From Audi S5 to GTI Noob - December Discounts?

[Ck256]

Moving from an Audi S5 to a GTI Sport. The Sport is pretty similar feature wise to my S5, except leather seats.

Working with a couple dealers local in Ohio - will the December discounts be better than what is available now? IOW - what have the past year end deals looked like? Looks like a lot of inventory left.

My test drives so far have been great. Fun little cars!


What have some of the board veterans seen?


TIA!

 

[vj123]

Not sure if you are looking at DSG / Manual and what kind of deals dealers are offering in Ohio. If you look at "Post your deal" thread, you will see that DC area dealers offer one of the best prices in the country. The best numbers what i can see online is around $22,000 (including dealer documentation charge and VW destination fee) + TTL.

Numbers might get a little better next month but i would not except anything drastic. If you are looking for a specific combination, it might be difficult to get exactly what you want as time goes on.

Good luck with your search and keep us posted on your updates.

 

[Ck256]

Thanks for the reply back. I've been all through the threads on the site, and love that one! I'm also in touch with a few dealers in VA, MD, and DC area.

For the record, I'm okay with either DSG or Manual, prefer DSG I think. Car will be a daily driver in traffic.

 

[vj123]

Month end will be the time when dealers will budge in for a little more to meet their sale targets. Its always fund when you are browsing through the forum for your own purchase.

 

[Ck256]

Month end will be the time when dealers will budge in for a little more to meet their sale targets. Its always fund when you are browsing through the forum for your own purchase.

- It does sound fun keeping my fingers crossed we can work something out with a local dealer.

 

[PLF8593]

Ohio isn't ~too~ far from DC. I'd get my car there and drive it home if i were you.

 

[Shane_Anigans]

Working with a couple dealers local in Ohio - will the December discounts be better than what is available now? IOW - what have the past year end deals looked like? Looks like a lot of inventory left.

I worked with Spitzer VW (outside of Cleveland) and they seemed pretty enthused about selling me a GTI Sport at the price I was asking. Their advertised prices (on Autotrader) were among the lowest.

As far as the December discounts are concerned, the total cash available hasn't changed between October and November; last month it was $1000 bonus cash and $2500 dealer cash, but this month the bonus cash has been rolled into the dealer cash incentive so it's still $3500, just not advertised. VW Credit Special APR contracts are not eligible for dealer cash, so you'll have to finance at standard VCI rates, or through a credit union (which you should be doing anyway since they have the lowest rates available). Will they add more cash in December? Possibly, but they didn't increase it for November so it's hard to say. Of course, the longer you wait, the fewer cars will be available, so don't wait too long.

As always, the absolute best deals are available between Xmas and New Years, but again, there's the availability to consider.

 

[Hoon]

$3500 off a '17 or '18?

Either way it's not enough IMO. I know it varies by region, but I bought my '17 a year ago and got a lot more than that off sticker.

 

[Ck256]

I'm being offered a 2017 Sport for 24,700, or 5600 off sticker from a local dealer - they have to source the car, probably out of the region. Black is available, but that would be the third black car at my house. Variety is the spice of life, as they say.

The fees are low, tax is too, i have a trade they are giving me what I asked for it.

By the time I balance all that out with flying/driving to DC, I'm not sure it works out. One DC dealer did make a suggestion and was to get a quote from CarMax local, then drive out within 7 days, and cash in at the DC CarMax. I thought that was a novel idea and will look into it.

 

[vj123]

$22,000 + TTL which i quoted in my initial post was for a Sport with DSG which has an MSRP of $29,900. It all depends if the difference in price matters to you.

And i had planned to do that CarMax thing which i traded in my previous car. But my flight tickets to DC was dirt cheap and didn go through the hassle for driving a manual for 9 hours with my sour knee.

 

[carchrism5]

I bought my 17 Sport DSG from a DC metro dealer earlier this year. At the time I got a little over $5k off sticker, which was double what dealers in the NYC are were offering and few had any GTI Sports. I rented a car for $70, drove to DC, got the car and drove home in well under a day. My experience/advice is as follows:

Bring your own financing, the dealers online change their pricing based on whether you use VWoA, their banks or outside (essentially a cash sale for them). VWoA cuts back on incentives so they charge more if you want to use that, and their local banks charge a premium rate because the dealer gets kick backs. I went with their financing, then after 3 months refinanced with the same bank and got a decent drop in rate.

Check all fees/incentives listed. Dealers charge varying "DMV Fees" ranging from like $200-$700. Also ask what incentives are, and if you qualify. The prices listed online offer about every single incentive and exclude fees and even destination fees, which are not optional. I saw some dealers even including things like recent college, VW partner program, etc. It would be nearly impossible to have met all of the criteria so they just start adding back. Never go off the online price, email and ask for a true quote.

Think about your local dealer, I have a dealer that is like 0.5 miles from me, at the time they didn't even have a GTI Sport in the right color so there wasn't much I could do with them. But I was obviously going to use them after purchase and you want to start a good relationship with the local dealer, especially if you are going to do anything like modify your car. If you have a good relationship with the dealer and then ask them about warranty on a modified car they will likely be willing to do a little more. While I didn't buy the GTI from them, I bought a Passat a few months ago, I was having a suspension issue with my GTI but given that my suspension is decently modified with coils, sways, links, etc. the person at the dealer previously said that any warranty would pretty much be instantly denied. I took it back for the same issue after I bought the Passat and like magic, it was fixed. I don't fault them for the way they dealt with it at all, and was very pleased with overall outcome.

If a trade in is important that makes local dealer even more appealing. If you do the CarMax thing, you immediately lose the tax incentive because it is not the same dealer and that is a good chunk of money for most cars.

 

[Shane_Anigans]

$3500 off a '17 or '18?

Either way it's not enough IMO. I know it varies by region, but I bought my '17 a year ago and got a lot more than that off sticker.

Currently $3,500 on 2017, which means your starting point for negotiations should be $3500 below invoice. I ended up close to $6k below MSRP and the dealer hasn't closed down in the 2 weeks since, so I think they still made a reasonable profit.

 

[Ck256]

Thanks for all the great information. Looks like my local dealer is getting a sport shipped in for me. At least that’s the story!!!

 

[wantone]

Currently $3,500 on 2017, which means your starting point for negotiations should be $3500 below invoice. I ended up close to $6k below MSRP and the dealer hasn't closed down in the 2 weeks since, so I think they still made a reasonable profit.

Is the current $3500 the lowest it's been during the year? I haven't paid to GTI pricing in a while, but just priced out a 2017 SE on USAA TrueCar and it was exact same price as 6 months ago give or take $100.

 

[offrz]

My dealer is currently pricing a gti se lower than what usaa car buying service priced it at so deals are getting better