Quote:
Originally Posted by sandwi54
People tend to be naive and think there's such a thing as "building relationships" with dealerships. These cases are few and far between. They are businesses that need to make sales to survive and losing one "loyal" customer has absolutely no effect on their sales.
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There is some truth to this. I have leased 5 custom ordered BMWs from my CA over the past 12+ years and have a pretty good relationship aside from the usual negotiation dance every 3 years. Anyway, last October, I ordered a '21 X5 and was looking for an '8% off MSRP at the buy rate' deal. He countered with 7% and held firm there. It wasn't until a broker I knew who had a relationship with the GM stepped in and 'made a call'. The next day, I got an email saying that they would honor the 8% deal given our long term relationship. That's it; 1% (begrudgingly) was all the relationship was worth - if that.
Fast forward a year and look what has happened: those 8-10% deals are LONG gone. I can't even imagine what the conversation with my CA would have looked like this October if ordering a new X5. I'm guessing I might be lucky to get the 1% off MSRP vs 0%! Will be interesting to see what happens in 2 years when my lease is up. Could be buying the thing off lease!