Buying a Car - April 29

Rating - FUN FOR ME

I LOVE the experience....nothing better than walking into a dealership....letting them know you are a CASH buyer.....and seeing what happens.

It is FUN.....especially when they make it seem like you are asking for a price they would NEVER CONSIDER.....ha, ha, ha.....its even better to politely leave.

I was in the market for a Certified Pre-owned Audi and Audi.com is EXCELLENT!!! You can enter all of your criteria and search inventory across the entire country. I began my search back in mid March, and got to know the market quite well (too well Hot Mamma would say since I spend hours researching).

All of the dealers in Chicago were OVERPRICED and basically pricks, most of the other dealerships were just overpriced. Chicago dealers would say "it can't be CPO at that price - they are lying"......and were WRONG. I did find a few that I would consider buying from again, but none were located in Chicago.

Quick recap:

The BEST:
Jack Daniels Motors, FairLawn, NJ - BUY A CAR HERE - http://talesfromtheroad-mwalno.blogspot.com/2010/05/jack-daniels-motors-fairlawn-nj-april.html

Great:
Paul Miller Audi - Mark Burnett - mburnett@paulmiller.com - Excellent service, knew the industry and was strait with me on any/all questions I had. They just didn’t have the color I wanted or I would have bought from him for sure. http://talesfromtheroad-mwalno.blogspot.com/2010/05/paul-miller-audi-parsippany-nj-april-29.html

Legend Audi (Amityville NY ) - Michael Bianco - 631-691-7700 Ext. 319 - m.bianco@legendautogroup.com - Great guy, always prompt in returning my calls and really helpful. I was all set to buy a car from them, but it was sold the night before I headed to NYC. Pricing that is right on the mark! http://talesfromtheroad-mwalno.blogspot.com/2010/05/legend-audi-amityville-ny-april-29.html

Valenti Audi (Watertown, CT) - Keir Hansen - (860) 309-9532 - khansen@valentiauto.com - spoke to him several times on the phone and he was helpful and respectful. Great follow-up! I would have bought from them but they are too far from Manhattan. http://talesfromtheroad-mwalno.blogspot.com/2010/05/valentine-audi-watertown-ct-april-29.html

Decent:
Manhattan Audi - Jay Rosner - 212-515-8200 - Called and then walked into the showroom around 5 pm. Great guys, friendly and no pressure. I told them how much I wanted to spend; they gave me their bottom line and showed me the inventory. Price was 1K more than anywhere else, but they do have good inventory, and are in Manhattan. http://talesfromtheroad-mwalno.blogspot.com/2010/05/manhattan-audi-new-york-ny-april-29.html

Not Good:
Laurel Audi (Westmont, IL) - Brian Deepholz (sales) was very professional, Ozzie Haleem (GM of the store) - 630-655-6700 - ozzi@autonation.com - did not like Jason Bulthuis (the Internet manager) and would never work with him-mailto:him-BulthuisJ@autonation.com. This was the first dealership I worked with, they had a great price on a base A6 but when I arrived to test drive the first thing I noticed was the SMELL. Heavy cigarette smoker car.....I axed Brian if it was a smoker car and he admitted it was (never tried to mislead me).
I think it was listed around $24,500 and I offered $23,000, had my checkbook out along with title to my car. Brian had to go to Jason, so I opened my laptop and started working, and when he came back he tried to sell me on the "value".....and it didn’t work.
I met Ozzie the GM who told me to "buy the car", I let him know I thought the price was out of line, and he was pleasant and said it was right. Brian went back to Jason again and said there was a "couple of hundred dollars" they could discount, but that was it. I left and asked him to call if the price came down.
He politely kept in touch, and about 3 weeks later the car was priced under 24K, but when I got back to him the next day it was sold (and that was fine by me). Decent guys, but I will not return for service (very small waiting area, and Continental has a much nicer shop), and would not buy a car here either. http://talesfromtheroad-mwalno.blogspot.com/2010/05/laurel-audi-westmont-il-april-29.html

Horrible:
Continental Audi (Naperville, IL) - Bill Manrot - 630-388-1000 - A very nice guy who I was referred to by a friend. Easy to work and he was fine. But PRICES that are WAY TOO HIGH, (like 6K too high) and no follow-up. In addition, I did not like the tactic of the sales manager who knew I had a time constraint, but insisted on having Bill tell him my story (so I could hear) and then gave me a low ball offer on my trade in. I will come here for service, but that is it. http://talesfromtheroad-mwalno.blogspot.com/2010/05/continential-audi-naperville-il-august.html

Worst:
McGrath Audi (Chicago IL) - Never called me back from the response I put in on their web site - http://talesfromtheroad-mwalno.blogspot.com/2010/05/mcgrath-audi-chicago-il-april-29.html