[jl582]

There are only a handful of brand communities out there that people gather to form an amazing community with their common passion. I really wanted my first BMW to be special. So far it has been nightmare after nightmare.

I first test drove X7 in the late summer of 2021 and decided to custom order one. After reaching out to several local dealerships and brokers for price and allocation inquiries, I ended up ordering X7 through a well-known broker in September for October build w/ NJ dealership. The first X7 arrived on time the week of Oct 18th and I got my new auto insurance & financing through Penfed all ready to go. Unfortunately, the new X7 was found to have a leaking coolant tank and needed a replacement. I should have known that this was a sign that the worst was yet to come.

Several weeks have passed but the dealer had no knowledge when the part would be available to order. I even reached out to BMW corporate regarding this matter but both BMW corporate & the dealership had no clue about the estimate. Finally, after 2 months of waiting for a replacement part of a new car, I asked my options with the dealership’s fleet sales manager and decided to re-order. This was the 3rd week of December.

Anxiously tracking and waiting for this new X7 (and hoping there are no missing parts), I found out Penfed’s 2021 $3250 has expired as of early this month. As of last week, the best discount the sales manager offered to offset this loss was an additional $500. The car finally arrived this past weekend, but to make this expired discount worse, the dealership’s manager decided they won’t honor the promised discount from September making it less than half of what was agreed. The broker I worked with felt really sorry that he would not even charge me his fees if I decided to proceed.

As much as I love to get my hands on this dream car, I am not sure if I would be happy proceeding with this purchase knowing I’ll be handing over my money to a scummy dealership that will take advantage of this market. Overall, 140 days of waiting, 5 changes to my auto insurances, 2 auto loans (the first one had to be canceled before the first payment) & 50+ unhelpful calls/emails to BMW have placed me in such a bad dilemma.

Thank you for reading my long whining complaint about the BMW experience but maybe it’s not just this auto market in general but the sign that I don’t deserve this car. By the way, I think the BMW is still waiting for the replacement coolant tank from October. I would be extremely worried if you have any broken X7 parts in need of a replacement.

[Al Pinã]

That totally sucks man. I don't blame you for feeling the way you do. I've discovered that working with a reputable dealership is the key to getting what you want from BMWNA. I learned that the hard way with my previous car (750) that had so many problems that it should've been lemon-lawed. The dealer I was working with for service didn't follow the correct procedures in getting me what I deserved since the car was in the shop over 200 days.

The dealer I bought the car from had handled similar (though not as egregious) situations that always ended up with BMW buying the car back. The only reason I didn't use them for service is because they are 25 miles further than my local dealer.

I say all this in hopes that if you do decide to stay with BMW, find you a dealership that wants to earn your business. Yelp reviews can be helpful, but it's better to get a referral from someone on these forums.

[x7bmw23]

Originally Posted by jl582

There are only a handful of brand communities out there that people gather to form an amazing community with their common passion. I really wanted my first BMW to be special. So far it has been nightmare after nightmare.

I first test drove X7 in the late summer of 2021 and decided to custom order one. After reaching out to several local dealerships and brokers for price and allocation inquiries, I ended up ordering X7 through a well-known broker in September for October build w/ NJ dealership. The first X7 arrived on time the week of Oct 18th and I got my new auto insurance & financing through Penfed all ready to go. Unfortunately, the new X7 was found to have a leaking coolant tank and needed a replacement. I should have known that this was a sign that the worst was yet to come.

Several weeks have passed but the dealer had no knowledge when the part would be available to order. I even reached out to BMW corporate regarding this matter but both BMW corporate & the dealership had no clue about the estimate. Finally, after 2 months of waiting for a replacement part of a new car, I asked my options with the dealership's fleet sales manager and decided to re-order. This was the 3rd week of December.

Anxiously tracking and waiting for this new X7 (and hoping there are no missing parts), I found out Penfed's 2021 $3250 has expired as of early this month. As of last week, the best discount the sales manager offered to offset this loss was an additional $500. The car finally arrived this past weekend, but to make this expired discount worse, the dealership's manager decided they won't honor the promised discount from September making it less than half of what was agreed. The broker I worked with felt really sorry that he would not even charge me his fees if I decided to proceed.

As much as I love to get my hands on this dream car, I am not sure if I would be happy proceeding with this purchase knowing I'll be handing over my money to a scummy dealership that will take advantage of this market. Overall, 140 days of waiting, 5 changes to my auto insurances, 2 auto loans (the first one had to be canceled before the first payment) & 50+ unhelpful calls/emails to BMW have placed me in such a bad dilemma.

Thank you for reading my long whining complaint about the BMW experience but maybe it's not just this auto market in general but the sign that I don't deserve this car. By the way, I think the BMW is still waiting for the replacement coolant tank from October. I would be extremely worried if you have any broken X7 parts in need of a replacement.

Sorry 2 hear about your troubles my friend. At this point I would cut my losses and get the new Jeep Grad Cherokee and save some money. I like BMW but I personally don't have a brand loyalty, but just pursue what I want and believe to be my dream vehicle. I left BMW for Mercedes for about 6 years but came back to BMW because of the relationship I had with my SA and the people at the dealership.

Maybe all the stuff happening is indeed a signal for you to run away from BMW. I continue to hear about part shortages from different manufacturers. I try to baby my X7 coming up on its 9 month anniversary, so that I don't burn through any parts, brake pads, battery, etc that will take months to arrive at the dealership.

Good luck brother with your situation. If you're in dire need of something quick, I would look elsewhere, but then u may be in the same boat there as well. If there's no immediate need, maybe ride out the wait for your dream vehicle.

[padrino]

That’s frustrating that for such a small issue they would not pull the part, I mean they are made in South Carolina, it should not be an issue of making a special exception for a pre-delivery fix for a car only made in Germany..

Sorry to hear that, the dealer is an equal disappointment, while I get that the PenFed discount is out of their hands they should have honored what they offered for for the first X7 that had the issue.. Did they make this clear when you ordered the second or was it truly a bait and switch when the second came in?

[BobsM3Coupe]

Originally Posted by padrino

That’s frustrating that for such a small issue they would not pull the part, I mean they are made in South Carolina, it should not be an issue of making a special exception for a pre-delivery fix for a car only made in Germany..

From personal experience, BMW would rather perform a buyback of a vehicle than pull a part from the assembly line.

[tlove1389]

Originally Posted by jl582

There are only a handful of brand communities out there that people gather to form an amazing community with their common passion. I really wanted my first BMW to be special. So far it has been nightmare after nightmare.

I first test drove X7 in the late summer of 2021 and decided to custom order one. After reaching out to several local dealerships and brokers for price and allocation inquiries, I ended up ordering X7 through a well-known broker in September for October build w/ NJ dealership. The first X7 arrived on time the week of Oct 18th and I got my new auto insurance & financing through Penfed all ready to go. Unfortunately, the new X7 was found to have a leaking coolant tank and needed a replacement. I should have known that this was a sign that the worst was yet to come.

Several weeks have passed but the dealer had no knowledge when the part would be available to order. I even reached out to BMW corporate regarding this matter but both BMW corporate & the dealership had no clue about the estimate. Finally, after 2 months of waiting for a replacement part of a new car, I asked my options with the dealership’s fleet sales manager and decided to re-order. This was the 3rd week of December.

Anxiously tracking and waiting for this new X7 (and hoping there are no missing parts), I found out Penfed’s 2021 $3250 has expired as of early this month. As of last week, the best discount the sales manager offered to offset this loss was an additional $500. The car finally arrived this past weekend, but to make this expired discount worse, the dealership’s manager decided they won’t honor the promised discount from September making it less than half of what was agreed. The broker I worked with felt really sorry that he would not even charge me his fees if I decided to proceed.

As much as I love to get my hands on this dream car, I am not sure if I would be happy proceeding with this purchase knowing I’ll be handing over my money to a scummy dealership that will take advantage of this market. Overall, 140 days of waiting, 5 changes to my auto insurances, 2 auto loans (the first one had to be canceled before the first payment) & 50+ unhelpful calls/emails to BMW have placed me in such a bad dilemma.

Thank you for reading my long whining complaint about the BMW experience but maybe it’s not just this auto market in general but the sign that I don’t deserve this car. By the way, I think the BMW is still waiting for the replacement coolant tank from October. I would be extremely worried if you have any broken X7 parts in need of a replacement.

Life is crazy right now. It's just not normal. People and companies are doing things they never would do in normal times or maybe I should say in the past. I too had issues with "my first BMW ". Mine was more in line with ordering and the lack of touch screen. I had to re order and yes, lost the pen fed discount as well. It was a punch in the gut. We went through with the purchase because this was the car my wife wanted. We looked at Jeep as some mentioned, but it's no BMW, not even close. We looked at other brands too but nothing compared in our opinion. We have around 500 miles on it and when I drive it, it just feels different. Maybe it's in my head or maybe it's real. I'm sure I will have bumps along the way, but I don't regret my purchase for one min. I think everyone wants a good deal, a fair deal. Sounds like you aren't getting either, but your getting what most people are getting including me. I didn't love how mine went down either but I'm telling you, when you drive it, it's just different. I only have the 40i. Im not a rich person but do well enough to get this car and feel that I can enjoy life a bit more with this car..and it's my wife's car. But I get it out when I can. Sorry for long message but you only live once and if you can afford it, go get it and don't look back. If it's gonna bother you then move on to another brand/car. Life's too short. Good luck.

[mjr24]

Originally Posted by jl582

There are only a handful of brand communities out there that people gather to form an amazing community with their common passion. I really wanted my first BMW to be special. So far it has been nightmare after nightmare.

I first test drove X7 in the late summer of 2021 and decided to custom order one. After reaching out to several local dealerships and brokers for price and allocation inquiries, I ended up ordering X7 through a well-known broker in September for October build w/ NJ dealership. The first X7 arrived on time the week of Oct 18th and I got my new auto insurance & financing through Penfed all ready to go. Unfortunately, the new X7 was found to have a leaking coolant tank and needed a replacement. I should have known that this was a sign that the worst was yet to come.

Several weeks have passed but the dealer had no knowledge when the part would be available to order. I even reached out to BMW corporate regarding this matter but both BMW corporate & the dealership had no clue about the estimate. Finally, after 2 months of waiting for a replacement part of a new car, I asked my options with the dealership’s fleet sales manager and decided to re-order. This was the 3rd week of December.

Anxiously tracking and waiting for this new X7 (and hoping there are no missing parts), I found out Penfed’s 2021 $3250 has expired as of early this month. As of last week, the best discount the sales manager offered to offset this loss was an additional $500. The car finally arrived this past weekend, but to make this expired discount worse, the dealership’s manager decided they won’t honor the promised discount from September making it less than half of what was agreed. The broker I worked with felt really sorry that he would not even charge me his fees if I decided to proceed.

As much as I love to get my hands on this dream car, I am not sure if I would be happy proceeding with this purchase knowing I’ll be handing over my money to a scummy dealership that will take advantage of this market. Overall, 140 days of waiting, 5 changes to my auto insurances, 2 auto loans (the first one had to be canceled before the first payment) & 50+ unhelpful calls/emails to BMW have placed me in such a bad dilemma.

Thank you for reading my long whining complaint about the BMW experience but maybe it’s not just this auto market in general but the sign that I don’t deserve this car. By the way, I think the BMW is still waiting for the replacement coolant tank from October. I would be extremely worried if you have any broken X7 parts in need of a replacement.

Does this scummy dealership happen to be in Springfield, NJ?

[jl582]

Originally Posted by padrino

That’s frustrating that for such a small issue they would not pull the part, I mean they are made in South Carolina, it should not be an issue of making a special exception for a pre-delivery fix for a car only made in Germany..

Sorry to hear that, the dealer is an equal disappointment, while I get that the PenFed discount is out of their hands they should have honored what they offered for for the first X7 that had the issue.. Did they make this clear when you ordered the second or was it truly a bait and switch when the second came in?

It was the dealer's sales fleet manager who offered a new order in December as "at least what they can do" instead of an indefinite wait-and-see situation as they had no clue what was going on with the part. Even as of last week during the final assembly, the deal was still intact just he was exploring what the dealer can do to offset the Penfed discount since the delay was BMW's fault.

I am sure it was the general sales manager's greed trying to take advantage of this seller's market not honoring the sale (most likely because it was through a broker) and not taking responsibility for BMW's problem in the first place. It was supposed to be a very reputable BMW dealership in NJ and the broker I worked with has brought hundreds of sales through this dealership.

[jl582]

Originally Posted by mjr24

Does this scummy dealership happen to be in Springfield, NJ?

Did I fall for their fake online reviews?
I better spend a good amount of time writing my honest reviews on BBB, Google, Yelp, local media...

[mjr24]

Originally Posted by jl582

Did I fall for their fake online reviews?
I better spend a good amount of time writing my honest reviews on BBB, Google, Yelp, local media...

I used the same broker that I assume you did and had a lot of issues with the dealer, too. I think a lot of it is people/dealers taking advantage of the market right now. This would have never happened 2 years ago....hell, a lot of the bad stories I've seen would have never happened 2 years ago.

PenFed is not really the dealer's fault....but if they gave you a discount in September, they should honor it now. How much was your discount then? I took delivery of my X7 at the same dealer in like late July.

[Easyrider470]

find another dealer. Customer service for a purchase like this is critical.
There are plenty of dealers that would treat you better

[BigEvan1923]

Originally Posted by jl582

There are only a handful of brand communities out there that people gather to form an amazing community with their common passion. I really wanted my first BMW to be special. So far it has been nightmare after nightmare.

I first test drove X7 in the late summer of 2021 and decided to custom order one. After reaching out to several local dealerships and brokers for price and allocation inquiries, I ended up ordering X7 through a well-known broker in September for October build w/ NJ dealership. The first X7 arrived on time the week of Oct 18th and I got my new auto insurance & financing through Penfed all ready to go. Unfortunately, the new X7 was found to have a leaking coolant tank and needed a replacement. I should have known that this was a sign that the worst was yet to come.

Several weeks have passed but the dealer had no knowledge when the part would be available to order. I even reached out to BMW corporate regarding this matter but both BMW corporate & the dealership had no clue about the estimate. Finally, after 2 months of waiting for a replacement part of a new car, I asked my options with the dealership’s fleet sales manager and decided to re-order. This was the 3rd week of December.

Anxiously tracking and waiting for this new X7 (and hoping there are no missing parts), I found out Penfed’s 2021 $3250 has expired as of early this month. As of last week, the best discount the sales manager offered to offset this loss was an additional $500. The car finally arrived this past weekend, but to make this expired discount worse, the dealership’s manager decided they won’t honor the promised discount from September making it less than half of what was agreed. The broker I worked with felt really sorry that he would not even charge me his fees if I decided to proceed.

As much as I love to get my hands on this dream car, I am not sure if I would be happy proceeding with this purchase knowing I’ll be handing over my money to a scummy dealership that will take advantage of this market. Overall, 140 days of waiting, 5 changes to my auto insurances, 2 auto loans (the first one had to be canceled before the first payment) & 50+ unhelpful calls/emails to BMW have placed me in such a bad dilemma.

Thank you for reading my long whining complaint about the BMW experience but maybe it’s not just this auto market in general but the sign that I don’t deserve this car. By the way, I think the BMW is still waiting for the replacement coolant tank from October. I would be extremely worried if you have any broken X7 parts in need of a replacement.

I’m sorry to hear about your struggles. It’s a miserable market right now. Nice to see a risti up in here

[Tinbad]

I will say my experience with BMW NA/corporate has been abysmal. Im convinced their job is to keep denying / ignoring you until you stop bothering to contact them. Maybe it's different going through a dealer but my dealership experiences have also not been great both from purchasing and service stand point. I'm sure there are good ones out there but kind of ridiculous we have to rely on "having a good dealer nearby" in order to receive good customer service.

I'd say just take your losses and move on. I'm in a situation where I have the car in possession even though it has multiple issues (although none that make it un drivable). If I wouldn't have it in
possession or if the car market wouldn't be this crazy (very hard to find something comparable with the right options right now) I would've rid of it long time ago and moved on.

[DSTJ99]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Who was the broker? I used Next Level and BMW of Ramsey in NNJ 2 years ago and had an awesome experience. It's a shame how the market has changed.

[jl582]

Today, I canceled my order. I'm sure this cancellation will financially put the dealership in a better position for the next buyer but personally, I couldn't go through giving them my business. It's been a long frustrating 5 months disappointed by both BMW corporate's handling of the original order issue and the dealer sales manager's greed to profit last minute. I learned so much about this car X7 (features, tips, cool photos) thanks to this forum. It may take a couple of more months to own one myself but will see where this search takes me. Thank you everyone for your amazing contribution making my regular visit to this site so fun.

[dmanb2b]

Damn, make me thankful we didn't wait to order ours in 2/2021 for 4/2021 delivery @9% discount plus $3,500 bmw rebate. Sorry to hear about your troubles. Don't give up on the brand and find a good dealer.

[classj]

The dealers in Northern NJ are abysmal. I very much like my SA but dealer management could care less to keep me a customer. The last two cars I purchased are from PA.

[Saejin]

OP’s dealer is a POS for not honoring the price and trying to renegotiate the deal.

However, in general the market isn’t really the dealers fault. They are just responding to the market and having to do what they need to do to keep revenue and profits where they need to be in order to stay open. If dealers pre-lockdown we’re able to sell 100 cars a month because that the pipeline they got from the factory maybe at that time they could afford the 9% off MSRP which was typical back then. But now they’re like getting 10 cars a month, so they need to find a way to make the same profit they did but with 1/10 of the cars.
Naturally they are going to raise prices to MSRP and above.

Now, buyers drive the market. If there is a demand and they are willing to pay, then that’s how it works. You’re not negotiating with the dealer on the price of a new car…you’re really competing with the other buyers in the market and unfortunately some have more money than sense.

[Tr4ckD4ys]

Originally Posted by Saejin

OP’s dealer is a POS for not honoring the price and trying to renegotiate the deal.

However, in general the market isn’t really the dealers fault. They are just responding to the market and having to do what they need to do to keep revenue and profits where they need to be in order to stay open. If dealers pre-lockdown we’re able to sell 100 cars a month because that the pipeline they got from the factory maybe at that time they could afford the 9% off MSRP which was typical back then. But now they’re like getting 10 cars a month, so they need to find a way to make the same profit they did but with 1/10 of the cars.
Naturally they are going to raise prices to MSRP and above.

Now, buyers drive the market. If there is a demand and they are willing to pay, then that’s how it works. You’re not negotiating with the dealer on the price of a new car…you’re really competing with the other buyers in the market and unfortunately some have more money than sense.

Or just more money. I don’t feel bad for one second having paid MSRP. If it’s all just supply and demand, why should anybody, dealer and driver alike, feel bad? How goes the saying? Don’t hate the player hate the game.

[nicboy]

I think all the BMW users we should from an alliance and so we go together to battle with BMW Corporate and dealership, if they know we won't be fooled by their decisiveness such as taking advantage of the supplying issue although things are getting better. If we all refuse to buy for a period of one month, they will be shocked and back off.

[Tr4ckD4ys]

Originally Posted by nicboy

I think all the BMW users we should from an alliance and so we go together to battle with BMW Corporate and dealership, if they know we won't be fooled by their decisiveness such as taking advantage of the supplying issue although things are getting better. If we all refuse to buy for a period of one month, they will be shocked and back off.

Lol?