I see what you’re saying, I’ll check on this. Thanks for the suggestion.
Good point, we can change that.
To be honest, I didn’t really see this as a big issue, because there are already plenty of ways to find this same information, this is just a bit cleaner. You could easily do the same using an aggregate like cars.com, autotrader.com, and even BMW’s own website, no?
I could possibly see this making it slightly easier for people to find stuff, but I think that your example really only applies to rare cars. There are always going to be a lot of stock for everything but stuff like the M5, M8, X5M, X6M, Alpina, and maybe the X7.
I’ll PM you to discuss further, I’m obviously not trying to hurt brokers, but like I said, it’s not like this info isn’t all out there anyway. These cars aren’t a secret, it’s mainly meant to be a way for people who want to hack their own cars to find exactly what they’re looking for.
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Kind of goes against you being a broker here, no? Seems like a double-dipping: on LH and your own venture, through free advertisement on LH.
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I don’t see what you mean, we’re not charging for this tool, just asking for donations to help with the server and database costs. I assume the average donation will be like $5.
Obviously we have a lot of people here who want BMW’s. I first got into hacking thru BMW, this is a tool that I think goes to the core of the original purpose of this site: getting a great deal on a car you want. This just helps with the “car you want” part.
Your tool undermines you as a broker, according to the quote above.
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I mean wouldn’t you then say the whole site undermines brokers? There is a balance on this site between broker interests vs the sharing of information and deals that other people can use to try to get their own deals. This site wasn’t created to be just a broker marketplace, it was a place for people to learn and understand what they could do to get deals like these on their own, sharing tips, discount goals, etc.
I don’t think this tool makes anyone who wants to pay a broker decide to do it themselves all of a sudden. Do you? I do mean that genuinely. I guess I don’t agree on the premise.
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I think it’s also worth mentioning two things:
- I shared this privately with all registered brokers a week ago, no one expressed concern.
- I shared this with @michael before posting it on the forum and got his blessing to share it here.
I think I did my due diligence, but if anyone has an issue, they can and should feel free to PM me. I am a broker here too, after all, so their concerns (although, only one now about finding rare cars has been stated) are not lost on me.
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LH is a free exchange of knowledge first. Brokers are secondary, at least for now.
I have nothing against your new venture, btw
Funny you say that, I actually used the term “free exchange” and then changed my wording, hah.
Like I said, if a broker has an issue, they should PM me and discuss.
In the meantime, we just thought it would be a cool tool, this probably easily costs $100/mo to host because we cache and store our own data, hence why you get tons of results in a snap second.
All I meant is that you are wearing two hats here.
I gotcha, I suppose we can agree to disagree on that one. I don’t see how this is any different than any other car aggregate site other than being a little easier to use, cleaner, and exclusive to one brand lol.
Maybe I should have my friend who made it join and let him be the “face” of the tool lol.
Well, it’s nice of you to give users another option other than hiring you lol
I see where you’re coming from. The way I see it they always had that option lol. I suppose I just made it a little easier for people to find what they want.
It’s not just that. More and more lately, people ask for the credit application and never follow through, but then they know the dealership. I had one buyer who stopped engaging me after credit was approved and will only speak with my dealer contact.
Even if I’m posting something like a 540 with m sport, executive, and in a certain color, this will make it way too easy to find the car/dealership, and that’s a little concerning. People usually want to know the options, and while I don’t list everything, people are going to want to know the colors and at least some details before reaching out.
I thought most people here take their fee before an app is sent, otherwise you do have that risk of them immediately knowing the dealership, or am I mistaken? I thought that was SOP for most?
I also think most of the people here with a stronghold on their dealers have managers that know when someone is working around their top brokers. I’ve seen some folks called out here before. Regardless, check your PM’s when you have a moment if you want to discuss further, I have some thoughts I would share privately.
This tool is amazing, especially if you are hunting for a very specific package that nobody seems to keep in stock. Personally I’ve been trying to find a 330i that has the Dynamic Handling package without having special order. I gave up digging through dealer websites to find them, but your site gave me 5 vehicles instantly.
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This is exactly the kind of use case I had in mind for this. It can be so annoying when you have a “must have” option and it’s so hard to find a car with it.
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I don’t really see how this would impact brokers that much. If you’re looking for a rare car, brokers probably can’t help because their dealers won’t have the car you want. But searches like this are invaluable. If you’re looking for a popular car, finding inventory isn’t really a problem to begin with.
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Yes, it was really born of my own frustration, finding things like an MSport 330e, for example.
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Hey all, I’m the guy that built this tool with the help of Scott who was nice enough to help put together all of the options data.
To give some background, Scott and I have been good friends for years and we were chatting one day when he asked me about some stuff he found with the BMW Inventory tool. I quickly realized I could take the data and do cooler stuff with it. The tool BMW has is designed for the masses and therefore they decided to make it simple, but limiting. Fortunately, it’s relatively simple to figure out most if not all of the options a car has to make a “power users” tool which is what I see this as.
I myself being a BMW enthusiast and a software developer happen to be looking for a new X5 M and wanted to see what I could find if I ingested all the data myself. That’s how this tool was created. When I realized how simple it was, I figured I could put it online and see what people thought.
I find the response quite interesting with the back and forth between the people that like the tool and are afraid of the tool. I have some points that might be worth considering.
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Someone would’ve made this eventually. Maybe not as clean or nice, but trust me… this wasn’t rocket science to create. I had a version of this that 95% of people would have no idea was different done and running in < 6 hours. If I wasn’t toying around making things a little nicer here and there it would’ve been done that fast.
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For the brokers that are concerned that a potential customer is going to find the car you are brokering them… wouldn’t they still need to go through you to get the deal? I don’t know much about this, but from my experience either you know someone that can get you a deal or you don’t. For me that’s Scott haha.
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For those suggesting Scott is double dipping… I’m not sure how he would be. There is no payment model figured out and as of now I’m hosting this on my own dime since I thought it was cool. If it’s hurting brokers it’s hurting him just as much. Scotts gain is the same as all of you other brokers right now since the tool is out in the open for anyone to use.
Anyway, figured I should join so I could follow along. As Scott said this is just a side project so I’ll try and take the feedback and push out changes when I can.
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