Official dealerships DON'T all sell new cars for the same price- rip-offs abound

Wendy Knowler tells the story of a client who nearly got overcharged more than 500k for a new Audi - on The Money Show

It's generally assumed that "official" car dealerships sell their vehicles for the same price.

But this appears not to be the case says consumer journalist Wendy Knowler.

On The Money Show, she discusses one rather extreme example brought to her attention.

The complaint came from "Anna" who makes her living trading expensive cars.

Anna sourced a brand new Audi RSQ8 for a client who'd been struggling to find one.

She forwarded him an offer to purchase with a request to pay a R50,000 deposit to show good faith.

Knowler had checked the retail price for the Audi a number of times - given as R3 million 800 thousand.

It should in fact have been R2.55 million.

Eventually, the salesman admitted that he had loaded the price. We cancelled the deal, but my client nearly got ripped off R529,000.

Anna

If my client had signed and paid the deposit, and then cancelled the deal, after discovering he was getting ripped off... they would have kept his deposit.

Anna

Motor Industry Ombud Johan van Vreden told Knowler his office gets complaints about this kind of practice virtually on a daily basis.

Audi South Africa responded that it does not prescribe retail pricing to its dealers (who are separate legal entities), but recommends a maximum retail price.

“In the case brought to our attention, Audi SA does not condone the alleged behaviour followed by the dealer and is in the process of investigating the issue with dealer management.”

Listen to the conversation on The Money Show:

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