Thinking of ordering an Audi S4... Dealer discounts?

[Phill_]

Hi guys, thinking of upgrading the Q3 to an S4 Saloon:

• Sepang Blue
• Black Edition [Nav]
• Advanced Key
• Audi drive select
• Audi hill-hold assist
• Audi Parking System Advanced
• Damper control
• Door mirrors – electrically folding and auto dimming
• Dynamic steering
• Heated front seats
• Storage package
• Super Sports seats

ROTR Price: £45,830.00​

Was just wondering, if you've ordered recently, what sort of discount you've managed to get?

Also, have I missed anything in my spec?

 

[desertstorm]

Depends what you are going to do with the car but the sports diff would be on my list if I was buying an S4, Or looking for one.

 

[jdp1962]

I'm waiting on d livery of an S4 saloon ordered in March. The dealer is putting in a £5,000 deposit contribution, plus it's taken about £830-odd more off the price to make sure the PCP meets my budget. All in all, that works out at around 13% discount.

 

[scotty76]

I got the base price for my car from Carwow and then emailed the local dealers. One got close enough that I took the deal.

 

[ub7rm]

As above - took the lowest broker price to my dealer and they near enough matched it. Approx 18% discount last summer.

 

[scotty76]

Oh and as Karl says I'd be adding sports diff. It's one of the USPs of the S4/S5.

 

[StuBill]

18% off ROTR price when I ordered in the last few days of 2014.
I used Drive the Deal as a price match for the dealer, who got withing 200 quid of it.

 

[silentbrown]

As above, use carfile.net and other brokers as a benchmark, and carwow to get best quotes from actual dealers.

The £5000 finance contribution is split 50/50 between audi finance and the dealer. The best prices are typically around 13% discount from the dealer - and then you can get the "audi finance" contribution of £2500 on top. On my Feb order (placed directly with a dealer) this worked out at about 18% discount on the ROTR price

You should expect any discount to apply to all options. but not road tax/delivery

If you're not doing finance then you miss out on the extra £2500 discount - so I'm taking finance but will pay off in full after 6 months.

 

[scotty76]

If you're not doing finance then you miss out on the extra £2500 discount - so I'm taking finance but will pay off in full after 6 months.

You do know you can settle in full during the 14 day cooling off period and keep the deposit contribution? If you Google you'll see lots of discussion about this but it was confirmed to a colleague by the local VW dealer after he asked them to match the cash price. This is what they told him to do!

 

[silentbrown]

You do know you can settle in full during the 14 day cooling off period and keep the deposit contribution? If you Google you'll see lots of discussion about this but it was confirmed to a colleague by the local VW dealer after he asked them to match the cash price. This is what they told him to do!

That's actually cancelling the finance, rather than settling in full, but yes, I know about that, and I'm keeping the option open
I'd want to see the finance agreement small print before doing that, and there's rumours it can impact negatively on a credit score.

Typically the dealer only gets their commission if the finance runs for 6 months. I feel I've got a great deal already, so stiffing them on the commission seems unnecessary!

 

[Keef]

Another vote for Carwow, spend them your spec then beat up the local dealers until they match or better it (even when they say they cant match it). Same for me this time last year got about 18% off and the finance contribution.
Also tried Drive the Deal & Orange wheels but they werent even close to Carwow.

 

[alxce]

16% off the base + options plus 5k finance/dealer contribution at end of April. I am another one who went the Carwow route.

 

[ERBY]

As with most replies - took my 'Orangewheels' quote to my dealer & they simply matched. I got a little less discount as I didn't qualify for their 'cash contribution' at the time as didn't do their PCP but sourced my own finance.

+1 Sports Diff....It's a must for reducing Quattro understeer!

Good luck & enjoy the journey....

 

[Bristle Hound]

I went down the Carwow, Carfile, Orangewheels & Drive the Deal to get the best price. If I recall at the time it was Carwow that I got the best price with, but this can change so do you homework with the online brokers

Then went into my local Audi Dealer who got within £300 of my best deal

Signed up there and then as I was able to hijack a Dealer spec S4 already allocated a provisional BW

 

[opelfruit]

Crikey, wish I'd known about some of these deals when I got mine. Approved used but would have been 50k new, I would have been able to get a new one now for not much more than I paid for mine used......ouch!

That being said, I paid cash and the deals seem to require finance, which I didn't want....even so....gutted.

I personally wouldn't bother with the sports diff. I don't have it but do have adjustable dampers, been caught out going into bends a little quicker than expected and a moment of brown to user swiftly followed by the amazement and relief as the car just went round the bend with no issue...traction control not even kicking in. Unless your really on the limit (which would be plain stupid) you really don't need the diff.

Make sure it's got the HDD jukebox nav thing as it really makes the car more enjoyable....and heated seats.

 

[StuBill]

That's actually cancelling the finance, rather than settling in full, but yes, I know about that, and I'm keeping the option open
I'd want to see the finance agreement small print before doing that, and there's rumours it can impact negatively on a credit score.

Typically the dealer only gets their commission if the finance runs for 6 months. I feel I've got a great deal already, so stiffing them on the commission seems unnecessary!

I can confirm that it is perfectly OK to withdraw from (and settle) the finance agreement within 14days. It's your legal right, and you can not be penalised for doing so.
All you get is a letter from Audi (aka VW) finance thanking you, and confirming that they have no further interest in the vehicle
Paying off loans/finance agreements early (ie. after the 14 day period) can sometimes have a negative effect on credit ratings though, as they prefer people who let them run the course.....for
obvious reasons.

 

[silentbrown]

I can confirm that it is perfectly OK to withdraw from (and settle) the finance agreement within 14days. It's your legal right, and you can not be penalised for doing so.

+1 on that. But it's what happens to the deposit contribution if you do that: If you withdraw from the finance agreement before it starts, could they claw that back?

 

[StuBill]

+1 on that. But it's what happens to the deposit contribution if you do that: If you withdraw from the finance agreement before it starts, could they claw that back?

No they can't.
Not on my wife's Tiguan, and not on my S4

 

[Dippy]

I'm another who went through carwow on a nearly fully loaded S5 and ended up with 18% discount. That included £2K for taking finance but I withdrew within 14 days. I ordered at the end of the quarter and end of year 2014 so thought I might get a better discount but it seems not. Nevertheless I think 18% is good and certainly seems to be the highest (I haven't heard of anyone getting more).

I am not convinced, as silentbrown suggested, that there is a uniform discount on the options too. When I went through my order breakdown there were variations. Also as I was waiting for my car I was in contact with someone else who was ordering an S5 via carwow but he was changing his mind on the options. From our discussions we could see that there were differences in the pricing of options. I managed to get one of my options FOC by negotiating,

As others have noticed carwow and the others can be used as a starting point for negotiating with dealers. But it may depend on which dealers you use. I contacted two of my local dealers and they truly could not believe (and could not come even close to) the discount I had.

Apparently about 80% of all new cars bought in the UK are on finance. IIRC my salesman thought it was a bit lower at Audi, but nevertheless that's huge and so the relatively few of us who take the finance discount and withdraw within 14 days have a negligible effect on VAG.

Final point on the sports diff: If you didn't notice it on your test drive(s) then maybe you don't need it. To me its effect is as obvious as the adjustable dampers, and it is not necessary to be driving like a lunatic - driving hard around roundabouts is enough (and enough to make a Nissan GTR lose traction). My only dislike about sports diff is that Audi seemed to have placed the motor and solenoid in the most vulnerable place underneath the diff and not bothered to provide any shielding. I have read 2 comments on web forums of owners having a sports diff error on their DIS and discovering that it is because the solenoid had got damaged. One of those admitted that his car was lowered, something that I won't do to my S5 after living with a lowered B5 for 12 years, but nevertheless I fear for the time that I'm unlucky and a piece of road debris or vicious speed-bump hits that part of the diff.

 

[Phill_]

Thanks for the replies, Carwow currently has a best offer of:

Total RRP: £45,825
£36,397
£9,428 off
20.6% saving

I don't think i'll find the differential useful or worth it.

 

[silentbrown]

Thanks for the replies, Carwow currently has a best offer of:...

Sheesh. that's a great deal. Now I'm the one wishing I'd haggled harder!

 

[Dippy]

**** me! If I knew the discounts were going to increase I would have waited!

Phil, double check the figures. When I did my carwow quote there were 3 errors which I needed to clear up before placing my order. The worst one was that the metallic paint came out as £0. At the time I thought this was simply an extra sweetener or way for the dealer to 'hide' discount to seal the deal. But it wasn't and when I got the order from the dealer the price jumped up by £600 ish, and the dealer told me that it was an error in the carwow system. I hope yours is accurate, but until you have signed the dealer's order form you should treat it as an estimate, not a quote.

 

[Bristle Hound]

Thanks for the replies, Carwow currently has a best offer of:

Total RRP: £45,825
£36,397
£9,428 off
20.6% saving

I don't think i'll find the differential useful or worth it.

Sounds good Phil

Now get down to your local Audi dealer with those figures and see what they can do

PS Just checked my emails & I got a 20.1% discount on my spec S4 saloon with carwow

 

[TheFiftheElement]

+another on the sports diff

I got another £2700 off on top of the £5k Audi/dealer discount on my car.

Calculated it's @18% discount.

 

[Phill_]

offer of:
Total RRP: £45,825
£36,397
£9,428 off
20.6% saving

I've just emailed my local dealer with that offer and also asked them to take a another £1,397 off to make it an even £35k (inc contribution) and i'll come down and sign the paperwork tomorrow... Lets see what they say back No harm in trying

 

[mister.c.]

So who flinched first in the £35k card game?!

 

[Phill_]

So who flinched first in the £35k card game?!

The local dealer said they couldn't even match the £36.5 quote and told me to enjoy my purchase with the other dealer. The dealer that gave me the £36.5 quote won't even answer my emails now. And to top it all off another dealer told me Audi are no longer taking orders for the A4 platform since 15th May

I think I'm going to have to give up the dream of ordering an S4

 

[Duggy72]

Best bet is to email a number of dealers with the spec you are looking for.

They may have a new unregistered model in stock.

I went in to a dealer not with the intention to buy but to see if the A4 platform suited my needs i.e. size.

I then started talking about ordering a car. My choices were to have sports diff, dynamic steering, damper control and forgo the luxuries.

Turns out they had a total opposite car which had pan roof, advanced key, comfort pack, tel prep high, supersport seats and technology pack.

They did a deal on that car because they wanted it shifted. Do i miss the other things? Come to think of it no, I am very happy with my spec. Yes a sports diff would have been a nice to have but for my style of driving I think I'm ok without it.

Damper control and steering? To be honest I used to have an A6 allroad. 99% of the time the suspension was in auto.

Contact some dealers, you may be lucky.

 

[TheFiftheElement]

The local dealer said they couldn't even match the £36.5 quote and told me to enjoy my purchase with the other dealer. The dealer that gave me the £36.5 quote won't even answer my emails now. And to top it all off another dealer told me Audi are no longer taking orders for the A4 platform since 15th May

I think I'm going to have to give up the dream of ordering an S4

Now that's worrying, I have the finance approved for my S4, an order code AW77LDK6, but no confirmation of build week. I'm hoping that it's all OK and I don't get a phone call from the dealer to tell me they can't place the order.

I guess that would either force me into keeping my current car, the dealer trying to find a model in stock that's close to my spec, or having a total rethink.

Not sure what route I'd go down, RS3 (too similar to S3), V8 Mustang (waiting list and no idea of finance), Evora S (wildcard) .. have my heart set on an S4, classy, a bit under the radar, punchy and very tuneable ..

 

[Duggy72]

Now that's worrying, I have the finance approved for my S4, an order code AW77LDK6, but no confirmation of build week. I'm hoping that it's all OK and I don't get a phone call from the dealer to tell me they can't place the order.

I guess that would either force me into keeping my current car, the dealer trying to find a model in stock that's close to my spec, or having a total rethink.

Not sure what route I'd go down, RS3 (too similar to S3), V8 Mustang (waiting list and no idea of finance), Evora S (wildcard) .. have my heart set on an S4, classy, a bit under the radar, punchy and very tuneable ..

If you are lucky and can hang out for an S4 then do so, you will not be disappointed.

I always dismissed the S cars thinking they were a poor alternative to the RS models. It was the Chris Harris video that made me look at them in a different light.

As a daily driver the B8 S4 may not be the ultimate, fastest car on the road but it has a good balance of performance, economy and a bit more under the radar which could be a benefit (it is to me) as it does not attract as much attention.

 

[TheFiftheElement]

Emailed the dealer, my current build week is 38 .. feels like a lifetime away but at least I know it's still mine, all mine mwahahaha

 

[jdp1962]

Emailed the dealer, my current build week is 38 .. feels like a lifetime away but at least I know it's still mine, all mine mwahahaha

I figured that would be the case, if you had placed the order.

 

[Dippy]

Another option is an S5, as I assume that will still be in production for a while. However I agree with Duggy, although maybe go to the extra effort of phoning dealers rather than just e-mail. You probably only need to cover one dealer in each group (e.g. Sytner, Jardine, and the others whose names I don't know) as the salesman can check with other dealers. I also understand that groups get certain build allocations from Audi, so just because one group can't order an S4 (maybe having filled its allocation with A4s), doesn't mean that this is true for all groups.

 

[Phill_]

Yup, I tweeted Audi UK this afternoon and they said each Audi Centre will have a quota, so the search continues!

 

[Chiefbadger]

The local dealer said they couldn't even match the £36.5 quote and told me to enjoy my purchase with the other dealer. The dealer that gave me the £36.5 quote won't even answer my emails now. And to top it all off another dealer told me Audi are no longer taking orders for the A4 platform since 15th May

I think I'm going to have to give up the dream of ordering an S4

This is worrying! I ordered mine on the 24th April, but the dealer still hasn't given me any update other than 'it's in the system' with no build week etc.

Sales guy is on holiday this week so will have to find out what the deal is on Monday.