2010 VW GTI - White One!

[Ryan T]

So... This is starting to bug me, and I can't seem to find any answers on the great interwebs. When we were working through financing, I was told that if I took the VW financing, I would not receive a $500 dealer cash that was built into the price of the car... so the price would increase $500. Should I have held them up at that point and walked out? Did I get run for an easy $500? Or is this a common thing? I've never bought a new car... The guy that was there with me didn't find it unusual. Time to write a letter and complain/promise to shit on their dealership all over the Internet?

That's pretty standard on new cars, especially popular models. You get the rebate or the rate, not both. Subaru was always good about giving buyers both, but Ford/Lincoln/Mercury and Suzuki almost always let you have one or the other. Typically it would be like $3000 customer cash and the rate; or $3,000 customer cash + $500 dealer cash and standard financing rate. That extra $500 was enticing for people who were just stroking a check or financing very little while the 0% or 1.9% etc were enticing for people financing a significant portion of the purchase price.