There’s no special trick to it. Just don’t be awkward I guess?
You should collect some different possibilities and perhaps send an email to get some quotes.
You can bring those back to us and we may be able to guide you in the best way to approach a counter offer (yes, you will have to counteroffer as first pencil is always worst pencil.)
Don’t go into a store before you know what you’re after not just the car but price as well…
There’s no need to go into a dealership just to get some initial quotes. As @Electric mentioned, e-mail the dealership instead to let them know that there’s a demo on their lot that you’re interested in. Dealerships often (always?) have an internet sales manager that will respond to your e-mail.
I don’t think there’s a need to “hold back” what you know. Just be straightforward and polite. Sometimes dealerships will respond kindly and sometimes… they won’t. Don’t take it personally.
I’m doing a deal right now through e-mail, and I have yet to talk with anyone at the dealership. If they ask for your phone number, just say"with all the details involved in leasing, I prefer to work via e-mail so I have time review the numbers." So far, all dealers have been fine working this way.
You have to go only to test drive, if you have yet to do that. Just tell them you are in early stages and have comparison drives to do. Even if you like the car on the drive, get salesperson’s card and tell him/her you still have to test some other cars and will let him/her know if their car wins the Comparo. Don’t let them strongarm you into a numbers discussion in person. Just insist you have to try the other brands/models first.
After you decide on a vehicle, THEN you can do all negotiating via email.
Thank you all for the advice. I went on the website yesterday around 7pm and filled out the the box to request price/info. I haven’t gotten a response yet. I figure someone should get back to me today at some point. If not, then maybe I will try filling out the box requesting a test drive.
Read the steps I listed in my post
Prettt much all u need to do
-never go to dealer unless to finalize deal, test drive at the closest dealership to you
Residual, money factor, incentives.
Mention those 3 things and you’re in the clear
Also highly recommend considering one of the many awesome brokers on the site!
Sorry took so long. Took a while to get a true answer to my email regarding availability and price. But here’s what I got from dealer today.
“We currently have a recall on the x1s that is preventing BMW from selling new ones. The recall is being addressed and should be taken care of by the end of the month. The price of the car would be $29,981 which is $7500 discount off the price of the car. It is a new car that has never been registered so you’ll be the first owner. It will have a 4 year/50k miles warranty as well as a 3year/36k miles maintenance package. We might be able to do a little better on the price depending on rebates you might qualify for. We also have some x2s with the same amount of miles we can get you at the same price and you wouldn’t have to wait for the recall to be done.”
I already know that I don’t want an X2. The price quoted is the same as the one on the internet listing. The MSRP for this particular X1 is $37,445. The listing states the car is a 2018 and has 3,534 miles. I’m fine with waiting for the car, the end of the month is in a week. I would like the price of the car to be around $24k before rebates, discounts, etc.
I don’t know all the discounts I might be qualified for. I do not own a BMW though, so I don’t think I can get an loyalty discounts. I have read in the forum about people who got the dealer to give tax credit, so I would like to get that. I have not graduated from college. I want a 24 month lease and I want One Pay.
Just read your post. So did you not even mention that you wanted to lease the car instead of buying until step 9?
Huh? No I said lease in the beginning where are you getting September 9th from?
Understand this:
On the kind of deals people aim for on this forum, the salesperson will be making only a minimum commission.
Keep this in mind and do as much of the work for them in advance so it will make sense for them to engage with you. They all have their inventories online. Search them. Find the specific car you want, in stock, contact the internet sales manager (I always got a quicker response by phone, then following up in e-mail) and negotiate the selling price on that one unit and tell them you want it at the base MF.
If you can have all the “sales” work done in advance, you can have your time better spent working on the numbers with someone who could feasibly sell a car by doing minimal effort of their own.
If you pick a car that’s been sitting for awhile, that’s equipped outside of the usual desired range (base or overloaded), weird color combo etc… then you might more reasonably expect effort from sales considering they’re more incentivized to sell that car most likely.
I feel like the X1 has a certain charm. At least in AWD form it feels like it could replace the 3 series wagon…once you throw a throw a JB+ plug into it… 
Not September 9th. Step 9 in your post. I was asking if you negotiated the sales price and once you guys agreed to it, THEN you told him you wanted to lease. I’ve read different opinions on whether you should tell the dealer you want to lease right away or not.
It’s a never-ending debate.
I get a lot of good deals… but I’m also 86’d from a lot dealers 
Also worth noting that I’ve found testing a car via a rental agency like Turo immensely valuable in the past. You can just rent for a day and it gives you the opportunity to drive it how you usually would, on your own time on roads you’re familiar with and no awkward small talk with the sales person.
I recognize that it’s usually only possible in larger cities though, plus it’s paying for something you can do for free but I just preferred being able to take my time on a whole day test drive.
No I didn’t I said I was interested in a lease they asked terms, I said 3 or 2 years and 10k per year they gave me a quote, I asked what sales price pre incentives are they giving me and negotiated from there on
Honesty what I do first I use the calculator to get to a number I think is good and work with the dealer to hit all those numbers
Forget about the stop sale, can you even lease a 2018? I thought it was only on a 3 series in California, and others were “special exceptions.”
Huh…? I never said anything about leasing a 2018 (As far as I know there is 0 lease support on MY18)