Quote:
Originally Posted by uansari1
I'm not sure how you're not getting this...it's not rocket science. There are a few ways to look at this, so I'll give it a shot with an easy explanation of just one perspective. Have you ever done a cost-benefit analysis? Under a basic cost-benefit BMWs were "cheaper" than their Mercedes, Jaguar, etc. competitors, due to the fact that you could discount the price you were paying by a few thousand since maintenance was included. Now, the BMW product is staying the same, but the price of the product is increasing. Any difference that you could come up with by discounting the price has also decreased. So now the competition will be more attractive (or BMW will be less attractive depending on how you look at it).
What BMW would have to do to maintain parity is decrease the retail price of their vehicles commensurate with the difference in the maintenance plans.
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Thanks for the explanation. I think you have summarized my key point nicely. You are suggesting that without the free 4-year maintenance plan BMW does not have a product as attractive as the competition from a feature/function/price/experience standpoint. I'm saying that's not true. Regardless of the emotion-driven poll that goes with this thread, we are all buying cars based on multiple factors. Cost/benefit isn't even close to the top or we would all be owning Honda or Toyota product. Nothing wrong at all with those brands from a utility standpoint, but that is not what the people on this forum are in it for. Some of the haters are complaining over maybe $1,000 worth of maintenance but have no problem specing their new rides with $15k worth of upgrades and then go modding on top of that. I'm saying after the dust settles, most of us won't switch brands just because off this. We will select our next car purchase on factors that are important to us; money is just one of them. For me, I will simply use this change bargain for a better deal on my next BMW and make a sport out of it. What matters is that we drive the car we want to drive. I'm merely suggesting that we will not let less than $1,000 get in the way of that decision when we can most likely close that gap with good negotiation.