Who Pays for Transport?

[Dok Henz]

Assume your local BMW dealership doesn't have a particular car on the lot, but a remote dealership does, and you're negotiating with the local dealer for its purchase. Who pays for the transport between the two dealerships (assuming the local dealer is able to negotiate a "trade" with the remote dealer)? Does BMW NA or BMW FS cover this cost? Or is it customary to pass this cost on to the consumer?

In this scenario, assume the desired car is 1000 miles away.

Also, has anyone gone through a negotiation similar to this? I could foresee the local dealer "locking in" a price with the customer, then returning with an "Oh, I'm sorry, the remote dealer just won't bargain with us for that price. We'll have to come up with more money..."

Thanks!
Dok

[osteome]

I am going to presume that the dealer is going to charge your for transport. The money has to come from somewhere and the dealer requesting the vehicle will likely be on the hook for it, and will pass that cost along to the consumer.

BMWNA has already paid to move it once to the ordering dealer, so there is no incentive for them to move again. They already have the car "sold' to that dealer and they are done.

It becomes a dealer to dealer thing and the dealer with the car currently really has no incentive to swap it out, unless they are flush with M3s, and even then, they are not going to pay someone to "take it off their hands". If is a particularly popular color/equipment combo then their incentive to swap or sell it (typically at invoice or invoice minus the holdback in my prior experience) is even less and they are not required swap or sell it to other dealer. It becomes a nothing deal for the dealer that has the car in any case.

Best bet is to find one local, order one, or buy the one you want at the other dealer and drive it back if the car/deal are really that special (break in mileage on the way home) or buy that one and pay to ship it yourself.

Good luck!

[ksoze]

1000 miles away = order new.

[arter]

My experience is that up to a couple of hundred miles, dealers swap cars for no cost.
Thousand miles means a shipping event. the dealer should tell you what the cost is before you do it and you can balance the cost vs the delay ( or go pick it up yourself).

[Dok Henz]

Thanks for your input, fellas. Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing. One of my best friends lives in Seattle, and has offered to drive me to Portland to pick up the car... driving down the West Coast would be a nice way to get through the break-in period! But ultimately, I think I'm gonna end up ordering one, like everyone has suggested...

Dok