This has been a challenging two months with 10+ dealers and I finally placed my order outside of a dealer network with much better price and customer service. I have done over 14 orders for bmw vehicles over the last 10 years, majority with BMW FS. I have done ED and PCD deliveries and always loved the brand. My bmw contact left the car scene after 20 years and all of a sudden I realized how much he fought for my cause with every single order. Cars essentially sell themselves because of their reputation in the market and many employees of the dealerships take big advantage of it. They are lazy, they don't care, they do not follow simple common sense strategies and there no follow up with someone who is trying to legitimately order the order the car. I will describe one example out of many that I have dealt with in the last two months of trying to order an x7.
I went to Irvine BMW because they had the x7 on the floor. I went with my wife and two little kids. We know the brand, we love the brand, we currently have four BMW's between my wife and I and we are fanatics. The goal was to check out the interior since LA Auto show did not allow us to go inside, figure out the seat configuration (decide between the bench and the captain chairs) and take the car for a test drive. My wife currently has a Carbon Black M Sport F15 X5 Diesel with M Performance 21" wheels so it's very different.
As soon as we walked in the gentlemen in the front seemed annoyed that we asked for help on the sales side and one would not even turn his back to us so we had to talk to the back of his head. Finally sales guy shows up and says he cant help us because he has an appt. I looked at his office later and he was watching a movie on his computer. Another guy came up and let us check out the car; I then asked for a test drive and he looked up and down and said do you know anything about this car. I usually suit up during the week, but on the weekends since we live by the beach I dress down a lot and I guess he made an assumption. He said they don't allow test drives because they don't want to put miles on the car. I told him BMW NA TV Commercial clearly states "come drive one of the new x7's at our dealer locations" He responded that BMW NA is a different entity and has different rules. He left and when he returned he asked us not to use any of the electric buttons because it drains the battery. At that point my wife was like WTH....use a battery charger then.
I tested his knowledge about PCD and he had no idea what it was and why would people pick up the car in SC. I then told him, get me a deal for 10k/36 mo lease and handed him my spec sheet. I said I am ready to put a deposit down. He was to lazy to work the deal and told me he would call me with the deal. Guess what, the call never came. I complained to the GM and copied BMW NA customer relations on the email and the GM copied his General Sales Manager and said he would get back to me same day to take the order. Nobody ever contacted me. What do I have to do to place the order???? Why don't they care. I secretly hope for another recession in the car industry to teach them a lesson. Similar story with bunch of other dealers in the area.
I started researching other options and my friend suggested a guy that has owned a company for the past 39 years that leases major brand cars for customers- he places an order on your behalf and negotiates on your behalf. He then gets a kick back from the factory just like a dealer. Two other friends have used him in the past so I decided to give him a try. He is 70 so sometimes it takes a little longer to handle things, but we got it done and originally I planned a 40i car because of the payment, but he was able to get me the 50i for a little more. We initially thought we can get the car at Invoice, but BMW Fleet changed the price on him because of the demand and I got Invoice plus $2500. Still a much better deal then any of the shady dealers.
If you want to know his contact PM me your name and number and I will have him call you.
My specs are :
X7 xDrive50i
4.4-liter TwinPower Turbo V-8 xDrive, intelligent all-wheel drive
STANDARD FEATURES
BASE MSRP$92,600
DESIGN
M Sport Design$3,550
COLORCarbon Black Metallic
WHEELS21" Double-spoke bi-color orbit grey wheels, style 754M with all-season runflat
UPHOLSTERYTartufo Extended Merino Leather$1,000
TRIMAsh Grain Black with Bronze Effect MatteFinish Wood Trim
PACKAGES + OPTIONS
Cold Weather Package$1,200
Luxury Seating Package$1,200
Premium Package$1,550
M Sport Brakes$650
Display Key$300
Glass Controls$650
Leather Dashboard$1,200
Panoramic Sky Lounge LED Roof$750
Second-Row Captain's Chairs$600
DESTINATION + HANDLING$995
TOTAL MSRP as Built$106,245
My Net Cap Cost was 103k
Sorry for the long rant, but I think our dealers need a awakening.
