Reasonable Price?

[MrClean]

How does this sound:

M3 Sedan
Metallic paint, leather
MDCT
Premium
Tech
Cold Weather
Moon roof
Premium Audio
Sat Radio

$66,045

Can I do better?

Thanks in advance.

J

[timsev]

What's the MSRP? You can always do better.

[BMW F22]

$1000 or so off MSRP is a good deal IMO. If you really try you can get about $1500 off as well.

[dosserj]

Where did you find a sedan with the DCT? Or is this an order? That car seems pretty loaded, which usually stickers around $70K so $66K looks real good.

[man02195]

Originally Posted by MrClean

How does this sound:

$66,045

Can I do better?

Thanks in advance.

J

Build it on bmwusa.com, subtract $2,500, the result would be a very good price with no dealer fees, etc.

[MrClean]

If I "build it" at Edmunds, it still shows it being several thousand $$ over dealer invoice. I know they need to make a profit, but $3000 sounds a bit excessive. Hopefully, the economy/gas prices might give me a little leverage, though I realize people considering these cars aren't as sensitive to these factors. I'll keep you posted.

J

[goldminer]

Originally Posted by MrClean

If I "build it" at Edmunds, it still shows it being several thousand $$ over dealer invoice. I know they need to make a profit, but $3000 sounds a bit excessive. Hopefully, the economy/gas prices might give me a little leverage, though I realize people considering these cars aren't as sensitive to these factors. I'll keep you posted.

J

$3,000 profit on a $66,000 car? That's less than 5%. You try running a business on a 5% markup. Sounds reasonable to me for a new car that is in some demand.

[JEllis]

Nicely equipped! Probably a good price...especially for Socal!

[Davinhci]

sounds good

[Seth_Horwitz]

Originally Posted by goldminer

$3,000 profit on a $66,000 car? That's less than 5%. You try running a business on a 5% markup. Sounds reasonable to me for a new car that is in some demand.

FYI ... Most dealer money is made through service, so their true operating margin would still be well above 5% even if they sold all of their cars at that pricing.

Having said that, it seems that dealers in Callifornia are still "robbing" (it's not really robbing if people will do it) M3 buyers at around sticker price. (Some people are still paying a premium) It's more of a buyers market over here on the East Coast, and I bought an E92 with DCT, with pretty much every other option, for $2,500 off of M.S.R.P. It sounds like $1K off in CA would be a decent deal. (Or just buy one on the east coast, finish your break-in period and get it serviced around Iowa, and enjoy your car in the full RPM range for the rest of the way to Cal.)

[MrClean]

Originally Posted by Seth_Horwitz

FYI ... Most dealer money is made through service, so their true operating margin would still be well above 5% even if they sold all of their cars at that pricing.

Exactly my line of thinking. BMW may have some kickback to the dealer as well.

J

[Reedomn]

MSRP is 7% over dealer cost. Any dealer will give you at least $2,500 off MSRP and still do fine. Especially as their inventory of M3's rises.

[Ronin13]

If you are ordering (which I assume since sedans just started building w/ DCT), I get $68970 MSRP after the June increases. Almost 3k off sounds like one of the better deals I've seen on the forum. Just make sure there are no additional fees tied to the price.

[lucid]

If that's 3k off MSRP, that's about right for a sedan at this time. However, keep in mind the 2009 model will most likely be out in September, which will probably see another slight price hike (I'd say 1k-1.5k), but when you sell it 3-4 years for now, the 09 will be worth about 3k more than the 08. I doubt that they would give you 3k off MSRP for an 09 in September though. I guess it all kinds of evens out and if you've decided to buy the car, that's a good price.

[MrClean]

Stupid question - I'll put on my Nomex undies...

Is it normal for a VIN number to come back "invalid" on a new car when run through a VIN search engine? It seems hit or miss when I input some of the numbers I'm checking from local dealers... Red flag or am I worrying about nothing?

J

[Seth_Horwitz]

Originally Posted by MrClean

Stupid question - I'll put on my Nomex undies...

Is it normal for a VIN number to come back "invalid" on a new car when run through a VIN search engine? It seems hit or miss when I input some of the numbers I'm checking from local dealers... Red flag or am I worrying about nothing?

J

Which search did you use? I'm not sure if all of them register when the car is imported, or just wait until the car is registered for street use. If the latter, it would be invalid until someone titled the car, which hasn't happened yet. I'd be more concerned if the car was titled and they told you it was new.

[MrClean]

The reason I ask is this: I am scheduled to test drive an M3 sedan with DCT this morning. By every account I've read, BMW hasn't built any of these yet. I got a bit suspicious and was trying to see if the VIN was legitimate, but it seems that the numbers on brand new cars do not consistently come up as valid. Anyway, the dealer is at least an hour away, so I will be pissed if they are jacking me around....

[ronnie dobbs]

I think they may be jacking you around because as far as most of us have seen, this week is the first build week for DCT sedans, meaning the first one will hit US shores in about a month I guess.

[Sedan_Clan]

Originally Posted by MrClean

The reason I ask is this: I am scheduled to test drive an M3 sedan with DCT this morning. By every account I've read, BMW hasn't built any of these yet. I got a bit suspicious and was trying to see if the VIN was legitimate, but it seems that the numbers on brand new cars do not consistently come up as valid. Anyway, the dealer is at least an hour away, so I will be pissed if they are jacking me around....

Which dealership?

[MrClean]

I called one last time before I drove out there and, sure enough, they were 6MTs. I would have been really pissed had I gotten all the way there and discovered that. Their website said they had 3 DCT equipped sedans. I researched the dealership last night, because I got a funny feeling about them, and the BBB rated them "F". I won't tell you the name, but they are somewhere in the vicinity of Newport Beach, CA.

So I went to another dealer much closer and drove a 335i (great car), and barely drove an M3. The salesdude really turned us off, though - showed very little interest in showing us stuff, and was very reluctant to let us try the M (I guess understandably so, but I'm not plopping down that kind of cash without trying the thing out on the highway). Two dealers in a row now that let me drive the M around the block. F-that.

I think I may be in over my head with the M3, so I'm taking a much harder look at the 335i. We even *gasp* stopped by an Audi place on the way home, as my wife was really pissed about the experience. This is the third BMW dealership in two states we've been to that displayed the same shitty attitude. Love the cars, but they opened themselves up to the competition (if you want to call it that) by the way we were treated. I'm going back to Audi to at least test drive an S4, though I'm pretty sure I'll stick with BMW.

Probably won't spend much more time on the M side of this forum - this is where the boy parts company with the men, lol. It's been fun, guys. Thanks for the help along the way.

J

[Ronin13]

Sorry to hear about your dealership experiences. My CA was really cool. Handed me the key, reminded me that it wasn't broken in and I just brought it back to him when I was done with my drive. Realize not every place is like that. Good luck on finding a cool place to buy. Maybe other forum members have suggestions for SoCal.

[bsatestb]

My CA have me the key and said "take your time and enjoy it"...which was nice