We are owned by Auto Nation so our invoice is higher then that of BMW " (says the saleman" ....

I am getting frustrated , I want to buy a 530i and the two dealers in Vegas cause of lack of supply wont budge .....I know I could go to Cal and probably pick one up or have it transported , but I thought I had a relationship with my dealer and come to find out they are giving me the line that I stated above ....

So any advice ...also I have a 2002 X5 with 27000 that I want to sell to the dealer , I own it outright its a 3.0 grey green and looks like a 4.6 (ie 20 inch stock wheels , spoilers front and rear and also the bigger fender flares on the rear , and two video monitors in the rear with 6 dvd changer ....

the reason I mentioned the X5 is the dealer is willing to take it for a good price , but again not willing to really work with me on new vehicle

HHHHHHHEEEEELLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPP

 

Wow! That is a line of BS! I've never run into that before. Now I've heard of hot models commanding prices above sticker, but to be told that Autonation has a higher invoice I have to believe is crap. I mean, the 530 is selling reasonably well, but in it second year, I hardly believe it would command a premium like that. Go to Cali.

 

I looked at 4 local BMW dealer web sites, sent them all emails (look under 'internet sales' or 'contact us') asking if they would take 1k over invoice, listed all my specs, and then asked them to email me back if they wanted to do the deal. I also researched their dealer costs for each option and listed it out for them (basically to indicate that I know their costs).

Anyway, 3 of 4 replied and said "yes" and then I chose one. They faxed me the order form and I gave a credit card as the deposit. I never even entered their showroom until the car had arrived. I will always handle it that way from now on. That way you don't waste your time and you have it all in writing. Totally smooth.

 

I know there are large owners of dealerships (more like franchises) that charge an advertising fee to the dealers under their control. This can be a per car fee so that it does in effect add to the invoice cost of that dealership.

For instance, ABC BMW is franchised out from DEF corp. To cover advertising that DEF handles, they charge $500 for each new car sold. So ABC pays $50k for the car and must mpat DEF $500 on top of that. So their effective invoice is $50,500. Some of these deals are like regional monopolies. I know in the SouthEast, one Japanese dealer lives under such an arrangement.

Is it really increasing the invoice? No - but to the individual dealer, it does add to their cost per car.

FWIW, I don't know if BMW ever lets deals like this enter into the mix. I think it is more for the higher volume, lower cost vehicles.

 

Sounds like you get a much better deal n the US than we are likely to get here in the UK. As far as I know what the dealer pays for the car is a closely guarded secret therefore ensuring their ability to keep prices artificially high. If I offered them just a ?1000 premium over their purchase price they would probably have security remove me from the premsises.

If anyone has any tips on chopping UK dealers down I'd be interested to hear them

Cheers

Scott