135is Invoice Price

[mb135is]

USAA is "stackable" as my price is going to have the USAA plus other discounts (dealership), and it would have had loyalty and CCA, but I'm going with USAA financing vs. BMW since the rate is considerably lower.

[Elwood74]

USAA is stackable. But looks like the BMWCCA rebate is out if you use it: http://www.bmwcca.org/vehicle_rebate

Just picked up my 135is using USAA+Olympic discounts. Was also going to use Loyalty, but found better rate.

[fam]

I ordered my space gray 135is first week of September and the build is supposed to be done by this Friday. So my guess is I might see it by the end of October, which is about 8-9 weeks.

I'm a huge fan of space--current 135i is space and the 330ci I had before was silver-gray, which was the predecessor to SG. Never looks dirty even if you go a while without washing, and IMO looks a bit more aggressive than TiG without losing that metallic look/finish.

[fam]

Originally Posted by Elwood74

USAA is stackable. But looks like the BMWCCA rebate is out if you use it: http://www.bmwcca.org/vehicle_rebate

Just picked up my 135is using USAA+Olympic discounts. Was also going to use Loyalty, but found better rate.

Damn...but at least I used the bigger discount. Thanks for the heads up.

[Dinosaurius]

I thought USAA was a car buying service, like getting a TrueCar price, to be used as a starting point for further negotiation.

In other words, there was no point in my asking for the USAA price, if I had already negotiated a price below USAA's discounted price.

Are you guys telling me that it's a set discount that can applied to lower the negotiated price, like the CCA discount, BMW FS Loyalty, Olympic... etc.? If so, how much is it on BMWs or on the 1series?

I know that paying the invoice price, or less, still allows the dealer to make a profit but how much lower than invoice can they sell a car?
$500? $1000? $1500?

[maxdriver]

Originally Posted by Dinosaurius

I thought USAA was a car buying service, like getting a TrueCar price, to be used as a starting point for further negotiation.

In other words, there was no point in my asking for the USAA price, if I had already negotiated a price below USAA's discounted price.

Are you guys telling me that it's a set discount that can applied to lower the negotiated price, like the CCA discount, BMW FS Loyalty, Olympic... etc.? If so, how much is it on BMWs or on the 1series?

I know that paying the invoice price, or less, still allows the dealer to make a profit but how much lower than invoice can they sell a car?
$500? $1000? $1500?

USAA is an insurance/financial services company that caters to the military and their families. One service they offer is a car buying service and they have some affiliation with Truecar pricing. One has to be a member of USAA to use the service and not everyone is eligible.

[mb135is]

Originally Posted by Dinosaurius

I thought USAA was a car buying service, like getting a TrueCar price, to be used as a starting point for further negotiation.

In other words, there was no point in my asking for the USAA price, if I had already negotiated a price below USAA's discounted price.

Are you guys telling me that it's a set discount that can applied to lower the negotiated price, like the CCA discount, BMW FS Loyalty, Olympic... etc.? If so, how much is it on BMWs or on the 1series?

I know that paying the invoice price, or less, still allows the dealer to make a profit but how much lower than invoice can they sell a car?
$500? $1000? $1500?

How much below invoice is totally individual to the dealer. Privately owned dealerships have a holdback that they take as profit IN the invoice price, then they mark up 7% from there to get MSRP. Conglomerate dealerships do it this way, too, but they are much more likely to have the freedom to dip into the holdback, thus, they usually deal at prices below invoice.

For whatever reason, internet departments at dealerships seem to have the freedom to give ridiculous prices based on car buying services (USAA, ZAG, Truecar). That's the price I'm getting for my 135is, which ends up being about 2 grand under invoice.

If your dealership has this "podium" style of dealing where the sales guy has to walk up to the manager every time he needs to make a decision, then they're probably not going to give you the best price. Just my experience, though not scientific.

[Dinosaurius]

Originally Posted by maxdriver

USAA is an insurance/financial services company that caters to the military and their families. One service they offer is a car buying service and they have some affiliation with Truecar pricing. One has to be a member of USAA to use the service and not everyone is eligible.

When I said "USAA", it was specifically about the discount that I was referring to. I'm familiar with USAA. I'm a member and have accounts and insurance through them. When buying a car, I forget to take advantage of their services and I was looking for details on that.

From their website, it seems like they provide a great starting price but not necessarily a set discount off that's applicable, in the traditional sense, like the CCA or Loyalty or Olympic discounts that can be applied to lower an already negotiated starting price. Is that accurate?

Originally Posted by mb135is

How much below invoice is totally individual to the dealer. Privately owned dealerships have a holdback that they take as profit IN the invoice price, then they mark up 7% from there to get MSRP. Conglomerate dealerships do it this way, too, but they are much more likely to have the freedom to dip into the holdback, thus, they usually deal at prices below invoice.

For whatever reason, internet departments at dealerships seem to have the freedom to give ridiculous prices based on car buying services (USAA, ZAG, Truecar). That's the price I'm getting for my 135is, which ends up being about 2 grand under invoice.

If your dealership has this "podium" style of dealing where the sales guy has to walk up to the manager every time he needs to make a decision, then they're probably not going to give you the best price. Just my experience, though not scientific.

Wow, $2K below invoice. Thanks that's the kind of hard number I'm looking for.
I'm used to dealing exclusively with the internet sales department specifically for the reasons you gave but I never knew you could go that low.

[fam]

The USAA car buying service is only affiliated with certain BMW dealerships and they're not obligated to sell you a car at the price that USAA spits out on their website.

But part of the discount is the "stackable" discount that's been mentioned which is valid at any BMW dealer--I believe it's $1,250 if you buy a 1-series and finance through USAA or $1,000 otherwise. I wound up getting essentially the same price from a local dealer that USAA's service suggested, so since there wasn't a car buying service-affiliated dealer in-state (I live in MA and the closest was in ME) I just went with the local guy.

In other words, if you have USAA you don't need to use the service to get a nice additional discount. Just tell the dealer you're a USAA member after you've negotiated your price.

[mb135is]

Originally Posted by Dinosaurius

Wow, $2K below invoice. Thanks that's the kind of hard number I'm looking for.
I'm used to dealing exclusively with the internet sales department specifically for the reasons you gave but I never knew you could go that low.

It all depends on which dealership and which guy/gal gets your e-certificate once you click through the service. I got a guy who started out aggressively (at a price completely agreeable to me), and once he saw I was going to aggressively shop around decided to go a bit lower to procure the deal.

Honestly, I wasn't buying a 135is at MSRP, and it was a stretch at invoice, so I had to make something happen. The weird thing was that through all of the haggling with all of the dealerships, I was constantly pricing M-Sport vs. IS. The best price on the IS ended up being only 2k than a similarly equipped M-Sport. That's due to a lot of factors (having to check more boxes, etc...), but to me, 2 grand is well worth the parts you get with the IS.

Originally Posted by fam

The USAA car buying service is only affiliated with certain BMW dealerships and they're not obligated to sell you a car at the price that USAA spits out on their website.

But part of the discount is the "stackable" discount that's been mentioned which is valid at any BMW dealer--I believe it's $1,250 if you buy a 1-series and finance through USAA or $1,000 otherwise. I wound up getting essentially the same price from a local dealer that USAA's service suggested, so since there wasn't a car buying service-affiliated dealer in-state (I live in MA and the closest was in ME) I just went with the local guy.

In other words, if you have USAA you don't need to use the service to get a nice additional discount. Just tell the dealer you're a USAA member after you've negotiated your price.

I was seeing figures well beyond the $1250. It was more like 3-4 grand off MSRP before any negotiation at OFFICIAL USAA dealerships. Everyone else just chopped a grand off their best price and that was it.

[fam]

Originally Posted by mb135is

I was seeing figures well beyond the $1250. It was more like 3-4 grand off MSRP before any negotiation at OFFICIAL USAA dealerships. Everyone else just chopped a grand off their best price and that was it.

Right, the USAA price I got from their website was something like $3k off MSRP before USAA discount, and that's what I got from the non-car buying service dealer as well. I shopped around a couple of local dealers and one of them met that price so I did that rather than go out of state.

[mb135is]

Oh, I gotcha - nice work! I was unable to get the local dealers to get close enough to the price ($500 was the closest, best price is 50 miles away). Maybe I'm just not a good negotiator but they would stand firm that they couldn't match the price, when I knew that it was more that they just wouldn't.

[Bob Z.]

I do not know the invoice price but if it helps anyone, I am taking delivery of a 2013 135i convertible at the Performance Center on Nov. 12th. The MSRP is $48,295, which was discounted by $3,275 by the dealer and $1,250 for the USAA Discount resulting in price of $43,770. I still had to pay the dealer fee of $489, but the total out the door price was less than any dealer would offer me, and I consider myself a pretty good negotiator.

[mb135is]

Congrats! That's in essence the same price I got, but my configured MSRP was 2 grand less, so two grand less total.

I think a good way to figure out invoice on your MSRP is to subtract 7%.

[Uptempo80]

Damn...you guys got good deals. I'm planning on upgrading from a 128i convertible to a 135is convertible (2014 model). I'm probably not going to order the car untill Sept 2013 so I got lots of time to figure out what I am going to do. Don't know what the worst case scenario is...Either way I'll be behind the wheel of a 1 series convertible.

135is dreaming right here though

[Bob Z.]

Originally Posted by Bob Z.

I do not know the invoice price but if it helps anyone, I am taking delivery of a 2013 135i convertible at the Performance Center on Nov. 12th. The MSRP is $48,295, which was discounted by $3,275 by the dealer and $1,250 for the USAA Discount resulting in price of $43,770. I still had to pay the dealer fee of $489, but the total out the door price was less than any dealer would offer me, and I consider myself a pretty good negotiator.

Several people have PM'd me to ask so I thought I would post it here: I ordered from Critz BMW in SC...you can order from any dealer in the US no matter where you live so it pays to shop around. And I got .49% for 48 months with 0 down from Pentagon Federal Credit Union so I am quite pleased overall, even though I don't have the car yet!

[flinchy]

Originally Posted by Bob Z.

Several people have PM'd me to ask so I thought I would post it here: I ordered from Critz BMW in SC...you can order from any dealer in the US no matter where you live so it pays to shop around. And I got .49% for 48 months with 0 down from Pentagon Federal Credit Union so I am quite pleased overall, even though I don't have the car yet!

half a percent interest over 4 years?

damn i'm jealous!

[mb135is]

Good prices for the IS are out there - just do all the math going in. Configure your MSRP then subtract 7% to get invoice and shoot below there. Dealerships still make profit selling a little below invoice. And dealerships who have a relationship with car buying services have SOME incentive to do so (though I don't know the specifics).

One dealership actually tried to tell me the 135is is a "high demand" car. I laughed at him and asked if he wanted to revise that statement. We aren't talking about the 1m here. I can't imagine many of these will sell, especially to anyone other than people like us who would tinker with the regular M-sport anyway.

My price is less attractive, though, considering two things:

1. Because I used the USAA car-buying service, I think my CCA $500 is null. I'm not entirely sure about that yet.
2. Because I'm using USAA loan to finance the balance on the car (got 2.25%), I lose the $750 BMW loyalty.

So more of a hit up front, but in the long run, 2.25% will give me savings over BMW's 3.80%.

When I placed my order, there were 6 dealer orders in the system scheduled to be built and delivered to the northeast. They were dealership orders, not customer-specified cars. Order placed last week -- don't have a production date yet.

[Elwood74]

Originally Posted by mb135is

Good prices for the IS are out there - just do all the math going in. Configure your MSRP then subtract 7% to get invoice and shoot below there. Dealerships still make profit selling a little below invoice. And dealerships who have a relationship with car buying services have SOME incentive to do so (though I don't know the specifics).

One dealership actually tried to tell me the 135is is a "high demand" car. I laughed at him and asked if he wanted to revise that statement. We aren't talking about the 1m here. I can't imagine many of these will sell, especially to anyone other than people like us who would tinker with the regular M-sport anyway.

My price is less attractive, though, considering two things:

1. Because I used the USAA car-buying service, I think my CCA $500 is null. I'm not entirely sure about that yet.
2. Because I'm using USAA loan to finance the balance on the car (got 2.25%), I lose the $750 BMW loyalty.

So more of a hit up front, but in the long run, 2.25% will give me savings over BMW's 3.80%.

When I placed my order, there were 6 dealer orders in the system scheduled to be built and delivered to the northeast. They were dealership orders, not customer-specified cars. Order placed last week -- don't have a production date yet.

1. Correct. One NJ BMWCCA member confirmed this.
2. Correct. This was my case. I chose 2.25% elsewhere.

You're also right about the 'is' being nothing special. Any 1 series allocation can be converted to an 'is' model. I found out about this from my dealer. After I ordered of course...

Congrats on your order. May the wait be less painful for you!

[mb135is]

I've waited on an order from BMW in the past, and I promised myself I wouldn't perseverate over every detail and just enjoy it.

Right.

Sometimes I wish I didn't care about what options/spec my cars had and that I could just pick up something off the lot.

The wait is killing me!

And about the 135is not being special - I agree. I don't ever remember "is" models being special or being intended to be special. The E30 "is" is special now, but it wasn't a big deal then. The E36 "is" was good but nothing revolutionary. The E46 "is" aka the ZHP upped the specialness (to me), but still, just a massaged version. Same with the E82 - it's a massage more than a makeover. Whatever it is, it doesn't have people flocking to the dealerships to get 'em.

[socal135]

I picked up a 135is MSRP $50,700 for $46,045

Carbon black, DCT, tech package, preium package, hardom sound, leather

[mb135is]

Pics please! I think I noticed your car in another thread - you don't have the silver surrounds on the grilles. Did you replace them? If so, which?