[smellygas]

Originally Posted by el_do33

Thought I share my experienced today at SF BMW. So I compiled a list of options to go with my 325i and emailed to a few Bay area dealers to find a good deal. One saleman from SF named Mike emailed back asked if I would offer him $100 over invoice. I was so surprised with that question and knew it might too good to be true. I emailed him I would offer that if I know how much the Maco and training fees were, he didn't responsed the amount so I called him. He didn't want to quote me and asked if I ever had time, just dropped by and call him.

So today I decided to take a drive down and check it out, called the number he gave me and left a vm. I thought he gave me his cell number but he gave me his desk #. When I got down there, they said that he was off today so they called him on his cell. He told them to refer me to Joe Liao and I would be treated the same. So I agreed and met Joe, after sitting down and chatting a few mins, I asked to test drive the 325 that had Sport package and so he did. We had somewhat good conversation during my test drive, etc. After we got back to his desk and started configuring the car on the website, I asked directly what he will offer on the invoice other than the MACO and training. He said those two fees were standard and cost $480 (300Maco + 180 training). I said ok, and how much over invoice. He asked how much did Mike give you and I said that he emailed me $100 over invoice. He said "No way, not possible" then he went on and said the 3 series is currently a very POPULAR car and that no dealers would give me less than $1000 over invoice. I kindly smile and asked "Are you sure?". He confirmed and told me again that it's rare and too popular and that on edmunds.com, there was a column that told me the cost of peole paying for it. I said "yah, but not everyone paid that price. I knew about many people that got the car bet. 500-1000 over invoice." He said, no way I could get that deal anywhere....so I smile kindly and just said "alrighty, we're done here" and smile and left.

Then I went to the reception and asked for Mike's cell and left a vm saying it didn't work out and too bad he wasn't there so we could talk. I left thinking what an idiot that saleman was...I didn't feel like telling him about this website and mention the other deals that people got from SF. Overall, it was quite an interesting and wateful drive down there.....thought I shared with you guys.

YEP!! That's about how much SF BMW wants for their 325i's...$1000 over KBB/Edmunds invoice. It sounds like they have enough suckers in S.F. willing to pay that much, cuz they don't seem to want to budge on that price....in fact, I think they're under the delusion that this is a GREAT price, based on conversations with them. Take your business elsewhere.

And if their 325i's are really selling like hotcakes, then how come their inventory is so huge!!?? Their top-floor lot (behind the main building) is so packed with 3's that it boggles the mind.

SmellyGas

[eldo33]

Originally Posted by smellygas

YEP!! That's about how much SF BMW wants for their 325i's...$1000 over KBB/Edmunds invoice. It sounds like they have enough suckers in S.F. willing to pay that much, cuz they don't seem to want to budge on that price....in fact, I think they're under the delusion that this is a GREAT price, based on conversations with them. Take your business elsewhere.

And if their 325i's are really selling like hotcakes, then how come their inventory is so huge!!?? Their top-floor lot (behind the main building) is so packed with 3's that it boggles the mind.

SmellyGas

Your're rite smellygas.

1) I got the impression that people who bought their bmws their paid that price so they thought it was a good price. Funny...still laughing when I think about what that guy said.
2) Their top floors had about 20 or so 3 series.

I finally worked the deal out with my SC dealers and my car is awaiting to be shipped out. Yahhhhh babbbyy!!

[pprahlad]

I did a fair amout of research on various bay area dealerships. Bottomline is your opinion about a dealership is based on the sales person you get to talk to.

I bought mine at SF BMW. Danny Andrade is great . He gave a reasonably good deal (about $1000 over invoice) and I never had to haggle about the price. His honesty is what I liked most. Also the whole transaction went very smooth. I certainly recommend him.


I went to BMW of Mountain View (they were edmund's preferred dealer) and I must say they weren't great. I had to tell them about other dealers giving me better prices - It was only then they lowered their prices (but didn't match the lowest)

BMW of Stevens Creek. Now those guys are, with all due respect, a bunch of idiots. I had to wait about 1 hour to talk to a sales man - who only spoke some broken english. he took me around the dealership (not on the freeway -coz he wanted to "go home").
The next time I call them and ask for a serious price quote, they say "Don't worry about the price, just come here and well give you your price. Your car is here and she is waiting for you" (which was total since it wasn' there and had to be ordered )

[eldo33]

Originally Posted by pprahlad

I did a fair amout of research on various bay area dealerships. Bottomline is your opinion about a dealership is based on the sales person you get to talk to.

I bought mine at SF BMW. Danny Andrade is great . He gave a reasonably good deal (about $1000 over invoice) and I never had to haggle about the price. His honesty is what I liked most. Also the whole transaction went very smooth. I certainly recommend him.


I went to BMW of Mountain View (they were edmund's preferred dealer) and I must say they weren't great. I had to tell them about other dealers giving me better prices - It was only then they lowered their prices (but didn't match the lowest)

BMW of Stevens Creek. Now those guys are, with all due respect, a bunch of idiots. I had to wait about 1 hour to talk to a sales man - who only spoke some broken english. he took me around the dealership (not on the freeway -coz he wanted to "go home").
The next time I call them and ask for a serious price quote, they say "Don't worry about the price, just come here and well give you your price. Your car is here and she is waiting for you" (which was total since it wasn' there and had to be ordered )

pprahlad,

True True. It's all depend on who you talk to at the dealer ship.

So with 1000 over invoice, was that included the Maco and training fee?

I let the dealers played the bit deal so finally got a good price at SC BMW. Under 1000 of course.

[pprahlad]

Originally Posted by el_do33

So with 1000 over invoice, was that included the Maco and training fee?

I let the dealers played the bit deal so finally got a good price at SC BMW. Under 1000 of course.

I wasn't charged these fees. (atleast explicitly). I only knew about these fees after reading this thread.

The next time I can afford to buy a BMW, I'm definitely going the ED way. Nice trip around Europe and a cheaper car!

[snowman800]

Hey everyone - its great to be on such a large posting board - what a great resource. Here in NoCal, I'm getting ready to buy my 330i, SG, Manual w/ZSP, folding rear seat and Comf.Acc.

After countless hours reading so many threads (my wife says I should be so committed to her) I feel fairly well prepared to move forward. I have a friend who used to sell Mercedes for a few years and he's got some friends at a local dealerships. He called on my behalf today to inquire on general bay area stock and see if my combo is available anywhere - its not. I guess they can earch other dealership inventories too, part of being able to swap cars. I hear its the manual transmission that's tough, the 1% thing I was reading about. (I like the post about "You can have my manual when you pry it from my cold dead hands". Love manual, always have, always will. It puts the SPORT in sports sedan. But that's just me...)

So your replies are most apreciated. Looking forward to the sweet car and posting some gorgeous pix for you all to see.

I'm looking at ordering. At least the next manuf. run is scheduled for 3/13, which means delivery by end of April/early May. A time that will seem like eternity, I'm sure.

It seems like everyone has paid from $500 to $1200 over invoice - quite a variance. I'm trying to guage the local market in recent times and see how other purchases are going. From SF, Sonnen, SC, WC, East Bay, PeterPan, etc. - I would like to know if anyone has purchased their 330i this year, from which dealership, what did you pay and what was your 'over invoice' price?

This kind of recon will help me to be the most prepared when I go to my Sales rep & Manager referral this weekend.

[tofu]

Been reading a lot on this site ever since i fell in love w/ the 06 3 series.
Getting ready to buy and Fremont BMW quoted $1000 over invoice and $400 MACO
(i.e. 1400 over invoice) for a 330i configured as follow.

I think, $800 over invoice (including MACO or whatever fees) is a fair deal.
But where can I get $800 over invoice?

================================================== ======================
06 330i (6MT) color : SG/terra/Aluminum
MSRP Invoice

06 330i (6speed) $36,600 $33,485

Optional Equipment $4,525 $4,115
-- Metallic Paint $475 $430
ZSP Sport Package $1,600 $1,455
-- Leather Upholstery $1,450 $1,320
494 Heated Front Seats $500 $455
322 Comfort Access $500 $455
4AD Aluminum Trim $0 $0
Destination Charge $695 $695
Total with Options $41,820 $38,295
================================================== ======================

any help is appreciated

tofu

[kt157]

weatherford bmw in berkeley
ask for john meier or ronny m

[Snowman811]

$500 over invoice from Stevens Creek.

[tofu]

Originally Posted by Snowman811

$500 over invoice from Stevens Creek.

good buy, but was it

$500 + invoice (edmunds)+ MACO/Training
or
$500 + invoice (edmunds)

The quote from Jimmy Khan (Stevens Creek) was not good at all, who did you deal with?

thanks

[kt157]

tofu, check out the dealer/ salesmen i mentioned up top. tell them kel w/ a black 330i sent u.

[bmwagon]

Do you normally talk to more than one salesperson in the same dealership?

[nightkhan]

when i was shopping around for my e90, i first visited bmw of sf, since i was living in the city then. I forget the sales person's name, but he was the only african-american guy there. he was helpful at first, taking me out for test drives, but i immediately got the vibe that he was a high pressure salesman, you know, sometimes you can just pick that out.
after the test drives, we sat down and he was doing an inventory search for the combinations that i wanted. nothing pulled up exactly what i wanted, but there was one that was pretty comparable to what i was looking for. he said he'll keep looking around and give me a call over the next few days when something came up. while i was waiting for him to find something, i went over to bmw of mountain view, and there was a car there which was pretty much exactly what i wanted, but was surprised that the sales guy over at bmw sf never mentioned it when he did a search for it. i pretty much decided on the one at mountain view, and was going to go in the next day to finalize everything and take delivery. i negotiated with the dealer, and after about 40 minutes of back and forth, settled on $100 over (this was towards the end of the month, so the sales people are willing to sacrifice to reach their quotas).
the next day i called back to bmw sf to the sales guy and told him that i found what i was looking for over at mountain view and told him the price. he first replied in shock about the price and was trying to convince me that they were lying to me, and then he also said to me that he actually DID see that car during his search the other day when i was there, but didnt' tell me about it because he "thought" that's not what i wanted. he then convinced me to go back and take a look at the cars they have on their lot, i figured why not, there might be something that we'd be able to find, and i already have the other car at mountain view guaranteed for me. i went in, and found nothing, but the sales guy at sf turned his sales pressure switch to EXTREME HIGH, and was trying to get me to buy whatever they had there. He was rude and blunt, and wouldn't back off. He began offering cars that were completely off of what i wanted, wrong color, wrong interior, wrong packages, trying to throw anything that was relative to the price, and wouldn't stop trying to convince me to buy off of him. i got tired of him so i left. that wasn't the end of him though. he proceeded to start calling me to go back and get a car from him. by this time it was just annoying and i told him i'm not going back there.
mountain view had its problems too. the sales guy i was originally talking with at mountain view was out that day, so he handed me over to ed manchavez. he was decent, picked me up from the mountain view train station (i lived in sf then), and had all the paperworks ready. the problem began towards the signing, when they realized that they needed my proof of graduation, and job offer letter (i just graduated and got a job) to approve the rate that i was getting, and since i wasn't told about this ever, i didn't have this with me. what started out as an exciting evening, since i was going to drive off with my new car, turned to a disappointing and tiring night as i left the lot empty handed, told to return the next day with the proper documents. since i didn't drive there, i was taken to the train station, at 10 pm, and had to sit on a 45 min long train ride with no car.
out of those 2 places, bmw mountain was better since there was no pressure, and the sales guy got me the lowest quote (i called about 6 different dealers around the area, and every one of them told me the guy had to be lying for offering me something so low). on a happy note, i was finally able to drive home my new 325 the next day after bringing in all the proper docs.

[nightkhan]

wow, didn't know i wrote so much....for those that what a "cliff note" version:

BMW SF: BAD, high pressure, rude

BMW Mountain View: better, no pressure, lowest quote found in the area

[Snowman811]

Thanks to this website, I knew to ask about MACO and training fees, etc. during the conversation. Its just invoice + $500. No surprises.

I shopped for competitive buying numbers around different dealers in the bay area, along with input from threads eg: NorCal Dealerships. Did my homework. SC originally said invoice + $1,500 and when I replied with my commitment to buy and a competitive offer from Concord, they came back with an agreement to sell at $500 over invoice (including all options).

I might add, they are great to work with. No pressure, no haggling. Very civilized conversation and collaborative discussion on everything. When going to buy, I would call ahead to schedule an appointment. The CA's love this as it helps them plan their day and shows respect. Can help put them in a good mood to work with you!

[azzurribaggio]

Originally Posted by nightkhan

when i was shopping around for my e90, i first visited bmw of sf, since i was living in the city then. I forget the sales person's name, but he was the only african-american guy there. he was helpful at first, taking me out for test drives, but i immediately got the vibe that he was a high pressure salesman, you know, sometimes you can just pick that out.
after the test drives, we sat down and he was doing an inventory search for the combinations that i wanted. nothing pulled up exactly what i wanted, but there was one that was pretty comparable to what i was looking for. he said he'll keep looking around and give me a call over the next few days when something came up. while i was waiting for him to find something, i went over to bmw of mountain view, and there was a car there which was pretty much exactly what i wanted, but was surprised that the sales guy over at bmw sf never mentioned it when he did a search for it. i pretty much decided on the one at mountain view, and was going to go in the next day to finalize everything and take delivery. i negotiated with the dealer, and after about 40 minutes of back and forth, settled on $100 over (this was towards the end of the month, so the sales people are willing to sacrifice to reach their quotas).
the next day i called back to bmw sf to the sales guy and told him that i found what i was looking for over at mountain view and told him the price. he first replied in shock about the price and was trying to convince me that they were lying to me, and then he also said to me that he actually DID see that car during his search the other day when i was there, but didnt' tell me about it because he "thought" that's not what i wanted. he then convinced me to go back and take a look at the cars they have on their lot, i figured why not, there might be something that we'd be able to find, and i already have the other car at mountain view guaranteed for me. i went in, and found nothing, but the sales guy at sf turned his sales pressure switch to EXTREME HIGH, and was trying to get me to buy whatever they had there. He was rude and blunt, and wouldn't back off. He began offering cars that were completely off of what i wanted, wrong color, wrong interior, wrong packages, trying to throw anything that was relative to the price, and wouldn't stop trying to convince me to buy off of him. i got tired of him so i left. that wasn't the end of him though. he proceeded to start calling me to go back and get a car from him. by this time it was just annoying and i told him i'm not going back there.
mountain view had its problems too. the sales guy i was originally talking with at mountain view was out that day, so he handed me over to ed manchavez. he was decent, picked me up from the mountain view train station (i lived in sf then), and had all the paperworks ready. the problem began towards the signing, when they realized that they needed my proof of graduation, and job offer letter (i just graduated and got a job) to approve the rate that i was getting, and since i wasn't told about this ever, i didn't have this with me. what started out as an exciting evening, since i was going to drive off with my new car, turned to a disappointing and tiring night as i left the lot empty handed, told to return the next day with the proper documents. since i didn't drive there, i was taken to the train station, at 10 pm, and had to sit on a 45 min long train ride with no car.
out of those 2 places, bmw mountain was better since there was no pressure, and the sales guy got me the lowest quote (i called about 6 different dealers around the area, and every one of them told me the guy had to be lying for offering me something so low). on a happy note, i was finally able to drive home my new 325 the next day after bringing in all the proper docs.

Take the quote you have an shop it around....

[zyxplitz]

I bought my 330i black sapphire/black leather w/premium package, pre-sat wiring, and free floor mats at Concord BMW for $700 over invoice.

[Snowman811]

That's $200 more than I paid at Stevens Creek, but still a respectable deal. I can't believe anybody would pay for floormats these days. Especially when you buy at the end of the month.

Nice choice of colors - get the burl walnut?

[zyxplitz]

Yes, burl walnut and manual transmission. I used the Costco auto buying program.

[Snowman811]

Nice - we'll have very similar cars. ZSP for you? No ZPP for me.

[zyxplitz]

I have the zpp only

[azzurribaggio]

What do you guys think about this? Anyone know what license cost are, plus think there might be any hidden cost yet unrevealed in this quote?

2006 325i (e90)
Invoice Price Description
$28,300 base
$1,210 steptronic 6-speed automatic
$1,820 On-board Navigation System w/voice recognition
$2,640 ZPP Premium Package
$695 Destination and Handling fees
$0 Jet Black Exterior/Black Interior

$34,665 Subtotal before additonal charges


Additonal Charges ($1,285)
$75 satellite radio preparation (opcode:693)
$280 MACO
$180 Training
$750 ~2.16% increase over invoice


$35,950 Subtotal with additional charges

$2,965.87 8.25% CA. sales tax

$38,915.87 OTD (Out The Door Price)