Best BMW Dealership or CA in Bay Area California for a 2009 335i

Hi guys,

I am new to the forums and wanted to reach out and see if anyone has had a good experience or found a good deal for a BMW 335i in the Bay Area. I guess it doesn't have to be a 335i but would be great for comparison or reference purposes. I found an old thread here but wanted to see if there was an update:
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...cisco+bay+area

This is my first time leasing a car, since I am moving from NYC to San Francisco. However, before NY, I use to drive a 97' E32 M3. Old but raw.

The car I am looking to customize or if the dealer has something similar would have an MSRP of around $51,000. 2009 335i with M-Package, Nav, Upgraded sound, Comfort Access, Manual, Sedan.

This is my first time with a lease, so I am not sure if BMWSF will have a problem approving me, as I do not have a long credit history in the USA (I am from Canada). Would this affect my monthly rates?

I need 15k miles/year. And looking to post $0 down payment. What can I expect the monthly payments to be (dependent on the residual factor and rate that I am provided, standard rate posted on another thread was 56% Residual with 0.00225 money factor), the lease calculator says I should pay around $870 including California sales tax of 8.25%.

That seems excessively high, Id only be looking to pay around $650-700 per month. Is this possible with $0 down payment? Also if you know a good CA to work with, please let me know.

Originally Posted by bayarea335

I need 15k miles/year. And looking to post $0 down payment. What can I expect the monthly payments to be (dependent on the residual factor and rate that I am provided, standard rate posted on another thread was 56% Residual with 0.00225 money factor), the lease calculator says I should pay around $870 including California sales tax of 8.25%.

That seems excessively high, Id only be looking to pay around $650-700 per month. Is this possible with $0 down payment? Also if you know a good CA to work with, please let me know.

Not sure about the current price and lease rates, but the CA Sales Tax went up on like April 1. In SF proper, it's now like 9.5%. The actual rate will depend on what city your car is registered.

Originally Posted by bayarea335

I need 15k miles/year. And looking to post $0 down payment. What can I expect the monthly payments to be (dependent on the residual factor and rate that I am provided, standard rate posted on another thread was 56% Residual with 0.00225 money factor), the lease calculator says I should pay around $870 including California sales tax of 8.25%.

That seems excessively high, Id only be looking to pay around $650-700 per month. Is this possible with $0 down payment? Also if you know a good CA to work with, please let me know.

Of course, the lease calculator on BMWUSA.com is assuming you'll pay MSRP for the vehicle. If you want to have it figure it based on your negotiated capitalized cost, enter a cap cost reduction amount that will bring the cap cost down to what you want to pay for the vehicle (amount off msrp, over invoice, however you look at it.

If these tlease erms are foreign to you, educate yourself on the leasing calculation and associated fees before stepping into a BMW center to try to make a deal. They will do their best to make the most profit and if you're not informed, you'll pay too much. In California there is no cooling off period, so once you sign, that deal is done.

8.25% sales tax is history, 9.25% and up is where we're at around here now.

You should check with Philippe Kahn at Southbay BMW, which is in LA. He is one of Bimmerfest's most respected CAs. http://www.philippek.com/Welcome.html

Originally Posted by tturedraider

You should check with Philippe Kahn at Southbay BMW, which is in LA. He is one of Bimmerfest's most respected CAs. http://www.philippek.com/Welcome.html

Phillipe is great! I'll be happy to do my business with you, may be he can find me a good deal on m3 coupe 2009 or 2010, to replace my 335i coupe this fall.

In SF, I've had great luck, and enjoyable transactions with Bruce Marks at Weatherford BMW..

Very straightforward to deal with.
bmarks@weatherfordbmw.com

Originally Posted by bdb

In SF, I've had great luck, and enjoyable transactions with Bruce Marks at Weatherford BMW..

Very straightforward to deal with.
bmarks@weatherfordbmw.com

We will keep him in mind!

Originally Posted by tturedraider

You should check with Philippe Kahn at Southbay BMW, which is in LA. He is one of Bimmerfest's most respected CAs. http://www.philippek.com/Welcome.html

+1.

Originally Posted by bdb

In SF, I've had great luck, and enjoyable transactions with Bruce Marks at Weatherford BMW..

Very straightforward to deal with.
bmarks@weatherfordbmw.com

Philippe will beat the pricing of Weatherford, and the difference will cover the cost of driving the car up from SoCal. Plus you get the opportunity to drive Highway 1, which IMO is one of the most beautiful rides in California....

Another reason for passing on Weatherford is their service techs are kind of B level. They couldn't be bothered with attempting to fix the water leaks on my E93 after the first repair attempt (and water was dripping off the A-pillars when the car was delivered to me after the first repair attempt...). Of course, that gave me a second failed repair attempt when I took the car to another dealer, so it all worked out in the end....

Originally Posted by tturedraider

You should check with Philippe Kahn at Southbay BMW, which is in LA. He is one of Bimmerfest's most respected CAs. http://www.philippek.com/Welcome.html

+2... Phillipe worked the deal on my off-lease purchase last year, top notch experience and a great guy too!

On Weatherford's service dept. I've had excellent service from Steve Gass and Brian Stegner, who are still working there after all these years. I've never purchased a car from them, but they've serviced three of mine. They have a great fleet of loaner cars and always accommodated me. Once I had a Z4 3.0si for several days, not some crappy Enterprise econobox you get at other places.

Unfortunately, BMWNA seems to be dictating the level of service one gets with warranty issues, not the individual dealerships or techs for that matter. You'd think when buying a $50k car that it would be perfect, or made perfect, not the case anymore.

Originally Posted by tturedraider

You should check with Philippe Kahn at Southbay BMW, which is in LA. He is one of Bimmerfest's most respected CAs. http://www.philippek.com/Welcome.html

+3 for Philippe.

I didn't get much of a response from the other site sponsors, and the local Bay Area dealers were too "salesy" and had uncompetitive prices.

With Philippe you get excellent service and a fair, straight up deal from a BMW enthusiast. He's also a Euro Delivery expert if you choose that route (highly recommended!). Air fare to LA is cheap (as low as $49) and his dealership will pick you up at the airport. And final bonus, one of the country's best drives is Hwy 1 along the California coast.

Originally Posted by Galt

+3 for Philippe.

I didn't get much of a response from the other site sponsors, and the local Bay Area dealers were too "salesy" and had uncompetitive prices.

With Philippe you get excellent service and a fair, straight up deal from a BMW enthusiast. He's also a Euro Delivery expert if you choose that route (highly recommended!). Air fare to LA is cheap (as low as $49) and his dealership will pick you up at the airport. And final bonus, one of the country's best drives is Hwy 1 along the California coast.

i agree!

Originally Posted by jvr826

+2... Phillipe worked the deal on my off-lease purchase last year, top notch experience and a great guy too!

On Weatherford's service dept. I've had excellent service from Steve Gass and Brian Stegner, who are still working there after all these years. I've never purchased a car from them, but they've serviced three of mine. They have a great fleet of loaner cars and always accommodated me. Once I had a Z4 3.0si for several days, not some crappy Enterprise econobox you get at other places.

Unfortunately, BMWNA seems to be dictating the level of service one gets with warranty issues, not the individual dealerships or techs for that matter. You'd think when buying a $50k car that it would be perfect, or made perfect, not the case anymore.

Steve Gass and Brian Stegner were the service advisers on my E93. While both of them are sincere, they are not the one doing the work on the car. Allegedly the shop foreman was working on my E93's water leaks and after replacing the gasket on the windshield frame/top mounting point, the response when the car continued to leak was that they could not replicate the leak.... This was odd considering that water was dripping from both A-pillars when the car was delivered to me after having been in for the 2nd failed repair where the leak could not be replicated.... I think that Brian's response was classic - convertibles invariably leak water; it is a convertible after all....

After that experience, I took the car to Peter Pan BMW in San Mateo for all further repairs. To their credit (SA was Tommy Fong), they did not engage in denial when I brought the car back from a drive in a rainstorm and the water leaks were present on the A-pillars. The Peter Pan shop foreman then took the car on multiple runs in rainstorms to check whether each repair that had been made had solved the leaking. In the end, the weather improved and rain abated, but the car had experienced 4 failed repair attempts and was repurchased by BMW.

Moral of my experience is that there are differences in service departments from one dealer to the next. While I wouldn't buy a car from Peter Pan BMW (discount is not in their vocabulary), I would have the car serviced there.

Originally Posted by anE934fun

+1.

+9

another + for phillipe