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Flying for low price new from dealer? (especially VA/MD)

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chilly1

New member
Location
CT
Looking for a 2018 bare bones S. I can get Partner Pricing, plus $2k worth of incentives (as of 8/7/18). That puts me at $23,750 without haggling, which is not my specialty. No dealers on Cargurus within 100 miles of me beat that price on the site at least.

If I expand my search to include a 350 mile fly out / drive back to Virginia or Maryland, there are a number of dealers listing same car for about $20k. That's a $3500 difference for a cheap one way plane ticket. Even if the shady doc type fees are a few hundred more than where I'm at.

Would you do it? Anyone done it - especially with one of those VA/MD dealers (ie. are they shady... Sheehy - Springfield, VA; King - Gathersburg, MD; Fairfax - Fairfax, VA)
 
GTI Jake

GTI Jake

Autocross Champion
Location
Charlotte, NC
chilly said:
Looking for a 2018 bare bones S. I can get Partner Pricing, plus $2k worth of incentives (as of 8/7/18). That puts me at $23,750 without haggling, which is not my specialty. No dealers on Cargurus within 100 miles of me beat that price on the site at least.

If I expand my search to include a 350 mile fly out / drive back to Virginia or Maryland, there are a number of dealers listing same car for about $20k. That's a $3500 difference for a cheap one way plane ticket. Even if the shady doc type fees are a few hundred more than where I'm at.

Would you do it? Anyone done it - especially with one of those VA/MD dealers (ie. are they shady... Sheehy - Springfield, VA; King - Gathersburg, MD; Fairfax - Fairfax, VA)
Click to expand...

I’ve flown to dc for a mk4 Tdi. Call ahead and work out the deal, ask them to pick you up at the airport, and pocket the savings
 
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adam1991

Banned
Location
USA
You might toss some money at a Costco membership first, see what comes of that. It's cheaper and easier than flying.

In Dec 2017, the Costco price for a new Autobahn/DSG was $900 under invoice plus all incentives (something like $4500 at the time).

In my area, though, right now the only cash on the hood is $1000 to customer.
 
vj123

vj123

Autocross Newbie
Location
The Detroit
Car(s)
19 & 16 GTI - sold
Yes many people have bought from DC area dealers but you got to do some homework before flying out.

Most of those dealers include all applicable incentives in their online price, so the listed online price is not the true final price before TTL. Also they add several costs back from the window sticker (destination fee, options). This has been discussed in several threads and you should be able to find plenty of info in this section.
 
cb1111

cb1111

Newbie
Location
Virginia, USA
vj123 said:
Yes many people have bought from DC area dealers but you got to do some homework before flying out.

Most of those dealers include all applicable incentives in their online price, so the listed online price is not the true final price before TTL. Also they add several costs back from the window sticker (destination fee, options). This has been discussed in several threads and you should be able to find plenty of info in this section.
Click to expand...

I think it is pretty well settled that you can get a decent deal in the DC metro area, but none of the dealers advertise pricing even close to what is possible.
 
CaptainRatty

CaptainRatty

Autocross Champion
Location
Winston-Salem, NC
Car(s)
MK7 GTI
I drove up to DC and drove back my happy ass back to NC with a couple grand in savings vs what my local dealers would do. Some dealers up there try to charge an out of state fee because they know you're not going back for service. Avoid those.
 
carchrism5

carchrism5

Go Kart Champion
Location
CT
Car(s)
GTI
I did the same thing as you are proposing, drove to VA from CT to get a car. But then I found out how to duplicate that in CT. Did it three times since then with different cars. I'll send you a PM. No need to drive that far now.
 
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nyuofa1

New member
Location
AZ
I would do it, if the cost savings is substantial, and worth it to you. When I bought my current vehicle, I flew out to a neighboring state, and drove it back 8.5 hours. All the dealers in my state were marking up these vehicles by a minimum of $5k, so it was an easy decision for me. The wife thought it was a stupid idea. Women.... :D
 
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chilly1

New member
Location
CT
adam1991 said:
You might toss some money at a Costco membership first, see what comes of that. It's cheaper and easier than flying.

In Dec 2017, the Costco price for a new Autobahn/DSG was $900 under invoice plus all incentives (something like $4500 at the time).

In my area, though, right now the only cash on the hood is $1000 to customer.
Click to expand...

I'm actually a member already. I suppose it's worth checking, but it seemed just another lead generating scam for dealers to me. The partner program is already $1558 under invoice for a S, so I'm doubting Costco is lower... but I hadn't thought of it, so worth checking.
 
oddspyke

oddspyke

Autocross Champion
Location
Delaware
Car(s)
2016 GTI, 2018 ZL1
It's a bit of a hike, but not as far as DC to come to my local dealer, Young VW. I've bought 3 cars from them now and every time has been totally painless and at a price equivalent to the best I could find online. Give them a call.
 
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adam1991

Banned
Location
USA
chilly said:
I'm actually a member already. I suppose it's worth checking, but it seemed just another lead generating scam for dealers to me. The partner program is already $1558 under invoice for a S, so I'm doubting Costco is lower... but I hadn't thought of it, so worth checking.
Click to expand...

I checked, and went through the process--but only after one dealer had already given me his price. And it turned out that first dealer's price was lower than the Costco price.

On top of that, the Costco dealer was traditional scammy/scummy about the whole thing (in complete contradiction to Costco's directions on how the process is supposed to work), so I was happy not to do business with them anyway. (I spoke with the Costco program people afterward; they were not amused.)
 
PRRGG1

PRRGG1

Drag Racing Champion
Location
USA
For a cheap 2017 GTI, avoid Bradley Donald Smith of Columbia, SC …...

COLUMBIA, SC 08/08/2018 (WIS) - Columbia Police are searching for a man wanted for swindling two men out of thousands of dollars last month. Bradley Donald Smith, 43, is facing a charge of obtaining goods/property under false pretenses. Smith is accused of convincing two men to transfer money to his account to purchase cars for them. After receiving the money, Smith failed to deliver the cars but kept the cash.

One victim was attempting to purchase a 2018 Honda Accord for $7,800 and the second victim a 2017 Volkswagen GTI for $5,320. [End]
 
Diggs24

Diggs24

Autocross Champion
Location
de plains! de plains!
Car(s)
2015 GTI
PRRGG1 said:
For a cheap 2017 GTI, avoid Bradley Donald Smith of Columbia, SC …...

COLUMBIA, SC 08/08/2018 (WIS) - Columbia Police are searching for a man wanted for swindling two men out of thousands of dollars last month. Bradley Donald Smith, 43, is facing a charge of obtaining goods/property under false pretenses. Smith is accused of convincing two men to transfer money to his account to purchase cars for them. After receiving the money, Smith failed to deliver the cars but kept the cash.

One victim was attempting to purchase a 2018 Honda Accord for $7,800 and the second victim a 2017 Volkswagen GTI for $5,320. [End]
Click to expand...

Or you could just avoid being an idiot. Who gives a rando $5k to buy a car for them?
 
cb1111

cb1111

Newbie
Location
Virginia, USA
adam1991 said:
I checked, and went through the process--but only after one dealer had already given me his price. And it turned out that first dealer's price was lower than the Costco price.

On top of that, the Costco dealer was traditional scammy/scummy about the whole thing (in complete contradiction to Costco's directions on how the process is supposed to work), so I was happy not to do business with them anyway. (I spoke with the Costco program people afterward; they were not amused.)
Click to expand...
How did you contact the COSTCO program? I don't seem to find a contact.

All these car buying programs are going down the tubes.

USAA used to give you a price and a list of dealers. Now they've teamed up with TrueCar and send you to a dealer for a price.

COSTCO is the same. They now give you the name of a salesman at a dealership and they give you a price.

I sent an email to the dealership to get the cOSTCO price. I also sent another email to that email asking for their price without any special incentives (military, grad, partner etc.) and paying cash.

The non-COSTCO price was a bit lower. Subtract incentives and you're looking at a significant savings over the COSTCO price.
 
cb1111

cb1111

Newbie
Location
Virginia, USA
Diggs24 said:
Or you could just avoid being an idiot. Who gives a rando $5k to buy a car for them?
Click to expand...
How can you expect to buy a 2018 Honda Accord for $7,800 or a 2017 Volkswagen GTI for $5,320?

The prospective buyers should be prosecuted as well for trying to buy stolen property.
 
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