Custom Car Pricing

[theo1000]

Hi,

This is my first post so please bear with me.

Interested in the I3 in Midwest. I won't mention city in case dealer is reading this.
After looking at the dealers inventory (which was very limited in options) I might have to go with a custom ordered car. Laurel (black?, Terra leather, heated seats, REX, parking package (rear camera).

So for the car we want custom ordered the dealer offered a MSRP of $51,250 and a discount of -$2,000. Of course this is before tax title and all the dealer fees. So it would end up $60,000 +/- total.

Does this sound reasonable. Of course I didn't really push for better pricing but at this level any offer I made would have seemed like an insult to the dealer so I did not make an offer and left.

Any pointers on how to have better success next time?

 

[websterize]

There are so many new 2014s that have been sitting for months, you'd be doing yourself a disservice by avoiding casting a wider net. With these cars, aim for a sales price of 15%-20% off MSRP before incentives.

By avoiding a 2015, you could end up saving thousands, even with the additional shipping fee to the Midwest.

 

[theo1000]

Thanx for the quick response.

10% -15% would mean a discount of $5000-$7500. Any chance I can get that with a custom order car. I don't want to insult the dealer by making such an offer. I actually don't mind paying bit more to get one from my dealer. If the best deals are for the 2014’s I’ll have to go to an out of town dealer to get the car I want!

 

[Schnort]

Thanx for the quick response.

10% -15% would mean a discount of $5000-$7500. Any chance I can get that with a custom order car. I don't want to insult the dealer by making such an offer. I actually don't mind paying bit more to get one from my dealer. If the best deals are for the 2014’s I’ll have to go to an out of town dealer to get the car I want!

Doubtful you can get that on a custom build. The point is they've got inventory (i.e. invested capital) that isn't moving, and are incentivizing you to take it by lowering the price.

They really don't have much incentive to use up their allocation on less profit than they would expect for other cars that are in demand, while sitting on their stock as it loses value.

 

[Tomasz]

If the best deals are for the 2014’s I’ll have to go to an out of town dealer to get the car I want!

No you don't. Dealers can trade cars between themselves. Ask the dealer for the exact configuration you want, and make him earn the money.

I've told my dealer what I want and he found one in Chicago (my dealer is in Des Moines). They had it trucked in within 3 days.

 

[NHi3REx]

For what its worth, I purchased a 2014 REx about 2 months ago, and I was able to get the dealer to bring the specific vehicle I wanted in from another location and still got it ~$5k under sticker.

The trick is doing the leg work yourself to find a 2014 model that has the features you want. Through all of my car buying experiences, the dealers themselves will never do a fully extensive search for you.

 

[theo1000]

Thanx for the reply folks.

That is very helpful to know. I buy cars so infrequently the entire thing is mystery to me each time.
Now to find my car and see if my dealer will get it for me. Like I said earlier I want my local dealer to make some money on the deal.

 

[GoochBHBMW]

The reason you want to stick with the 2014 is that the 2015's don't have 2k back from bmw. Also the 2015 will only recieve 4875 of the credit. The 2014 recieves 5500. So it really makes sense to find the right 2014 for you. Just ask your dealer to locate a car from another dealer. It should be fairly easy. I can actually locate a car for you so that you know where the car you want is. Just tell me all the options you want and I will tell you where it is.

 

[theo1000]

OK!

- REX
- Laurel (will settle for grey)
- All leather so Terra I think. Heated seats.
- Back up camera (preferred)

I really don't need anything else.
Really don't want to pay the 2k for the navigation if I can avoid.

 

[Jeffj]

Look at the FB group, there are a number of iGeniuses in that group including one guy on the East Coast who has arranged to sell cars out of state.

 

[czarmar]

OK!

- REX
- Laurel (will settle for grey)
- All leather so Terra I think. Heated seats.
- Back up camera (preferred)

I really don't need anything else.
Really don't want to pay the 2k for the navigation if I can avoid.

The base car has navigation - the extra 2500 is mostly for the adaptive cruise control, along with a larger nav screen and some other nice features. I'll say that larger screen sure is beautiful to look at vs. the smaller stock nav screen. But I wish USA got the Traffic Jam Assist which automatically steers your car under some conditions. Apparently BMWUSA wasn't ready to take on our litigious culture here.

 

[theo1000]

OK.

I finally located my exact model. 2014 Aravanni Grey, REX, Tera, back up camera, no parking package.

The dealer is offering a sale price of $47,657. + Tax, title, $599 doc fee?, $569 ding shield? + $395 perma plate?

Can anyone tell me if this is a good price. I thought there was a lot more in incentives available. Am I wrong? And what with all those odd add ons?

Appreciate the help.

 

[i3atl]

OK.

I finally located my exact model. 2014 Aravanni Grey, REX, Tera, back up camera, no parking package.

The dealer is offering a sale price of $47,657. + Tax, title, $599 doc fee?, $569 ding shield? + $395 perma plate?

Can anyone tell me if this is a good price. I thought there was a lot more in incentives available. Am I wrong? And what with all those odd add ons?

Appreciate the help.

Ding shield on a car with plastic panels

You can't get the backup camera without parking package in the US. What is the MSRP on the car you're looking at?

 

[theo1000]

I don't know what the MSRP is because it is not there on the sell sheet. It says market value selling prices. what ever that means.

To be fair when I asked about the ding shield they did agree that I can take it off if I don't want it.

 

[Zony]

Given what you mentioned, MSRP for REX Tera and Parking (if there is backup camera there is parking - unless you meant parking sensors?) is $49850 plus the doodads which are dealer add-ons. I don't know your location, but in CA, that would be not much of a deal - it should be at least 12-15% below MSRP BEFORE incentives (Fed+BMW 5500 and BMW 2000 if this is a lease) - True Car shows this model at 43600 in San Jose.

Push back and see what happens -
Z

I don't know what the MSRP is because it is not there on the sell sheet. It says market value selling prices. what ever that means.

To be fair when I asked about the ding shield they did agree that I can take it off if I don't want it.

 

[i3atl]

I don't know what the MSRP is because it is not there on the sell sheet. It says market value selling prices. what ever that means.

To be fair when I asked about the ding shield they did agree that I can take it off if I don't want it.

You need to get the MSRP, or a build sheet that lists all the options so that you can calculate MSRP.

 

[theo1000]

I called and was told the MSRP is $53,000+. This is more than I want to spend, can't bring myself to spend more than $50,000 on a car. End of the day it is just a car after all....

The other thing that surprised me is that this is an out of town dealer and he claims that his state law requires that he charge me sales tax at the rate of my state. I would prefer to get the 30 day tag so I can pay the sales tax separately and keep my monthly payment lower. Is this true?

 

[theo1000]

If anyone is interested I finally got my I3.

All the doodads and fixin's, except parking package.

My dealer was not much help other than way over pricing it. I got it from an out of town dealer for about 7K less than my dealer was quoting,. I feel really guilty for 'cheating' on him but 7k is a lot of moolah. I hope there are no hard feelings if I have to take it in for maintenance. We'll see.....

Thanx everyone for all your help. Couldn't have done it without you.

Still trying out all the various knobs and buttons. Various funny stories along the way. The dealers don't really know how to sell this car.