Forecourt Price and room for movement

[VAG newbie]

Yes, at $21990 it is fully discounted. At this price, all the fat has been trimmed and there is very little room for the dealer to move. Even if you have a trade-in, the dealer can't give you much higher than what the wholesaler will offer. In my experience, with these promos, you would be lucky to get $500 off. Consider this, tue Monte Carlo was >$25000 drive away at RRP, so at $21990, that's a discount of >$3000, which for cars in this price range, is a huge discount (15%!!). I bet they can't even offer you at $21990 driveaway if you don't want a stock car.

Still, try as hard as you can, get a few hundred bucks off, and perhaps ask for some freebies that are more practical to you, eg. Free service voucher for 3 years, free extended warranty, free loan car during service/warranty repairs....etc.

[Pomie]

Thanks guys
yeah seen a few monte's on carsales in the eastern states for 20,990 drive away, but like you say thats for a stock car and the other side of the country, and my wife likes the red and they would have to get one in for that, also as i am driving a old borrowed manual at the mo and feel like i am driving aggressively when pulling away at lights ect to keep up with all other cars as they all seem to be autos and being from the uk not i am used to that, but when driving the work ute(its a auto) its just put your foot down no hassle stress free, so maybe dsg is the way to go, or maybe i am getting old..lol wow there is alot to think figure out when buying new but luckly these forums are great for opinions and suggestions
and another thing its not in bad taste to see if one dealer can better the other one is it ?

[K1W1]

and another thing its not in bad taste to see if one dealer can better the other one is it ?

Absolutely not. That is what sales is all about, the best deal wins BUT the cheapest price may not be the best deal. Compare exactly what each dealer offers before you make up your mind.
Do not lie and cheat. Be ethical (you have to sleep with yourself so ethical is your version not mine). If you would prefer to deal with one dealer rather than the other tell them. "I can get this deal at X, I would rather deal with you but you have to make it worthwhile for me. What can you do?" Then make up your mind, be prepared to buy on the spot and also be prepared to walk and go to the other dealer if your preferred choice does not come to the party.

[VAG newbie]

Absolutely not. That is what sales is all about, the best deal wins BUT the cheapest price may not be the best deal. Compare exactly what each dealer offers before you make up your mind.
Do not lie and cheat. Be ethical (you have to sleep with yourself so ethical is your version not mine). If you would prefer to deal with one dealer rather than the other tell them. "I can get this deal at X, I would rather deal with you but you have to make it worthwhile for me. What can you do?" Then make up your mind, be prepared to buy on the spot and also be prepared to walk and go to the other dealer if your preferred choice does not come to the party.

Couldn't have agree more. Remember, before you sign the contract, you have the upper hand. The dealer can't point a gun at you to force you to sign the contract. You are the one parting a large amount of money, not them.

The problem has always been, the dealer, a particular sales consultant, will always (except maybe VW dealers....) act as he/she is your best friend. This is what they do. In a matter of 5 minutes, they'll try to gain your trust and make you feel sorry if you don't buy it from them. Remember, never fall for that. They are trained to do it and they will never be your best friend. Stick to what you want but be reasonable. Never be afraid to compare prices and ask for extras.

The other common trick they do is "if I can get this deal for you, will you pay the deposit today?". They then say they need to discuss with their sales manager, but actually they go into the tea room and have a nice cuppa, leaving you with the brand new car with that nice smell, to create the bonding between you and the car, at the same time wear you out. They will then come back after 30-40 min with a figure that is about $1000 more than your asking price. By then you would have fall in love with the car, and would have felt really tired and just want to get it over and done with, very easy you will soften on your ground, and be happy to meet somewhere in between.

Don't be afraid to walk out!

Also, try to leave wife out of the negotiating process. My wife is only good at saving $1-2 by grabbing the weekly specials in Woolies, and saving more than $100 she can't count. She knows that so she only gets involved in picking the car, but not in negotiation.

[brad]

and another thing its not in bad taste to see if one dealer can better the other one is it ?

I'd be pretty disgusted in a person if they didn't shop around at a few dealers & try & play one off against the other.

[woofy]

The other common trick they do is "if I can get this deal for you, will you pay the deposit today?". They then say they need to discuss with their sales manager, but actually they go into the tea room and have a nice cuppa, leaving you with the brand new car with that nice smell, to create the bonding between you and the car, at the same time wear you out. They will then come back after 30-40 min with a figure that is about $1000 more than your asking price. By then you would have fall in love with the car, and would have felt really tired and just want to get it over and done with, very easy you will soften on your ground, and be happy to meet somewhere in between.

Don't be afraid to walk out!

They did this and it left my wife anxious but I told her they are just discussing golf scores from the weekend. If they take too long lets start looking and acting roughly around the pristine RX-8 on the floor to throw them and make him come back out.

Did that and in no seconds flat he was out accepting the deal.

[Scarfies]

Also, try to leave wife out of the negotiating process.

Heh, not always: My wife, when the salesman was harping on to me about how many lovely options the (demo) car had, "it's not our problem if you've over- capitalized", up till that point I thought she wasn't even listening. Poor guy didn't what to say.

[Pomie]

Well today were the first test drives so back to dealer 1 and took the fabia monte carlo out for a quick spin around the block and up the freeway and my wife drove it back. i was very pleasantly surprised by the power from the little 1.2 litre and it was more than enoug for city driving and the odd bits off freeway driving we do. As I pulled out onto the freeway the salesman in the back said "you can put your foot down if you want." so within what seemed like seconds i was into fourth and merging into the freeway at 100 no problems then into 5th and cruising along with the sat morning drivers. i looked at my wife and we both grinned stupidly. this will do for us we thought, as if esp connected us ..lol
after getting back to number 1 dealers i told him straight up that I had a test drive of the dsg yeti 77tsi at another skoda dealer's down the road and i was going to compare prices and see what the best deal i could get. he asked if i wanted to test drive their dsg but i politely told them i had told the other dealer i was definitely turning up and didn't wanna stand him up and of course i wanted to see what he could do too.
we arrived at dealer no 2 and took the yeti out unaccompanied due to the dealer waiting on a late appointment. i jumped in the driver's seat and engaged the dsg into drive and W.O.W what a difference. although a tad slower in pickup than the fabia, i was in love with the gearbox and realised how much this car would make my drive to work much more stress free compared to the old manual I'm driving at the moment. i couldn't believe how smooth it was, you just put your foot down, there was no hassle, it was just superb. then i noticed a little 's' on the gearstick which i presumed was 'sports mode' or something. (I really should have learned about this box before I drove it as I think you can drive it manually as well). the 's' mode caused the car to hang onto the gears longer and giving the car a little bit of rev as it automatically changed down - which amused me no end!
we returned to the car yard and asked when the automatic fabia would be available, having been completely sold on the automatic drive. he told me could be another two months but they had been test driving them over east on a Skoda dealer day.
now this is where the dilemma begins. my wife (and I for that matter) like the fabia due to its sporty looks but would prefer it to be automatic. however, we want to buy a car now and can't stand the thought of waiting. i prefer the yeti but can't convince her to go down this path. then she spotted the VRS in the corner and i had to pull tightly on the reins to keep our budget in check. however, dealer no 2 saw her weakness and explained that a fabia monte automatic would go for about $28,000 and we'd have to wait, whereas for $32,000 we could drive away a car with double the horsepower/kw.
me being a tightarse said no straight away. so we returned to salesman no 1 to enquire about the monte with automatic and he told us they hadn't even been built yet, so it could be six months. we were then asked if they could get a red monte for $19,990, would we sign today on the spot at that price and it would take four weeks to arrive. the salesperson left us for five minutes but our desire for the automatic saw us walk away.....which I will probably regret after driving my 1996 manual suzuki for the next week!!
now i am left thinking "why couldn't I have bought one in england, kept it for a year and fetched it out here as a personal import?!" LOL
the only thing i can think of now is a VW polo with the dsg box or try and wear the missus down for the yeti. buying a house and getting married is a walk in the park compared to buying a new car!! LOL
well, you'll know when i know
rog

[VAG newbie]

Why Skoda Aus (VW Aus) didn't import the Fabia with DSG at launch is a great puzzle to all of us. The commonest answer we got was the demand world-wide is too big that Aus is just not their priority, so we've been put on waiting list longer and longer.

But, as a Skoda owner, plus many others in this forum, I can tell you it was definitely worth the wait. I waited for 6 months but I never regret for waiting a car that I love, rather than compromise on some thing. It is a big spending and you need to be happy with it.

So it really depends on how urgently you need the car. If you got your car written off and needs one immediately, then maybe you will need to compromise. But if you are just upgrading and still has the old car to drive, then you might want to consider whether the wait is worth it or not.

IMO, polo is nice but too bland! It doesn't really stand out. Also it's from S. Africa/Spain instead of Germany, reliability may be an issue, even though VW's German factory's reliability record ain't great either. Need to consider that.

[woofy]

They didn't bring the fabia here initially as our dollar compared to the pound/euro was crap at the time and they couldn't be competitive. The only reason they are here now is the euro crisis happened.