If I order a 2006 S4 tomorrow (to buy, not lease) and my downpayment includes the first month payment, do I actually start owing and paying monthly even in the months before my car arrives?

For instance if my car is expected in October or November, will I be paying Sept, Oct?, or will I just pay the first payment, and resume when I take delivery of the car? It would seem kind of crappy to have to pay monthly for a car you are not in possession of.

 

Well,

I already ordered one about a month ago and I haven't actually told them whether I am going to buy or lease - it doesn't matter until the car gets to you, which in my case won't be until october. They said that we would take care of that on the delivery date. All they need now is a deposit of $500. At the time that you take possession you will determine how to pay for the car. Maybe this is dealer dependent, but I would assume it shouldn't be too much different?

In fact, when I ordered, they couldn't tell me what lease payments would be, because the residual value had not yet been set for the 06 model year. I am going to lease, because I want a new one every 3 years, but that also means no mods...oh well.

 

You're car payments will not start until the car is delivered and you sign the papers and car is registered to you.

Normally when you order a car, you just put down a deposit...sometimes re-fundable, sometimes not. I would not think that you should be making anykind of downpayment until the car is delivered.

 

Ok, what is the normal ammount roughly I would put down as a deposit for the 2006 S4 (fully loaded) ? How many G's we talking about?

And what is the difference between a deposit and a downpayment?

 

Oh, so roughly $500 will gaurantee me the right to buy it once its delivered to the dealership? Do we have any idea when to expect that?

And to be clear, when you put down your deposit, you are not actually ordering the car are you? I mean are you chosing its colors and its options?

 

Yes,

You are actually ordering the car with all of the options that you want when you put down the $500. You can choose everything and there are more options than you would expect. I chose red with silver interior and brushed aluminum trim, bose w/ xm and bluetooth, premium pkg, front filler panel,etc. It is made for you. You just don't work out the payment details until the car gets to the dealership....

Unfortunately, the time from order to delivery is around 90 days! I actually placed my deposit in mid July and my car isn't scheduled to be built until Sep 9. Then it will take 3-4 weeks to get here. I still really like my 2001 S4, but it's gonna be like Christmas in October.

 

Ok, I think I almost have this figured out. I guess my next question is this, to do this, do you go through a credit check, or is that left until the car arrives and you figure out financing? Is the deposit refundable and if it is, then what would they do with the car if you change your mind? I guess its not hard to sell such a car somewhere.

The other question is this, I guess in doing something like this that one has to haggle over the final price before putting down the deposit? I mean you are in fact agreeing on the price of the car, just not the financing right?

And finally, 90 days, damn that is a long time. Is it even remotely possible it could come sooner? What is this front pannel you speak of? And you mentioned there are more options than I would expect, you mean vs. the 2005.5 model? Did they say whether or not the 60/40 differential is included in the manual?