[kfilter]

Hey guys,

Long time lurker here, I just graduated college, and am ready to lease my first BMW before I start work. First off thanks for all information that is already on the forum, it is extremely helpful, and has been a joy to read over the years.

Living in Northern California, there are a few "No BS" dealers that I have seen recommended that I will get in touch with. Is the best way to get a deal to tell them I am looking for a stripper 328i what is the best they can do, or to find a specific car online in their inventory, and tell them I am interested in that specific car? I am fine with almost any car except a red car, or a car with red, or tan interior. I don't have any must have options either. So basically if the dealer will offer a similar deal on any basic 328i in their inventory or if they have certain ones they are more likely to want to sell so I should let them choose the car.

Another option I have seen is the dealership in Berkeley is offering deals on Elite CPO 328's starting at $289/mo with 0 money down or fees (Assuming 3yr/30k lease). This seems really cheap, is there any reason I should stay away from leasing an Elite CPO? They most likely are loaners so they might have been driven hard, but everything should be under warranty so this shouldn't matter right? The only concern I have is I will be doing a 3yr/45k lease so by the end of year 3 I might possibly out of the free maintenance.

If I do get a new 328i I am assuming a good deal is around the high 300's, low 400's is the a correct assumption? I will be doing 3yr/45k, 0 down, up to 7 MSD's if needed, with credit around the 750s, on a basic 328i with MSRPs that usually ranges from 38k-41k.

Thanks for any help, it is greatly appreciated. Excited to finally own my own BMW soon.

[DFW_M]

Originally Posted by kfilter

Hey guys,

Long time lurker here, I just graduated college, and am ready to lease my first BMW before I start work. First off thanks for all information that is already on the forum, it is extremely helpful, and has been a joy to read over the years.

Living in Northern California, there are a few "No BS" dealers that I have seen recommended that I will get in touch with. Is the best way to get a deal to tell them I am looking for a stripper 328i what is the best they can do, or to find a specific car online in their inventory, and tell them I am interested in that specific car? I am fine with almost any car except a red car, or a car with red, or tan interior. I don't have any must have options either. So basically if the dealer will offer a similar deal on any basic 328i in their inventory or if they have certain ones they are more likely to want to sell so I should let them choose the car.

Another option I have seen is the dealership in Berkeley is offering deals on Elite CPO 328's starting at $289/mo with 0 money down or fees (Assuming 3yr/30k lease). This seems really cheap, is there any reason I should stay away from leasing an Elite CPO? They most likely are loaners so they might have been driven hard, but everything should be under warranty so this shouldn't matter right? The only concern I have is I will be doing a 3yr/45k lease so by the end of year 3 I might possibly out of the free maintenance.

If I do get a new 328i I am assuming a good deal is around the high 300's, low 400's is the a correct assumption? I will be doing 3yr/45k, 0 down, up to 7 MSD's if needed, with credit around the 750s, on a basic 328i with MSRPs that usually ranges from 38k-41k.

Thanks for any help, it is greatly appreciated. Excited to finally own my own BMW soon.

there is a simple spreadsheet with 3 formulas that would calculate all of the details for you. PM me your email address and I will send it to you.
For example, $41k MSRP, 5% off = $39k. $0 down, MF of 0.00129, 7 MSDs, assume residual on 36/15k of 59% (I am guessing), "standard fees", the calculation shows $485 + tax/month, ~$4500 due at signing ($3600 in MSD)

[kfilter]

Does anyone have any experience using truecar.com? The estimates are 11-12% off MSRP, and I was wondering if this was achievable.

[andrew777]

Originally Posted by kfilter

Does anyone have any experience using truecar.com? The estimates are 11-12% off MSRP, and I was wondering if this was achievable.

I got quotes of around $340-350 with only $2450 down for 7 MSD's on a pretty bare 328i recently. That included taxes, pretty high dealers fees, etc, but the sale price was $35000 on a car that was $40,550 MSRP. They also tried to mark the MF up a little bit so in theory I guess $300-320 may be possible, but difficult.


In the end I settled for a CPO demo car. Same price essentially ($325/month, but I will put $1000 down (first month and $700 dealer fees) for a loaded car. M-Sport, Nav, Premium, Tech, and a bunch of other stuff I don't really need. That being said, I really wanted a car with M-Sport so I pulled the trigger. $53k sticker, Selling price of $39k.

I probably could have saved some money here as well, but they were so honest and helpful (no BS with the MF, up front about all the fees they charge, etc) that I didn't want to haggle over a few bucks. What kicked the price up more than anything was that it came with lojack pre-installed, which bumps the payment up about $20 a month now. That being said, the price was great, and they really were "no-nonsense".

[kfilter]

Were those quotes for 10, 12 or 15k miles a year? I think i might go the CPO demo/loaner route too. It seems like a good deal, and I don't mind that the car has 5-7k miles already.

[andrew777]

Originally Posted by kfilter

Were those quotes for 10, 12 or 15k miles a year? I think i might go the CPO demo/loaner route too. It seems like a good deal, and I don't mind that the car has 5-7k miles already.

12K per year. Also, my car has the CPO warranty so if you were to do 15k it would still be covered. I don't think maintenance is covered past 50k though.

EDIT:
Also, just wanted to mention that most of the Demo Specials are complete Bait and Switches. Every single one I called that was advertised as sub $300 with 0 down always had a mix of the following extras...
Dealer/Title/Registration fees (since 0 Down means 0 cap reduction to them, not 0 drive-off)
Tax (about half ask for the $600-900 due in state tax up front instead of rolling it into your payment, and they never advertise the price with tax)
Destination (yes, they don't add the $950 destination)
Some will ask for other things as well. One told me there's an additional $500 to process an out-of-state deal. Another told me BMWFS charges a 7% tax. All types of nonsense basically.

[kfilter]

Thanks for the heads up I thought it could be something along those lines. The dealer kept telling me in the emails I need to come in tomorrow, that the residuals are really low in July. I assume they will be just as low in August for '15 models.

[DFW_M]

I sent you the excel spreadsheet and there is no science about it, pure math, a few simple equations. Plug in the parameters and it will calculate the payment. You'll never be able to get below that for the set MSRP, sales price, residual and MF and any money down or MSDs. Anything above that are hidden fees.

About the deal posted above, MSRP of 40,550 and sale at 35000:
- acquisition fee of $775-995 is rolled in
- there are basic document and title/license fees
- 7x MSDs are $2,570 (if you even remotely think you may want to end or swap the lease early, do not put MSDs down!)

The base payment comes down to $345 +tax

[kfilter]

Thanks dr335is that spreadsheet is very helpful. I negotiated a deal with a dealer in Berkeley when he told me to send him an offer since it was the last day of the month and they had a 1,700 dealer incentive. However, he said that I had to come to the dealership to sign the contract, that a faxed contract signature or docusign would not suffice as a legal contract. Anyone else had any experience with this? Do the people that buy out of state FedEx the signed contract?

[DFW_M]

Originally Posted by kfilter

Thanks dr335is that spreadsheet is very helpful. I negotiated a deal with a dealer in Berkeley when he told me to send him an offer since it was the last day of the month and they had a 1,700 dealer incentive. However, he said that I had to come to the dealership to sign the contract, that a faxed contract signature or docusign would not suffice as a legal contract. Anyone else had any experience with this? Do the people that buy out of state FedEx the signed contract?

Who is the dealer?? I am in Texas and did everything through emails on June 30 (last day to get incentives) with Weatherford in Berkeley. The official documents were sent by FEDEX and signed on 7/5. Car was shipped a few days after that.

[andrew777]

Originally Posted by kfilter

Thanks dr335is that spreadsheet is very helpful. I negotiated a deal with a dealer in Berkeley when he told me to send him an offer since it was the last day of the month and they had a 1,700 dealer incentive. However, he said that I had to come to the dealership to sign the contract, that a faxed contract signature or docusign would not suffice as a legal contract. Anyone else had any experience with this? Do the people that buy out of state FedEx the signed contract?

I signed through the dealers Maverick system. They FedEx'd the lease to a notary who came to my apartment to get it signed, then he FedEx'd it back.

[kfilter]

It was through Weatherford in Berkeley. He said they had to have the signed contract in by midnight to get the dealer incentive, so that took away the FedEx method away since it would not have been same day. I just assumed Docusign would work, I even signed the contract with my employer through that, but I guess dealerships are either behind the times, or they have special rules regarding contracts.

[DFW_M]

Originally Posted by kfilter

It was through Weatherford in Berkeley. He said they had to have the signed contract in by midnight to get the dealer incentive, so that took away the FedEx method away since it would not have been same day. I just assumed Docusign would work, I even signed the contract with my employer through that, but I guess dealerships are either behind the times, or they have special rules regarding contracts.

Same thing was for me. Did you talk to Andrew? I "verbally" (emails) locked the deal in and got the Anniversary incentive on 6/30 (I believe it was Tuesday). The next day, the paperwork was FEDEX'd to me (arrived Thursday) and I notarized it, etc and sent it back to them, they received it Monday, July 6. That i the official date of my lease start. The car left the dealership on Saturday, July 11.

[kfilter]

I dealt with Chris through emails. Is the Anniversary incentive a dealer exclusive incentive or a national incentive? Chris told me that the contract had to be completed that night to receive their July incentive. Apparently he either did not know what he was talking about, or did want to go through the effort to send documents, etc.

[DFW_M]

Originally Posted by kfilter

I dealt with Chris through emails. Is the Anniversary incentive a dealer exclusive incentive or a national incentive? Chris told me that the contract had to be completed that night to receive their July incentive. Apparently he either did not know what he was talking about, or did want to go through the effort to send documents, etc.

Anniversary incentive expired on 6/30.
I am not sure about the incentive you are talking about - may be some dealer thing rather than the BMW provided incentive. In my case, I used the $1k Anniversary incentive (locked in "verbally" on 6/30) and the $1k Team USA incentive that expires 60 days after the drive.
Talk to Danielle at Weatherford and tell her Dan from TX sent you. She will take care of you. PM me if you need her number.

[M-Pilot]

Originally Posted by kfilter

Does anyone have any experience using truecar.com? The estimates are 11-12% off MSRP, and I was wondering if this was achievable.

I bought my 2014 328i Sportline from BMW of Mountain View in June 2014. I financed though, not leased. The MSRP was $47K and I paid $41K (almost 13% off). Truecar discount was around 11-12% again. But since the dealer in Berkeley beat the truecar price, BMW of Mountain View ended up beating their price and I got even a better deal than truecar price

[kfilter]

Cntzl- did you deal will BMW of Mountain View via email or did you go in and talk to them?

dr335is- did you have to negotiate with Danielle at all or did she give you a good offer first time? The guy I was talking to Chris came back with his august off and it was $35 a mo higher than his one in july and he had drive off as $1800 which was with 0 down so seemed way too high

[M-Pilot]

Originally Posted by kfilter

Cntzl- did you deal will BMW of Mountain View via email or did you go in and talk to them?

dr335is- did you have to negotiate with Danielle at all or did she give you a good offer first time? The guy I was talking to Chris came back with his august off and it was $35 a mo higher than his one in july and he had drive off as $1800 which was with 0 down so seemed way too high

I first sent them an email to schedule an appointment for a test drive. After the test drive, my whole communication with them was in person.

[DFW_M]

Originally Posted by kfilter

Cntzl- did you deal will BMW of Mountain View via email or did you go in and talk to them?

dr335is- did you have to negotiate with Danielle at all or did she give you a good offer first time? The guy I was talking to Chris came back with his august off and it was $35 a mo higher than his one in july and he had drive off as $1800 which was with 0 down so seemed way too high

Talk to Danielle and tell her I sent you. Forget about Chris!
She offered me the price that was just below invoice. ALL the rest of them would include the Anniversary incentive into that offer and would not have any flexibility. When I told her about that and the Team USA $1k incentive, she agreed with no negotiation. When I said I want 0.00129 MF, $0 money down, and no dealer fees - she did not question it and stuck to the deal.

[kfilter]

That sound great then I will shoot her an email. What exactly needs to been done to receive the Team USA credit? I see there are a few events in my area coming up. It sounds like I just register then go test drive for a bit? Can I use the coupon on the same day then, or it has to be sent to me? Thanks

[carzaddict]

i had no idea BMW allows leases on a CPO car?

[kfilter]

They do usually for Elite CPO cars that were demos or loaners. It might be dealer by dealer too but I have seen a few that do it.