How much are the Options? Xenon and GPS in particular?

[kimmik]

I'm negotiating the 118TSI at the moment. They seem reluctant to discount the xenon and GPS optional extras... what's a reasonable price for these?

And whats a super good price for these?

They're asking for 2500 for the GPS and 2900 for the Xenon lights

is 2k and 2k possible?

[Buzy_Robot]

kimmik, my advice would be for you to negotiate on the best driveaway price for the car and options that interest you. Don't focus too much on the pricing of individual options, rather the overall price of the car with the desired options. Haggle for the best driveaway price.

[kimmik]

thanks for the advice, though i must say my situation is a bit different.

i already have a driveaway price of 38500 for the base car (corp+ discount and some haggling)

so if i want to get options, i need to know what they're actually worth

otherwise, the dealer will insist i pay 38500+2900+2500!

[Buzy_Robot]

Ahhh, sorry mate. I'm coming to it as a private customer. In this case, you're talking about $5,400 in options. Why don't you try and have the figure rounded to at least $5,000?

[kimmik]

yeah i can try something like that. probably low ball it first with say 42k, and see what happens. but ultimately, the best help i can get is to have an idea of what the dealer is willing to sell the options for.

[VAG newbie]

From my experience, there aren't that much room to haggle for the options. Most of the discount comes from the car itself.

Also the more option you want, the more likely this car will have to be specially ordered from Germany. Since the dealer don't have the car anyway, there is no incentive for them to give you discount, rather they would want you to take a stocked car in their car yard. So I think they would purposely keep the option price tough!

[kimmik]

interesting concept. makes sense, since its easier to sell a car either in stock with the dealer, or already in AU with the head office.

but assuming the dealer already has a car with the options installed, what option discount do you think they can give? 10%? 20%? 50%?

when you look at the AU option prices, compared to UK option prices, its roughly 1:1.5. e.g. a 1000pound option will cost $2500 here, (gps)

so if thats anything to go by, maybe 30% discount on options should be achievable? assuming they're in stock?

[VAG newbie]

I've just PM'd you with the price I got via car broker. I ordered those option too.

Anyway, the way to do that is you will need to ask them if they have any stocked car they want to get rid off, and it happens to have those options. If you are lucky, you may get one. But you may have to settle with demo though.

My colleague got a 118TSI recently through corporate discount too, but he couldn't even get to choose the color, as white and silver were the only available ones (brand new, that is). So you would have to be very lucky to find one, especially the GPS is not really a popular option....

[kimmik]

thanks champ pmed you back. i suspected the gps wouldn't be so popular, having read about ppl installing it themselves for less than 1k instead of 2.5k lol.

i'll just drop it from my request if no stock is around.

[VAG newbie]

Sorry, realize I haven't really answered your question.

I don't think you can achieve 30% discount on options if the car is brand new. GPS is $2600, 30% would be $780, that's crazy! They don't have that margin. If it's demo, then you may achieve that, but you are talking about a "used car"!

Think about it. Even with the corporate discount on the car it's just around 10-15%, and that's because VW Aus can supply the car with a lower price, and there are other costs that dealers can absorb (like the $3000 dealers delivery charge, AKA $3000 car wash), even that, you are not achieving 30%. There is no such margin in options, except maybe the dealer supplied protection pack, window tints......etc (where they charge you $2000 when you can get same thing done after market for 1/3 the price).

Realistically, if you can knock a couple of hundred you are doing pretty good.

We can't use the UK figure to compare here. Aus has the most expensive cars in the world, thanks to the Labor government trying to protect Holden and Ford.

There was an article in private fleet comparing new car prices in Aus, UK and USA, we are paying up to 200% more on new car prices compared to these 2 countries.

Just FYI, I decided to get a Superb when my contract with Passat crashed. Initially I ordered Park Assist ($990 option). Then my wife thought it was just a gimmick and we don't really need it, I delete it. Then I got $1150 off from the original quoted price! obviously I was paying RRP for options (plus stamp duty)!

[Corey_R]

thanks for the advice, though i must say my situation is a bit different.

i already have a driveaway price of 38500 for the base car (corp+ discount and some haggling)

Sorry if this offends you, but your situation is not different and Buzy_Robot's reply was correct.

Whilst you may have already negotiated a driveaway price of 38500, you now wish to change the configuration of the car. So your driveaway price negotiated is now invalid.

Margins of individual options vary. The margin would also vary per dealer, as each are franchises who have their own operating costs. In addition, since the options are applied at the factory and fitted as part of the "new car sale", the government doesn't view them as "options". They're part of the sale cost of the car and therefore are subject to applicable duties and taxes - including Luxury Car Tax (not applicable in your situation) and stamp duty - applicable here.

So as others have already said, don't focus on the individual option cost but the overall driveaway price.

This is especially the case if you're talking cars in stock. Cars with desireable options (and option combinations) are easier for the dealer to sell as they're in higher demand. People who aren't willing to wait 6 months for a car to be custom built will pay closer to full retail etc. So they are less likely to discount on that, to try and balance out for the discounts they do make for other customers, especially those who do wait the 6 months for specific orders.

Anyway... there are lots of threads just like this one scattered around the forums. Different cars, different options, but you'll find the advice from most people is the same... as per Buzy_Robot's reply.

[kimmik]

yeah i remember reading that article. it did mention that the AU dealers/mainoffices have very high markup, presumably due to low volume sales.

personally i dont think 30% off is a crazy idea - thats how i approach my negotiations. there's no such thing as too much discount! that's how i got the 1k off the corp+ discount. they blabbed on about how i'm being too greedy and i should think of the poorer people who are more deserving of the passat (serious...). i said, the corp+ discount is the price i can get from anywhere, at anytime, like an RRP, so if they wanted my business, they'd have to do better.

and voila, a couple of phonecalls later, 1k off.

my point is, despite what looks like a reasonable deal, e.g. $200 off the satnav, the dealers are trying to make you think its cheaper than it actually is. so when they make me think its cheap enough to send them broke, i'll ask for either time, or more discount.

i will never wholly accept the high AU price and just buy. if the markup is suspiciously high, even if others have paid more than the offer, i'll probably walk away.

[kleung]

thanks champ pmed you back. i suspected the gps wouldn't be so popular, having read about ppl installing it themselves for less than 1k instead of 2.5k lol

There's a surprising number of Passats going around with the nav unit fitted. And it is possible to get the RNS510 fitted yourself for significantly less than what VW are asking for it. A new RNS510 unit with the latest firmware and map data can be had from ebay for around the $1k mark. From there, as I understand it, it's more or less a plug and play thing. Pop out the existing RCD510, stick in the new RNS510. Then you need someone with access to a VAG-COM cable to make the appropriate software changes to enable integration with the MFD.

For that reason, I wouldn't get too hung up on the pricing of the nav option.

Xenons are a very expensive option - but they DO come with a nifty active cornering feature. They're not the brightest ones I've used though - the HID low beams on my previous Accord Euro were noticeably better.

[kimmik]

you'll find the advice from most people is the same... as per Buzy_Robot's reply.

that may be true, but only because no one here actually knows what the options cost to the dealer. no one could give any specific help regarding buying a vehicle with options.

i will take buzy-r and your advice, but as i said earlier, knowing the bottom price for these options will be the greatest help.

now that i have an idea of the bottom price on the basic car, suppose i know it costs the dealer 2k for the xenon lights, i could push for 2.2k on top of the base car's negotiated price.

i'm aware of the whole supply vs demand situation, where popular options may sell with higher margin than less popular options.

the more you know about running and cost break down of the purchase, the more bargaining power you have. there is no two way about that. this is ultimately the reason i made the original post. i suppose if no one really knows the bottom prices for these options, i will go back to the normal workup method, of pitting dealers against each other on the vehicle as a whole.



BTW thanks VAG N, got your second pm

[kimmik]

Xenons are a very expensive option - but they DO come with a nifty active cornering feature. They're not the brightest ones I've used though - the HID low beams on my previous Accord Euro were noticeably better.

i see. i'll check them out before committing to buy. will also check out the peugeot 508's satnav/xenons.