GOLFMK8
GOLFMK7
GOLFMK6
GOLFMKV

Partner Program? Flat $500 or much more?

Shane_Anigans

Drag Race Newbie
Location
SE MI
Car(s)
2017 GTI Sport DSG
FYI one dealer told me that you have to have been a member of SCCA for at least 30 days, which was confirmed with an email to VWPartnerProgram.

Luckily (for me) not all dealers seem to know about this.


That makes sense; if you're eligible through work, there's generally a waiting period before any benefits kick in. My brother got his after being a member for less than a week, so I guess his dealer didn't know the rules either.
 

nygiants242

New member
Location
US
Dealer is claiming price is already well-below invoice, hence will just take $500 off the lowest offered price.

I guess that means the dealer-offered discount (non-VW incentives) is greater than the difference between normal MSRP and Invoice Price?
 

Shane_Anigans

Drag Race Newbie
Location
SE MI
Car(s)
2017 GTI Sport DSG
Dealer is claiming price is already well-below invoice, hence will just take $500 off the lowest offered price.

I guess that means the dealer-offered discount (non-VW incentives) is greater than the difference between normal MSRP and Invoice Price?


It's possible. Either that or they're bait-and-switching you by including a bunch of conditional incentive programs that not everyone will qualify for. Most likely they've already included some/all of the dealer cash, and possibly the additional cash that goes with the Dealer Choice 2 APR. Easiest way to find out is to log on to the VWPP website, build your vehicle, and see what the PP price is. If they're already lower than that and they aren't stacking the college, military, foreign dignitary, and whatever other cash they can think of, then you can take an additional $500 off their price using PP.

If their lower-than-invoice price is legit, they shouldn't have any issues with it. They may have already hit their sales targets (or are banking on reaching them) and are including some of their volume bonus or other stair-step cash as well. When I bought mine, the extra $1000 off I needed to make the deal happen locally came from their marketing allowance, or so they claimed. At that point I was already $5000 under invoice, but like my realtor friend always said: if you don't ask, you don't get.
 

David51

New member
Location
West Chester, PA
I'm buying a Golf Alltrack SE (6MT).
Sticker price is $31,145.
KBB suggests that the invoice price is $29,165.

Dealer is selling it to me for $25,282 before the $500 SCCA discount (so $24,782). They are making up for it a bit with a fairly hefty doc fee ($699) but overall I feel I am getting a fair deal. Car is in transit but supposed to arrive soon.

I do have to take VW financing (not the 0.9% deal) and don't yet know the rate, but if it's too high I will just refinance. My credit union is offering 1.74% refi car loans (36 month).
 

Shane_Anigans

Drag Race Newbie
Location
SE MI
Car(s)
2017 GTI Sport DSG
I'm buying a Golf Alltrack SE (6MT).
Sticker price is $31,145.
KBB suggests that the invoice price is $29,165.

Dealer is selling it to me for $25,282 before the $500 SCCA discount (so $24,782). They are making up for it a bit with a fairly hefty doc fee ($699) but overall I feel I am getting a fair deal. Car is in transit but supposed to arrive soon.

I do have to take VW financing (not the 0.9% deal) and don't yet know the rate, but if it's too high I will just refinance. My credit union is offering 1.74% refi car loans (36 month).


You don't. I'll bet you anything that they've priced it that far below invoice by using all the available dealer cash, and dealer cash works with VCI standard APR, 3rd-party financing, a duffel bag filled with cash, etc, just not with their lowered APR programs (Special APR or Dealer Choice) or special lease rates. With the car already in transit, tell them you want that price, but you want to finance through your credit unions, whose rates are almost certainly lower than VCI Std. If the dealer's finance office has an arrangement with your CU (they probably do), tell them you'll let them submit the loan application and collect their fee (which costs you nothing), rather than applying for the loan yourself.


EDIT: There is no way that price is contingent on using VCI Std rates. I just looked this up for someone else a few days ago; the current cash incentives on Alltrack are $3000 dealer cash plus $1000 Summer Sell-down bonus cash. Add those two numbers up and then compare that figure to the difference between the dealer invoice price and what you were quoted, and you can't help but notice the similarity. VW Dealer cash incentives can be used with 3rd-party (ie bank/CU) financing, and they know it. Get on the VWPP website, find out what the partner price is, and then subtract the $4000. If that number is lower than what they've quoted, that's what you should pay, and you can finance it through whoever you'd like.
 
Last edited:

David51

New member
Location
West Chester, PA
You don't. I'll bet you anything that they've priced it that far below invoice by using all the available dealer cash, and dealer cash works with VCI standard APR, 3rd-party financing, a duffel bag filled with cash, etc, just not with their lowered APR programs (Special APR or Dealer Choice) or special lease rates. With the car already in transit, tell them you want that price, but you want to finance through your credit unions, whose rates are almost certainly lower than VCI Std. If the dealer's finance office has an arrangement with your CU (they probably do), tell them you'll let them submit the loan application and collect their fee (which costs you nothing), rather than applying for the loan yourself.


EDIT: There is no way that price is contingent on using VCI Std rates. I just looked this up for someone else a few days ago; the current cash incentives on Alltrack are $3000 dealer cash plus $1000 Summer Sell-down bonus cash. Add those two numbers up and then compare that figure to the difference between the dealer invoice price and what you were quoted, and you can't help but notice the similarity. VW Dealer cash incentives can be used with 3rd-party (ie bank/CU) financing, and they know it. Get on the VWPP website, find out what the partner price is, and then subtract the $4000. If that number is lower than what they've quoted, that's what you should pay, and you can finance it through whoever you'd like.

Thanks for the note (and message). I am scheduled to pick the car up Sunday afternoon. Have put a deposit down and submitted the financing app, but have no real commitments in writing, so if the deal turns up any "gotchas" I am prepared to walk.

I'm not overly concerned about the financing or rate (as long as it's in the ballpark) because it's easy to refi. I will just read the fine print to make sure they aren't trying to sneak in any prepayment penalty (have never seen that in any loan, to be honest, except for one commercial mortgage).

Will post what happened after this weekend.
 

Shane_Anigans

Drag Race Newbie
Location
SE MI
Car(s)
2017 GTI Sport DSG
I'm not overly concerned about the financing or rate (as long as it's in the ballpark) because it's easy to refi..


The ballpark in this case is probably going to be 2-3%. Refi may be easy, but why subject yourself to the hassle? All they're trying to do is get a bigger kickback/bonus from VCI for financing you at standard, which qualifies in my book as a sketchy behaviour.
 
Top