Yesterday over my lunch I went by Obrien Automotive to talk to them about the TDI. Tom (the guy that brought me on the testdrive) had actually called me and wanted to get me in and to talk to me. I figured it wasn’t a big deal, and I wanted to wheel and deal with him anyways after the original quote was given to me. I left work around 11:30 and drove home to get the paperwork that they had printed out for me on the original deal. I then get to the dealer only to find Tom busy with another customer. No big deal, how long could it take, right? Well, and hour later, he’s still with the other customer. He finally comes back and says he’s going to pass me on to another guy (Julian) to help me with this. I walk over to the other building to talk to Julian. When I get there he asks me what I want. I tell him that I want to get the price down off sticker price. He pretty much flat out tells me that it’s not going to happen. He then says, he may be able to work with my trade-in however. He drives it around and ups the trade-in value $500.
The reason that he won’t budge on the sticker price is because he doesn’t have anything comparable on the lot to trade with another dealer, so he’s going to have to get it from someplace else, and pay to have it delivered, etc. So, naturally, I ask him, “Well, with that sort of thinking, wouldn’t it just be cheaper for me to go someplace else that has what I’m looking for, or something comparable to trade?” Of course, I get some bs answer about how, no, it wouldn’t end up being cheaper. I tell him I’ll think about it, and come back to the office.
Now the great thing about the internet, is that many dealers have their stock online. Makes it easy for me to find who’s got what. So, I went to the VW Website, did a search for dealers within 200 miles of my zip code, and started looking. Turns out in Lafayette, IN there’s a dealership that has something similar to what I want. I give them a call, and find out exactly what the one they have has (the website only lists so many features). Turns out it’s not really what I want, but the guy wants all my info anyways. I give it to him, eventhough I know I shouldn’t have.
Forty-five minutes later, I get a call from him asking if there was anything else he could help me with. I tell him that the reason I called is that I’m looking for a specific car, and that I was calling around trying to find it. He asks if he could help by scanning the full midwest in one-fell-swoop. I figure, what can I lose, and tell him I’m game.
I get a call back about an hour or two later, saying that he’s found 1 in the midwest that fits what I want (spice red, black leather interior). Unfortunately it’s currently on it’s way into the country, and he’s not sure if it’s been sold or not. I told him I’d be interested in it, if he could infact beat the price that Obrien was trying to sell it to me for. He got all the info on my truck for the trade in value, and said he’d give me a call later with details.
Sure enough, I get a call later, and he’s excited to report that he should be able to beat Obrien’s price by “a bunch.” However, he wasn’t able to get in touch with anyone at the Chicago that is receiving the car. So, instead he wants to have a bit more of a commitment than me just saying I’ll be there. Plus, there’s the fact that I can’t get out there till Saturday, and he can’t garauntee that his trade car will even be available until that time. This is totally understandable since they’d be stuck with that car, and the price to get it there if I decided against it. He also said he’d get all the paperwork set for when I get there. They just wanted $100 deposit, which, if for whatever reason I then didn’t like the color or whatever, I could get back. It also turns out that I still qualify for the recent grad discount (something that never came up at OBrien). I’m not exactly sure what all it entails, but any little bit helps.
So, on Saturday I’ll be driving out to Lafayette, and hopefully returning in my new car 🙂