Quote:
Originally Posted by mkoesel
Either way, I do doubt that folks will be able to jump in the game now and get their cars significantly ahead of folks already on the waitlist.
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I'd say that's pretty accurate, moreso for BMWs. If I remember correctly, a pretty big dealer on the East Coast was threatened with losing their BMW franchise for selling the new E46 M3s for well above M.S.R.P. Some manufacturers don't care (I'm thinking of the Dodge Vipers in the '90s that were selling for $100K off of the lot) but BMW seems pretty intent to not have individual dealers 1) hurt the brand's reputation and 2) keep the "extra" profits that BMW AG can't get their hands on.
I know a guy, who's an auto wholesaler, that was paying a Mercedes Benz sales manager $10,000 in cash under the table to jump to the front of the list for an SL55 when it first came out, which when sold, even with a "used" title, would go for $25,000 over M.S.R.P. I guess the point is that everyone has their price, but you have to decide whether it's worth it to you. I doubt there's a single dealer in the U.S. who won't give you his very first M3 if you start a scholarship fund for his kid, but I don't think many people want to pay that kind of money to jump to the head of the line. That's Capitalism at its best, or worst depending on you political slant.