Noob Questions

[BMWftw]

Hi guys,

Who is Golfrr? From the posts, people seem to talk about him alot, he sounds like an intersting guy.

Second, I hear all these things about buying 500 above invoice, what does that mean?

Pleaes explain =)

Thanks in advanced

Part two:

I am looking to buy an M3, how should I deal with the dealers? How much bargaining power do I really have?

Thanks again,

[Poofyo101]

I don't think it works for canadian buyers
Golfferrrrr works for Steve Thomas BMW
500 over invoice is wholesale cost of the car plus 500 dollars for dealer profit

[BMWftw]

Could you give me an example of what the 500 over invoice would look like?
So how do I negotiate the 500$ above invoice with my dealer?

[redline9001]

In Canada you can go to www.carcostcanada.com and get dealer invoice on cars.

I had an old report and on 2009 m3 and base price is 71,200.00 and dealer invoice is 64,785.00.

In Canada BMW dealers generally will not sell for 500 over invoice, on low volume cars.

good luck with your purchase

[persian54]

or you can hire a car broker/agent

[BMWftw]

Originally Posted by persian54

or you can hire a car broker/agent

Do you mean hiirng someone to import the car from the outside?
please explain

[luis_m3]

Hmmmmmm

Originally Posted by BMWftw

Do you mean hiirng someone to import the car from the outside?
please explain

[persian54]

Originally Posted by BMWftw

Do you mean hiirng someone to import the car from the outside?
please explain

Well, from your questions, I'm assuming you're new to buying cars

Thus, it may be advantageous for your to hire a car broker/agent to do the dealings for you.
I fear you may get easily ripped off by dealerships in your area

[艾利克斯]

IIRC you could not import brand new cars from the states to Canada, only pre-owned ones. With this kind of exchange rate, I don't think it's worth it.

[BMWftw]

Originally Posted by persian54

Well, from your questions, I'm assuming you're new to buying cars

Thus, it may be advantageous for your to hire a car broker/agent to do the dealings for you.
I fear you may get easily ripped off by dealerships in your area

So where do I go look for a car broker? And how can I ensure that they don't rip me off?

Also would be great if anyone could give me tips on how I should deal with the dealer when buying an M3. How much bargaining power do I have?

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Poofyo101

I don't think it works for canadian buyers
Golfferrrrr works for Steve Thomas BMW
500 over invoice is wholesale cost of the car plus 500 dollars for dealer profit

not quite. dealer cost of car is invoice (actually less than invoice). you should be picking up your m3 for between 300-500 over invoice. (Not 1000 as you're suggesting here).

[jphughan]

OP, you have as much bargaining power as you have the will to walk away from a deal. My advice is this: Do some research on these boards and elsewhere to find out what sorts of deals people actually got on their cars, with preference given to more recent transactions of course. I'm not sure US deals will translate the same way into Canadian deals, but you should find some Canadian deals posted here. Then use some online resources to find the invoice cost of a car optioned as you'd like it (assuming you're ordering) and pick a reasonable number in your head as for what you're willing to offer. THEN make that offer to some dealers via email -- you may want to see whether there's any good or bad feedback here on the CAs at the dealerships near you. If a dealer accepts that offer either initially or after some bargaining, great. If not, try walking away and see whether they stop you with a better offer, or even if they let you go see whether they contact you in a couple days. If no one does, you need to make a better offer. But of course if you're so excited about the car that you can't walk away (and ESPECIALLY if you make your excitement obvious with a huge grin after a test drive) then you shouldn't expect to get the best possible offer.

For what it's worth I paid $1500 US over invoice for my M3 4 months ago. After research I determined that most people were paying in the $1200-1500 over invoice range and I decided that I'd rather make an initial offer that was reasonable for both sides, avoid the whole haggling saga, and come out with a CA who liked me rather than one who hated me for being a pain in the ass about price -- especially since I'd heard good things about the CA I decided to work with. I for one have no problem paying extra to people who do good work and especially those who I may want to be able to continue working with later. A few hundred bucks over the best possible price means a whole lot more to the dealer in commission than it does to me rolled into to the total cost of the car, so it seemed like a pretty cheap way to get some goodwill -- and it worked. He was fantastic through the whole process, he likes me, and he's been prompt and helpful on a few follow-up things I've asked him about.