Obviously lots of info here on Brokers, but I know which exact one car I want, sitting on a dealer’s lot, here in Los Angeles, and apparently that is not what Brokers help with.
Is there something like a ‘buyer’s agent’ or a ‘concierge’ or something?
I would pay someone, who is known to be highly experienced, to come with me to the dealership (or however they operate) and make sure I get the best possible deal when leasing or buying it (new BMW X4MC), and trading in my current car (BMW X3 M40i), and meeting a few other specific needs.
Are there folks on here who help with this, or some variation of it? Is it permissible to post a ‘help wanted’ with all the details, and interview/screen a few folks?
Pick a broker and tell them exactly what you want. Nobody is physically going to come with you to the dealership but I’m sure finding the vehicle won’t be an issue. Go to the marketplace and scroll the California region and add the BMW tag to filter results.
Generally speaking this isn’t really worth it for anyone involved. Cars aren’t like houses where there’s way more money/risk.
The type of people that do that type of work are usually not the best sadly. I know of a company that does it but I refuse to recommend them since it almost always is a better idea to go to a LH broker. They charge 2500 and there’s no guarantee that they’ll provide 2500 of value.
If you do a search on the site, there is some sort of concierge service (which resulted in a rather heated discussion) that might the service you’re asking for.
I do not recall the name of the company. and do not know if most of that conversation had been landfilled.
If you know the exact car you want, the best thing you can do is make a well researched offer on that particular car on your own. Unless there’s a broker in your area who has some really great long term relationship with that particular dealer there’s not much else they could do for you besides that exact same thing. You could also try to locate similar or identical cars elsewhere within a radius you are comfortable traveling and make offers on them too. What’s so special about that one particular car that nobody else has?
It’s taken me a bit to realize that some people? maybe mostly Brokers? think that once you choose a type of vehicle, then they are all pretty much the same. Not true! Well not for everyone. Maybe enthusiasts who buy $100,000+ cars want exactly what they want, and would love to custom order so they get exactly, precisely that, and if their dream ride shows up at a dealership so they don’t have to wait months to get it, then that’s like a godsend. If possible, still want to get a deal though, of course! No matter how much money I might have, the thought of “feeling like” I got a deal, while suspecting the dealers are all in the back room rolling on the floor laughing at how hard they screwed the guy over, “And then get this… after we bent him over, he thanked us!!!”
So go to Dealer A and work the best possible deal, take that to Dealer B and get them to beat it, then finally go to Dealer C – the one with the car you want – and see if they can beat A and B?
I completely understand the concept of paying the best price for the vehicle that you want. I did the same thing on my x7. But the way to do it is to go thru a broker, pay them the 500-1k and get better than market price on a build. If you want a specific car at a specific dealer and they know that you refuse to get a different car? They’re going to screw you.
Unless I’m missing something you are targeting a specific spec of a car that only has around 50 units on the ground in the country at the moment. Even a broker isn’t going to be able to do much on that. If you’re lucky you’ll get no markup right now or maybe get someone to take a fleet incentive deal if it applies to that model. Very little leverage there.
Separate the trade and purchase and find out what top dollar is for your current car. AFAIK there is no sale tax credit for trade-ins here in CA, whatever registration you paid on the current car is gone, so no benefit to trading.
The marketplace and brokers here can give you an idea what you’re likely save with them, I’d guess on a new X4M Comp you’re lucky to get 7% off. The dealer is going to tell you it’s a Faberge egg and it’s MSRP + ADM.
Off LH, even the concierge car buying services I’m familiar with have their own dealers.
Good luck and let us know how you make out. Post pics in “What’s in the Garage” with whatever you end up buying.
What’s to say that a broker on here, who serves CA, does not have a relationship at that store?
Most of the deals we advertise are from our most aggressive stores but when someone wants a very specific spec we can’t trade for, we utilize these relationships to get the best possible deal on that particular unit.
The biggest thing a broker will theoretically offer you is convenience. Not having to grind a million dealerships down in order to feel comfortable about a deal you got definitely has value to some people. There’s tons of great brokers on this site that have reviews and up front advertised pricing that speaks for itself. Outside of here your mileage can and will vary. If a broker isn’t offering a specific price on the car you want and is charging you a fee to essentially go to bat for you, the discount you are receiving would need to be greater than the fee being charged in order to make it work. On a low inventory car like this, that may not be the case.
One of the great strengths of these brokers is they can compare your desired spec across multiple dealers and see which one can offer the best price. Some dealerships, such as Santa Monica BMW and South Bay BMW just don’t negotiate at all. But the larger volume dealers such as Valencia BMW will move their price down to match you. A dealer knows this information and can make sure you aren’t banging your head against a brick wall at a dealership that can’t move much on their price!!
Exactly! Doesn’t look like the OP has any competition for that X4, so why not post the name of that dealer and see if anyone can propose something of value. There’s even a long shot that a broker may have a relationship with another dealer who might be able to dealer trade for that car.
