is it worth it?

[epham]

Hello everyone,

I have a dilemma. You know how the prices of the 325Ci's went up at start of the year? Well, my sales guy told me that I'll have to pay the extra $555 for the car and the options I got. He said that he'd try to talk to his manager again and see if he can meet me halfway and charge me an extra $300. Well, now I got a call and he's telling me that I can't even get that. What the hell?!? So now I'm just stuck? Not that there's anywhere else I can go to get the car...and there's no way I want to wait another 2 months...

So my question to you all:
Should I

1) just grin and bear it, pay the stinkin' $555, and keep a "good" relationship with my sales guy, or the dealership as a whole, so if I ever have problems (hope I don't) with the car, I can go back and they won't give me the evil eye...

OR

2) show them this law code/article thing saying that they can't revoke a written deal and that they should eat the loss?

http://www.law.cornell.edu/ucc/2/2-205.html

BTW, my deal was "over invoice", which I know sounds bad, BUT, he also wrote "selling price" in the deal as well. What do guys make of it? Thoughts? Opinions?

Many thanks!
Erin

[Clem]

I think it's a load of crap. You made the agreement with him to sell you the car at $xxxx and for you to buy the car at $xxxx. To me that's a contract. You should get the car for what you agreed the price would be.

[Cyclone]

If your deal says, "over invoice" you are screwed, I believe. The invoice prices from BMW are went increased. So if you had an agreement of X amount over invoice, and invoice raised, that would inturn increase your sell price. But if they include both the "over invoice" amount AND the sell price in your agreement, then you may be able to get them to bend. Tell them the 2 amounts don't match and therefore your contract is void. You want the original agreement or you walk. You HAVE to be serious though (and be willing to walk). If they really want the deal, they'll either stop you, or call you later. Pray! hehe

[Guest84]

Agree with Clem, and if you can, find another dealer within a 400 mile radius of you and see if you can strike a better deal, then use this as leverage for the original deal you made..just rambling thoughts...

[Clem]

Another suggestion is to drive (up is it?) to Santa Barbara and see out good friend Jon Shafer at Cutter Motors. He'll take care of you.

[SamBeau]

If you had a very good deal, then the dealer would rather just LET you walk than take another $550 off his margin.

He'll easily sell the car to someone else for more than that.

You're only option to get a better (I.E.: "post-price-increase") deal is to buy a car off the lot which was produced/invoiced prior to the price increase taking effect.

The decent thing for BMW to do in future would be make price increases effective to cars ORDERED after a cut-off date (vice built or delivered or whatever criteria they're using - I've heard both).

I had a "heads-up" that I would likely get stuck for the price increase if I had ordered in December so I held off.

Just more time to assess the competition!

[epham]

Well, the problem is that my deal was $1800 over invoice. Nothing spectacular, seeing how I've read about people getting $1500 over invoice, but I couldn't do it. Everyone I spoke to said I was smoking crack and that the prices people claimed on the web were exaggerated...At the time when I was negotiating prices, I went to 4 other dealers...Harloff (Encinitas) offered $1850, Irvine told me to go away :o saying that '02 coupes were not negotiable...bastards..., shelly offered $1800, and that was the same price as BMW of SD so I decided to go with them since they're less than 10 miles from me.

Basically, the car with my specs did not exist so I had to order it. So there are no pre-Jan invoiced cars available so if I were to order again, dealer X would still have to charge the new prices and so would I really be saving anything? So if I were to drop the deal, I'd still be back at square one again.:(

And if I were to try to get a quote from Cutter, I'd have to wait another 2 months to save a couple hundred bucks AND drive all 300 miles out to SB? I don't know if it's worth it anymore...

Looks liek I'm stuck with the bastards of BMW of SD.

[JD]

It also depends whether or not you are going to finance the $555 or pay it cash. If I were going to finance it, I would go ahead and do the deal. If you were going to have to pay the $555 cash out of pocket then I would walk away. Just my personal opinion. I'd rather have the cash (for investing, ect.) in this economy. Good luck.

[Dr. Phil]

This situation is a tough one. As noted by SamBeau, the right thing would have been for BMW to make it affective based on order or actual production not invoice at dealer (arrival). I picked up my xiT on 12/31 so I just beat the deadline.

My dealer however told me that they are going to hold to the sales prices the quoted in original deals. (My rep had 18 on order personally and is taking a big hit.) But in the long run they are promoting a good image and it will help their return rate I'm sure. My deal was based on inv +1500 most of the others that my rep had were +2k so he'll still make ~1200-1400 per unit.

IMO reordering and waiting 2-3 months is not worth saving the $555.

Good Luck

[SS]

I know BMW made the announcement that any car sold after 1/1 would cost more, but is this LEGAL if the contract was already signed? It seems to me that if the contract is signed, and the agreed price of the vehicle is listed, BMW can get sued for this? Any lawyers or well informed guys on the subject wanna comment on this?

[MikeW]

Epham,

How was the deal written (not negotiated), $1800 over invoice, or $XX,XXX? If it's the former, you're kind of stuck, either pay it or try again somewhere else. If the latter, tell them to deliver, or he'll hear from your lawyer, and/or the local dept of consumer affairs.

[SamBeau]

Epham;
If you decide to reorder, ask Jon if he will do a courtesy delivery (whereby the car is delivered directly to your local dealer vice Cutter).
You'd still have to wait, but you would eliminate the drive.

....And maybe he could beat the SD deal to take some of the sting out of the $555 surprise.

:D

[ff]

There's no such thing as a good realtionship with your salesperson. They are you're best friend up until the point when you take delivery. After that, they won't even remember your face, much less your name or that you've done business with him/her. It's your money, so do what you feel comfortable with.

I spent a good deal more for my 330i this past fall because it was one fo the first 2002's to roll of the line. I couldn't care less what model year it was, but because no more 2001's were available, I was treated as someone that "just had to have one of the first 2002's", and paid nearly sticker price.

[MAK]

Your situation is fact specific. If your deal was X amount over dealer invoice, they probably have the right to increase the price. If it was x amount over dealer invoice at the time of the order (my argument) then they are wrong to pass along the increase. If the deal was $xxxxx, they they are also in the wrong.

It seems to me that if BMW had reduced the dealer invoice by 1%, your dealer would not be hurrying to deduct the 1% from your deal. Essentially, you and the dealer negotiated a contract based upon the information at the time of the contract. There were no clauses that stipulated further amendments due to fluctuations in dealer invoice.

Despite the foregoing, you want the car. Buy it and file a claim in small claims court.
MIke