Do Audi dealers assume the general public are a bit dim?
Discussion
I went into my local Audi dealers before Christmas as I'd spotted an A3 advertised through audi.co.uk, I explained which vehicle I wanted to see, which seemed to cause quite a lot of confusion. After twenty minutes or so it was established that the car in question had been moved and sold through another branch, not sure why it's still on the internet etc etc.
They'd got off to a bad start but made up for it by giving me a decent test drive in an A3 of a similar spec, they then came up with a few vehicles within the group that were £1000 to £1500 more than my original budget, with the suggestion that 'seen as it was Christmas' they'd be willing to do a deal. I narrowed it down to one vehicle whilst I was there which was awaiting photos and left it that they'd get in touch in the new year when the details had come through.
Anyway the pictures finally surfaced this week and were emailed to me as promised, but the price of the vehicle had also increased fairly substantially from the original listing. I replied saying I'd be interested as long as the condition of the vehicle was as described and a deal could be done to bring the price close to my original budget. I got a phonecall this afternoon and was offered a 'best possible deal' of the price stated in the original listing before the price increase. I pointed this out and was offered no explanation, I thanked them for wasting my time and left it at that.
In the meantime I'd been looking at another A3 at another dealers and was offered another 'best possible deal' of £500 less than the screen and audi.co.uk price. When I pointed out that the same dealers had advertised the same car as a classified ad on other none-audi websites for £1500 less the salesman looked a bit sheepish and adjusted his 'best possible offer'. I left it out of principal.
I know sales teams having issues with the truth is nothing new, but I don't feel I'm being unreasonable and I hardly think the current climate is the right time to be messing about with false price increases and smoke and mirrors. After experiencing two of the dealerships it's put me right off the brand. I was pretty set on the A3 but after that farce I'm hoping I'll be better off elsewhere.
They'd got off to a bad start but made up for it by giving me a decent test drive in an A3 of a similar spec, they then came up with a few vehicles within the group that were £1000 to £1500 more than my original budget, with the suggestion that 'seen as it was Christmas' they'd be willing to do a deal. I narrowed it down to one vehicle whilst I was there which was awaiting photos and left it that they'd get in touch in the new year when the details had come through.
Anyway the pictures finally surfaced this week and were emailed to me as promised, but the price of the vehicle had also increased fairly substantially from the original listing. I replied saying I'd be interested as long as the condition of the vehicle was as described and a deal could be done to bring the price close to my original budget. I got a phonecall this afternoon and was offered a 'best possible deal' of the price stated in the original listing before the price increase. I pointed this out and was offered no explanation, I thanked them for wasting my time and left it at that.
In the meantime I'd been looking at another A3 at another dealers and was offered another 'best possible deal' of £500 less than the screen and audi.co.uk price. When I pointed out that the same dealers had advertised the same car as a classified ad on other none-audi websites for £1500 less the salesman looked a bit sheepish and adjusted his 'best possible offer'. I left it out of principal.
I know sales teams having issues with the truth is nothing new, but I don't feel I'm being unreasonable and I hardly think the current climate is the right time to be messing about with false price increases and smoke and mirrors. After experiencing two of the dealerships it's put me right off the brand. I was pretty set on the A3 but after that farce I'm hoping I'll be better off elsewhere.
Good point, maybe they're onto something!
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