holiday incentive terms

[joelk]

Hi all. I placed an order for an e90 m3 on 1/3/11. Placed the deposit and even got approved for a loan w/ BMW financial services. They assured me that they wouldn't need to pull my credit again when the car came in.

I've now been told that because it is unlikely that my car will be delivered before 3/3/11 that I will very likely not qualify for the $1500 cash back. Oh and if I don't pay for the vehicle by March 3rd then they'll have to run my credit again for me to finance with them. 2 hard pulls

My question is whether someone can confirm that bmw financial services loan approvals are only valid for 2 months. Also, if anyone knows the exact qualification requirements for the $1500 back I'd appreciate it.

I know it is ridiculous to apply for financing when placing a deposit; however, I was led to believe it was needed to qualify for the cash back program. I could imagine this is true if the terms of the program are that the loan must have been approved by 1/3/11. Otherwise I suppose they were just wanting to make sure I was a legit buyer.

fwiw, i'm build week 7.

[dirtyfreebooter]

That sucks. I know the BMW finance app is good for 60 days at the specific dealer you applied at only. That puts you in a tight bind, because you would hate to pay for the car and sign papers before receiving it.

Maybe you can call BMW finance and see if you can get an exception since BMW can't seem to produce and delivery your car in 60 days... I dunno.

[joelk]

Originally Posted by robackja

I know the BMW finance app is good for 60 days at the specific dealer you applied at only.

Okay well if that is definitely true, then I guess they aren't pulling a fast one on me. It seems reasonable the incentive program was for financing that was made during the offer window ... and because the finance offers are good for 60 days, that would extend the window by the time they are telling me.

Oh well, I don't feel that paying for a car before it arrives is an intelligent move. I know that your fico score isn't affected by shopping for car loans w/in a certain time period (so you can rate shop) ... I could wait till the end of the month and reapply...thus saving another credit ding ... or I could just take my chances that hard credit pulls won't significantly affect my score.

edit: robackja, congrats on the delivery tomorrow! i'm jealous. post pics.

[kibosh]

I was told 90 days by Ryan Amico at Steve Thomas BMW (and I have no reason to doubt him). I placed my order just before the end of the year and he told me the financing lock was good until 90 days after the end of the incentive period (both incentive and rate). I wanted to push out my delivery to the first week of April but decided to sign for the car at the end of March to prevent the lock from expiring.

[ksoze]

I believe the lock is 90 days for the west coast and 60 for the east

[outie]

Originally Posted by kibosh

I was told 90 days by Ryan Amico at Steve Thomas BMW (and I have no reason to doubt him). I placed my order just before the end of the year and he told me the financing lock was good until 90 days after the end of the incentive period (both incentive and rate). I wanted to push out my delivery to the first week of April but decided to sign for the car at the end of March to prevent the lock from expiring.

Depends on the state. 90 days for west coast (or CA only?).

[mr_yogi]

Originally Posted by outie

Depends on the state. 90 days for west coast (or CA only?).

My CA told me 90 days as well (East Coast)

[GOLFFRR]

it depends on locations. We in CA are 90 days, some other states are 60 days.

[navarrojiii]

Just to piggyback on this....

If I placed an order and submitted my paperwork to BMW FS on 1/31/10 and I was approved, will they run my credit again when I sign and pay for the car in late March?

I'm asking because I might short sell one of my properties soon and I do not want the the hit on my credit to affect my M3 purchase even though I was approved and had great credit at the time I locked.

Thanks

[joelk]

okay thanks guys. decided to purchase on 1/3/11 ... the last day of the sale... didn't have time to do enough research. oh well...when spending $70k on a car what's another $1.5k?

can anyone confirm that in order to qualify for the holiday incentive program the loan had to be approved during the period of the incentive program? in other words, a deposit on a car during the incentive program timeframe isn't sufficient? thnx

[joelk]

Originally Posted by navarrojiii

Just to piggyback on this....

If I placed an order and submitted my paperwork to BMW FS on 1/31/10 and I was approved, will they run my credit again when I sign and pay for the car in late March?

I'm asking because I might short sell one of my properties soon and I do not want the the hit on my credit to affect my M3 purchase even though I was approved and had great credit at the time I locked.

Thanks

FWIW, I would have a very detailed conversation with your BMW CA about this and even call BMW FS. Ask a lot of questions ... unlike what I did. Even more so if you are short selling.

Don't hold me to it, but from everything I've learned so far, if the loan is approved and it is within the 60/90 days that you actually close on the loan then no subsequent pull would be required. But that's just my non-expert take on the situation.

[mr_yogi]

Originally Posted by joelk

Hi all. I placed an order for an e90 m3 on 1/3/11. Placed the deposit and even got approved for a loan w/ BMW financial services. They assured me that they wouldn't need to pull my credit again when the car came in.

I've now been told that because it is unlikely that my car will be delivered before 3/3/11 that I will very likely not qualify for the $1500 cash back. Oh and if I don't pay for the vehicle by March 3rd then they'll have to run my credit again for me to finance with them. 2 hard pulls

My question is whether someone can confirm that bmw financial services loan approvals are only valid for 2 months. Also, if anyone knows the exact qualification requirements for the $1500 back I'd appreciate it.

I know it is ridiculous to apply for financing when placing a deposit; however, I was led to believe it was needed to qualify for the cash back program. I could imagine this is true if the terms of the program are that the loan must have been approved by 1/3/11. Otherwise I suppose they were just wanting to make sure I was a legit buyer.

fwiw, i'm build week 7.

Just got off the horn with my CA and here's what he told me:

Interest rate: It is good for 90 days AND if a lower rate comes available between when you locked and you sign contract, you can get the lower rate.

$1500 rebate: Order must be completed and your financing must be approved by 1/3/11. The contract must be signed before 3/4/11. He said as long as long as the Performance Center will give me a delivery date in March, he doesn't see a problem with signing the contract on 3/3. If the date ends up being in April, we could still sign the contract on 3/3, however, he wouldn't feel comfortable doing so (my CA is David Aviles from EuroCarsOnline - definately a great guy and highly recommended). In that case, if I still care about the $1500, he would recommend having the car shipped to his dealership (Northwest BMW) and delivered to me. I told him in that case, I'd probably just take delivery at the dealership and drive it back home. Get a lot of those break-in miles out of the way!!


I hope this help clears up your confusion. Let me know if I can help in any other way.

[ksoze]

Are you being told that if locked in before 1/3/2011 on December terms and incentives, you keep the holiday credit as well as any downward changes in the lease terms within the 60/90 day lock? I was under the impression that if you take the new lease terms in January (or whenever), other sales incentives at that time from BMW do not apply ($1,500 holiday cash, old price). I thought combining new and old programs was a no go.

** David Aviles from EuroCarsOnline is indeed an excellent guy to work with.

[trendy26]

+1 for David Aviles! Amazing guy to work with....!

[mr_yogi]

Originally Posted by ksoze

Are you being told that if locked in before 1/3/2011 on December terms and incentives, you keep the holiday credit as well as any downward changes in the lease terms within the 60/90 day lock? I was under the impression that if you take the new lease terms in January (or whenever), other sales incentives at that time from BMW do not apply ($1,500 holiday cash, old price). I thought combining new and old programs was a no go.

** David Aviles from EuroCarsOnline is indeed an excellent guy to work with.

I'm financing. Not sure if things are different with leasing. They may be as there are new rates every month right?

[joelk]

Originally Posted by mr_yogi

Interest rate: It is good for 90 days AND if a lower rate comes available between when you locked and you sign contract, you can get the lower rate.

$1500 rebate: Order must be completed and your financing must be approved by 1/3/11. The contract must be signed before 3/4/11. He said as long as long as the Performance Center will give me a delivery date in March, he doesn't see a problem with signing the contract on 3/3. If the date ends up being in April, we could still sign the contract on 3/3, however, he wouldn't feel comfortable doing so (my CA is David Aviles from EuroCarsOnline - definately a great guy and highly recommended). In that case, if I still care about the $1500, he would recommend having the car shipped to his dealership (Northwest BMW) and delivered to me. I told him in that case, I'd probably just take delivery at the dealership and drive it back home. Get a lot of those break-in miles out of the way!!


I hope this help clears up your confusion. Let me know if I can help in any other way.

So if I understand you correctly, you're saying that in Georgia the BMW FS loan approval (at a particular interest rate) is valid for 90 days?

If that is the case, then what I suspect happened was my dealer didn't have an allocation on 1/3/11 (I thought they got allocations at the start of the month?) because he couldn't get me a production number until 1/4/11. So if they didn't mark the car sold till they traded for an allocation on 1/4/11 then maybe that is the real reason he is saying I won't qualify?

Grrr. I'm going to call BMW FS on monday and get to the bottom of this.

thanks everyone

[PKL]

I would be surprised if it is 90 days in Georgia. That's east coast not even in the middle of the country. Id assume you need to pay for the car by 3/3/11. Like me

[Mace]

Originally Posted by PKL

I would be surprised if it is 90 days in Georgia. That's east coast not even in the middle of the country. Id assume you need to pay for the car by 3/3/11. Like me

Something is fuzzy regarding Mr Yogi's 90 day lock. BMW Northwest is in Maryland and the best he could do would be a 60 day lock. Also, regarding signing the contract by 3/4. I locked (90 day through a West coast dealer) on 2 Jan and my approval letter specifically says it expires 3/31. Mr Yogi's lock is only 60 days therefore he has to sign by 3/4 which is consistent with his dealership location (i.e., East coast).

You cannot mix programs. The $1,500 holiday credit is part of the December program along with the interest rates, MF, and residuals. You can use December program (if you locked prior to 1/3) or accept the new January rates without the $1,500. While this may sound like you're losing out don't be so quick with that assumption. When BMW "gives" something like a $1,500 credit they typically bump up the finance terms, there's no free lunch, it just looks that way. When the credit goes away typically the rates will adjust a bit downward so you have to actually run the numbers to see which is better. In my lease, the Jan rates actually save me $30/month even with the $500 price increase and no $1,500 holiday credit. Also, the $500 increase in the base car is effective as of 1 Jan and has nothing to do with the finance programs. Order the car as of 1/1 and MSRP is $500 more even if you locked the Dec rates.

[ksoze]

Originally Posted by Mace

In my lease, the Jan rates actually save me $30/month even with the $500 price increase and no $1,500 holiday credit.

Mace - are you using the new Loyalty lease rate for January in your numbers?

If not, I can't see how the January numbers are better than a locked Dec or Nov deal. Using the new rates and lower residual, the overall December deal appears slightly better when comparing the two deals side by side.

[Mace]

Originally Posted by ksoze

Mace - are you using the new Loyalty lease rate for January in your numbers?

If not, I can't see how the January numbers are better than a locked Dec or Nov deal. Using the new rates and lower residual, the overall December deal appears slightly better when comparing the two deals side by side.

Yes, I'm using the loyalty rate that's why I said people needed to run the numbers to see which works better for them. If I run my numbers using the .00090 rate then it's slightly worse for me over the December program (by about $20/month) but still probably not a deal breaker especially if there's no way you can take delivery in time to satisfy the Dec lock. The general idea is that BMW both givith and taketh away at the same time so don't get hung up on something like qualifying for a credit. It sounds like you'll take it in the shorts by losing out on the $1,500 but the difference is probably much closer to a wash than a deal breaker. You may even end up better as has worked out in my case.

BMW also does this with ED's. They tell you that they'll make your second payment because the car is being shipped and you'll be without it for another month. That sounds good but the reality is they add .00030 to the Money Factor and that works out to about the same as the payment would cost you just spread out as slightly higher monthly payments over the life of the lease. Again, this is just a general trend with any business and there certainly are exceptional values available at times like the E93 M3 which is an incredible lease value right now (and has been since probably Sept/Oct of last year.)

[mr_yogi]

Originally Posted by PKL

I would be surprised if it is 90 days in Georgia. That's east coast not even in the middle of the country. Id assume you need to pay for the car by 3/3/11. Like me

I do need to pay for the car (ie sign contract) by 3/3. I apologize for the 60/90 day lock confusion.

I got my BMW FS approval in December (like December 12th or something). Then my CA said I have to sign by 3/3. That is why I said 90 days. Maybe it's not 90, but that timeframe definitely makes it more than 60 no?

EDIT: I just looked up my approval letter from BMW FS. It expires 2/28. Again, sorry for the confusion. Now I'm concerned! How is it that I have to sign by 3/3 but approval expires 2/28? Shooting David an email now...

[joelk]

Originally Posted by mr_yogi

I do need to pay for the car (ie sign contract) by 3/3. I apologize for the 60/90 day lock confusion.

I got my BMW FS approval in December (like December 12th or something). Then my CA said I have to sign by 3/3. That is why I said 90 days. Maybe it's not 90, but that timeframe definitely makes it more than 60 no?

EDIT: I just looked up my approval letter from BMW FS. It expires 2/28. Again, sorry for the confusion. Now I'm concerned! How is it that I have to sign by 3/3 but approval expires 2/28? Shooting David an email now...

oh man, hope you aren't ending up in the same situation i'm in.