Quote:
Originally Posted by X6DB
For those of us who don't know what invoice is, what is your discount off of MSRP?
|
Edmunds and Consumer Reports typically have all of the invoice v. MSRP numbers available. I always like to know exactly (or as close as possible since some dealership incentives, etc. from BMW may not be public) how much invoice is. I special ordered my car, so I made the point, "at X% above invoice you make $Y off of this sale. I'm giving you $5,000 as a deposit, so you have literally no risk and thus are essentially filling out some paperwork and maybe making some phone calls."
I believe MSRP is typically 7.25% (approximately) above invoice - for the base price anyway - and at that markup, they are making $7,250 on a $100,000 car. If you ask me, that is a lot of profit for filling out some paperwork and arranging to get the car to the dealership. Obviously, they are a business and need to turn a profit, can't fault them for that, but a pretty small percentage above invoice turns into a good bit of money in their pockets.
We are a small percentage of BMW's customers, and a lot of customers who only care about the BMW badge are not as likely to do thorough research and push for a better price. These sales give the dealers lots of additional money that helps supplement the smaller, yet still sizeable, profits from selling to those of us who press on them a little harder.
Another good thing to look for are the BMW FS incentives. A lot of times these will get you to or below invoice. Typically BMW FS pays for this, not the dealer, so this discount doesn't count against their bottom line.
Smaller dealerships seem to be discounting 6ers more than the bigger ones. I've heard stories illustrating this around here, and I witnessed the same thing. I contacted a Houston dealership I had visited in the past for a quote (they were out of town, but I figured I owed them a chance as they had been helpful when I was looking at different cars), and I told them that I was shopping around. Their initial quote was over $2500 more than my dealership here in Mobile, so it wasn't even worth trying to negotiate down from there. Sales in cities like Houston seem to be pretty good, but here the cars on the lot are not moving very fast, and I've only seen one other 6er around this relatively small town.
Just a few thoughts I wanted to pass on.