[PaulT_M5]

I had a call earlier from my dealer with some news on my M5 order.

They have my build week and expected delivery date.

The bad news is that the delivery date is after that by which the car must be registered to get the 0% finance offer. I pointed out I had it in writing from them (e-mail) that they would honour the 0% deal on the delivery date if it was late and they shrugged it off saying it was BMW finance who set these requirements and they couldn't do anything about it

Bearing in mind the time of year, I'm going to be stewing on this news for the next two days until I can get over to see them in person.

Where do I stand with this, what can I reasonably do?

Has anyone been in a similar situation?

Any useful advice you can give for when I go to see them?

[949]

attack bmw finance. they are the ones who gave you the promise. I am assuming your not currently talking to finance with this part of the message.

[JonD]

You think the dealer would have waited until after Christmas so not as to spoil it for you.

I would have thought once the finance was agreed that the deal would stand?

If it's an consolation, Some nice person crashed into my car this morning whilst it was parked up, then fecked off with out leaving any details so that's mine tainted as well

someone pass me another beer

[SilverFox335D]

Originally Posted by PaulT_335i

I had a call earlier from my dealer with some news on my M5 order.

They have my build week and expected delivery date.

The bad news is that the delivery date is after that by which the car must be registered to get the 0% finance offer. I pointed out I had it in writing from them (e-mail) that they would honour the 0% deal on the delivery date if it was late and they shrugged it off saying it was BMW finance who set these requirements and they couldn't do anything about it

Bearing in mind the time of year, I'm going to be stewing on this news for the next two days until I can get over to see them in person.

Where do I stand with this, what can I reasonably do?

Has anyone been in a similar situation?

Any useful advice you can give for when I go to see them?

Show them the written promise and make the entity that wrote it honour it. If that's the stealer, so be it. Their problem not yours. Any problem get straight on to BMW Customer Services.
A contract is a contract.
Certainly don't worry about it over Xmas. I cannot see that they won't realize it is their fault.
Mind you tell them it ruined your Christmas and get them to throw in something by way of compensation.

[Pablo68]

To get it straight:

You have it in writing from your dealer they will honour the 0% regardless of delivery date?

Did whoever wrote the email have authority to make that commitment or was it just a salesman making false promises to secure the deal? I would in the first instance take it to the dealer principle, show the email and explain that unless they honour that or provide recompense you will be backing out and see what his position is.

Silverfox.. A contract is a contract but only if signed by an authorised person. For instance a shop worker couldn't create a legally binding contract to sell you his bosses stock for nothing, just as a salesman can't create a legally binding contract with you without the priinciple or business managers (usually) signature and if he's just made up stuff to secure a sale then A) it isn't binding on the dealer / BMW and B) he will be in a lot of shit for it.

[SilverFox335D]

Originally Posted by Pablo68

To get it straight:

You have it in writing from your dealer they will honour the 0% regardless of delivery date?

Did whoever wrote the email have authority to make that commitment or was it just a salesman making false promises to secure the deal? I would in the first instance take it to the dealer principle, show the email and explain that unless they honour that or provide recompense you will be backing out and see what his position is.

Silverfox.. A contract is a contract but only if signed by an authorised person. For instance a shop worker couldn't create a legally binding contract to sell you his bosses stock for nothing, just as a salesman can't create a legally binding contract with you without the priinciple or business managers (usually) signature and if he's just made up stuff to secure a sale then A) it isn't binding on the dealer / BMW and B) he will be in a lot of shit for it.

Fair points Pablo! You're probably right but would you think they would like the bad publicity or wasted time arguing?
I'd still push the point that (I am guessing) an email has a signature of sorts and surely even a salesman has to be responsible for his actions? And his bosses should honour his actions however bad or wrong.
If I am talking with a sales person I expect him to be able to sell me something otherwise why is he there. I'd bet his manager told him to say it as well!!

[TiresOnFire]

How about walking from that dealer and starting over with a new one willing to match your reasonable expectations. Make up the zero interest discount as a sale price reduction perhaps.

Don't know if this helps or even applies but I paid cash for two at the same time. BMW still had to run a credit report stating they would only honor prices and terms upon doing so.

[PaulT_M5]

When BMW confirmed individual paintwork would add 8 weeks to the delivery, the salesman called me and gave me a couple of options. I have an email from the salesman saying they would honour the 0% offer if my order was changed to standard options and retaining individual trim, but not if I wanted individual paintwork, so I swapped to standard paint and kept the other options the same.

I do not know whether the salesman was authorised to make the offer or not, but I guess my best route is to talk to the dealer principal, or most senior person in on the day, and argue my case that the salesman was acting on behalf of the organisation by using the organisations email system and official email signature as my amendment to the order was made on this basis.

[Testpilottimmy]

We had this with our Mini JCW - the finance was honoured. Do they actually want your business?

[pdk42]

Seems rather odd. M5s are hardly flying out the doors. I'm sure a conversation with the dealer principal once he/she gets back after the mince pie fest will sort things out.

[JustChris]

Once you get in touch with someone at your dealers I think you will be fine. I can't believe the deal will not be honoured. Rest easy for a few days and take it up then.

[NISFAN]

I wouldn't worry too much, they re-jig the deals every quarter. You'll probably find they have stopped 0% APR and replaced it with a bigger discount. The monthlies should be about the same.

[Pablo68]

Originally Posted by SilverFox335D

Fair points Pablo! You're probably right but would you think they would like the bad publicity or wasted time arguing?
I'd still push the point that (I am guessing) an email has a signature of sorts and surely even a salesman has to be responsible for his actions? And his bosses should honour his actions however bad or wrong.
If I am talking with a sales person I expect him to be able to sell me something otherwise why is he there. I'd bet his manager told him to say it as well!!

What the dealership is legally bound to honour and what they may do in good faith to appease a pissed off customer are not necessarily the same thing and if it was just an (ex) salesman making stuff up then they may decide the hit on honouring the deal is just too much, and indeed they may not even be able to, after all they absolutely won't have any authority to commit BMW finance to non standard rates. I suspect he best the op will get is some form of halfway house deal such as a discount making up part of the additional interest if the dealer wants to keep his custom. However only the dealer principle will be in a position to make that call.

[Kal101]

Originally Posted by JonD

You think the dealer would have waited until after Christmas so not as to spoil it for you.

I would have thought once the finance was agreed that the deal would stand?

If it's an consolation, Some nice person crashed into my car this morning whilst it was parked up, then fecked off with out leaving any details so that's mine tainted as well

someone pass me another beer

The dirty 💩. The dealer and whoever did that to your car.

[matt_320d]

I'd walk. As far as I'm concerned the deal is set on the date the contract is signed and the deposit payed. For any company the size of BMW to try and change the deal after that point is just grossly unprofessional and they don't deserve your business.

They should return your deposit in full and you should walk...or else suck it up and honour the deal (whether strictly legally bound to or not) because that's how respectable companies treat valued clients.

[dazzapb]

Hi mate, my finance rate was promised to be 3.9% when I opted to wait for the car to be handed over a few months later to get a 14 plate the rate had jumped to something like 8%.

So the solution was to apply a bigger discount to the car. As others have already said

[Pablo68]

Originally Posted by matt_320d

I'd walk. As far as I'm concerned the deal is set on the date the contract is signed and the deposit payed. For any company the size of BMW to try and change the deal after that point is just grossly unprofessional and they don't deserve your business.

They should return your deposit in full and you should walk...or else suck it up and honour the deal (whether strictly legally bound to or not) because that's how respectable companies treat valued clients.

Unless I misread the op it was the dealer that made the promise and not BMW. The franchised dealers and BMW are seperate legal entities.

BMW have fixed the rules for 0% finance and unless I'm wrong it seems the dealer or one of it's salespeople has made a promise they basically can't honour to get a sale and are now squirming out of it. The dealer now has two choices make it up to the op some other way or cancel the deal and return any deposit on the basis the deal cannot be met, and take any bad press on the chin.

If the salesman made promises without authority to do so he should be sacked for misrepresenting the dealer, if the person authorised to sign the contract made contractual offers they knew they couldn't keep this should be reported to BMW...was a contract made (outside of a verbal contract and vague email) and deposit paid? Or was it all just on a nod and a wink? We haven't been told.

Oh and unfortunately just because someone claims they are representing a business doesn't mean they actually can and legally binding the business to any agreements they make. Only people expressly authorised by the business or the business directors can legally bind it to an agreement, any one else that claims to is up for gross misconduct.

Sorry to be a bit of a bah humbug for the op but it's going to depend on who exactly made the promises, how they were represented and ultimately how much the dealer principle wishes to keep the customer. Of course there's nothing to stop the op letting BMW uk know that one of their dealers is making claims that ultimately reflect badly on BMW

[zedman]

They can still honour the zero percent deal, the only issue is that now the dealer will have to pay BMW finance for it...

I'd imagine as an earlier poster said next quarter there will be an equally enticing offer with a bigger discount offsetting the interest, its down to the dealer to match off the numbers

[G82Dude]

Have a moan at the dealer - they did that deal to secure your business. If they are now saying they can't, tell them to keep the car. They need your money more than you need a new car: there's only one of you with your cash, there are plenty of dealers.

[AlanQS]

Guys, it doesn't matter whether the salesman had the authority to do the deal or not. What is important is that the third party could reasonably assume that the employee he dealt with was acting as a representative of the company, in this case the salesman. Since all your discussions and negotiations would be with the salesman and since you would act in accordance with agreements with the salesman then the courts would consider that the salesman was indeed representing the company and anything he offered would then be enforceable.

BMW themselves are, without doubt, not contractually involved with this, it is only with the dealer and if they don't want to sort it out to the customer's satisfaction then the dealer has changed the terms of the contract which you then refuse and you are completely free to terminate the contract as you see fit which includes any return of deposit whether it was called non-refundable or not.

[F30oldie]

Alan is right. It's vicarious liability. The dealer is vicariously liable for the acts of the salesman who is acting as an agent of the company.

[NISFAN]

Great post AlanQS