Return of the prodigal son....

[wideboybloke]

I had to leave this forum in September when I traded my A3 for an A4, although I do still dip in occasionally. I'm pleased to say that I am once again eligible to participate as my wife has just ordered an A3 cabrio, or, more accurately, we have just ordered it for my wife. She is indifferent to the forum, but as I shall be responsible for the running of her car (and will also drive it from time to time) I have a renewed interest.

The purchase of the cabrio arises from a cunning move by my service dept. They lent me an A3 cabrio a couple of years ago while my sportback was being serviced and was also under observation due to the alarm playing up. I posted about it at the time. I kept the loaner over a long weekend, which happened to be gloriously sunny and we had a couple of outings to take it to. My wife fell in love with it and we tentatively agreed that she could have one as her retirement present, since my sportback had been my own retirement present. Well, she has recently decided to retire in July and I have had to make good on the agreement.

Our dealer has found an example in the spec she wants and it's being built in a couple of weeks' time, which suggests a delivery date towards the end of July - well, that's the theory at least. I'll post some pics when she takes delivery and will look forward to renewing my acquaintance with the characters who contribute to the forum

 

[Audi Bairn]

I had to leave this forum in September when I traded my A3 for an A4, although I do still dip in occasionally. I'm pleased to say that I am once again eligible to participate as my wife has just ordered an A3 cabrio, or, more accurately, we have just ordered it for my wife. She is indifferent to the forum, but as I shall be responsible for the running of her car (and will also drive it from time to time) I have a renewed interest.

The purchase of the cabrio arises from a cunning move by my service dept. They lent me an A3 cabrio a couple of years ago while my sportback was being serviced and was also under observation due to the alarm playing up. I posted about it at the time. I kept the loaner over a long weekend, which happened to be gloriously sunny and we had a couple of outings to take it to. My wife fell in love with it and we tentatively agreed that she could have one as her retirement present, since my sportback had been my own retirement present. Well, she has recently decided to retire in July and I have had to make good on the agreement.

Our dealer has found an example in the spec she wants and it's being built in a couple of weeks' time, which suggests a delivery date towards the end of July - well, that's the theory at least. I'll post some pics when she takes delivery and will look forward to renewing my acquaintance with the characters who contribute to the forum

Nice one!
And welcome back

 

[Rob2k68]

Welcome back matey !

The general flow seems to be in the other direction at the mo LoL !!

 

[V6_Man]

I had to leave this forum in September when I traded my A3 for an A4, although I do still dip in occasionally. I'm pleased to say that I am once again eligible to participate as my wife has just ordered an A3 cabrio, or, more accurately, we have just ordered it for my wife. She is indifferent to the forum, but as I shall be responsible for the running of her car (and will also drive it from time to time) I have a renewed interest.

The purchase of the cabrio arises from a cunning move by my service dept. They lent me an A3 cabrio a couple of years ago while my sportback was being serviced and was also under observation due to the alarm playing up. I posted about it at the time. I kept the loaner over a long weekend, which happened to be gloriously sunny and we had a couple of outings to take it to. My wife fell in love with it and we tentatively agreed that she could have one as her retirement present, since my sportback had been my own retirement present. Well, she has recently decided to retire in July and I have had to make good on the agreement.

Our dealer has found an example in the spec she wants and it's being built in a couple of weeks' time, which suggests a delivery date towards the end of July - well, that's the theory at least. I'll post some pics when she takes delivery and will look forward to renewing my acquaintance with the characters who contribute to the forum

Welcome back mate.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jassyo06]

I had to leave this forum in September when I traded my A3 for an A4, although I do still dip in occasionally. I'm pleased to say that I am once again eligible to participate as my wife has just ordered an A3 cabrio, or, more accurately, we have just ordered it for my wife. She is indifferent to the forum, but as I shall be responsible for the running of her car (and will also drive it from time to time) I have a renewed interest.

The purchase of the cabrio arises from a cunning move by my service dept. They lent me an A3 cabrio a couple of years ago while my sportback was being serviced and was also under observation due to the alarm playing up. I posted about it at the time. I kept the loaner over a long weekend, which happened to be gloriously sunny and we had a couple of outings to take it to. My wife fell in love with it and we tentatively agreed that she could have one as her retirement present, since my sportback had been my own retirement present. Well, she has recently decided to retire in July and I have had to make good on the agreement.

Our dealer has found an example in the spec she wants and it's being built in a couple of weeks' time, which suggests a delivery date towards the end of July - well, that's the theory at least. I'll post some pics when she takes delivery and will look forward to renewing my acquaintance with the characters who contribute to the forum

A wee Sexy Cabriolet....saucy ....l like the cut of yer Jib...mate....prey tell what colour is it going to be covered in....and also colour of roof l am quite found of the grey covered roof

Welcome Back

 

[Sandra]

Welcome back, look forward to seeing the new Cab.

 

[wideboybloke]

Remember this is wife's choice. It's glacier white. She would have been happy with ibis but the only one in the pipeline in her required spec happened to be in glacier. Her last 4 cars have been white, so there's a bit of a fixation. Hood is black, but she wasn't fussed about grey or red.

Also it's a 1.5 tfsi s-tronic s-line. Reasons are that she won't be doing a great annual mileage, she's very taken with the s-tronic in my A4 and the s-line has all the toys she wants, apart from folding mirrors, which the vehicle the dealer sourced has them added.

So now to argue with the dealer about price. They're not offering a very generous discount for cash, but if we do it on PCP, the discount amounts to 10% and my plan would be to just pay it off soon after delivery. Any tips on that, by the way, as I've never done finance before and I want to get the best deal? I shall be discussing finance with the dealer next week and at the moment I don't know how to compare the overall cost of PCP with a straight cash purchase.

 

[Jassyo06]

Remember this is wife's choice. It's glacier white. She would have been happy with ibis but the only one in the pipeline in her required spec happened to be in glacier. Her last 4 cars have been white, so there's a bit of a fixation. Hood is black, but she wasn't fussed about grey or red.

Also it's a 1.5 tfsi s-tronic s-line. Reasons are that she won't be doing a great annual mileage, she's very taken with the s-tronic in my A4 and the s-line has all the toys she wants, apart from folding mirrors, which the vehicle the dealer sourced has them added.

So now to argue with the dealer about price. They're not offering a very generous discount for cash, but if we do it on PCP, the discount amounts to 10% and my plan would be to just pay it off soon after delivery. Any tips on that, by the way, as I've never done finance before and I want to get the best deal? I shall be discussing finance with the dealer next week and at the moment I don't know how to compare the overall cost of PCP with a straight cash purchase.

Take the Audi finance contribution on the finance.....then 6 weeks later pay the pcp off in full,plus 10% on a cabriolet is kinda low as the finance contribution is 10% off,so the dealer is not really giving you any money off the car itself

 

[wideboybloke]

Thanks, Jassy. The on the road price is £33,705 and the finance contributions are £1900 from Audi and £1500 from the dealer, making a discount of 10%. Are you saying we should press the dealer to do better? We did of course get the usual sob story from the finance guy at the dealer about how little they make on each car blah blah blah, but with finance I have no idea how far we can push them. I've always paid cash in the past and feel much more confident bargaining with actual pound notes. I presume the dealer will say that their contribution can't be increased, but is that true? That's the only variable I can see in the numbers so far.

 

[Scottyg]

Welcome back mate. Try Carwow to see what they come back with. May give you some more wiggle room.

 

[wideboybloke]

Oh I've got the carwow quotes and I've tried them on my local dealer in previous purchases. It tends to sour the negotiations and I would rather buy from my local dealership if I'm honest. The situation is rather delicate in that the local dealership has reserved the car we want for July delivery whereas none of the carwow dealers can get the spec we want before September. On the other hand, three of the carwow offers are giving a 14.4% discount with PCP whereas my local dealer is only offering 10% with PCP. They are all quoting an APR of 6.2% with an Audi contribution of £1900, so I know that's genuine. It would seem therefore that the only lever I've got is on the dealer contribution. In the light of the sob story we got this afternoon, is it likely that they will budge on that?

 

[Scottyg]

Don't ask you don't get!

 

[wideboybloke]

I'm due to discuss finance next week when the sales guy returns from holiday. Meanwhile, I've submitted a quote request to Orangewheels to give myself a bit more ammunition and a similar request to another dealership group in the hope that they may have access to a different pool of cars.

Thanks for your moral support.

 

[msdmjb]

Work out the total cost for all of your finance options.
If the July car will cost more than a September car then only you can decide if the wait is worth the saving. If it was only a few hundred quid I would get the July car.

 

[TDI-line]

Car file are very helpful too.

http://www.carfile.net/business/audi-a3-15_tfsi_s_line_2dr_s_tronic-car-purchase-79742

And discount options i think too.

 

[wideboybloke]

Update. Got a quote for an almost identical spec car from a dealer within another group. Considerable saving over the initial offer from my dealer. So my sales guy returns from holiday yesterday and phones me to ask if I'm ready to proceed or do I want to discuss finance further or... Reiterates the terms of the not very generous offer he outlined when we did the test drive

I tell him about the other offer I've obtained. Silence. He then asks if I can call in this week. Tomorrow morning? (that is, today). So I went to see him this morning and the upshot is that with the smoke and mirrors of finance calculations I've got a 14% discount. My plan will be to pay off the finance within 14 days, so I'm delighted with the result.

Delivery is forecast for mid to end of July. Wife retires on 25th, so fingers crossed on that. I'll upload photos (of the car) when we've got it home.

 

[TDI-line]

Smoke and mirrors, brilliant.

It's amazing what a good push can do, and with a cavalier do or do not attitude can accomplish.

Nice result.