I’ve read a few articles but still have a couple of questions. When it comes to BMWs—specifically the iX in this case—does the type of demo vehicle make a difference? For example, would an ‘executive demo’ typically qualify for all available incentives, whereas a ‘loaner’ vehicle might reduce incentives from something like $9,900 down to $5,900? Just trying to understand how the classification impacts pricing. In case it matters this car is supposedly just under 5k miles.
Those are just marketing terms. No matter what you call it, it’s a new car that the dealer used in some capacity and now has some miles on it. A leasing company doesn’t care about anything other than the number of miles put on it.
But I thought a BMW demo/loaner had to have 5500 miles on it, so I think OP is actually asking a useful question.
Scott might know @IAC_Scott
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This is not entirely true in the case of BMW. The dealer may be using a marketing term, but there is an actual difference in the BMW world that matters in the case of EV loaner leasing.
You have service loaners, which in the case of EV’s, require a minimum of 5,500 miles on them or 6 months in service to qualify for any rebates (at time of writing this). It also, in the case of the iX for example, means the rebates are reduced from $9,900 to $5,900.
There are also what is known as “Demonstrator” type retails, which would be something like a car that a manager drove around. They are not loaner cars, and were never entered into the loaner car program. These generally qualify for new car programs, so a Demonstrator may get the full $9,900, vs the $5,900 a loaner would get.
Keep in mind, it’s really only EV’s where there is any difference (again, as of now) between the new car programs and what is offered on a loaner, for everything else, it’s all the same.
Also worth noting that while you may see the benefit of getting an Executive Demo iX that the rebates are 4k higher, however, loaner cars get subsidy money that dealers can use to “write down” the cost of ownership, which help them justify selling them at a steep discount. Demonstrators do not get any kind of payments from BMW, so that is just the dealer taking a loss on the chin, and you may expect a more difficult time negotiating on one.
Hopefully, this is helpful and comprehensive.
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LOL — once again, I’ve fallen for the marketing magic of car sales. It never even occurred to me that terms like “demo,” “loaner,” “executive car,” are basically just creative ways to describe a used (presumably untitled?) car with low miles on it being sold as new. The list goes on.
So here’s what I’m trying to figure out — if it’s technically used but still being sold as new, do incentives drop across the board? or is that only in certain cases? In my case I’m being told for the iX I am interested in it drops from $9,900 to $5,900. Some things I’ve read suggest that not all demos or loaners automatically get the reduced incentives — maybe it depends on how the car is titled or reported? People seem to comment on 5k miles being a difference?
Funny enough, I once did a small consulting project for a car company. They had a whole fleet of vehicles employees could use that I drooled over, and while those couldn’t be sold to the public directly, employees could buy them at a discount — usually a set percentage under wholesale and it was still transacted through a preferred local dealer. If they didn’t, the cars would eventually make their way to local dealers anyhow. And then there were some ‘marketing vehicles’ that couldn’t be sold period.
Very insightful!! Thank you!
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