Add Yours: VW ID. Buzz Owner's Registry

Finally I did bring her home, but not without a fight

2227 Views 19 Replies 12 Participants Last post by Nocedit, 4 mo ago

crboffo

Discussion Starter · 4 mo ago

Hi,
I just want to share my not so pleasant experience with VW.
A t the end of December, as many of you did, I received an email from VW America stating that all cars assembled after January 4 would get a price increase of $1.5k. It was a relief when on December 30 the reservation system showed that the car was completed. I also chatted online with VW customer care and received confirmation that the car was completed before the end of the year so the MSRP would not be increase.

The car arrived at the dealer last week and to my surprise the MSRP reflected the increased price! luckily I had all the documentation with me….VW customer care first said that the invoice of the car counted toward the January 4 date and not the assembly. When I showed the email than they claimed the car was completed on January 5 and when I showed the reservation system and the previous chat with customer care they said it was a mistake and still they would not honor the original MSRP…. Even escalating did not help. In parallel the dealer used his channels and was able to sell me the car at the original MSRP (after a week of back and forth since of course he wanted also VW to give him the car at lower price…). even if I am extremely happy about my ID.4, the experience was so negative that it completely ruined what could have been a great day.

The car runs as a German cat should be: solid and perfect. I come from a number of BMWs and while living in Germany did put several thousand miles on VW passats owned by my company. The ID.4 is really a SUV first and an EV after…I am a nerd working in science but do like cars and not an iPad on wheels

I hope that sharing this experience helps other people if they are in the same situation.

Wheel Car Tire Land vehicle Vehicle

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Spin

· #2 · 4 mo ago

Congratulations and good luck with it!

Nocedit

· #3 · 4 mo ago

Yeah the dealership experience is so frustrating. I hate haggling and feeling like you have to comb over all the finance paperwork to make sure they aren't trying to trick you. Even buying a house feels less difficult by comparison. Atleast with a house you EXPECT to haggle/ negotiate over something used.. but usually there's not surprises or hard sells once the offer is agreed upon and paperwork is being signed

Why on earth do they still make buying a new mass-produced vehicle so full of BS fake negotiating. I understand it more with USED vehicles since gremlins and prior history can effect the price so much.

Manybees

· #4 · 4 mo ago

Nocedit said:
Why on earth do they still make buying a new mass-produced vehicle so full of BS fake negotiating.

I think a huge part of the problem is that in most states, dealerships don’t have to truly compete in an open and free market due to antiquated, protectionist laws that coddle dealerships and stifle competition. The result is that in a lot of places, you don’t have much of a choice if that’s the car you want — you either do things on the dealership’s terms or not at all.

ChristophW

· #5 · 4 mo ago

The irony here is that the dealer was sympathetic and helpful, but VWoA was not. The final MSRP was wrong, not dealer shenanigans.
I'm glad you got it resolved by sticking to your guns!

Reactions: 3

tacomambo

· #6 · 4 mo ago

you beat the dealership boss and not can enjoy the id4.. hope it brings you plenty of joy driving it as i did. dealership buying experience anywhere is terrible.. 4-5 hours sitting around idling

WhoaItsAFactorial

· #7 · 4 mo ago

Nice finger.

Reactions: 1

EricaD

· #8 · 4 mo ago

I haven’t seen pure gray with cosmic before - gorgeous! I have a ‘23 pure gray too, but with galaxy interior. Like you, I wanted a well made car first, EV/tech second, and I LOVE my ID.4! Congrats!!!

crboffo

Discussion Starter · #9 · 4 mo ago

EricaD said:
I haven’t seen pure gray with cosmic before - gorgeous! I have a ‘23 pure gray too, but with galaxy interior. Like you, I wanted a well made car first, EV/tech second, and I LOVE my ID.4! Congrats!!!

I love the cosmic interior, a nice bland of light gray, blue and black

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crboffo

Discussion Starter · #10 · 4 mo ago

WhoaItsAFactorial said:
Nice finger.

Eheheh…I know…a trademark

tochi312

· #11 · 4 mo ago

Congratulation! Did your dealer give you the Section 30 IRA Report needed to claim the federal tax credit.

crboffo

Discussion Starter · #12 · 4 mo ago

tochi312 said:
Congratulation! Did your dealer give you the Section 30 IRA Report needed to claim the federal tax credit.

Not yet, but they are looking into it.

NiceMann

· #13 · 4 mo ago

crboffo said:
Not yet, but they are looking into it.

I can't believe 23 days into the year that the dealers still have not figured this out yet. VW sent out the direction supposedly but we all know how well their word is.

Spin

· #14 · 4 mo ago

tochi312 said:
Congratulation! Did your dealer give you the Section 30 IRA Report needed to claim the federal tax credit.

This member appears to be in Italy.

crboffo

Discussion Starter · #15 · 4 mo ago

Spin said:
This member appears to be in Italy.

I am italian but live in the US

mongo

· #16 · 4 mo ago

Nocedit said:
Yeah the dealership experience is so frustrating. I hate haggling and feeling like you have to comb over all the finance paperwork to make sure they aren't trying to trick you. Even buying a house feels less difficult by comparison. Atleast with a house you EXPECT to haggle/ negotiate over something used.. but usually there's not surprises or hard sells once the offer is agreed upon and paperwork is being signed

Why on earth do they still make buying a new mass-produced vehicle so full of BS fake negotiating. I understand it more with USED vehicles since gremlins and prior history can effect the price so much.

My surprise was when they wanted to see if VW finance could beat my already much lower credit union financing. So I said OK, and found out a week or two later that they did about 14 hard credit report hits. Just that could keep me from buying a second in short order. Oh, VW Credit eventually beat the rate I found by 0.5%, but the key differentiator was the included gap insurance, in the event of a total loss.

Reactions: 1

Nocedit

· #17 · 4 mo ago

mongo said:
My surprise was when they wanted to see if VW finance could beat my already much lower credit union financing. So I said OK, and found out a week or two later that they did about 14 hard credit report hits. Just that could keep me from buying a second in short order. Oh, VW Credit eventually beat the rate I found by 0.5%, but the key differentiator was the included gap insurance, in the event of a total loss.

Yeah, i agreed to the GAP insurance too just to give the finance person a bone to get out of there. But you have 60 days to cancel GAP after you buy the car with no penalty.. which I just did. We put over 30% down though... so GAP insurance wasn't really necessary. The dealership was charging a high rate of $1K for gap insurance. So upon cancelling, it will just be credited to my car loan. Next thing I'm gonna do when i have time is look into refinancing through a credit union at a lower rate. 5% rate isn't terrible in current market... but i think with my high FICO i can do better.

mongo

· #18 · 4 mo ago

Back in Nov 22, I was able to get VW credit <5%, which included GAP. So likely the rates have gone up.

The dealer experience is not always good.

Nai3t

· #19 · 4 mo ago

I recognize gap insurance fills a need, but it bugs me because it's so variable based on down payment, car depreciation, mileage, month of loss (relative to the payback schedule), and voodoo. But nobody wants to be upside down in the event of a total loss.

A policy Liberty Mutual offers I find to be a little more palatable: Better Car Replacement. In the event of a total loss payout, they will use the value of a one year newer car, same specs, with 15,000 fewer miles for their comp. And it's a relatively inexpensive add-on – about $5 monthly when I last used it ($0 down on a new Volvo, which depreciate steeply). It helps greatly if the insured car is the last year before a redesign – there's usually a large bump in value going from "old" to " refreshed."

Reactions: 2

Nocedit

· #20 · 4 mo ago

Nai3t said:
I recognize gap insurance fills a need, but it bugs me because it's so variable based on down payment, car depreciation, mileage, month of loss (relative to the payback schedule), and voodoo. But nobody wants to be upside down in the event of a total loss.

A policy Liberty Mutual offers I find to be a little more palatable: Better Car Replacement. In the event of a total loss payout, they will use the value of a one year newer car, same specs, with 15,000 fewer miles for their comp. And it's a relatively inexpensive add-on – about $5 monthly when I last used it ($0 down on a new Volvo, which depreciate steeply). It helps greatly if the insured car is the last year before a redesign – there's usually a large bump in value going from "old" to " refreshed."

I was looking for a good cheap GAP insurance option to carry the first year of ownership.. just in case. Geico my insurance company doesn't offer it, so it looks a bit complicated to just buy GAP stand alone thru a different insurance company. Haven't found a simple way to do so online. Anyone know of any short term standalone GAP insurance options I'd appreciate it.. and I'm sure others would to. VW sells the GAP policy for $1000 which, is cancelable... but still obscene.

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