BMW X3 Forum
BMW X3 Forum
Welcome to the ultimate BMW X3 community.
BMW Garage BMW Meets Register Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read
Post Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
      03-25-2012, 01:35 PM   #1
X3ff
New Member
United_States
0
Rep
8
Posts

Drives: Not a BMW yet
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Atlanta, GA

iTrader: (0)

Question Buying Service vs. Dealer

Question: What are the downsides of using a car buying service vs. purchasing from my local dealer?

It seems that every organization that I am associated with, membership stores, credit unions, insurance companies, the company I work for, etc., offer car purchasing services.

Unfortunately, as I have shopped for an X3 my local dealers have been unwilling to offer what I would consider a significant discount off of the full MSRP. Some of the purchasing services however are willing to provide a significant discount. I am talking about $3,500 or so difference for a loaded 35i.

The problem is that these services work through and deliver their cars through dealers that are well over an hour away from my home. I would not want to go that far to have my car serviced.

An example of one of my concerns is: My local dealers offer loaner cars when yours in the shop. Do they only do this for cars purchased at their dealership or is this a BMW corporate thing?

One other factoid is that I would be factory ordering the car either way since there are no fully loaded 35is to be had in my area.

I suspect that this question has been asked and answered before but if it has, I am not smart enough to find it on the forum.
Appreciate 0
      03-25-2012, 01:42 PM   #2
BSM328xi
Second Lieutenant
9
Rep
213
Posts

Drives: 2013 E70 & 2013 F25
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: PA

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by X3ff View Post
Question: What are the downsides of using a car buying service vs. purchasing from my local dealer?

It seems that every organization that I am associated with, membership stores, credit unions, insurance companies, the company I work for, etc., offer car purchasing services.

Unfortunately, as I have shopped for an X3 my local dealers have been unwilling to offer what I would consider a significant discount off of the full MSRP. Some of the purchasing services however are willing to provide a significant discount. I am talking about $3,500 or so difference for a loaded 35i.

The problem is that these services work through and deliver their cars through dealers that are well over an hour away from my home. I would not want to go that far to have my car serviced.

An example of one of my concerns is: My local dealers offer loaner cars when yours in the shop. Do they only do this for cars purchased at their dealership or is this a BMW corporate thing?

One other factoid is that I would be factory ordering the car either way since there are no fully loaded 35is to be had in my area.

I suspect that this question has been asked and answered before but if it has, I am not smart enough to find it on the forum.
X3FF...

American Express, Costco, etc., are all great services; however, as you mentioned they often include doing business with dealers far from home.

You've stated the only thing you will lose out on by purchasing from a dealer where you will NOT be getting the car serviced. Your local dealer could very well decide NOT to give you loaner cars, priority scheduling, etc. Now, if they were smart, they'll try to do everything they can to prove value and show you they're worth the extra pennies.

As you can see from my other thread, I searched long and hard for my F25 and eventually decide to purchase from my local dealer, even though I could have saved $300 about 45 miles from home. I just felt that in the end, $300 was not worth the hassle of traveling and the issue mentioned above.

Everyone has their price. If someone offered me a deal for $1000 better, you better believe I would have dealt with a new BMW center.

My two cents...
__________________
2014 Range Rover HSE- Fuji White/Ebony
2014 MB E550 Sport Sedan

Sold: 2011 328xi; 2013 X3 35i; 2013 X5 50i
Appreciate 0
      03-25-2012, 02:13 PM   #3
Nahoa
Lieutenant Colonel
United_States
45
Rep
1,876
Posts

Drives: F25 35i Mineral Silver/Black
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Virginia

iTrader: (0)

Check with your local dealer re the policy on loaners. Mine local dealer still provides loaners regardless of where the car was purchased.
__________________
Appreciate 0
      03-25-2012, 02:49 PM   #4
jk
Private First Class
2
Rep
114
Posts

Drives: '12 x3 35i
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: United States

iTrader: (0)

go over to bimmerfest.com. one of their sponsors works at a [south?] atlanta dealer, was just named one of the top 10 ca's in the southeast, and is reputed to give very good deals to bimmerfest members. [registration is free]
Appreciate 0
      03-25-2012, 06:06 PM   #5
dudley07726
Private
4
Rep
96
Posts

Drives: 2012 X3
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: NJ

iTrader: (0)

Garage List
2013 Mercedes Benz ...  [0.00]
2012 X3  [0.00]
My dealer gave me a price which was lower (quite a bit - $750) lower than the prices I saw on Carsdirect, Truevalue, etc.

Last edited by dudley07726; 03-26-2012 at 06:12 PM..
Appreciate 0
      03-26-2012, 06:04 PM   #6
X3ff
New Member
United_States
0
Rep
8
Posts

Drives: Not a BMW yet
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Atlanta, GA

iTrader: (0)

Thanks for the replies

I still have not decided what to do but I guess its time to make up my mind.
Appreciate 0
      03-28-2012, 04:30 AM   #7
Nahoa
Lieutenant Colonel
United_States
45
Rep
1,876
Posts

Drives: F25 35i Mineral Silver/Black
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Virginia

iTrader: (0)

I got $500 over invoice with the buying service. Don't think I've seen a direct through dealer price mentioned here that was better than that. And the "no hassle/no haggle" aspect of it was very nice. Nice to have a break from that kind of thing.
__________________
Appreciate 0
      03-28-2012, 10:19 AM   #8
Robocheme
Private
United_States
5
Rep
77
Posts

Drives: 2013 X3 28i, 2014 X1 sDrive
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Northern California

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nahoa View Post
I got $500 over invoice with the buying service. Don't think I've seen a direct through dealer price mentioned here that was better than that. And the "no hassle/no haggle" aspect of it was very nice. Nice to have a break from that kind of thing.
Could you tell us which buying service you used?

Thanks
Appreciate 0
      03-28-2012, 08:05 PM   #9
thrasher-b
New Member
United_States
4
Rep
22
Posts

Drives: 2016 X5 xDrive 35i
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Washington DC

iTrader: (0)

Garage List
2012 BMW X3 28i  [0.00]
I used a car buying service from my credit union. It really didn't do very much for me - basically knocked a little off the MSRP and gave my contact info to 3 dealers. I ended up negotiating a better deal on my own - I also did a custom order. It was pretty clear to me, after talking to the dealers, that they treat the "car buying service" as a sales lead and nothing more.

Here is my recommendation: go to Edmunds to price out your car with the options you want (http://www.edmunds.com/bmw/x3/2012/?sub=suv). Make sure the MSRP matches what you get from building it on the BMW site - Edmunds can double-count some options that are included in packages. Then take the invoice price and add $500. Don't pay any more than that. I imagine you have more than one dealer in Atlanta (DC has 6). If your preferred dealer won't sell it to you for that price, then walk out and go to the next.

Three of the dealers in my area would not sell it to me at my price, one came close and two of them came down to my price. The really frustrating thing for me was that mine was a custom build coming straight from the factory, so it was the exact same car no matter which dealer I bought from, but I got very different prices from each.

And one more thing - since yours is a custom build, some dealers won't want to give up their production slots. They might try to push you off to a later production date. But normally it shouldn't take any more than 4 weeks from order to delivery. You may be in a tough spot right now because the '12 model year production ends in March and the '13s don't roll out until May.

Good luck!
Appreciate 0
      03-28-2012, 08:09 PM   #10
Nahoa
Lieutenant Colonel
United_States
45
Rep
1,876
Posts

Drives: F25 35i Mineral Silver/Black
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Virginia

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Robocheme View Post
Could you tell us which buying service you used?

Thanks
USAA
__________________
Appreciate 0
Post Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:26 PM.




xbimmers
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
1Addicts.com, BIMMERPOST.com, E90Post.com, F30Post.com, M3Post.com, ZPost.com, 5Post.com, 6Post.com, 7Post.com, XBimmers.com logo and trademark are properties of BIMMERPOST