‘18 CPO Sold Minutes Before I Signed Sales Agreement

[Skyking6976]

I don’t know how many of you are in the market or follow the market but I’ve lost more than half a dozen to salesman saying sorry…there’s already a deposit or car has thousands in maintenance. Have any of you found i3 to be scarce these days. Yes I know they stopped US deliveries. It’s almost as if people read no more US i3’s and they’re running out to buy one or is there something else going on?

Heck I’ve started by saying this will be an easy sale, no worries or hassles with a loan, poor credit score or anything else. I hand you a check, you hand me the paperwork and FOB. The salesman on the car today asked me on every call over the past 2 days if I’d gotten my credit app done or how much I was putting down. Finally I said dude…I’m paying cash…this is a simple transaction. He sent the sales agreement and 5 minutes later sent an email saying sorry the car is sold. The calls, emails over the past 2 days…and the car hasn’t even finished the CPO certification yet. Maybe that’s a NYC thing but to me that was unGodly rude to just send someone a one sentence email saying sorry..car sold while I’m reviewing the sales agreement to sign and send back. Who does that or am I way off here?

 

[eNate]

Cash is a bad word. There is profit to be made of finance. Not to say this dealer isn't a piece of crap, but they may have sealed your fate is there was another buyer in front of them.

 

[Arm]

I don’t know how many of you are in the market or follow the market but I’ve lost more than half a dozen to salesman saying sorry…there’s already a deposit or car has thousands in maintenance. Have any of you found i3 to be scarce these days. Yes I know they stopped US deliveries. It’s almost as if people read no more US i3’s and they’re running out to buy one or is there something else going on?

Heck I’ve started by saying this will be an easy sale, no worries or hassles with a loan, poor credit score or anything else. I hand you a check, you hand me the paperwork and FOB. The salesman on the car today asked me on every call over the past 2 days if I’d gotten my credit app done or how much I was putting down. Finally I said dude…I’m paying cash…this is a simple transaction. He sent the sales agreement and 5 minutes later sent an email saying sorry the car is sold. The calls, emails over the past 2 days…and the car hasn’t even finished the CPO certification yet. Maybe that’s a NYC thing but to me that was unGodly rude to just send someone a one sentence email saying sorry..car sold while I’m reviewing the sales agreement to sign and send back. Who does that or am I way off here?

I just got mine. There were two on the lot. One sold the day I was there...the other one I ended up with. They are scarce now yes. This car will be a collector item in my opinion. Nonetheless what that dealer did to you is extremely dishonest and very shady. You should report them to the BBB and make sure social media hears about it.

 

[Anonymous]

Heck I’ve started by saying this will be an easy sale, no worries or hassles with a loan, poor credit score or anything else. I hand you a check, you hand me the paperwork and FOB. The salesman on the car today asked me on every call over the past 2 days if I’d gotten my credit app done or how much I was putting down. Finally I said dude…I’m paying cash…this is a simple transaction. He sent the sales agreement and 5 minutes later sent an email saying sorry the car is sold. The calls, emails over the past 2 days…and the car hasn’t even finished the CPO certification yet. Maybe that’s a NYC thing but to me that was unGodly rude to just send someone a one sentence email saying sorry..car sold while I’m reviewing the sales agreement to sign and send back. Who does that or am I way off here?

You are likely way off. Can pretty much guarantee what happened, is another sales guy sold the car. Why do you think your sales guy was pushing you to get your stuff together for two days, to the point of being annoying? He was trying to get you to close the deal before someone else bought the car out from under you. I imagine he was as pissed about it as you were, hence the one-sentence email. You lost the deal, and he lost the sale. Had that same thing happen to us, except we were on the other side of the deal. Had been searching for a particularly equipped & color SUV, found one, but we waited a couple of days to go see it, and it was gone. Next one we found, put a $500 (refundable) deposited on it over the phone with a credit card. When we got to the dealership later that day and were waiting in the sales guy's office for the SUV to be brought around so we could test drive it, overheard a nice argument between our sales guy and another outside in the hall. Other guy had been working with a customer over several days to close the deal on the car, and had them coming in within the hour to sign the papers', but because we had just put a deposit on it, and the other potential buyer hadn't yet signed any purchase agreement, that other sales guy (and his customer) were SOL.

 

[Anonymous]

Nonetheless what that dealer did to you is extremely dishonest and very shady. You should report them to the BBB and make sure social media hears about it.

The dealer did absolutely nothing dishonest or shady. The car was on the lot for sale. First person who pays for the car, gets the car. No car dealership on the planet is going 'save' a car for you on your say-so that you plan on buying it. For every potential customer that actually comes in and buys a car they told their sales guy several days previously that they wanted, that sales guy has had a dozen customers tell him the same thing, and end up walking away from the deal.

 

[Skyking6976]

I NEVER said the dealership violated any statutes. I simply thought if I was getting someone an answer on a car before they pulled the trigger, got them the answer, sent the buy sheet, then found out the car was gone…wouldn’t the classy thing be to pick up the phone and give me a quick 1 minute call rather than an email? I apologize if any of you thought I was alleging Circle BMW violated any state or federal statutes. That was not my intent.

Secondly, the point I was making is, based on the total number sold since 2013 it just seems like there is a frenzy all of sudden to snag up every one possible. I’ve read older posts on forums or comments on articles about the i3 saying BMW can’t give them away, salespeople, dealerships, service departments hate them…yet now their flying off the lot.

Oh..another example of the frustration. I sent a text to a friend of a friend who is a sales guy at the local dealership mid afternoon yesterday. We talked before but he couldn’t get any i3’s and told me the BMW promo was BS. No dealer has an i3 EV they’d lease for $299\month unless it was stripped in an unpopular color…and probably not even then. Sales guy sent a text back saying he was with a customer and would call me back when he finishes. Still waiting… Nope not life or death. Just not the way I conduct business, that’s all.

 

[Skyking6976]

Heck I’ve started by saying this will be an easy sale, no worries or hassles with a loan, poor credit score or anything else. I hand you a check, you hand me the paperwork and FOB. The salesman on the car today asked me on every call over the past 2 days if I’d gotten my credit app done or how much I was putting down. Finally I said dude…I’m paying cash…this is a simple transaction. He sent the sales agreement and 5 minutes later sent an email saying sorry the car is sold. The calls, emails over the past 2 days…and the car hasn’t even finished the CPO certification yet. Maybe that’s a NYC thing but to me that was unGodly rude to just send someone a one sentence email saying sorry..car sold while I’m reviewing the sales agreement to sign and send back. Who does that or am I way off here?

You are likely way off. Can pretty much guarantee what happened, is another sales guy sold the car. Why do you think your sales guy was pushing you to get your stuff together for two days, to the point of being annoying? He was trying to get you to close the deal before someone else bought the car out from under you. I imagine he was as pissed about it as you were, hence the one-sentence email. You lost the deal, and he lost the sale. Had that same thing happen to us, except we were on the other side of the deal. Had been searching for a particularly equipped & color SUV, found one, but we waited a couple of days to go see it, and it was gone. Next one we found, put a $500 (refundable) deposited on it over the phone with a credit card. When we got to the dealership later that day and were waiting in the sales guy's office for the SUV to be brought around so we could test drive it, overheard a nice argument between our sales guy and another outside in the hall. Other guy had been working with a customer over several days to close the deal on the car, and had them coming in within the hour to sign the papers', but because we had just put a deposit on it, and the other potential buyer hadn't yet signed any purchase agreement, that other sales guy (and his customer) were SOL.

There was nothing to get together…cash buyer. I’d simply asked if he could make CarPlay happen. Salesman says it’s a holiday, service is closed BUT on his day off tomorrow…Tuesday he will call, find out and call me back. He did not. Someone else from the dealership called me around closing time Tuesday, said CarPlay wasn’t possible. I said OK we’ve decided to take it anyway since it has the lowest price for the options we wanted in the county. So have the guy do the paperwork when he gets in and we’ll pull the trigger. THAT’s how it went down.

Having spent all but the last few years of my life in Texas…it’s just a different way of life and speed up here. There isn’t this urgency or rush rush to buying a car…or anything else for that matter.

 

[gt1]

Cars are hard to find now. I had to pull my 18 off the market when my factory order was delayed without even an estimate.

 

[Skyking6976]

Cars are hard to find now. I had to pull my 18 off the market when my factory order was delayed without even an estimate.

Wow…not even an estimate? We are actually gonna lease an i4 but want to wait a couple years to see how it goes. Cars are hard to find as are salespeople apparently. Who knows maybe the guy hasn’t called because he’s still with the same customer I found a new one at Rockville MD and hoping the guy’s dealership situation has changed and he can get it or at least tell me what to expect for a lease payment\down payment before I called. It only has the interior and Tech. Not the exterior color or all the other stuff we wanted but…

I’ll send the sales guy a text and ask if he’s working today, does he think we’ll have time to talk or would tomorrow be better

 

[eNate]

I was stressing that my recent purchase was going to go the same way. Only difference was they had run my credit and quoted me a rate, but it was over a week between negotiating the deal and me flying out to pick it up.

I offered a few times to pay a deposit, since we had nothing binding. Thankfully the dealership wasn't playing games, said simply to send them a copy of my airline reservation and they wouldn't sell it. That left me feeling exposed.

For some reason this car had been sitting on their floor for a few months and they hadn't been advertising it on the big three sites, but I was keenly aware of how fast loaded i3s were disappearing and expected to lose this fish to a shark.

 

[agzand]

Paying cash in this market is a handicap. They make a profit on the loan that they arrange for the car, particularly if they mark up the interest rate.

 

[Skyking6976]

I was stressing that my recent purchase was going to go the same way. Only difference was they had run my credit and quoted me a rate, but it was over a week between negotiating the deal and me flying out to pick it up.

I offered a few times to pay a deposit, since we had nothing binding. Thankfully the dealership wasn't playing games, said simply to send them a copy of my airline reservation and they wouldn't sell it. That left me feeling exposed.

For some reason this car had been sitting on their floor for a few months and they hadn't been advertising it on the big three sites, but I was keenly aware of how fast loaded i3s were disappearing and expected to lose this fish to a shark.

Yeah…I lost one a few weeks ago when I called and the guy said there was a deposit on the one I wanted. I asked about the next one down in terms of options and he said they don’t take deposits. Uh…you just said the other one… He says yeah the person is on their way or sent a copy of the plane ticket.

Talked to the BMW sales guy and he was walked the corporate line. He knows I’m gonna get the i4 from him and being a friend of a friend thought he could open up a bit. Asked about a new one down the road in Maryland, if he could get it, it was worth his time, or he could give me an idea what a lease would look like. He hardly gave me the time of day. I asked about the i3 in general and what everyone’s take when it was there. Had no real interest in talking about the car. I guess it’s ancient history to him. He did at least say they won’t negotiate on price even though it’s been on the lot for over 2 months. He’d already forgot I was interested in leasing.

 

[gt1]

Cars are hard to find now. I had to pull my 18 off the market when my factory order was delayed without even an estimate.

Wow…not even an estimate?

I'm calling BMW weekly and they they can't tell me anything. Not even if the factory is running.

 

[Arm]

Nonetheless what that dealer did to you is extremely dishonest and very shady. You should report them to the BBB and make sure social media hears about it.

The dealer did absolutely nothing dishonest or shady. The car was on the lot for sale. First person who pays for the car, gets the car. No car dealership on the planet is going 'save' a car for you on your say-so that you plan on buying it. For every potential customer that actually comes in and buys a car they told their sales guy several days previously that they wanted, that sales guy has had a dozen customers tell him the same thing, and end up walking away from the deal.

Of course it was shady. I don't understand this mentality of do whatever you like at all costs in the name of "business." It's precisely this mentality that there are no more ethics or morals left in pretty much any area of business... do whatever it takes to make money at any cost no matter what the consequences. Ridiculous.

 

[Skyking6976]

Sorry gt…that doesn’t sound like BMW to me nor does what I’ve gone through. The wife and I have relented and MAY have a lease deal to close tomorrow. We’ll see.