Thanks Jon. Suggestion as to the way to estimate the best price on this particular car?
Research NADAGuides or Audi forums to see what others have paid. This is a brand new model and in very high demand though, so discounts won’t be great.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with it. It was supposed to have handicapped hand controls installed and they did not install or removed them.
“VW Credit Inc. Service Loaner” is printed on original window sticker. Below VIN and Dealer#.
Not disclosing that is fraud territory I think.
No Idea how it works for VW/AUDI. “Mobility service loaner”? Like I said, what raises red flag for me is “NOT FOR RETAIL SALE” in bold red letters. But who knows, maybe they can sell it after it comes out of loan service and it may have 20 miles on it if no one ever used it as a loaner? I’d think there must be some type of disclosure for the buyer.
Current example where Volvo has lost the plot. Leasing one at Costco is better than buying one 
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A bit of clarity as we’ve gathered information. Here’s what we understand: dealers are given an allotment of cars for sale and to use as loaners. When a model is particularly popular - say the Q5 – and a dealer has a loaner Q5 on the lot, the dealer can ask Corporate to change that Q5 to a retail sale car, and assign another car on the lot as a loaner (say, an A4). This happens frequently. What happens is that Corporate sends a new window sticker for the car so that it can be legally sold. I think that as what was happening here, except someone wanted to rush the process, and in doing so made a mess.
There were lots of ways to avoid this – the person who doctored the sticker in the first place could have ‘finished the job’ and tossed the original sticker. When the deception was discovered, the dealer could have said ‘my bad, what do we do to make this right’? Or various other things to make my father feel like he was treated fairly and decently, rather than being scammed. Because he wasn’t being scammed, he was buying a car, and that entails having imperfect information.
(I’m not excusing the fraud – it’s clear, and the consumer protection rules are there for a reason – my point is, though, that it seems like the fraud was done to close a deal faster, not to deceive or to sell a lemon. So handling it better might have prevented a lot of headaches).
But headaches we have. The dealer is presenting my father with a very good deal on a new car. I hope that when I post information about that deal here, that reasonable people will say ‘yeah, your father was treated poorly, but he’s getting a great deal which might make up for some of the hassle.’
Stay tuned!
Thanks Jon. He should get a better price than anyone else on any forum, given then circumstances. The dealer committed fraud, and tried to scam him, and didn’t own up to the mistake when he discovered it. If he doesn’t get an amazing deal – the kind nobody else is getting anywhere – we’ll escalate to corporate & the authorities. There’s just no reason to keep going back and forth at this point.
There is also question about “mobility” title. I think this car was provided by Audi as a loaner for disabled people, but has never been retrofitted as such, while Audi provides money for this.