Q5 BUYING TIPS REQUIRED

[KIPTO]

Hi. I am looking at buying a new shape Audi Q5 about a year old. I have an autotrader saved search set up and the price appears to be around £32500. I am prepared to wait a few months and was wondering whether the price will go down much in the next four months or so. I have a few questions. Most of the cars I am seeing for sale appear to be at Audi dealers. Can anyone tell me through experience whether there is much room for negotiation on price with audi dealers or not. I have not bought a car from an Audi dealer before so I am open for any negotiation tips from seasoned veterans. In addition are there any other apps/websites other than autotrader that people can recommend. Thanks 

[Steve Q]

Welcome to the forum Lyndon, you'll find the members on here are a friendly and helpful bunch :) 

I would like to think that over the next 4 months the price will drop especially when we get towards the summer months. In terms of negotiatation I think this will depend on whether or not you are taking finance. However my experience is that the German manufacturers are less inclined to negotiate and reduce the price whereas I've found manufacturers such as Vauxhall are willing to negotiate. 

If you are taking finance then you are more likely to get a better price. I.e money off or more for your px. Obviously you've also got the scrappage scheme going on at the minute with Audi which could be worth considering depending on the value/age of your current car.

Also you should find the Q5 models that are available from Audi approved used are better than those more private garages but obviously this is not always definite. But they will have full Audi service history, low miles and will.come with warranty. 

Hope I've helped :) 

Cheers

Steve

[KIPTO]

Thanks Steve. Very helpful comments. Just out of interest, why do prices tend to drop in the summer ? 

[Steve Q]

3 hours ago, KIPTO said:

Thanks Steve. Very helpful comments. Just out of interest, why do prices tend to drop in the summer ? 

Glad I could help :)

just to add my personal experience, the last 5 cars that have been bought by my family including m, my wife and both my parents have cone from main dealers as approved used. The last 2 cars bought from independent garages cost alot more in repairs as more things went wrong with them. 

Well the theory was, buyer's wanted 4x4 for winter conditions (ie snow and ice) and in the spring/summer buyer's wanted convertibles. There maybe some truth in this but it's less obvious now due to the popularity of SUVs. 

Cheers

Steve

[Magnet]

Hello Lyndon,

If you are buying a vehicle around 1year old, then yes, the majority are going to be available at the main dealer, and personally I would suggest extreme caution on buying one of these from anywhere else. If one is available elsewhere, you would need to ask yourself why an owner would suffer the initial depreciation and move away from the marque - smacks of dissatisfaction.

Vehicles available at main dealers:- may well be ex VAG management cars returned before a year old or X miles, some models be ex hire vehicles ( beware since these are seldom registered to company names which point to this). As always, I recommend - at boredom- to always check with the recorded keeper before purchasing. HPI will be not be necessary if you by at a main dealer, but such checks do not guarantee the vehicle has not been accident damaged - just not to the extent of being a total loss, which would show up on HPI. 

Discounts:- I'm with Steve on this, since dealers enjoy a healthy commission on encouraging buyers to take up finance. Cash is certainly no longer king.

Seasonal variations? Not so sure about this, and others may have alternative experience, but based on few of these vehicles being purchased expressly to deal with their designed capabilities, I doubt if delaying purchase is going to make a significant difference. 

Kind regards,

Gareth.