Discounts rates for Audi/MB when financing/buying and insurance prices in California

Hi folks,

I wanted to say “Hi” as I’m new at the forum :slight_smile: I have recently moved from Europe to California. Once I get my US driving license (Jan 2019) I will be looking for a car. I consider the following options:

  1. Audi S5 Sportback.
  2. Mercedes C43 AMG.

Thanks to your posts I found out that leasing S5 might be super expensive, so I have started to consider leasing C43 AMG or buying/financing S5/C43 instead of leasing.

  1. From what I read here, I can count on a better discount when buying/financing. What kind of discount I might get for Audi or MB?
  2. If I lease/buy/finance S5/C43 I expect that insurance might be high as those are sport cars. I’m new in US, but I’ve a driving license from Europe (for over 10 years). What monthly insurance rate I should expect in California? Is there anyone who has been in a similar situation here?

Have you done a search for prior post on those cars? What discount did you see mentioned there?

No one will give you an accurate answer on this. Just call your insurance company and get a quote.

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Having also moved from Europe, I can tell you that there are a few insurance companies out there that will take into consideration your prior driving history. Talk to a broker who has experience with this. My Hellcat costs around $220 a month.

Given you have just moved here, how do you expect to finance/lease without any credit history?

I’ve lived in California all my life and have insured myself and two teenagers, lol, so take it from me, there are so many variables that affect what any one person ends up paying for insurance that anyone other than an insurance agent or representative would be just taking a wild guess.

Some of the factors include where you live, your age, your driving record, the type and price of the vehicle, the coverage
limits you select and your deductible. Again, these are just the main factors. Best thing to do is select a few makes and models of cars you might be interested in and call around to several insurance agencies. They can take all of your information and give you quotes. Thats your best bet. Good luck and welcome to Cali. :blush:

Thanks for all the helpful answers! I will ask around regarding the insurance.

I haven’t seen any numbers only someone mentioned that you can get much better discount when buying a car.

I’ve got a credit card from the day one and I will most likely buy a car at he end of Jan / beginning of Feb, so I expect to build some credit score by then. My bank also offers me up to -1% ARP discount and good auto loan rates. I’m also considering a big downpayment when financing ($20-30k).

If you have an AMEX card in another country try and open one here as that will really jump start your credit here. All the European and at least some of the Asian car brands have expat programs so look into them and see which ones offer the most. I moved from the UK ~18 months ago and we managed to lease with Audi and Mercedes within 6 weeks of being here, but it might depend on your Visa type. If you have a large lump sum try and finance some of the vehicle with a small vehicle loan as that will build your credit as well in the long term.

Car insurance is horrific, but shop around and try and find a good local insurance broker. Geico and Progressive have tended to be the most competitive for us in Texas, but with so many factors there’s no guarantees. I started recording the info as I thought I was going crazy when some quotes were going up the longer we were here:

31/9/2018
Geico: $1400
Progressive: $1143
Allstate: $5938
Liberty: Declined
State Farm: $3599
The General: ?
Esurance: $1800+
Elephant: $

31/3/2018
Geico: $1802
Progressive: $1445 (6 months)
Allstate: $2085 ($2200 with accident forgiveness) (6 months)
Liberty: $5832
State Farm: $3052 (6 months)
The General: ?
Esurance: $1445 (less coverage than Progressive) (6 months)
Elephant: $3408 (12 months)

Thanks, that’s super helpful and exactly what I was looking for!

I see that you’ve posted 2 dates 31.09 and 31.03. Does it mean that you buy/renew insurance every 6 months? Is it country or state specific?

It’s every 6 months here for some reason. I really wish car insurance was easier to shop for here. At least in the UK you could just jump on a comparison site and it’s done. Here you have to shop lots of individual companies. Pain in the a$$.

For info - we pay $169 a month to insure a Highlander in zipcode 90012. Its not cheap and we should shop around some more, but I was used to crazy insurance from my M140i in East London sooo. I had a UK license for 10yrs+ and a Canadian license for 2yrs. Geico asked about it but didn’t need proof.

Biggest problem we had, as already mentioned, was credit history. We had to wait 6 months get a FICO autoscore, after that it was pretty easy.