[Lazarus.Bird]

Hi guys. New BMW owner here. My lease was ending with my '14 Ford Fusion Titanium and decided it was time to pull the trigger on something fun. This is my first "performance" type car and I am beyond thrilled with it.

I'm 6'5" with my first baby on the way, and I missed having a hatchback (drove a '08 Mazda3 hatchback). Checked out the X3 and X5. X3 was too small, the 8 cylinder X5 was out of my price range, and I wanted the nimbleness of a sedan vs an SUV. I test drove a '17 GT and thought it was perfect. There really aren't a lot of full sized hatchback cars available in America that are also a lot of fun to drive. Seems people outside this forum think the GTs are rather ugly, but it ended up being the perfect car for me. I love the way it looks, and I can't believe how much room the interior has!

Anyways, ended up having to fly to Chicago to get the right car. Drive back home to Pittsburgh was quite fun.

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after I picked it up in Chicago.

Specs are:

CPO '15 335i GT
14k miles
Black Sapphire ext w/ Oyster interior
Cold Weather Package
Driving Assistance Package
Dynamic Handling Package
M Sport package w/ 598M 19" staggered set up
Premium Package
Technology Package

Wanted something I could drive the next 10+ years so made sure I found one loaded with features. I purchased remotely from Perillo BMW and had nothing but a fantastic experience.

I've found I like driving with the car in sport mode for most of the time. I think the hit on MPG is worth how freaking great the car performs.

I just purchased some 18" Apex EC-7 wheels as well as some Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ tires. Going to go to a square set up with all seasons. I do like the 598M wheels but I was going to have to buy a set of wheels + tires for the winter anyways, and this will make things easier on me.

Going to sell the 598M wheels with tires. The tires are the OEM Pirelli P ZERO summers. Front tires have <1k miles, rear tires have 14k miles. Any idea how much I could sell these for?

[Skald]

Congratz and welcome to the club! : )

[Lazarus.Bird]

Thanks! Got it all cleaned up this weekend.

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[Gran_Turismo]

Originally Posted by Lazarus.Bird

Thanks! Got it all cleaned up this weekend.

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hey just noticed the back says perrillo bmw, did you fly out to chicacgo to see the car or bought it sight unseen? Did you drive it back or have it delivered?

I've been searching for months and have resorted looking all over the US also (im from NYC), not sure what most people do when buying out of state. Any input would be awesome! And congrats!

[Gran_Turismo]

lol never mind I just read the whole post haha sprry. A few questions, can you tell me what the steps were of buying out of state?

Do you first negotiate via email/phone? And do you need to get preapproved first for them to take you seriously? I'm in the same exact situation as you and will probabaly end up buying out of state as well. If you can shoot me an email with some helpful tips I would really appreciate it. bknydon@gmail.com

[jinharry]

Originally Posted by bknydon

hey just noticed the back says perrillo bmw, did you fly out to chicacgo to see the car or bought it sight unseen? Did you drive it back or have it delivered?

I've been searching for months and have resorted looking all over the US also (im from NYC), not sure what most people do when buying out of state. Any input would be awesome! And congrats!

I bought my 335 GT from Utah. I live next door in Colorado. I had a lot of talks and e-mails with the dealer before I flew out (in a snow storm) to SLC to test drive the car. After a lot of fun in 3-4 inches of fresh snow I bought the car and drove to back home (~9 hrs). Luckily in Wyoming the LEGAL speed limit is up to 85 MPH in some areas, so I had a lot of fun seeing how the car performs. My commendation is check out the dealer's reviews. Harrison Imports was top notch and I think they did right by me.

[Gran_Turismo]

Originally Posted by jinharry

I bought my 335 GT from Utah. I live next door in Colorado. I had a lot of talks and e-mails with the dealer before I flew out (in a snow storm) to SLC to test drive the car. After a lot of fun in 3-4 inches of fresh snow I bought the car and drove to back home (~9 hrs). Luckily in Wyoming the LEGAL speed limit is up to 85 MPH in some areas, so I had a lot of fun seeing how the car performs. My commendation is check out the dealer's reviews. Harrison Imports was top notch and I think they did right by me.

thanks for the input mate! Just a few more questions.

1) Did you have to leave a deposit down before you flew out?

2) Did you negotiate your price before agreeing to fly out to see the car?

3) Did you have financing already done before heading there?

4) What do you usually need to bring with you to the dealership, a blank check for down payment, ID, cash etc?

thank you for your input!! and sorry op for hijacking, but I'm in a similar situation as you

[Lazarus.Bird]

I did buy it sight unseen! I had test drove a '17 at a local dealership to make sure I liked the car, and knew there weren't many differences between the '17 and '15, or at least enough that would make me dislike the car. I never felt like I was doing something "risky" because it is CPO'd through 2021. That helps with confidence buying sight unseen. Generally I'd recommend against that but in this case I didn't mind.

I had researched the dealership. Pretty decent reviews. Also my wife's cousin purchased there before. I think what was really helpful is the sales guy I worked with was really friendly/helpful and didn't pressure me. Unfortunately some of the other dealerships I contacted seemed to not care about me once they found out I lived out of state. But Perillo does a lot of out of state business, so I think it depends on the dealership you are trying to buy from.

I had already tried to purchase a '14 GT in Madison and the thing sold before I could even get into serious talks with a sales guy at the dealership. Once I knew this was the car I wanted, I asked if I could put down a deposit for them to hold it for me. I ended up having them charge $1k onto my credit card.

After doing more research I decided I wanted to buy. Told them I'd be financing through a credit union. Car was already below KBB value, so didn't expect to have much leverage in terms of negotiation, especially since I didn't have the advantage of being able to "walk out" of the dealership. I did get them to drop the price a bit, and throw in some winter mats. I did this over the phone.

Got approved through the credit union, signed the paper work from the dealership and sent them the signed check from my credit union along with the paper work.

Since they already had my check, I literally just needed my license when I went to the dealership to pick up. They gave me a 30 day temp registration, and now I'm in the process of registering in PA where I'll eventually pay the sales tax.

No worries about hijacking, hope my info helps you and good luck!

[Gran_Turismo]

Wow thanks for your info man! I actually saw Perillo had quite a few cpo 328s but a bit on the pricey side.

I've also been looking at non cpo to widen my options, so with that I'm a bit scared buying out of state. If you leave a deposit and decide not to buy, do you generally lose it??

[Lazarus.Bird]

I think you would want to verify that with the dealership first, but I would have got my deposit back if I decided not to purchase the car.

[jinharry]

Originally Posted by bknydon

thanks for the input mate! Just a few more questions.

1) Did you have to leave a deposit down before you flew out?

2) Did you negotiate your price before agreeing to fly out to see the car?

3) Did you have financing already done before heading there?

4) What do you usually need to bring with you to the dealership, a blank check for down payment, ID, cash etc?

thank you for your input!! and sorry op for hijacking, but I'm in a similar situation as you

1) No deposit needed. The dealer said that they trust the kinds of folks that buy cars like BMWs. I wrote a personal check to pay for the car and they were OK with that. Of course they didn't mail the pink slip until the check cleared ;-).
2) Negotiations were done by phone and e-mail before I flew out.
3) I paid cash, so no financing needed. But they did have financing available if i wanted it.
4) I just brought my driver's license, proof of insurance and my checkbook. Harrison Imports was very easy to deal with. The whole purchase paperwork took less than 30 minutes.

[Gran_Turismo]

Originally Posted by jinharry

1) No deposit needed. The dealer said that they trust the kinds of folks that buy cars like BMWs. I wrote a personal check to pay for the car and they were OK with that. Of course they didn't mail the pink slip until the check cleared ;-).
2) Negotiations were done by phone and e-mail before I flew out.
3) I paid cash, so no financing needed. But they did have financing available if i wanted it.
4) I just brought my driver's license, proof of insurance and my checkbook. Harrison Imports was very easy to deal with. The whole purchase paperwork took less than 30 minutes.

awesome!! so you drove it back I assume? also what are the main things to check for/inspect when you test drive the car? i know cpo you probably don't have to inspect so much but I may go with non cpo if I find a good deal.

[Lazarus.Bird]

Got my new Apec EC-7 wheels and Michelin Pilot Sport AS 3+ tires put on! I love the way these look.

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[jinharry]

Originally Posted by bknydon

awesome!! so you drove it back I assume? also what are the main things to check for/inspect when you test drive the car? i know cpo you probably don't have to inspect so much but I may go with non cpo if I find a good deal.

1) Carfax report. My car was very low mileage and came from S. California, so probably no rust, flooding issues
2)The dealer supplied their equivalent to the CPO checklist to review.
3)Did a walk thru, including underside inspection for dents and scrapes
4) Dealer reviews. Any car may have issues, it's how well the seller will stand behind the car that really matters in case of an issue.
5)Read up on the car before the test drive. On a car as complicated as a BMW, the iDrive and other features need to be studied before you get in the car.
6)Study forums like this for any known issues to look for.

Good luck!