulk-oil (not the VW-502 Rated Oil Audi states you must use). My local German Auto Service guy uses German Syntec (VW502 Rated), and a Mann or Maule Oil Filter (German OEM).... He charges a whole $50... out the door, tax and everything. He's got one Audi Trained tech that only works on Audi's and VW's. He's got another who just works on BMWs... no question on who worked on your car.
If you plan on getting your car serviced at the dealer, it is a no-brainer for a 36 month lease.
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So at 51% residual of an MSRP of it is $19,431 and a bump up to 52% (with Audi Care) is $19,812. That saves you $381. or subtracted from the $590 it is $209 that you are paying for Audi Care. Not a bad deal.
1) Is it possible to get the $350 lease termination fee waived if I choose not to purchase or lease another Audi/Volkswagon?
2) I still have the original Continental brand tires on the car, but may need to replace all four since the tread might be getting close to the 1/8" minimum. If this is the case, how critical is Audi when it comes to the tires at lease turn in time? Should I not replace any and take my chances, or is it best to replace them? My lease contract under Excessive Wear and Use (part 22B) states that I will need to replace any tires that are not part of the matching set of five (including full size spare) with the same brand, size and quality. Will they hold me to this, or can I get away with putting a different/less costly brand? I planned on just going to a local Sams Club and putting the cheapest 235/45/17 tire I can find (Bridgestone Fusion at $95/ea). I am looking at a lot more $ for the same continental tires.
Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks.
on tires, get the lease inspection (call Audi or local dealer to get inspection co. # in your area) done as soon as you can within the 3 mos. window to turn in date and see if the independent inspector dings you on tires. If he doesn't, they will go by the inspection report even if the tires are bald by the time you turn it in 3 months later. If he does list it on the report he provides to you (they list everything and give you a chance to repair or replace before turn in), you will want to replace or confirm with Audi that each tire charge is $120 if they replace after turn in as it states in Wear and Tear info on Audi web site. The inspector did not enforce the matching spare with me. Depends on the inspector.
You can put cheaper brand on as long as all four tires match. They don't mean you have to put original brand on - they just want all 4 current tires to match. Probably can get away with older, but good, spare as long as it is same speed rating.
2) the inspection company was very easy to work with. I thought I was going to have more charges. They only charged me for 1 item when I thoguht there was more. ON the tires let them inspect it prior to turn in and you will find out what they charge. You then have a choice to do it yourself
MSRP: $34,040
Invoice: $31,938
Sales price w/out tax/license: $31,138
Due at lease signing: $2,726 ($1000 down, $267 CA registration/$371.47 1st month payment, $400 sec. deposit, $575 acquisition fee, ? dealer fees)
Money factor: .00054
Residual: 55%
36 month w/ 10k miles year = $344 mo + $27.47 tax = $371.47 mo. How does this deal look? Does the drive off amount look too high? Any advice or assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
if you lease for $5/mth how can you lose?
July will be my 24th month into the lease (1 year to go) and the car is in great condition and has only 20k miles out of my 24k allotment.
I am interested in lowering my monthly payments and am perfectly happy entering into a new 36 mo. lease for a new '07. Wouldn't Audi have an incentive to get me out of the old lease and into a new one now, while the car's residual is significantly higher than it will be at lease termination? I spoke to my dealership and they didn't sound as interested in the deal as I thought they would be. Any tips on getting the best deal for the new lease considering that I could always walk away, keep the lease for another year and not guaranty them a customer for another 3 years?
Regarding the $495 prep fee, no I did not pay it...sort of.
First I said "I am offering $1000 under invoice."
The sales guy just gulped and asked, "Can I ask where you arrived at that figure?"
Me: "End of model year, end of month, end of holiday weekend sales push."
Sales guy: Well okay, good point, but you gotta pay the $495 prep fee.
Me: "I am not paying it."
He said, "But I HAVE to charge it to you."
I said, "Okay, go ahead and charge it; then my offer is $1500 under invoice."
He gulped again but when I started moving toward the door he said "fine."
He also gave me a good trade in rate. I ended up $3700 under MSRP then another $2500 from the trade in and ended up at $400/month for an Avant w/ premium, convenience, sport, blue tooth, higher priced metallic paint, Audicare. (BTW, my situation required trade-in, so putting that down worked for me).
To All: If you got this far, I am not making this up. Go to a dealer with a big inventory on 4th of July and lowball them. As the Dire Straits song goes, "We gotta move those refridgerAtors, gotta move those color TVeeees...."
I was looking at a 2.0T quattro, prem pack, heated seats, met paint here in illinois.
The running "special" is
10k
36mo
349/mo
MSRP 33565 (lease based on)
3k down (349 1st pymt, 575 aquisition, 350 secur dep, and 1726 dp? ) + tax, title, license, and doc fees.
He says based on the above, if I was to lease without DP and taxes rolled in, monthly would be $484 per dealer
earlier this year:
"2007 A4 2.0T quattro with Tiptronic transmission
$379 per month
36-month lease*
---------------------------------------------------
Down payment $999
Security deposit $400
Acquisition fee $575
First month payment $379
---------------------------------------------------
Amount due at lease inception $2,353 "
I know the above is choppy. I guess I'm really asking is if the deal audi is offering itself is legit. I read on leasekit (?) that the advertised offers are often a deal, sometimes not.
Thx!
That's really amazing. I wonder what it would've been without the trade in.
Any specifics available, MSRP, invoice, residual, etc.
Thanks
1)The car makers themselves created this by allowing many sources of MSRP and dealer invoice to the public. They really don't care about the dealer. They've sold the car when it is delivered to the dealer.
If you could buy something less elsewhere for the same product don't you?
2) You as salepeople and dealers have created this situation further by low balling and lying to the public. You created people making crazy offers because your competition has made offers to them. How can you blame us?
I used to be in the business years ago and understand what you're saying however, until the industry starts doing things differntly this will stay the same regardless of the price of the vehicle
Remember most dealers charge over sticker when the vehicle is hot and tight availablilty.
Again, fix who's looking in the mirror and maybe the industry some day will change
Have you done any travel outside of the US or even shopped at a flea market? You would know that a large part of sales transactions are based on the seller expecting the customer to make an offer. Usually a savvy customer will make a low offer and an astute salesman will give a counter-offer. This banter continues until a deal is made.
This is kind of the basic tenets of business. In general, if you sell low, but sell a lot, you can make a lot more than selling at a higher price and selling less. We can see this with (sadly) diminishing mom-and-pop stores d/t super stores being able to implement this concept and run them (M&P store) out of business.
When I bought my home, I (unknowingly) low-balled my offer. The sellers, naturally offended, responded by a counter offer of $1 less than the listing price. That was a nice way of letting me know "get serious!" Rather than getting huffy and saying "Don't offer me stupid numbers and get out of my face!"
Did you ever take a moment to think that ppl who are buying cars >$100k are usually well-off enough that $1k to them might be equal to $50 in most people's eyes? With that amount of disposable income they, as a family member of mine would say, "can't be bothered" with getting the rock bottom best deal. It's not that they realize that car sales is a business and that they want you to make money. Your post was hilarious!
I have a family friend who if even the slightest modification is made to the car she owns now, regardless of how much it cost, she'll dump it and get the new version. Why? B/c she has loads of money and she wants the newest and best thing out there. She doesn't care that she's losing money--there's plenty more in the account and she sure doesn't care about you making money! She wants, she can afford it, she buys it. The profit you make is chump change (literally). Wow, where did you go to school?!
It's baffling that you should bring in logic as an issue among others. The irony is you had the nerve to say "I'm not attacking anyone at all." Yet 1/2 of your post was pointing out flaws among customers.
BTW, there are a lot of people in this forum making more than 150k, lawyers, physicians, business people, etc. I would be careful before saying something as ignorant as "the select few of us that make 150k plus a year are actually much smarter and more resonable then people give us credit for." First, basic grammar, don't end a sentence with a preposition. Second, I would never want to be associated with an individual like you based on my annual income.
Thanks for your help!
Also, how would you unknowingly low ball someone on a house? You didn't do your research? You didn't know how much the house was? You are the low ball type of person i described. I never said a salesman should get "huffy", thats your view of us when you dont get what you want. Again, make low ball offers and get treated like a low ball customer. The customer that asks for 1500 dollars off a 40 thousand dollar car will get treated with kid gloves every time. They can call me to set up service, address me with any concerns they have about the vehicle. Its the customer that asks for unreasonable things that gets treated unreasonably. If you dont understand that i feel sorry for you, you arnt very rational.
Sales people are not born with this attitude. The "grinder" customer just gets old at a certain point. You work with someone for four hours trying to get them a deal and they are not willing to budge and make a fair offer. I find that to be unreasonable, basically we are suppose to give everything and if its not what you want you get up and leave. You are right, it is a negotiation. Not hey im gonna offer you a really low price and not move, if your not being reasonable then why should i be?Its the people that tell you " my offer is 2 grand under invoice, either you do it or ill leave" That is plain disrespect to a salesperson and his job. If someone feels disrespect ed then why should the sales person continue to be rational when the customer isn't?
Also, Whatever you do for a living, lets say you install windows. You come to my house to give me a free estimate. You spend an hour with me showing me different options, giving opinions on what you think would fit me best. You've done your job very well, you lay down some pricing to me. I then proceed to ask you for your invoice on parts and tell you i want all that stuff for 2 grand less then you paid for it and if not then you can leave. This is common place in the 10-50 thousand dollar car market. That would blow your mind wouldn't it?
Your apparently took my post to the heart, attacking my grammar being the evidence. Do me a favor, read the above paragraph and acutally think about it.
You apparently have no idea about people that can afford a 100 thousand dollar car, having an family friend that makes loads of money doesn't count. People in that arena of life actually do care about being fair and you making some money too. When i go and buy a Breitling watch, i dont grind and grind for a couple hundred bucks off the 8 grand asking price. If the salesman does a good job and shows me different options he DESERVES a good commission on the piece.
Based on your mindset, you will never be associated with "people" like me, regardless of income.
Thanks
I think the objection here arises from the fact that most of the users on this board DO NOT REQUIRE the services of a salesperson. If we could, we would be just as happy to bypass them completely and buy directly from the manufacturer. You're annoyed because the people here aren't willing to pay for your services. Well, the truth is we DON'T WANT your services.
It's like the book industry. Some people want a nice cushy environment, friendly & helpful salespeople, and the ability to browse. They can pay $25 at Borders. Others know exactly what they want. They can pay $17 at Amazon.
Unfortunately, in the auto industry, informed consumers don't have a choice. We're still forced to do business with you. Don't worry -- there will always be customers who want your services (like my Grandparents) and are willing to pay the premium.
Just don't be mad at those of us who don't want to pay for services we don't use.
You have no one blame except yourselves!
I used to be in the business years ago and know of all the games and trickery that still exists today.
I got out because of the way your industry does business. For years I worked only by referral. I could be trusted and my customers knew what they were getting from me-MY SERVICES AND HONESTY!
To disagree with this writer there is a place for their advice and knowledge, the problem is these type of salespeople are few and very far between.
For years and still to this day most dealers treat their employees like crap. The good people like myself got out. Why?
Being cheated, lied to, shorted on commissions, crazy hours and lack of a private life. How many friends and relatives can you spend time with when you work all weekend and have a day off during the week?
Bottom line the auto induistry for the most part has attracted people who know nothing about the product they sell and move around from dealer to dealer. it's pretty sad when we as consumers know more than the salepeople.
One other reason we shop is the experience when I went to trade my wife's car, we agree on a price and they had to locate the car. When the car came in and went in to finalize the deal and look at the car they changed the price by $4000(ie the trade 3 days later)!
Like I said car guy look at your industry and you know why people don't want to deal with you.
Perhaps and I repeat you should get out!
And what "games" and "trickery" do you speak of? Maybe you just worked for a bad guy. Can happen at a auto repair shop too.
Also, if you worked only on refferal you must have been a very good salesperson. You can simply operate as your own franchise, your and independent contractor. Its sales, i understand people will low ball from time to time. I guess i just dont understand the stigma on us. More then any other thing i would say in history.
People tend to work for companies that mirror themselves. The manufacturer I work for gave me a 24 thousand dollar watch last year in appreciation for selling a certain amount of vehicles while holding a certain amount of gross. Its like the saying goes, you are who your friends are, it translates to your employer as well. Work for bad people, either leave, or more then likely you are not a stand up person either.
My last job in the industry owed me a lot of money and wouldn't pay me. That's when I got out
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As far as what a good money factor is goes, Audi Financial Services' current buy rate lease money factor for a 36 month lease of a 2007 Audi A4 2.0T is .00095. Make sure that this is the factor that the dealer you are working with uses to calculate your car's monthly payment.
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