Summary: Recently had our first kid and looking to upgrade 2021 330i to an SUV. Lease isn’t up until end of Sept, but I’m still 6k from final 30k miles (won’t hit it) and BMW keeps asking to get me into a new car. Needless to say not in a rush, but come to find out changing diapers in a sedan is less than ideal, nor does it have enough cargo space for the full travel nursery my wife insists I pack on every outing….
I was trying to use an alternative dealer in Sacramento because my previous dealer’s service dept essentially tried to commit insurance fraud on a repair. I have been to Niello BMW 4 times in 2 months to test drive different cars between my wife and I. Have it down to either an x3 m40, x5 or iX, depending how OTD numbers and ancillary costs look (insurance, gas, elec, etc). Attached is my correspondence (I removed some frivolous replies). Between 6/19 to today I’ve probably asked 5 or 6 different ways for OTD numbers (in person and email) and I’ve only gotten a run around. Morover, I asked why they still have markup stickers on their cars given the current market and they said they’re just “soft markups”, which sounds shady.
While I’m not in a rush, I was thinking about pulling the trigger this weekend or before the end of the month. However, as you can see I was getting nowhere and lost my patience… Is this normal or should I have asked for 1 specific car instead of 3? Given more info? I don’t know why any of that would make a difference especially if they want to sell a car and at the price point the cars are at. Got slightly hosed on my first lease three years ago (fool me once…) so trying to go about this one patiently and not get bent over.
My advice: don’t waste your time, patience, and potentially money (again) on dealership BS. The broker deals for CA are both strong and easy.
As for the choice of car, X5 or iX if you value utility/comfort over driving enjoyment. Biased, but I’d say the X5 (40i) is the best all-around vehicle that BMW currently makes for the price, but an X3 30i is also a very good vehicle for the price. If cost is a consideration, then I don’t think the M340i/X3M40i are remotely worth the premiums if you often have a baby on board.
You need to stop fielding quotes and instead research what a good deal is for you and then ask the dealer if they can do it and that you will come in and sign that day if they can. If you let them tell you what they’d like you to pay, you’re going to end up being too far apart during negotiations.
As mentioned above, if this sounds like a lot of work, the brokers deals on the marketplace are solid and easy.
Honestly, you’re wasting their time. You’ve been there multiple times over multiple months and are looking at 3 completely separate classes of vehicle. You haven’t given them any sort of target numbers to hit to make a deal. All you’re doing is asking for them to give to numbers that you can ask someone else to beat. They’ve got better things to do. FWIW, when I lived in Northern California Niello had a really good reputation (this obviously could have changed in the past 15 years, but again, you’re wasting their time)
Appreciate the input. Interesting. I work in another field as a broker where getting the other party’s number first is the better move, but humbly don’t know this business well and there’s a lot of BS. Goal was to get their OTD pricing and get a sense of where they’re starting from and hone in on which car makes the most sense. Not attempting to shop pricing, merely see their hand as a starting point and focus from there. Thanks.
Wasting THEIR time? You must be a car salesman. They really don’t have better things to do than respond to customer inquiries. That is their job after all. You know, helping customers figure out what vehicle is right for them. What else are car sales people going to do on a Wednesday afternoon in the middle of the month?
So many good brokers and dealers in the marketplace here that deal in BMWs, I would just go that route even if you have to make your way to SoCal for delivery.
Also, do you know which lease parameters are negotiable and how to input/use the LH calc to come up with your own target payment/DAS? Will save you thousands…or just pay a broker like others have said.
Agreed. Thought the response was off as well, and not productive. to your point, the sales advisor even told me they’ve been really slow and as of late often times go with maybe two people coming in the whole day (including weekends). Not to mention I don’t think 4 visits in 2 months for quick test drives of similar priced cars between 2 parents trying to juggle a 5 month old back and forth is remotely unreasonable or waste of anyone’s time (maybe my son begs to differ). Oh well, we all have different opinions from various experiences. Agree to disagree.
Kind of. I’ve been playing with the calculator on deals I’ve like for similar cars. Getting a grasp, but need clearly need to refine if I’m better suited going to them with targets first. Appreciate the advice!
I’ve looked at the deals and there some of interest, but I’ve read that you can typically get better deals yourself, irrespective of the fee. Just don’t know how much of a difference we’re talking. Assume broker deals are firm? Thanks for the input
Hi I want
stk number 2011
MSRP 56300
Selling price 48700
Rebates 4000 (2000 loyalty 1000 costco 1000 amex)
36 mos
10k/yr
56% rv
.00126 MF
payment 586/mo
due at signing 1st and dmv
Just being honest with you here to hopefully help, if I was a busy salesperson at a high volume dealer with better things to do, a lead asking me for OTD numbers on 3 totally different types of vehicle would probably not be the top of my priority list.
If you sent me a specific car and a target deal I’d be more apt to jump on trying to making it happen.
I just did this 2 days ago on a loaner at a dealer that I wanted, I sent my target, he checked my numbers, good to go.
There is no benefit to trying to extract an initial number from a dealer as a starting point, all that matters is the end point and not who goes first.
Probably not the case if you’re not getting satisfactory responses from dealers. But it’s ultimately a decision only you can make. I would also suggest you consider the value of your time (and potential headache) trying to navigate this.
