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Ridiculous.
Print out that price with dealership info, usually $300 to $500 over invoice and shop that price at another dealer.( Audi dealers are usually far apart, even here in the NY tri-state area.) Threaten to take your business to the dealer on your AMEX sheet. They'll ask???? Why did you not go there and get this price in the first place...Tell them some lie that their dealership was closer to your home or you've heard great things about their service department.
They beat the other dealer's AMEX price by $100. (I would have been ok with just matching it) We got a Premium Plus, Meteor Grey with nice Michelins for $40,125 plus tax and tag fees. Only extra purchased was Audi Care @$750. We LOVE our Q5.
Could you please share details of your X5 lease. I'm basically looking at the same options (Q&, X5d, ML350 BT) and would apprecite getting info on the current deals out there.
am in Northern Colorado, where there are not many dealers for these SUVs so any information on the deal would help me with my negotiation.
Thanks in advance.
So let's say if there are about 300 Audi dealers in the country, that means each dealer gets only about 4 Q5's per month. The reason it is "flying off the shelves", is not because there is a huge demand, but rather it's because the limited supply. It's so much easier to clear your lot when you have only 4 cars to sell.
I drove both the RX and the Q5, and I would agree the Q5 is a better drive. But a better drive is not the only criteria people consider when buying cars, there are many other factors. If you look at the total sales numbers, you would have to say that the RX is the one that's "flying off the shelves".
Which is another reason why I'd choose a Q5 over a RX - there are just too many RX's out there.
Actually, that's Audi's whole ad campaign.. Instead of hordes of look-a-like Lexus mommy-mobiles, all in beige... you've got a mean looking black Q5..
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Can you provide details on this Amex website? I'm interested in pursuing this option, but am not familiar with how to go about it.
Thanks
The website is www.amexnetwork.zag.com
Any problems with dealer not honoring price, call Amex and let them know. Good Luck.
Just curious if you know how it works - when you say about the dealer honoring the price, isn't the dealer the one offering the price? Does the system let you know which dealer(s) is(are) the one(s) with the offer? Do you have any control over which area/dealers the request goes out to?
Thanks again
You'll read on the website... a link...How does this work?
Amex has worked out a partnership with certain dealerships to offer and honor this below MSRP price. Not all dealerships participate. (though more should, afterall if AMEX is referring you, you have an AMEX card and should have decent credit, something they want if they're trying to sell you an Audi, BMW or MB.)That does not mean that others won't honor the price if you shop it there. It depends on many other things such as, how badly do they want to make the sale and reach their quota...How serious they see you to take "spot delivery" if they have it in stock...how hard and well the salesperson works with the sales manager. We were ready to walk and go to the dealer on our AMEX sheet. They sensed that and came out with the deal we agreed on. It's probably best to go to a large volume dealer and at the end of the month that has many Q5's in stock. It worked for us and could work for you also...Do not show too much love for the car and mention that BMW has maintenance included or that you may want more storage room as in the MDX. If you show you really want the Q5, they bend very little. Good Luck...keep me posted.
Audi of Oakland carried a decent inventory, but were nowhere near as good in terms of customer service. Royal Motor Sales lacked the inventory.
Tried going with Cartelligent, however they weren't able to get a better deal than I could with limited negotiation on my part.
The car ROCKS. Looking forward to taking it to Tahoe for New Year's. Having test-driven a few other "competitors" it stands head and shoulders above the rest in my opinion, but each to their own.
In NYC, I paid $45,500 for Premium Plus, 19" wheels, B&O stereo and Audi Care.
I'm a little antsy and want to make sure I'm not getting hosed. I'm retiring a 1995 Toyota Camry, which I've been driving since high school so this is a watershed moment for me. LOL.
I think $46.4k is a good deal for a black premium plus with nav, s-line, and Audi care but wondering if it's worth haggling a little more. I'd be curious to know if people who purchased the same model with the same options fielded similar quotes or what your thoughts are.
Any insight welcome.
This forum is awesome. It really makes the car purchasing process much easier to stomach. It's still been a headache but I feel much more informed. I'll be happy to contribute my $0.02 after all is said and done. The Q5 is a beautiful car and ride.
Like u, I also own a toyota, bought it 4 years ago as new, no problems at all, except for a boring drive, but never has it given me any kind of trouble on a highway...
After reading lots of reviews and trying to search the perfect car, I've realized there is no perfect car. These days there is a risk of problem with any car. I use to think that toyota lexus had the best reliability, but after the recent recalls braking problems and all, What I've realized is every car manufacture has its share of problems.
Just wanted to add, do your research before getting the Q5, don't mean to ruin ur party of buying a new car, but I took a bit an interest in Audi sometime back, but after reading some of the transmission problems, kind of backed out.
It sounds good to me. I had a problem with the dealer not being very helpful but the car itself is great.
I'm not saying that FX is a better car than Q5, but is very comparable, more reliable, and costs a lot less. Just thought I would pass along thing information since very few people know how deeply FX is being discounted right now.
I've been shopping for both the Q5 and FX35, and we're still undecided which one we'll choose. It's also possible we'll keep our minivan for another year or two instead.
At the time I was getting my Q5 I would definitely have considered the FX 35. However, there were no incentives when I looked during the summer and it was 3k-5k more expensive for the same items.
Discounting such as there is now may well have changed what I ended up with.
Just a preliminary post as I'll go into full detail after this week (omitting names but will disclose the dealerships I worked with) as I'm waiting on the dealer to follow through on some promised items which are due to me (S-Line front grille needs to be replaced as there was a small chip) and am awaiting delivery on all weather floor mats.
It's been a painful process and frankly, for a luxury car purchase, the experience has been more trying than expected. This forum has been helpful so I will provide a full account of my buyer experience after all is said and done.
I'm happy with the price but not happy at all with the treatment I've received from the dealership. If I had known, it would've been worth paying a little more of a premium to be treated better.
At a cost of over $50k after all is said and done, you would assume that would afford some modicum of respect and professionalism. So far, that has not been the case.
To be continued.
I have not purchased my Q5 yet (hopefully I will!). I am in the Cleveland, OH, area and there are 4 Audi dealerships around town. Honestly I can only work with ONE of them. The largest one with the most sales is simply arrogant, to say the least. They have an obnoxious sales staff that do not follow up, do not respond to internet inquiries, and they just don't seem to care about my business. The one on the west side is even WORSE. Despite complaining to their sales manager that no one ever responded to my internet inquiry, they still did not get in touch with me. Forget about it! Then the one south of Cleveland is plain SLEAZY. They have a very poor reputation and the interaction by e-mail has been poor. They also use lots of mass/spam e-mails too, so once you get on their mailing list, then you are cursed forever! Is that really how they should treat their $50K vehicle customer? Also, they sell Mazda and Subaru too. There is nothing wrong with these brands, but they are just not premium. Why would Audi allow a non-premium brand dealer sell their cars? Isn't that silly? The only dealer that I can work with is the one on the far east side. Though it's smaller and the showroom is cramped and not very well designed/decorated, the sales manager and the sales person have been very nice and I think they are the only Audi dealer here that is worth my patronage.
On the other hand, when I went to the Lexus dealer, I was treated like a king. The staff were well-dressed and professional. No wonder why they do so well, despite the fact that they sell such boring cars! LOL! The Infiniti dealerships are very stylish but the staff people are just so so. The Mercedes Benz staff are also noticeably better than the average Audi dealership staff too.
P.S. What a great deal you got for your Q5! I wish I could get such a deal around here!!! How did you manage?
But buyers don't care. They want red carpet treatment and offer the dealer invoice on a 50k car with no incentives. And then spend 4 hours explaining all the latest technology.
Audis have pretty small profit margins and with the $ vs the euro, there's not much profit for the dealer or sales person to put up with customers high expectations and not wanting to pay anybody for their time.
Go sit inside of an $85,000 Lexus LS and look at the quality of materials. 70 grand for a Lexus suv that's a 15 year old truck platform You wonder why customers get taj mahal showrooms and so much attention in the showroom.
Your getting robbed and you gladly pay the money.
You've got to wait in line 3 months just to order Prestige Diesel Q7s.
Audi has the hottest product line-up in the car industry.
he wife got 2010 Q5 Prestige for $50,050 (guessimate) with 6% off and they threw in the Audi Care....not that she puts enough miles on it to use it. That brings it down to the $47K you people are paying for the Premium Plus.
This is the number I called in Germany. I got a call back the very next day (from the local dealer who never returned my calls) with an update on my car. It may be just a coincidence but it's worth letting them know our experiences.
AUDI LOCATION
Postfach 100457
D-85045 Ingolstadt, Germany (Map)
Phone: +49-841-89-0
What we purchased is essentially the Prestige model without the Side Assist, Milano Leather interior, Advanced Key, and Thermo Cup Holder. From what I understand, dealers are willing to be more aggressive on the Prestige models b/c those are not selling as quickly as their Premium Plus inventory. In the end, we preferred to pay extra for the S-Line package over the features that came with the Prestige. We did get the B&O sound system, however.
I think pricing also depends on location. For us, we found more competitive pricing in Southern California (more inventory/dealerships) vs. Northern California (less inventory/dealerships/less perceived consumer price sensitivity). We purchased ours in Southern CA though we reside in Northern CA.
The side assist was a must, after having the Q7 rental in FL. Advanced key is great.
But, this may not be good news for some Audi owners but I (A8L) and wife (Q5) both agree that the Bose on my car really sounds better than the B&O on hers. Now this just a personal preference from us and others might disagree.
When I first thought about purchasing an Audi, I made the assumption that the quality of the brand extends not only to the cars but also to the people selling the cars. That hasn't always been the case. To be fair, there have been a few dealers who were very professional (ex: Rector Audi in Burlingame), so much so that I promised to write them a very positive review on Yelp and other sites even though we couldn't come to an agreement on price. At Rector, I was treated humanely and that in itself went a long way. No red carpet, just a saleswoman who competently answered our questions while holding her ground on pricing, acknowledging that the Q5 is in low supply in a high demand market.
Buyers care just as much as sellers do. I don't expect all Audi dealers to care about the buyer experience but I do think those that do will profit the most. It just seems to make good business sense to me. Gripes about buyer expectations are more representative of the fact that the old business model of selling cars doesn't work as well it used to now that sites like this can be found on the internet. The old business model, to me, seems predicated on the fact that most buyers were not equipped with the information that people have now. Sellers now have to adjust accordingly and in some cases have to learn something called "customer service", because there aren't as many easy prey out there. It doesn't help the seller either that the buyer or potential buyer can go onto a site like this and fully detail their experience to others.
Audi has a supplier list that gets 6% off MSRP (less destination). But you have to be employeed through certain verified companies (ie, IBM) and print out a form from your company. Audi has Loyalty progroms for returning Audi customers that help with discounts as well. You could get up to 1500 in cash if you currently have an Audi.
But in most markets, you're not going to buy a 50k Prestige Q5 and get 3k off MSRP if you just walk in off the street without any of those said programs.
There are very few Q5's sitting on dealers lots right now. It's difficult for dealers trade Q5's and lots of places are scrambling for inventory. It's not a sales pitch and just reality for a good portion of US Audi dealers.
Look at the resale of used 09 Q5's - even if you can find them. Dealers are selling used ones for crazy prices for almost what a new one costs. You might pay more for the Q5 - but you're not going to lose your shirt the moment you drive off the lot.
Audi has really turned things around on the resale front. When it come to the GLK, X3, various japanese cars that compete with the the Q5, it's the best of the bunch with market value.
None of those can touch what the Q5's are bringing @ auction right now when they come up for sale.
The programs being offered (that I know about) are called "friends & family". When we got the 6% discount, we told the salesman who we were and that my wife worked for XXXXX and we were to get 6% off the list price. We were never asked to show ID or confirm, so your information about filling out a form is bogus.
Also, gave the info to an employee of mine that went to a different Audi dealer in our area. She gave the info and said she worked for "the husband of the XXXXX employee" and was given 6% discount.
So, if you are going to spew propaganda, be sure of your facts.
Please don't tell me I'm spewing propaganda. I know what I'm talking about.
Friends and Family is a special program that's only used on discretion of regional managers if you don't qualify. Sometimes to solve problems, help out a service customer, or just reward a long time Audi owner. It's done for PR reasons and it's not available to everybody.
http://corporatesalessite.com/audi/ffCert.asp
As to your link. Great to look at and read.
Was not needed for my wife's car or my employee. Seems like it was used at the discretion of both dealers to make a sale. My employee bought off the lot and my wife ordered her's. No one questioned either or requested any number, etc. PR is usually used for everybody, what's why it's called Pulbic Relations.
You can't just walk into an Audi dealer and say hey "give me the special Friends and Family discount" on a Q5 as a negotiating tool and get 6% off.
It's not going to happen. You have to be involved with some sort of corprate program and it's used with permission of corprate and regional managers.
You're making it sound like anybody off the street can qualify for some of these special corporate programs and anybody can use it as a negotiating tool. They can't.
Friends and Family discounts can be used at the discretion of regional managers to solve problems, help service customers, give money to potential VIP customers, loyal Audi customes, or whatever they deem as special circustances.
But the money is coming from somewhere and being provided by Audi corporate.
Free money does not exist my friend.
I am far from a VIP and yes, I walked in and (long story short) negoiated a price and then mentioned the F&F discount. Was immediately given "less then invoice" spiel and given the discount. No other questions, etc.
You may not be able to get these perks but we buy new cars every 2 years and once I start dealing with a dealership (bought our 2 Audi's from different dealerships), I get pretty good discounts. 6% is only a good deal if it's a hot car. The Q5 at the time was available and is still availabe in large quantities in my area (metro NY).
While I have specific preferences and needs in vehicles, your wife's may be very different. You've picked two somewhat similar competitors.. While afficianados could nit-pick over which one is more reliable, less expensive to maintain, and higher quality, these two would generally be considered a toss-up in most of those categories..
I doubt that in the long-term, there would be much difference in cost... so, pick the one she likes the best..
I'm really a fan of one, over the other... but, none of my reasons would matter to your wife...
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When my buddy wanted another Porsche, the dealer found one in NY and had it shipped to FL.
Or order one and it should take 8-10 weeks...........it took 9 weeks for my wife's Q5 Prestige.