Matt Nelson

Review of Audi North Austin

I should have taken my business elsewhere. Short v...

I should have taken my business elsewhere. Short version - Go somewhere else if you appreciate quality customer service from a premium dealership brand.
Long version - Went to the Audi N. Austin dealership about 2 weeks. The 2-stars are only because of David, the sales associate. He's actually 4-5 stars, but the rest of the buying & ownership experience weighed in heavily unfortunately. I wanted to get a certified pre-owned or extend the manufacturer warranty on a Q7. I considered a Q7 because it can tow a lot...with the tow package: tow module, wiring harness, and hitch (around $1100 worth of parts). Looked at a 2017 and 2014. David was working hard. We walked around and looked at vehicles all the way up until closing time (7pm), and I appreciated that. I came back a few days later after he had the cars ready to test drive.
I wanted the 2017 model, but the "mysterious finance guy" that only David could talk to wouldn't budge on the $750 I wanted to go down. I felt like they didn't want to sell me that car so I told them to keep it and went with the 2014 plus extended the manufacturer warranty. Asked them for their best offer for financing and was told my credit score was 851 (above perfect??) so they offered me 5.99%. I told them that was insulting and nowhere near competitive (market average at the time was 4-7%). "Magically" their lenders came back with 3.79% to beat a pre-approved offer I already had. Bought the car and realized that the "detailing" only covered the outside and the front seats. Found food (yuck) and other trash in the 2nd and 3rd rows. Very disappointing from a "premium" brand.
4 days later, it won't start because of a dead battery. Got a jump and drove it 1.5 hours back to the dealership. Car barely started again when they wanted to see the issue. Sat around for over 2 hours waiting for them to figure out the cause with no one coming to talk to me about what was wrong with the car or what they were doing to fix it. I had to ask 3 times to speak with someone. Finally talked with Thomas (Pre-Owned Director) who proceeded to tell me all the favors he was doing for me. Huh??? He agreed that it's highly unlikely a battery tests good (done by them) and goes bad 4 days later. I said a failing battery should have been caught during their inspection of the vehicle. He marginalized all of my previous bad experiences and offered no way to restore my confidence in that dealership or the Audi brand. I ended the conversation because he was not addressing the issues I had. Got the car back, and they didn't even do a courtesy wash. Pathetic.
Since then, I found the air filter foam covering was disintegrated (lots of small pieces and power from the foam. That shows either the service dept looked at and left or they didn't look at it at all. The cabin air filter was also filthy. The vehicle didn't come with the tow package which is the main reason I wanted the vehicle. Tried to order the parts through Audi N. Austin, but the parts dept was vague and apprehensive about giving me any information...like what parts I'd need to install the tow package. Ended up ordering from an Audi dealership in Atlanta, Georgia.
As of now, I have buyer's remorse and am sour about the buying & ownership experience. Hoping the towing experience will improve my opinion of Audi, but I fear the vehicle will leave me stranded alongside the road.