Help Buying an X1 (first new car purchase)!

[TKM399]

Hi Everyone,
I've been spying on this forum for quite awhile and have decided to buy an X1! This will be my first new car purchase, so I am totally clueless. I live in San Francisco and have decided upon an X1 Xdrive28i with metallic paint, the ultimate package, and the xline options. MSRP is 42,345 and the invoice price is 39,120.

My plan was to email dealers and see what kind of offers I can get. Also, have found a few similar cars (not quite what we wanted) and will make offers on those. Then, I will go into the dealer I want to purchase from and see what I can get and see if my offers can help lower the price. I am expecting to pay about 1k over invoice, from what you guys have gotten. Also, I plan on paying in cash and in full, with no financing, so should that help lower the price? Will ordering a car change negotiating? I plan on going in after Christmas, in hopes of snagging a good deal. Any and all advice helps, I am completely new to this!

Thanks

[Irish-Texan]

Even tho' you plan to pay in full, you might want to check if there are financing incentive dollars that will reduce your price. You would need to verify the minimum amount that must be financed, how many months do you need to keep the note and the APR. I believe that BMW Fin. Services will want you to finance $20,000 and keep the note for 6 payment periods to qualify for their financing incentive dollars (if the program is in place). You can always make large payments in the early months to minimize your interest. Again, my understanding is that the max monthly payment you can send them is $5,000 and I don't believe there is any early payment penalty. Also, check if you will incur any additional documentation fees by financing.
There may be other angles on this that others may wish to post, but why ignore incentive money if the bottom line math is in your favor plus, unless I'm mistaken, it should enhance your credit score.

[HBWT]

I'm on the right coast and spoke with 2 dealers. Dealer one offered $1K off sticker and dealer 2 offered $300 over invoice. I went with the obvious and my car is due in this week...unloaded in Baltimore last Wednesday.
All I can say is shop around and ORDER exactly what you want. Don't settle for a lot car unless its equipped like you want it.
You should get offers all over the board. GL

[TKM399]

Much appreciated, I'm very excited to switch to BMW!

[brettndeb]

having just taken delivery of a new X1 this week, we went with the BMW finance, and got 3.29 as the rate, plus a total of 1250 for using BMW Financial Services (Xmas cash and current BMW owner) so wound up being under invoice for an ordered car. So do the math to see what's the best deal, and of course please let us know what you wind up doing! Good luck.

[TKM399]

Thanks, I definitely will see if financing will get me a better deal. Should I just cold email whoever is the internet sales specialists at other dealers

[RocGuy]

Originally Posted by TKM399

Thanks, I definitely will see if financing will get me a better deal. Should I just cold email whoever is the internet sales specialists at other dealers

What I did was actually go in and deal with the dealer in person. Then I cold called the other dealer near-ish to me (There are only 2 within an hours drive to me). That cold call to the 2nd dealer saved me an additional 1100 bucks. But I had a number to give them to see if they could beat. Instead of just asking them for a number. In the end I will be paying just over 900 over invoice.

I would definitely get an offer from one of the dealers and then give that out to the other ones to beat instead of just cold calling/email a bunch of them. Or at least that is what worked for me.

[M3tallicar]

Call Ryan at Thomas BMW in SoCal. He will give you a great deal and is a straight shooter unlike the sleazy dealer BS I e encountered all around the Bay Area. I've only ordered a car from him but I'll bet he will search for available cars that fit your specs too. Trust me its totally worth the short flight and drive back to buy your car without the hassles from someone who actually knows his stuff*

*visiting a few local dealers recently has reminded me of just how horrible the experience is with typical car salesmen - the ignorance about what they are selling and the flat out lies they will tell.

[MrSnrub]

Originally Posted by RocGuy

What I did was actually go in and deal with the dealer in person. Then I cold called the other dealer near-ish to me (There are only 2 within an hours drive to me). That cold call to the 2nd dealer saved me an additional 1100 bucks. But I had a number to give them to see if they could beat. Instead of just asking them for a number. In the end I will be paying just over 900 over invoice.

I would definitely get an offer from one of the dealers and then give that out to the other ones to beat instead of just cold calling/email a bunch of them. Or at least that is what worked for me.

I did nearly the same thing. I ended up, pre-rebates, paying $731 under invoice. Signed the papers Friday and things are being finalized today. Good luck!

[MidgetInBikini]

Originally Posted by TKM399

Hi Everyone,
I've been spying on this forum for quite awhile and have decided to buy an X1! This will be my first new car purchase, so I am totally clueless. I live in San Francisco and have decided upon an X1 Xdrive28i with metallic paint, the ultimate package, and the xline options. MSRP is 42,345 and the invoice price is 39,120.

My plan was to email dealers and see what kind of offers I can get. Also, have found a few similar cars (not quite what we wanted) and will make offers on those. Then, I will go into the dealer I want to purchase from and see what I can get and see if my offers can help lower the price. I am expecting to pay about 1k over invoice, from what you guys have gotten. Also, I plan on paying in cash and in full, with no financing, so should that help lower the price? Will ordering a car change negotiating? I plan on going in after Christmas, in hopes of snagging a good deal. Any and all advice helps, I am completely new to this!

Thanks

Hi TKM, i bought the 2013 X1 from BMW SF. If you are looking for a great price, go over to pleasanton-east bay BMW. If you have any more question about the price i paid, you could private message me and I will help you in any way possible for your first new car

[MidgetInBikini]

Originally Posted by MrSnrub

I did nearly the same thing. I ended up, pre-rebates, paying $731 under invoice. Signed the papers Friday and things are being finalized today. Good luck!

how can the dealer allow you paying 731 under invoice lol.

[TKM399]

Originally Posted by M3tallicar

Call Ryan at Thomas BMW in SoCal. He will give you a great deal and is a straight shooter unlike the sleazy dealer BS I e encountered all around the Bay Area. I've only ordered a car from him but I'll bet he will search for available cars that fit your specs too. Trust me its totally worth the short flight and drive back to buy your car without the hassles from someone who actually knows his stuff*

*visiting a few local dealers recently has reminded me of just how horrible the experience is with typical car salesmen - the ignorance about what they are selling and the flat out lies they will tell.

Thanks, m3tallicar. Yeah, my father used to have all sorts of trouble when he bought locally (two M3s and a 550i). I'll definitely look into Thomas BMW

[MSportX1]

TKM399, do not wait after Christmas for three reasons: (1) Starting from Jan, 2013, X1 price will increase, (2) right now, there is $500 end-of-year incentive if you finance through BMW, and (3) it is the right time to order, because it is end of year and most BMW dealers are willing to give you a good deal. I just ordered a X1 xDrive28i last week (during Thanksgiving holidays) from Mountain View BMW and got a good deal. If you do not think Mountain View BMW is too far from your home, give Eric Peng (Sales Associate, (408)250-3069, PengE@autonation.com) a call. He can help you order a X1 with a good price (say, close to or even under invoice).

[MrSnrub]

Originally Posted by MidgetInBikini

how can the dealer allow you paying 731 under invoice lol.

Beats me! When I called and said, "I'll sign the papers tonight if you take the sell price down $X," I heard real pain on the other end of the line.

[rory breaker]

Originally Posted by MidgetInBikini

how can the dealer allow you paying 731 under invoice lol.

1) Invoice pricing is not what dealers truly pay. Great marketing huh?

2) If a dealer is desperate for end of month/quarter/year numbers to achieve a bonus, ranking, or allocation advantage moving forward, it's their call if they want to invest in that advantage by reducing profit. But rest assured, they most likely did not take a loss on that car, or any car.

[Grovsnus]

Originally Posted by rory breaker

1) Invoice pricing is not what dealers truly pay. Great marketing huh?

2) If a dealer is desperate for end of month/quarter/year numbers to achieve a bonus, ranking, or allocation advantage moving forward, it's their call if they want to invest in that advantage by reducing profit. But rest assured, they most likely did not take a loss on that car, or any car.

They do pay invoice, but then they get "incentives", i.e. a kickback. So the net sum is lower than invoice. Also, the dealers make a profit on financing (more kickbacks from the finance companies), warranties and selling you overpriced extras not included in the sales price (mud guards, cargo liner, winter wheels, floor mats).
So it has unfortunately become commonplace to pay under invoice.

And worse, getting a final out-of-wallet price from a dealer has become harder than pulling a tooth with a wet noodle. They know that almost all buyers finance through them, and will accept all the extra costs that adds to the total (and their profit margin).

[rory breaker]

Originally Posted by Grovsnus

They do pay invoice

So it has unfortunately become commonplace to pay under invoice.

Huh?

Dealers do not pay invoice as I said, and as you eventually confirmed. For all the reasons you listed. Let's not lead people to believe otherwise. When you (generally speaking to the public) see "edmunds invoice price" and you paid $500 over that number...that does not mean the dealer only made $500 profit. Thats what they want you to think, that's why "invoice pricing" was even created. "Hey guy, Im taking a $731 loss here, what do you want me to do?"

Riiiiiight.

[dchao]

Originally Posted by rory breaker

Huh?

Dealers do not pay invoice as I said, and as you eventually confirmed. For all the reasons you listed. Let's not lead people to believe otherwise. When you (generally speaking to the public) see "edmunds invoice price" and you paid $500 over that number...that does not mean the dealer only made $500 profit. Thats what they want you to think, that's why "invoice pricing" was even created. "Hey guy, Im taking a $731 loss here, what do you want me to do?"

Riiiiiight.

Dealers *do* pay invoice. And it is what BMW NA invoice the dealership for your car. But on top of that, the dealership, also get kickbacks, market incentives (which they don't use it all of them), product credits, sale person bonuses, dealership bonuses, you name it, they have it....

Why do they do it this way? Because it reduces the dealership's pre-tax profit, and then they pay the minimum taxes.

[rory breaker]

Semantics much? The 3 of us are saying the exact same thing. The amount a dealer ultimately pays for a car does NOT = invoice price.

[Lucky13]

Yes but have you ever heard of SG&A expense. It costs a lot of money to run any business so without a service dept and some mark up they would go out of business. I don't feel sorry for them but they have the right to make a reasonable profit. They pay rent, lease, insurance, heat, electricity and employee benefits like any other business.

[rory breaker]

Originally Posted by Lucky13

Yes but have you ever heard of SG&A expense. It costs a lot of money to run any business so without a service dept and some mark up they would go out of business. I don't feel sorry for them but they have the right to make a reasonable profit. They pay rent, lease, insurance, heat, electricity and employee benefits like any other business.

How does that have anything to do with whether or not the invoice price is the effective price paid? Should we factor in their taxes too? Interest?

You're missing the point. No one is saying they don't deserve to make a profit. Just saying for negotiation purposes invoice doesn't = their paid price on the car. Maybe with overhead it comes close, you're right, who knows. Not gonna make that bundle on me, sure a bit mayb, some other sucker will foot the big bill!

[MidgetInBikini]

Originally Posted by rory breaker

1) Invoice pricing is not what dealers truly pay. Great marketing huh?

2) If a dealer is desperate for end of month/quarter/year numbers to achieve a bonus, ranking, or allocation advantage moving forward, it's their call if they want to invest in that advantage by reducing profit. But rest assured, they most likely did not take a loss on that car, or any car.

Yes I understand that. they can just make the price on that invoice.. But i really am not comfortable asking for a price under the invoice (order this november).. or maybe im just a newbie, because 3 dealers declined my offer which was 400 under the invoice..