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Good price on a base model GTI

Srt4toGTI

Ready to race!
Location
Dayton, Ohio
I'm looking to buy a new GTI. As soon as i can sell my 04 SRT-4. I don't want any options. I've had sunroofs before and don't feel like spending nearly $1400 on that with the package 1. It seems like no dealerships around here carry anything without any options. I was just wondering once i find one, what's a good price to settle on?

I went to look at one at the local dealership today. This dealership also sells Porshe's, Jaguars and Audi's to go along with VWs. The salesman didn't seem to helpful. Me being a 23 year old guy pulling up in an SRT4 didn't tickle him the right way. I simply told him i'm looking to buy one once i sell my car. Which i already have offers for.

Well he didn't even seem to want to help. Simply gave me his card and walked back inside. The problem is there's really only one other dealership within 50 miles of me.

I just don't want to get dicked on price. And this snooty man seems like he probably wouldn't budge much on price. I'm probably going to end up selling my car for around 16-17K. So it's not like i'm in too deep with this car.

Any opinions on a good price to settle with would be much much much appreciated.

Thanks,
Matt
 

Bouston

FIA World Rally Car Champion
Location
Heidelberg, Germany
Car(s)
2006 Subaru STI
First, welcome. With that kind of service I'd drive a 100 miles out of my way for better customer service & possibly a better deal. What made you want to go from an SRT-4 to a GTI? Just curious.
 

Srt4toGTI

Ready to race!
Location
Dayton, Ohio
Well what really turned me on to the srt4 was the sheet power for the price. I started to mod it and i realized the just straight speed wasn't all i wanted. I wanted a nice, adult car. That was still quick and moddable. I'm not sure if that was a word or not ;-).

I liked how the GTI has a great interior and since it's a hatch it's very practical.

I also didn't like that everyone in a fox body mustang or wrx wanted to harass the hell outta me!
 

Srt4toGTI

Ready to race!
Location
Dayton, Ohio
GTI2007 said:
according to Edmunds a GTI without options cost $ 20,240 invoice

Invoice sounds very very nice. What should i expect to pay over that though?

Thanks again for the warm welcome. I can't wait to get this car. But the dealership experience has not been so warm. :tongue:
 

GTI2007

Moderator
I suppose you also have to pay a destination charge and perhaps also a charge for regional adjustment. That's what I can see on Edmunds and I'm also not very familiar with the US market cause I'm from Belgium
 

Srt4toGTI

Ready to race!
Location
Dayton, Ohio
GTI2007 said:
I suppose you also have to pay a destination charge and perhaps also a charge for regional adjustment. That's what I can see on Edmunds and I'm also not very familiar with the US market cause I'm from Belgium

Yeah. Would 21,500 out the door seem unreasonable?
 

HotLanta MKfizzle

Formula 5000 Driver
Location
Atlanta GA
I've been getting the impression that $500.00 over invoice is reasonable for a dealer to make. I paid about $150.00 over invoice, but I got alot of extras that proabablly put money in the dealers pocket in other way's. Plus I paid a $367.00 documentation/advertising fee, which I'm sure is probablly 80% profit for the dealership. However I recieved great customer service, and basicaly the whole experience was a dream. I wanted the car a certain way, it took 3dealerships to realize it, but the one who did worked hard to get my car lined up properly, and hooked me up with a decent deal. For a Package 0 I'd look to spend 300 to 500 over invoice.
 

Srt4toGTI

Ready to race!
Location
Dayton, Ohio
HotLanta MKfizzle said:
I've been getting the impression that $500.00 over invoice is reasonable for a dealer to make. I paid about $150.00 over invoice, but I got alot of extras that proabablly put money in the dealers pocket in other way's. Plus I paid a $367.00 documentation/advertising fee, which I'm sure is probablly 80% profit for the dealership. However I recieved great customer service, and basicaly the whole experience was a dream. I wanted the car a certain way, it took 3dealerships to realize it, but the one who did worked hard to get my car lined up properly, and hooked me up with a decent deal. For a Package 0 I'd look to spend 300 to 500 over invoice.


Awesome. I checked the VW website. There's honestly 3 dealerships within 75 miles of me. It sucks. I'm going to go back up to the same dealership on wednesday and request a test drive. And see what exactly they do on a deal for one. Thanks for the input.
 

HotLanta MKfizzle

Formula 5000 Driver
Location
Atlanta GA
I recomend starting the process on the internet. There gonna want you to come in, but if you say you're busy "working" they'll work with you via email, and that will eliminate alot of the hassle. Email all the dealerships with exactly what you want (color options, or lack of in your case etc..), and let them respond with prices. They'll want to find a car for you first before quoting you, because there might not even be a package 0 for miles around. If they do locate a car for you, use that to your advantage when talking to the different dealerships, let them know your shopping various VW stores, and someone else found that car for you already at a better price. Basically if there's one package 0 in your desired color around, you'll probablly get it from the dealership it's at now. If none of the 3 have what your looking for, you can make them compete for your business.

Srt4toGTI said:
Awesome. I checked the VW website. There's honestly 3 dealerships within 75 miles of me. It sucks. I'm going to go back up to the same dealership on wednesday and request a test drive. And see what exactly they do on a deal for one. Thanks for the input.
 

Srt4toGTI

Ready to race!
Location
Dayton, Ohio
HotLanta MKfizzle said:
I recomend starting the process on the internet. There gonna want you to come in, but if you say you're busy "working" they'll work with you via email, and that will eliminate alot of the hassle. Email all the dealerships with exactly what you want (color options, or lack of in your case etc..), and let them respond with prices. They'll want to find a car for you first before quoting you, because there might not even be a package 0 for miles around. If they do locate a car for you, use that to your advantage when talking to the different dealerships, let them know your shopping various VW stores, and someone else found that car for you already at a better price. Basically if there's one package 0 in your desired color around, you'll probablly get it from the dealership it's at now. If none of the 3 have what your looking for, you can make them compete for your business.

Thanks. I appreciate it. Hopefully i won't get a hard time when i go wednesday to test drive this thing. I'm NOT in the mood. :cool:
 

HotLanta MKfizzle

Formula 5000 Driver
Location
Atlanta GA
Wow that's some hardcore info... you must have gotten an A+ in Economics. When you buy your car, let us know how much you paid for it, and we'll all see the fruits of your labor. Personally to me, and again this is just me, all that back and forth shit makes me ill, I'd rather spend my time working to pay the extra couple hundred bucks... good luck man, I'm sure you'll get a killer deal.

Scotaku said:
Invoice price is a myth. The outed and lurking dealers here and elsewhere will fight tooth and nail to disagree, but no dealer pays jack squat for the cars they move until the end of a sales cycle. At that time, if a dealer has moved (sold) X number of cars then they get "billed" for the cars minus their operating costs. This is a positive figure and is called profit.

Dealers are franchised agents selling cars for the manufacturer. They don't actually buy the cars from VW more than they sell them for a gamut of figures their buyers somehow reach equilibrium with and sign their deals. The "invoice" price is a ficticious number artificially lower than the manufacter's suggested retail price (MSRP) that are both engineered to give buyers a sensation of power in their knowledge. Anyone paying less than MSRP but some menial amount over or under invoice is simply wandering through carefully planted figures nowhere near the actual dealer cost... a figure you'll never know because the dealers don't know it until they tally up all the sales, including yours, during a sales period. Rest assured it is nowhere near "invoice" because that figure itself represents a very generous though average amount of profit for the dealers.

Paying "invoice" is paying the desired average profit the dealers have agreed they'd like after moving some target number of a fleet of vehicles. Don't want to pay that? You have to find a dealer willing to average his profits, literally spread the profits from one or more other sales onto yours to give you a killer deal waaaaay under "invoice."

How do you get that you ask? Well, it takes a little patience and a lot of contact. Each dealer has a table of numbers of cars they want to sell by the end of the sales period. On the table are progressively lower "prices" for the cars they'll bay back to VW which goes down as their numbers of sales go up. They're not actually paying, but keeping more of the deal totals for themselves as profit. Sell more cars, send less money to VW.

No one of them will openly reveal they're on a timetable to sell as many cars as they can, but at the end of it the deals are more likely to appear. This is where patience pays off. You set your price and then stick to it until one of your local dealers feels the pinch to move just that one more car. They all see you waiting patiently with your far lower than average price offer and then start examining the sales they've already made. One of those dealers may grow willing to slice into the profits already garnered from a recent sale and agree to your deal just for the sake of moving one more car off his lot... and thus not having to split as much of the sales with VW.

None of those dealers may play though which is again where patience is a requirement. Meanwhile, the contact has already been made. If there's anything car dealers do, it's stay in touch. You have to be prepared for a lot of phone calls and emails, so you may wish to limit your contact info to a celphone or throwaway email to contain the spam. Dealer salespeople also seem to be pretty adept at appearing inept online conveniently forgetting what you're looking for and any prices you've discussed. You keep your wits about you and politely refresh the conversation with past information. Remain polite when you insist upon your price too. Eventually, the end of the sales period will arrive and the dealers will be flocking to you to see if you've found your car. Just stick to your price and one of them will probably badly want just one more car for their numbers.

It has worked for me. Two weeks of negotiation and polite eye rolling as dealer after dealer ping me to see if my price point isn't flexible... and then the offer comes. It sounds so awful and I'm stealing bread from their children's tables but the absolute best they can do is within a few hundred of my offer... but a Grand Canyon less than "invoice"... and includes my state taxes and registration fees. Instead of paying all the taxes, they're effectively paying half and, frankly, that impresses me and I'm inking on the other half.

It'll be a black DSG'd GTI and I'll have a scant seven weeks for break-in before I take the new ride to VIR for two days on the full course with Audi Club. Boo yah!
 
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