TC.

Just had a call from my dealer, UK dealers recieved full specs for the FL car yesterday evening - as always, good news and bad news!!

Bad news: 535d is carrying a 5% list price increase (not sure about rest of range) and even if you had pre-ordered, dealers are not obliged to honour!!! You are able to pull your deposit out due to the terms and conditions changing. iPod / USB adapter is a factory option at ?200

Good news: New fly by wire gear box (non sport option) is standard fit, uprated engine confirmed, (tha, new interior trims of high gloss black and silver metalic available on the sport, mats are now standard!!

Pretty much everything previously seen / discussed over the last 72hours seems to apply to UK.

If you had pre-orderd you are confirmed as having a week 10 (first / second week of new production run) build slot option with a week 13/14 delivery.

TC.

....and the front arm rest is now covered in leather when leather is specified

Raighne

Thanks for this info (Ireland should be fairly close to that given previous experience).
5% is a very big increase on a 535d. I wonder if there as many extras included as standard now on that model (lane departure warning is confirmed standard on the 535d ... I wonder what else will be added to soften the blow).

Raighne

Does that surprise you?
Dealers do that all the time here too. The price can go up at any time after you place your order and if it does, you just have to pay whatever they ask for (if you still want the car that is). In fact, it is not uncommon for customers to not find out about a price increase until they go to pick up their car. Usually, they just pay up (albeit unhappily) at that stage and the dealers know this.

2nd one, once you place your order they insist on a written contract and sizable deposit (up to 10%). If for some reason you try to pull out either because you change your mind or your financial circumstances change then not only will they threaten to keep your deposit but it is highly likely that they will take legal action to force you to buy the car.

And a 3rd one... here they will often refuse to quote you a trade-in price for your current car until a few weeks before your new car arrives. When I ordered my E90, I had to place the order 3 months ahead of time to get on for Jan but they wouldn't quote me a trade-in price at the time I placed the order, they said they would let me know in December. This means effectively, in that case, you have to order a car blind... They have you by the short and curly's because you have signed a binding contract and paid a big deposit and then later they can offer you whatever they like for the trade-in and you just have to accept that. I sold my car privately so I avoided that (I was lucky).

Not very fair ... is it? And BMW dealers are the worst because they are arrogant.
I'm sure our American friends would be quite shocked!

aybeesea

Over what time period? I think there hasn't been a price hike on the 535d for at least 18 months, maybe longer.

ABC

TC.

Very surprised about the lack of a valuation from your dealer - mine over here on the mainland has given me a quoted value valid until the start of May - and it is currently higher than the Glass guide is quoting....

All up it looks as if the price hile will end up costing me about ?1400 more - this includes the %12 discount previously negotiated

TC.

Raighne,

It sounds as if your dealer isn't that customer focused!! I still have yet to sign anything with my dealer - all I have is a reciept for my deposit, they don't want a signature from me until I place a firm order - my contracts should be with me at the weekend......

Raighne

They (O'Leary's BMW Cork) claimed it was BMW Ireland policy to not provide a trade-in value until you are within 6-8 weeks of getting delivery of a new car. I explained how ludicrious that was in terms of being signed into a contract with unknown terms (essentially at their mercy) but they seemed surprised that I was surprised about that. They told me that how it worked if I wanted a BMW...

P.S. The other dealers in Ireland aren't much better...

They need to send someone from Munich to kiss some ass ;-)

aybeesea

Though I had a very good "buying experience" (if that can ever be the case), my dealer gave me a trade-in price at the outset but said that it would, of course, have to go down over the 6- week period.

Seems entirely reasonable to me. Surely the Cork dealer could use his professional judgment to extrapolate a "guide price, in good faith".

ABC

Raighne

Yes, that's fair.
Yes, one would think they could extrapolate something.
BMW are lucky we are 'fans', otherwise the brand would be losing customers.