You can always get deals better than brokers, because brokers, by definition, are middlemen and going to take cut that could have stayed in your pocket.
Brokers exist and get paid because they are doing the hard work you don’t have to, so that you can save time doing other stuff instead of negotiating.
If you want the absolute best deal ever, for the flex and sense of achievement, then you negotiate your own deals.
If you just want a good deal, and don’t want the hassle of negotiating, learning, and actually sending offers, then go pay a broker, they will be well worth the fee.
You don’t have to be a car salesman to understand that their job isn’t to field endless inquiries, but rather to sell a car. Someone who is indiscriminately asking for pricing on a wide variety of non comparable models is not buying a car.
If you are trying to get a super aggressive deal, your only value to a dealer is to be the easiest, quickest sale they have ever had so they can add one to their volume number and get an easy all-10 survey.
Make the level of effort you’re trying to pay for match the level of effort you’re trying to get them to perform.
As the busy parents of a toddler, do you really have time to negotiate a deal? Using a broker is a quick way of getting a very good deal. Given your situation, forget about getting what people here call a unicorn deal. You have too much else to spend time on.
You say you have it down to 3 vehicle types. What is going to be the determining factor in your final decision? Lowest monthly wins, assuming same amount DAS? ‘Best’ deal regardless of final monthly payment? Or finding a vehicle that fits your new lifestyle?
My initial response assumed (maybe erroneously) you were trying to figure out which vehicle fits your needs the best. If you just want a price, use the deals posted in the Marketplace to give you an idea of the deals that are typical for each of these three vehicles.
Correct — I was just trying to figure out which one suits my needs best, as well as just take total cost of ownership into account. Probably going to focus on the iX given all the incentives, but my hesitation has been having an EV with a baby while waiting to charge. X5 would be my ideal pick, but the iX incentives seem too good compared to few deals I’ve seen on the x5. M40 was just a lot of fun to drive and wife liked it the most, but additional cost for what you get doesn’t make sense to me — I’d by this used with low miles if I went that direction.
Not opposed to using a broker, but want to see what I’m able to achieve after learning a bit more. If it drives me nuts or I can’t get anywhere close to a good deal I will. Appreciate the advice!
I should clarify. Total cost of ownership and incentives. Can I afford the car? Yes, but that’s extra scratch I can put elsewhere which is more important now. Are we talking about tons of $$? No, but it’s enough I can defer to my son’s monthly savings or other investments. Do I like it that much more than the iX? No. I do like the iX.
It seems like you are going into this entire process with a negative attitude and you are partially getting the results you are because of that. You claim to have gotten screwed your first lease, then they committed warranty fraud, this new dealer has shady pricing with markups, to saying I want the dealer to bend over for me since the market is “soft” even though they should be honored to sell an “expensive” car, and I have no time for anything since I had a kid even though you want to negotiate three cars with multiple test drives. And BTW, you want the dealer to give the “best price” (which doesn’t exist) on three different models when it seems clear here you are on the iX since it is the cheapest, not necessarily the car that fits your needs best, which is the entire reason you are looking for a new SUV. I am not surprised you finished where you did since every time you talk to a dealer, there is an issue.
I also rolled my eyes reading the first email and again on the last email. I am not blaming you for getting three quotes (even though it is excessive), but this is how you should word it:
“Thanks for your time today. I am deciding to purchase one of these three this weekend and it will come down to which one is the least expensive. Can you provide the OTD price with details on any relevant discounts and incentives? I want to finance the X3 (stock #) and X5 (stock #) for 60 months with $10k down. The iX I am looking to lease for 36/10k with $3000 due at signing”. You have 1) established a timeline with some urgency 2) what is the most important factor to you 3) the terms that you are looking for. Now the manager has a valid reason to give the salesperson pricing instead of the salesperson going “I don’t know when they are buying or how they want to pay or what will make the decision for them to purchase”. That leads the manager to tell him to get the customer back in so we can get this figured out. But honestly, you should have been down to 1 car and made an offer since you have the resources here to do so. That is what I would do and others here suggest to do.
Thanks, wam22, appreciate the candor and suggestion.
I wouldn’t say I started this process off negative, definitely cynical, but suppose that’s redundant. However got along well with the sales advisor which is why I’ve continually reached out to him and thought it would initially go different with the current market being in my favor.
Met needs between the x5 and ix is really the connivence of filling up vs charging. I think they’re both great cars with different pros and cons that are negligible (aside from fuel source and total cost of ownership).
Agreed that I needed to be more direct and pick a horse — didn’t have a sense of that before everyone’s feedback but helped me figure out things better. They reached back out with an apology for the disconnect and I responded to the dealer with more transparency. Mentioned my intention wasn’t to shop quotes, was more of a reflection of negotiating in my profession and liking all 3 cars, and that I prefer to use them to honor time spent with me so long is it’s a good deal. I told them I would come back to them with a target in the coming days specifically for the iX unless they have a killer deal on the x5, and that if it works I’ll wrap things up before end of month — denoting that I don’t NEED to do this given my lease has time but want to if it works. They appreciated my transparency and mentioned they only have 1 x5 — so they wouldn’t be the dealer for that route.
Have to looked in the Marketplace to get an idea of what an x5 and iX would be if using a broker? I can guarantee the dealer isn’t going to be anywhere close to these numbers when asking for quotes.
I just leased an I4 at Niello Sac. Went through something similar and they refused to play initially. I finally said I moved on to another deal (Concord) and not wasting my time if they are just going to keep telling me to come down there. The rep even asked how she would even know that I was serious. I was annoyed at that point. The sales manager ended up emailing me and I laid out what I was looking for yet again. All the terms like a prior comment recommended and asked if they can do it. The sales rep finally got specific with me after we both agreed on a single car and my email to her manager. They held to their word and came in even better. I walked in and signed without any more negotiation. I think the key was to tell them exactly what I wanted on a specific car and the managers intervention. They needed to know I was serious. I’d recommend giving them a shot still as I am very happy with my deal despite the initial drama.
Wanted to provide an update. So the dealer for my 330i pestered me with emails and calls trying to get me in a new lease. I previously mentioned I wasn’t happy with this dealer, namely due to their service center, but I thought to myself I should try to throw an aggressive number at them and see where it goes… They ended up beating my target I gave them and did so on a more expensive iX. Ultimately, they ate 3 months of the remaining 330i lease, did not charge me for any wear and tear (I should have been dinged for new tires and one larger scratch) and put me in a ‘25 iX (msrp $99,250) for $792/mo $0 DAS for 10k/3yrs.
Thanks to all for the feedback and advice! Very helpful in getting me this deal.
