Is there a way to get information on dealer allocation?

[SteveR]

I have been on "the list" for an R8 for nearly 2 years, and first on the list for over a year. Is there a way to get an idea when a dealership gets it's next car?

It is a little irritating to hear of dealerships with an available V10 on the lot and their 3rd V10 in the pipeline, while other dealerships have orders but no allocation. Maybe I am being paranoid, but I am starting to worry the dealer would allow people paying over MSRP to get "my" allocation. Will AOA help?

[SBFV10]

Find out who the area rep. for Audi is and call him. They have Premier dealers who are getting the early allocations. Your dealer might not be one of those!

Also, check out he Audi list of their Premier dealers and call them. I can't find the page right now, but I know that the list was in an Audi press release a while back.

Good luck.

Steve

[swansailor]

I have been on "the list" for an R8 for nearly 2 years, and first on the list for over a year. Is there a way to get an idea when a dealership gets it's next car?

It is a little irritating to hear of dealerships with an available V10 on the lot and their 3rd V10 in the pipeline, while other dealerships have orders but no allocation. Maybe I am being paranoid, but I am starting to worry the dealer would allow people paying over MSRP to get "my" allocation. Will AOA help?

When I ordered my V8 over two years ago I discovered that a number of the dealers in my area would be happy to take a deposit and "put me on a waiting list" but they could not give me any idea of delivery timeframe or of their dealer allocation. Others were very specific. I contacted Audi of America who told me to check the Audi R8 microsite (http://microsites.audiusa.com/AudiR8...ref=audiusa_r8) to find out which dealers were R8 authorized dealers ...guess what, the ones who could not tell me their allocations were all missing from the R8 dealer locator.

[SteveR]

Thanks. I will try to contact the rep. As far as shopping with other dealers, I am a little stuck as my dealer already has my deposit. They are listed on the microsite, but I doubt they are a Premier dealer.

It seems that the dealer, or at least my salesman, knows surprising little about the car and their relationship with Audi. Other dealers seem to know much more about when they are getting cars.

[olenman]

Find large Audi dealership. The dealers that have the highest sales figures get the R8s first. New York, Southern Florida and California dealers have generally the highest allocation. Several New York Dealers have new 2009 R8 in stock and will deal on them.

[swansailor]

Thanks. I will try to contact the rep. As far as shopping with other dealers, I am a little stuck as my dealer already has my deposit. They are listed on the microsite, but I doubt they are a Premier dealer.

It seems that the dealer, or at least my salesman, knows surprising little about the car and their relationship with Audi. Other dealers seem to know much more about when they are getting cars.

If they cannot give you a delivery date after two years they should give you the deposit back (with interest)!. My dealer has an unsold V10 arriving within the next couple of weeks (they tried to sell it to me when I picked up my new A4 last week).... interested?

[Kajzer]

There are a few on autotrader already

[toecutter]

I was on a list with a mid-allocation dealer when it was clear that they were not going to get the cars that they were promised. To date I think they have only been allocated two. When it was clear that Audi had created an old boys network of allocations, I found a new one on e-bay and bought at MSRP from a high allocation dealer who had cars sitting in their showroom. Downside is I didn't get every option I would have ordered, but I have had the car for 9 months instead of sitting on a list.

The cars are out there to be had and I recommend going and getting one. I'm disappointed in the distribution process especially for those with cash in hand. Maybe they have other motives.

[SteveR]

If they cannot give you a delivery date after two years they should give you the deposit back (with interest)!. My dealer has an unsold V10 arriving within the next couple of weeks (they tried to sell it to me when I picked up my new A4 last week).... interested?

Thanks. I will talk to the rep and dealer again, and start looking at other dealerships if it looks bad. When I gave my deposit, got them agree to let me out if I don't have an official order in 18 months. I am not sure that means they will give my deposit back though.

[dailydriver]

I ran into a similar problem when I ordered my E55 years ago when it was before they were released. I was currently in an S class from my local dealer and they tried to stick me with a $15K premium when ordering. I took it up with the general manager who said they should not have done that to a current customer and wrote the order at sticker price. It was supposed to be delivered in about 12 months. At no point did I get straight information about build date, etc. even as it got closer to the end of the 12 months. I saw a few on the road so I knew they were coming off the line and I was pretty sure at that point they took a premium from somone else and took my "spot".

Anyway, I made some calls and found another dealer who jumped through some hoops and was able to get me one that was equipped/optioned nearly identical to what I had on order - within a week (no premium either)!