beaker

When I purchased my 535i in 2007, I was able to e-mail a whole bunch of dealers to get quotes. Now it seems that dealers aren't putting their e-mail addresses on their web sites, and it isn't on BMW's site either.

Shot in the dark: anyone have a spreadsheet of addresses, or a list of them for the Northeast?

JeffNNJ

Save yourself the trouble. Figure out exactly what you want and what you want to pay and sit down with the dealer of your choice. The bidding thing is silly because every dealer will give you the deal that you want unless, of course, you're being ridiculous about it. When I get these email inquiry things I never respond unless they're willing to make an appointment to come in. Otherwise we assume you're just shopping numbers and wasting our time which in 99.9% of the cases is the truth.

beaker

I'm not buying a car, I'm getting the extended warranty, and since I can buy it from anyone in the country, my dealer of choice is the one who will sell it to me for the lowest price.

Gene

funny, isn't that what the internet sales department is for....


it's unfortunate you feel that emails are waste of your time, but the same can be said about coming down to negotiate terms. We all want to make the most of our time. Negotiating terms before even going to the lot just expedites the process. All emails are replied to when convenient (a serious buyer will make it a priority to reply to a dealerships response). So when you get to the dealership all is needed is to just sign the docs, all the "bidding"/bargaining has been done already.

when I've shopped around for my cars...my emails consist of the the current lease rates (residuals and mf's), all options priced out to invoice and msrp, as well as what I'm willing to put down (drive off fees and/or msd's if needed), and their best price based on invoice and not msrp. Now if that does not come off as an actual purchasing email I don't know what does. If i get a reply like "why don't you come down so we can sit and work the numbers all I get is an impression that my terms cannot be met and the dealer wants an opportunity to talk me into something I don't want. Emails are short and simple, everything is on paper and everything can be agreed upon without ever setting one foot onto a lot. It's not like every single CA on the lot is busy 24/7 and does not have time to reply to an email Even if you get hundreds of emails a month, hopefully at least one or 2 will turn out to be a sale. And not replying is just bad business practice IMO, what if that person you didn't reply to has a friend or family member as well that wants to make a purchase, you think he's going to recc a dealership or CA that can't take the time to reply to an email. In the last 2 months I have recc'd 3 people to CA's that have been responsive to my emails...all 3 leased BMW's thru the CA's I put them in contact with....

JeffNNJ

In order to buy an extended warranty the dealer needs to do a key read and BMW specifies that it must be purchased in person. Kind of narrows your choices.

beaker

I hadn't heard that, but I don't doubt it. The list is still long enough, though, that I'd prefer to not have to visit each one in person just to get a price.