Audi subscription: $1,395/mo to swap vehicles twice a month

[Kaido]

https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/21/17888304/audi-subscription-service-monthly-fee-dallas

* The subscription includes two vehicle swaps per month
* Users can chose between having their vehicle delivered to their homes or picking them up at a local dealership.
* Choose between an Audi A4 sedan, A5 cabriolet, Q5 & Q7 SUV's, and S5 coupe
* Insurance, maintenance, roadside assistance, and unlimited mileage are also included
* Includes two complimentary days of Silvercar car rentals per month
* Launches exclusively in Dallas-Fort Worth this week

Seems like an incredibly good deal for people who typically rent cars (like traveling contractors) & want a nice car to drive around. I have a couple friends in contracting who pay way more than that every month for higher-end rentals (charged to their contracting company, of course). Only in Texas for now, curious to see if this subscription style takes off...

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Cadillac has been doing this for over a year now - $1800/month

https://www.bookbycadillac.com/collection/

BMW just kicked off their program - $3700/month if you want M cars

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/bmw-access-subscription-plan-monthly/

 

[dasherHampton]

If money is no object then sure, why not? I'd love to drive a new or almost new Audi every two weeks. But I'm sure fees push the yearly cost close to $20,000 and in the end you own nothing.

I know resale values on Q5s, for example, are sky high. You could buy a new one for $40,000, drive it for 2 years, and sell it for $25,000 if its in good condition and the mileage isn't outrageous. That's coming out ahead by quite a bit.

But, as I said - It's all about how you value your money and how much of it you have.

 

[Arkaign]

Man, those prices. Weird lineup too, as the differences between an A4 and an S5 are fairly drastic in power and prestige.

Seems like one of those things that only sound good when someone else is paying. Owning/leasing one vehicle for hometown + rentals for travel would get you more value I would think.

 

[Kaido]

Cadillac has been doing this for over a year now - $1800/month

https://www.bookbycadillac.com/collection/

BMW just kicked off their program - $3700/month if you want M cars

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/bmw-access-subscription-plan-monthly/

The difference is that Cadillac only lets you change up to 18 times a year, whereas Audi is twice a month. Volvo kickstarted the idea with their subscription program last year, which is a 2-year subscription (like a phone) that also lets you do an early upgrade annually: (if you're willing to sign up for another 2-year subscription)

https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...nt-knock-it-til-you-read-the-details.2529028/

I have a buddy who picked up an XC40 & really likes it & likes the program. $600/mo is no joke, but if you have the budget available & that falls within your personal goals, then it's a pretty slick program to take advantage of!

 

[Kaido]

If money is no object then sure, why not? I'd love to drive a new or almost new Audi every two weeks. But I'm sure fees push the yearly cost close to $20,000 and in the end you own nothing.

I know resale values on Q5s, for example, are sky high. You could buy a new one for $40,000, drive it for 2 years, and sell it for $25,000 if its in good condition and the mileage isn't outrageous. That's coming out ahead by quite a bit.

But, as I said - It's all about how you value your money and how much of it you have.

I can think of 3 groups it's aimed at, right off the bat:

1. People such as contractors, who live in rental cars, especially ones who either want a premium vehicle or need to have one for their line of work (upper executives & so on). My buddy does this...he gets a different sports car every few weeks from his rental company, way fun!

2. Companies that require premium vehicles, but don't want the hassle of ownership. A lot of law offices where I live do super-short 12 or 24-month BMW leases to keep the latest models in their fleet, but get rid of them way before any real wear & tear happens.

3. People with the available personal budget, who want to swap cars on a regular basis.

I'd definitely be curious to see what the sign-up numbers are like, especially for group #3 - are there really enough people who are willing to drop $15k to $20k a year, every year forever, to swap vehicles out on a regular basis - that is, enough to support the program?

 

[aigomorla]

im sure there is also a lot of tax incentives for plans like this where the user can just write the payment off as a business expense tax.

This is why a lot of upper business people, lease cars and not own them.
The full lease amount is tax writable depending on your profession, where as a purchase isn't.

So in the short run, they aren't really losing anything, if most of it is being comp'd out from pre tax dollars.
Its either you pimp a nice ride and not own it, but pay for it in money you would of lost anyhow to taxes.

 

[rstrohkirch]

Its either you pimp a nice ride and not own it, but pay for it in money you would of lost anyhow to taxes.

cough cough

 

[ultimatebob]

For $1,395 a month, I should be able to rent an Audi R8 for a few days during my monthly rental period and be allowed to attempt something like this with it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?ebc=A...IhfeHroqaGXqg&time_continue=188&v=oLXXL3SK3o8

If you’re going to charge me double what an midrange Audi would cost to finance just to rent it, make the rental experience worth my while

 

[frozentundra123456]

https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/21/17888304/audi-subscription-service-monthly-fee-dallas

* The subscription includes two vehicle swaps per month
* Users can chose between having their vehicle delivered to their homes or picking them up at a local dealership.
* Choose between an Audi A4 sedan, A5 cabriolet, Q5 & Q7 SUV's, and S5 coupe
* Insurance, maintenance, roadside assistance, and unlimited mileage are also included
* Includes two complimentary days of Silvercar car rentals per month
* Launches exclusively in Dallas-Fort Worth this week

Seems like an incredibly good deal for people who typically rent cars (like traveling contractors) & want a nice car to drive around. I have a couple friends in contracting who pay way more than that every month for higher-end rentals (charged to their contracting company, of course). Only in Texas for now, curious to see if this subscription style takes off...

Q5 is very nice, but for that price, i would think you you should get something more upscale than an A4.

 

[skull]

im sure there is also a lot of tax incentives for plans like this where the user can just write the payment off as a business expense tax.

This is why a lot of upper business people, lease cars and not own them.
The full lease amount is tax writable depending on your profession, where as a purchase isn't.

So in the short run, they aren't really losing anything, if most of it is being comp'd out from pre tax dollars.
Its either you pimp a nice ride and not own it, but pay for it in money you would of lost anyhow to taxes.

Doesn't work like that, say your in the 35% tax bracket, if you took the 20k in income you'd only lose $7000 to taxes. Well I guess it'd be more than that if you have to pay SE-tax plus city state taxes on the income. Either way though it costs you money. If it worked like you're saying I'd sell my paid for truck and go lease a truck for my business today.

 

[paperfist]

Hmm unlimited miles, eh? I could start a Uber empire around this...

 

[aigomorla]

Doesn't work like that, say your in the 35% tax bracket,

I dont think you would be able to afford a 1400 dollar car payment if your in the 35% tax bracket.
These tax incentives are mostly aimed at people like rich californians who are in the 62% tax bracket, aka the over 500,000 club.

 

[skull]

35% tax bracket is 200k - 500k leaving plenty of available income for something stupid like this.
37% tax bracket is 500k +

There is no 62% tax bracket, SE tax is 15.3% but most self employed people at this level are taking a salary and dividends on the rest so good chance this 20k would be on the dividends side and wouldn't be subject to SE tax anyway.

 

[aigomorla]

35% tax bracket is 200k - 500k leaving plenty of available income for something stupid like this.
37% tax bracket is 500k +

ack your right im made a typo... but i believe in calfornia that number could climb as high as 48% (federal + state) @ over 500k, and then adding (rich tax) and yes california has such a thing, and other sorts it went closer to 52% and not 62% which i made an error on.

 

[skull]

ack your right im made a typo... but i believe in calfornia that number could climb as high as 48% (federal + state) @ over 500k, and then adding (rich tax) and yes california has such a thing, and other sorts it went closer to 52% and not 62% which i made an error on.

I kind of thought thats what you might be getting at with FED, SE, state and local taxes you could end up at 62%. My original point is it still costs you money even if you pay a ridiculous amount of taxes they don't take it all. So even a person completely screwed by taxes it would still take about $8000/yr(if the above poster is correct with fees putting it closer to 20k/yr)out of their pocket to do this lease, business expenses aren't a completely free ride.