I mentioned on the first call that I did not want to visit the dealership anytime except for taking delivery if the deal worked.
BHPian sri32 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
The Backstory:
I currently own a 2015 Jaguar XF and a 2009 Honda City ZX. I just sold a 2012 Volvo S60. Right after the sale happened, the XF had a transmission oil cooler leak which caused the coolant and transmission oil to mix, leading to gearbox issues. The issue is still being addressed.
So, I suddenly went from 3 cars to just one and even the Honda City has minor niggles off and on, considering its age. Also, it is a manual that’s not terribly fun in stop-and-go traffic.
To leave the City available to my dad when he needed it, I even ended up picking up a Hero Mavrick 440 off Amazon. That’s a story for another day though..!!
With the need to get another car, I went all in on searching, but wasn’t in a hurry to decide, as I was quite enjoying being back on two wheels. I even considered changing my Mavrick 440, for a pre-owned Harley Iron 883XL but my travel plans thwarted it.
The Early Search
Replacing the XF, Replacing the City, Replacing the Sold S60. They were all viable options and that made the decision harder. My usual go-to is a preowned car as I like changing my cars often, right after depreciating them down for taxes.
Everything including a Used 2014 Honda CRV(Great deal, Sold before I decided), A 2012 Porsche Cayenne(Owner backed out last minute), A new MG Windsor(Couldnt get over the shape), A new Mahindra 3×0(Wasnt in love with the driving), A 2014 Camry(Seemed boring), A 2016 Jeep Compass(Too many miles for my liking), A 2020 MG Hector(Handles like bus), A 2021 Volvo S90(3 owners) plus many more I cant remember, were considered. It even came to a point where I was looking up cars in Mumbai, Delhi, and whatnot.
I was having so much fun with the research till the point where my dad threatened me with walking up to a Honda dealership and picking up a new Honda City for himself. I absolutely did not want another City so sped things up..!!
The good news is, by this time, I had decided to keep the Jaguar for a bit longer after getting it fixed and I could always find another beater car to replace the City. So that narrowed down choices. I zeroed in on something fun to drive, extremely comfortable and cocooned, and also very reliable. This ruled out cars older than 3 years and ~20,000 KM. I had a rough budget of about 40L.
Zeroing in on an Audi:
But Chennai being Chennai on the pricing side, any preowned cars that new with Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Volvo, etc were exorbitantly priced. I was eyeing a BMW or an Audi because I already owned a couple of Mercedes cars in the past. The latest of them was a 2016 C250, that I sold in 2022. Volvo servicing is a nightmare when things go wrong so I wasn’t too keen on that too having just sold one.
I don’t have a driver and do all the driving myself. So I was a bit partial towards a BMW. But at this point, I started hearing from my friends about incredible deals that were being handed out by Mumbai and Delhi Audi dealers.
With discounts of >35% off Ex-showroom, The prices that were being quoted for new cars were lower than the price of a 2-3 year old car in Chennai!! They seemed too good to be true but I still wanted to give it a shot.
Why the A4?
I was familiar with all the cars that were in the ballpark and was keen on an A4 over an A6 as my XF was already bigger and I preferred something smaller than that.
Despite the FWD of an Audi being a bit less fun than a BMW 3 series in the handling dept, The tech features, comfort and especially the magic carpet-like suspension setup made the A4 very likable in my eyes, especially if it came at a price remarkably lower than the 3 series.
I have always been a fan of the Audi gearbox. the new A4 comes with 204 HP on tap, acceleration when you need it, and a magically calm demeanor when not chasing speed.
The cabin is whisper quiet and the petrol engine can rarely be heard. I started out a petrol head way back in 2012 but switched sides to diesel with my last three cars, being seduced by the addictive torque of diesel. But driving the Audi made me rediscover my love for an unbelievably smooth petrol engine.
Why The Tech Variant?
The base premium variant had 2 lesser airbags and no rear AC vents. It wasn’t even considered.
Despite the Ex-showroom prices putting the premium plus and the tech variant ~5L apart, the discounted prices were only about 1L apart and that made the decision almost a no-brainer especially considering the 19 speaker B&O Audio system and the Virtual Cockpit.
I drive by myself and the virtual cockpit makes all information available right in front of me, without ever having to use the touchscreen console. The screen is big, rich and extremely customizable.
I also love my music when driving and the audio system is spectacular in comparison to most factory-fitted audio setups. The sound clarity, the channel separation, and the way you get enveloped in your precision-tuned space have to be heard to be believed.
IMHO, even just considering the B&O system and the virtual cockpit, it would have been criminal to pick the premium plus over the Tech variant, when they were only ~1L apart.
Why Manhattan Grey?
My first choice was black with beige. That was till I set my eyes on the Manhattan grey. It seemed to ooze the elegance of black but still remained distinctly different from every other black car on the road.
I also switched my interior choice to Okapi brown as the interior inserts in that shade were black, which I liked better and the brown itself seemed far more unique than beige. I was a bit skeptical about the Grey and Brown combo but was sold on it when I noticed that was the combination used in most A4 pics on Audi’s website and looked great.
The Deal Stage
Armed with clarity about what I wanted, my conversations started with contacting the Chennai Audi dealer. Jubilant Motors.
I already had a price in mind, having researched prices extensively through my friends and other sources including Team BHP. The Chennai dealer was about 11L away from what I wanted. He in fact almost laughed when I said the price I quoted was feasible in Mumbai and or Delhi.
That made me realize the only way I could get in on a great price was by buying from a Mumbai or Delhi dealer. Audi does not technically have territory restrictions to date, the only difference for an out-of-territory sale is a bit lower discount support from Audi. I knew this through a friend connected to Audi India.
I researched getting a car in Mumbai and registering it in Chennai. My bank and RTO agents I use assured me that it was feasible.
With this information, I sent out an email to Mumbai and Delhi dealers with pretty much just the following.
Subject: Purchasing An Audi A4 Tech.
I am in the final stages of purchasing the Audi A4 Technology version.
The OTD price I am willing to pay is XXX including temp registration.
I can purchase the car immediately if you can meet this price.
Bcc’d every dealer in Delhi and Mumbai.
The dealers that got back to me were Audi Gurgaon, Audi Mumbai West, and Audi Mumbai South.
Gurgaon said there was no way they could meet the price.
Mumbai West said they could do 4L higher than the price I wanted.
Mumbai South said they could do the price if the car was registered in Mumbai but 2.1L higher if it was registered in TN. I knew this was coming as Audi apparently gives lower discount support for out-of-territory sales.
My response to that was them was to absorb 1L of that and add an extended warranty which was about ~85K. I sort of knew dealers had leeway on the extended warranty if the Audi discount support was lower on a sale.
They said it was impossible. I stuck to my guns and said sorry, but no deal if they couldn’t match.
Closing The Deal
No contact from the associate for a few days but I was sort of expecting a call back when we approached the end of the month and that’s what happened. The associate called back along with the manager and tried making me budge again on price with no luck and eventually, they agreed to exactly what I wanted out of the deal. The only condition was to close the sale on their books before the month ended and I had no problem with that.
I paid an advance the same day and the loan process took about 4 days. The bank and my office folks handled that.
The Delivery Experience
I took delivery of the car on Dec 6th. Having it shipped to Chennai was on option but flying in to take delivery and driving the car back from Mumbai to Chennai was an option I couldn’t resist.
I was planning to have a friend join me on the drive back but I got lucky in convincing my parents (Who generally dislike long road trips) to join me instead. In hindsight, I am very glad as it was quite cool to have my parents take delivery of the vehicle. They seemed to have a lot of fun with the whole delivery ceremony and it was exceptionally fulfilling to see them enjoy that experience!!
Once the deal was closed, the sales associate made everything right up to delivery, exceptionally smooth!! I was in and out of the dealership in less than an hour when I went to take delivery.
The car was all prepped and they had organized a small delivery ceremony and puja. They had also thrown in a bunch of accessories, almost a full tank of fuel, and were even thoughtful enough to help me get the temp fast tag charged for the drive back to Chennai.
After delivery, we drove back ~1500 KM to Chennai over 3 days. It was a fun road trip and I will try writing about it another day.
All of this happened without me ever having to set foot in the dealership or even Mumbai. In fact, I saw the associate and her manager for the first time ever when I went to pick up the vehicle. They confirmed this was their first-ever sale that happened entirely on WhatsApp and apparently they even debated whether to take the enquiry seriously when I mentioned on the first call that I did not want to visit the dealership anytime except for taking delivery if the deal worked..
I plan to register the car in Chennai in early Jan. I will add an update here after the registration is complete.
Footnote
If anybody is looking to purchase an Audi feel free to DM me, I will gladly put you in touch with the associate who made my deal happen. I have nothing but good feedback for her.
PS:
The fun fact is that despite being ~11L away in price, the Mumbai West and the Chennai dealer are both owned by the same group. Jubilant.
When the deal was in its final stages, the agents who were to handle registration in Chennai had divulged the final sale price to Audi Chennai(They were the same agents used by Audi Chennai too). The Chennai SM then tried creating some internal ruckus to cancel the deal, when they realized the deal was happening at a price much lower than what they could offer. Their point was they couldn’t really sell cars in Chennai if more people here started doing this.
Certainly not what I expected from an Audi dealer. A heads-up to keep this in mind, when you deal with Audi Chennai.
I will try following up with a post about the drive back to Chennai and the car itself, in a few days.
I am attaching a few pictures below. Wasnt sure how to embed them within the post.
PPS:
This is my first long post here despite having spent years looking through posts on Team-BHP. So please go easy on any mistakes in the post.
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