How can I get a good deal from vw

[FLORIDA]

Hello folks. I'm fixing to go to my local vw dealer to work on getting a new golf sport wagon manual. This will be my first purchase of a brand new car. Until now I was a 2 to 3 year old shopper. Msrp is $20,534 on the wagon but I seen a few guys here who got their cars at around 18,000. I would like to work my way into a similar deal but I really don't know anything about price negotiation or new car buying tactics. Any advice would be helpful. Did the vw tdi emission problems hurt vw enough that they are more motivated to get people in new vw's? Can this help me land a great deal? Also my dealer has 4 sport wagons, all of which are automatics. I'm going down there today to see if they can even get me one shipped in, will this hurt my deal making ability since I'm the one who needs something they don't have in stock? Thanks for any help.

 

[SatinSilver]

I'd start with an online price quote. They should give you a competitive price in order to get you to their store. Usually you get a better price if it's something they have in stock. But give it a whirl and see what you end up with. Also try www.autotrader.com and see what's out there.

 

[wemay]

Try this. Go to TrueCar.com and follow the prompts to see what this vehicle sells for in your area in recent sales. If lower than asking price from VW, show them what your research discovered...

 

[john6974332]

Email all of the dealers within the radius that you are willing to drive to, ask for the lowest price on the car you are looking for. Take the lowest price, email the next lowest dealer and ask them to beat it, etc.

Much better to do it this way as opposed to going in and doing it the "old fashioned" way. They would much rather that you come into the dealership and negotiate so that they can spin it to their advantage as much as possible.

 

[pandus13]

can you change the parameters to 2016 new? i think they may be still some unsold.....
and search for up to 500 miles around you?

if you search threads by member dareo, he documented his 2015 manual golf sportwagen purchase, and i think there is some vw golf association membership with some discount too...

 

[crazyoildude]

with all the problems that V.W. has they should roll out the red carpet..

 

[KrisZ]

If you don't have too many dealers in your area, worse, if there is only one, then I would definitely start off with e-mails. The moment you set foot on the dealer's floor, they will work very hard to get you to sign on the spot.
The kind of e-mail responses will also tell you if they are worth doing business with.

Another tip is to never negotiate on the monthly payment. Always negotiate either out the door price, or a price that includes everything but taxes. Make sure that you are clear about this. This way you don't have to worry about any additional fees and charger, although they will be shown on the final bill, but as long as the final price is the same as the one you agreed on, it does not matter.

 

[ecotourist]

One thing I have learned is to ask for and consider only one price, the final bottom line. Other fees are not something I'm prepared to discuss or consider. The dealer can break it down however they want but the only number I want to know about or talk about is the bottom line.

I'd also suggest you nix dealer added options: undercoating, fabric or leather protector, paint sealant, security marking on glass - the whole works. I don't believe any are useful. I want only the vehicle and any accessories I ask for. I have found this is a good time to get winter floor mats.

I had a funny thing happen on a new Toyota. There was an apparent run in the clear coat, noticed a few days after taking delivery. It was polished out quite nicely. About 5 years later a body man said, "You do realize this panel has been repainted don't you?" I had no idea. I bought the car "new" and I certainly didn't paint it. Someone did a good job but that isn't the point. So I now ask for a written certification on the bill of sale that there has been no body damage or body repairs on a new vehicle purchase.

Other than that I'd suggest you get the Consumer Reports pricing information.

I have no experience with getting bids on the internet but that might also be a good idea,.

 

[ctrcbob]

Whatever you do, test drive the exact car you are buying, not one "just like it". Do not order the car and do not do a dealer trade. I've been burned twice buying like that. Once the car arrived without one piece of equipment advertised in their brochures and another time, there were quality issues (dealer saying "oh, we will fix that") that could not be fixed. Nothing you can do, as dealer has your deposit.

Only buy from dealer stock, and test drive it before buying. Check dealer stock on the Internet, from all dealers within reasonable driving range.

I went 65 miles away to buy my Mercedes.
I went 105 miles away to my my Sonata.

Former cars:
I went 140 miles away to buy my SHO.
I went 70 miles away to buy my Marauder.
I went 50 miles away to buy my Lincoln.

Etc. Etc. Etc. I now look at, and test drive the exact car I'm driving. (Rejected a couple that had quality problems). (Rejected one because I did not like the way various switches operated inside car).
I've had no more problems buying from dealer stock.

 

[JHZR2]

Truecar works for the dealers who are paying them, not you. They tell you what is a "fair price" for the dealer.

Plenty of information out there for what is a dealer "invoice" price, as well as the dealer holdback. Web forums (which the dealer will immediately lie and say that people lie in forums about what they pay), let you get some insight into deals others are getting.

Trying the internet and fleet sales department salesperson sometimes gets a better deal too...

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: ctrcbob
Whatever you do, test drive the exact car you are buying, not one "just like it".


I can certainly attest to this. I bought a 2011 Camry brand new from a weekend sales flyer. They advertised a real low price and I went in. The sales lady had me drive one that I liked and we went in to do the paperwork. She got to the point of running the VIN through their computer and decided that the model we drove was the LE, and the price was on the base model only. I think this was an honest mistake, and she insisted that I drive one of the base models. I did so just as a formality, but didn't really pay much attention to it.

As it turns out, the LE has a power seat that I've since (after owning this Camry) decided is a required feature for me. The base model did not. After some months of ownership, I was trying different things to get that manual seat to where I wanted it, including putting spacer blocks under it to raise it up without also tilting it forward (as the adjustment mechanism does). In short, I was never happy with seat comfort/driving position with that car. A number of things caused me to sell it, and seat comfort was one of them.

I think it was the dealer's honest mistake, but I didn't take the second test drive seriously enough. Drive the EXACT car you will buy and spend a lot of time in it. They'll want to just spin you around the block, but tell them you want to drive for 30 or 45 minutes in it. Pay attention to everything -- seat comfort, driving comfort, transmission response, any vibrations, etc. Drive steady speeds at various speeds. Give your exact car a real good shakedown before carrying it home.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Truecar works for the dealers who are paying them, not you. They tell you what is a "fair price" for the dealer.

Plenty of information out there for what is a dealer "invoice" price, as well as the dealer holdback. Web forums (which the dealer will immediately lie and say that people lie in forums about what they pay), let you get some insight into deals others are getting.

Trying the internet and fleet sales department salesperson sometimes gets a better deal too...

Yep, do all your homework first and figure out what a reasonable price should be. Then you can offer something reasonable to start and not insult them at the beginning. If you are serious, let them know you will buy today at your price, and be prepared to walk if not.
If you have your financing sorted out first so you can write a cheque for the full amount, it would keep you out of their financing traps.

 

[FLORIDA]

I went down there and talked to the dealer. There is one 2017 manual transmission in Tampa about 5 hours from me. My dealer sent them a text to see if they can have the car. No way I will sign anything or put money down on a vehicle I haven't seen in person though. My dealer quoted 22,000 excluding tax and fees. I went to the website of the dealer in Tampa and found the car there, the Internet price is just over 18,000. Not sure how I want to play it from here. I'm not paying 22k here when the dealer down there has it for 18k.

 

[FLORIDA]

Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Truecar works for the dealers who are paying them, not you. They tell you what is a "fair price" for the dealer.

Plenty of information out there for what is a dealer "invoice" price, as well as the dealer holdback. Web forums (which the dealer will immediately lie and say that people lie in forums about what they pay), let you get some insight into deals others are getting.

Trying the internet and fleet sales department salesperson sometimes gets a better deal too...

Yep, do all your homework first and figure out what a reasonable price should be. Then you can offer something reasonable to start and not insult them at the beginning. If you are serious, let them know you will buy today at your price, and be prepared to walk if not.
If you have your financing sorted out first so you can write a cheque for the full amount, it would keep you out of their financing traps.


My bank has pre approved me for up to 28k although I don't like the monthly payment at that price. All I have to do is show I buyers order for no more than 100 percent of the vehicles value and I'm good.

 

[ecotourist]

Originally Posted By: FLORIDA
My dealer quoted 22,000 excluding tax and fees.

My suggestion is to only consider the actual bottom line, not excluding anything. That's the only way to make a true comparison. I've heard of mysterious "EDP fees" that were really Extra Dealer Profit. Not on my watch.

I once rented a car in Europe and there was a mystery surcharge of 100 Euros (that's $104 US). When I asked what it was they said, "Oh that was a mistake", and took it off.

 

[MCompact]

Like others have said, I only focus on the out-the-door(OTD) price.

 

[FLORIDA]

I'm just going to deal with the dealership in tampa. They are sending me a buyers order down to the penny tomorrow that I can show my bank. Sticker is 18,237, I'll kniw the out the door price tomorrow. I understand tax, tag, title but this dealership has a 596.20 pre delivery fee, anyone know what that's all about? Should I try to get that scratched?

 

[JHZR2]

Yep. This dealer will be hitting you with junk fees to make up their profit for a loss leader price. Ill bet you end up within $1k of the other dealer after these.

Have you determined the actual invoice price on the vehicle you desire?

 

[FLORIDA]

Not sure what you mean by invoice price. Sticker is 18,237. I'll know the bottom line tomorrow. If it's loaded with junk I'm going to refuse the offer.

 

[NothingNew]

Originally Posted By: FLORIDA
Not sure what you mean by invoice price. Sticker is 18,237.


No, the sticker is not 18,237. That is the online dealer price. Typically when people ask what the sticker is they mean the MSRP which can be found on the Monroney sticker. The invoice price is what the dealer paid for the vehicle otherwise known as dealer cost: KBB What is dealer cost?

Is this the Tampa car with an MSRP of $22,720? Tampa VW SportWagen

I wouldn't be surprised to see them add at least the $596.20 Pre-Delivery Service Charge, $1000 if you don't qualify for the Owner Loyalty Bonus Cash and $500 if you don't qualify for College Bonus Cash.

Oftentimes I find the cars listed with the lowest prices on cars.com have the most "gotchas" and can't be bought for anywhere near the advertised price. They'll add a large dealer fee, they don't include freight in the shown cost and the prices shown include owner loyalty, returning lessee, college and military discounts etc.

One time in the local paper there was a vehicle with a price too good to be true. Reading the fine print, to qualify for the price, you needed to be a returning lessee, a contractor, a realtor, FFA (Future Farmer's of America) and qualify for both the military and college grad rebates.

Don't forget to watch for undercoating (even in FL), paint sealant, scotchgard, VIN etching, window tinting, floor mats, wheel locks, splash guards, cargo trays, aftermarket alarm, flashing third brake light and pinstripes. Best of luck.