How not to sell a car- Suzanne Kingston at Century West BMW

[dorkytom]

Originally Posted by JimD

My 128i was the 6th new car I've purchased. I won't spend long playing games. The process I used for the 128 I would recommend to others. I visited dealerships that had 128s (around here that didn't include the one closest to me) to drive them and determine what color/interior/top color I liked (mine is a convertible). Then I researched here and Bimmerfest and maybe at Edmunds what others said they were paying. When I went for a test drive I told each salesperson that I would be sending an email asking for a quote when I figured out what I wanted. I kept their cards.

Then I sent an email to the 3 dealerships that had cars and let me drive them to the salespeople who's card I had. Unfortunately all their prices were more than $1000 above what I thought was a good price based upon my research. So I invited two close to me that I did not drive a car at to give me a price. Both were about $1500 less. I then talked about how fast they could get me a car and the one who was the lowest price and closest to me was also able to get me a car the quickest. So I made an appointment to close the deal. I printed out their quote but didn't have any big problem. I was probably there an hour and left a reasonable deposit (I think it was only $1000).

I've done it the other way with the silly back and forth on price but if you don't like that process, you might want to try just using email. Not everybody will respond but my success rate was 100% when I told them in advance what I was doing. The two I added without visiting both had internet quote options which is where I made my request. I think a secret is to know for sure what you want when you ask for a quote this way. If you don't convince them quickly you are going to order right away, I believe you will get messed with. The other key piece of preparation is to know going in what you are prepared to pay. I ended up paying about $500 over the so called "dealer cost". They really get a rebate based upon volume and probably other factors so they made more than that.

The last car I bought the "old way" I probably bargained down a little lower. It was a Hyundai Elantra for my daughter. I had her along so she could see how to do it. I pushed them hard enough they took money from the business manager's fee. He was pissed and did the shortest most curt process I have experienced yet. That made me want to cut his fee next time too!

You're on the wrong coast but whenever possible I recommend Performance Center delivery to reduce the hassles at that end for bimmers. The dealer process gets shorter and the process at the performance center is a lot more fun.

Jim

I actually did try to negotiate over email... but went in to test drive after we were relatively close to finalizing the deal. I just happened to be unable to get a hold of the guy I was emailig back and forth with.

The concept of Performance delivery center is pretty cool, but like you said I'm on the wrong side. I was also looking at a one or two year old used. If I decide to buy new, I'd probably do European delivery now, no need to deal with a dealer. I'm actually had a trip planned to Munich for Oktoberfest even before I decided to get a 128i so travel costs wouldn't be a factor.

[fourtailpipes]

vote with your wallet and buy elsewhere. make sure to tell the new dealer all about your negative experience at the old dealer too. knowing they've captured a customer from a competitor often brings out the VIP treatment.

[JefryHorizon]

Originally Posted by tlee55

Try Will Shaw at Shelly BMW, I just bought my 135i from him. Tell him Ivan referred you. Great guy.

Will is at Shelly now? He arranged a great deal for me on a 135i a while back when he was still at Long Beach BMW. If anything he's as much of an enthusiast as any of us having previously owned an M Coupe and 1 series himself.

I had the "pleasure" of conversing with Suzanne Kingston while car shopping(more like 1). I have to say my first impressions weren't the best, very aggressive and distressful sales approach, the numbers didn't add up so I bailed. To hear your experience at the dealership in person just blows me away. I can honestly say that I've been treated better at used car lots where the manager sit around all day posting comments on youtube.

I truly wish you encounter a sales rep who is capable of earning your business and good luck with your pursuit!!

[dorkytom]

Originally Posted by JefryHorizon

Will is at Shelly now? He arranged a great deal for me on a 135i a while back when he was still at Long Beach BMW. If anything he's as much of an enthusiast as any of us having previously owned an M Coupe and 1 series himself.

I had the "pleasure" of conversing with Suzanne Kingston while car shopping(more like 1). I have to say my first impressions weren't the best, very aggressive and distressful sales approach, the numbers didn't add up so I bailed. To hear your experience at the dealership in person just blows me away. I can honestly say that I've been treated better at used car lots where the manager sit around all day posting comments on youtube.

I truly wish you encounter a sales rep who is capable of earning your business and good luck with your pursuit!!

I knew i couldnt be the only one on this forum whos had a bad experience with her.

I'll definitely need to contact Will at shaw, the sales manager at century contacted me offered a 100 or so discount for the bad experience, honestly that was just a slap in the face... Pissed me off more.

[tranism]

Sasha Babich at Center BWM in Sherman Oaks. She's awesome. Tell her Long Tran sent you. She sold me my 128i 3 weeks ago.

Originally Posted by dorkytom

Hey guys first post here. I've been lurking for a few months, but finally tried to pick up a 128i from Century West BMW in North Hollywood. I just came back from there and am just so pissed I needed to vent somewhere.

I first started dealing with a guy through email at century west bmw. Very nice guy. However I decided at the last minute tonight to go test drive a used 2011 128i. I tried to call that same person I was working with but couldn't get a hold of them.

So after driving about 2 hours through traffic I had the extreme displeasure of working with Suzanne Kingston. First she pretends that someone else is about to buy that same car, talking about how if I get I'll be stealing from right under another customer's nose. She uses that as an excuse to refuse to allow me to test drive the car. The best she can do is she will drive one block basically from the exit of the parking lot to the entrance.

Then when we went to her office she immediately starts asking for social security number never even talking prices. She starts going off about basically that since this is split commission cause the other guy entered me in the system she was doing me a favor.

So when I brought up that I was working that guy on price already, she decided to read aloud all that guys notes that entered in the sales system under my name including one about me being "Stupid". Honestly I don't blame the original sales guy for writing that, since i made an uninformed initial offer. However to read that aloud to a customer is beyond disrespectul.

I mentioned that the other sales guy told me that he would speak to the owner about the offer I emailed. She began telling me that the other sales guy was NOT really going to go speak to the owner about the 27k offer and that everything he's saying is just to get me in the door. Basically how could you be so gullible.

I have no idea what kind of person says this about their colleagues.

Anyways she even goes as far as to pretend to go talk to the other guy i was working with. When we first walked into her office she said oh thats him over there you were talking to, but when she said she was going to go talk to him about that 27k offer she went somewhere else no where near that guy.

Anyways at this point I'm so fed up I leave.

Thanks for listening to my angry rambles.

If any of you have suggestions on better dealerships around LA/OC/SD let me know.





***********UPDATE*****
After sending an email to the general manager, the sales guy and the sales manager called me with the promise that the general manager would call me tomorrow morning.

The sales guy (Mark) sounded extremely apologetic and was genuinely a nice guy. Apologizing profusely, he seems like a class act. In a lot of ways I would say he was the victim also.

The sales manager however did not sound genuine and offered to sell me the car at 100 dollars below my last offer. With a take it or leave it type attitude and quickly mentioned something about he'd take steps to make sure the insults didn't happen again. Honestly I think he was just giving me lip service. When I mentioned I looked forward to talking with the General Manager tomorrow, his attitude was like oh.. yeah.. yeah.. I'm sure he'll call you. I mean probably he talked to Mark for a while... seemed Like he didn't believe it would happen.

Anyways look forward to providing an update to you all tomorrow if the GM actually does call me.

[tlee55]

Originally Posted by JefryHorizon

Will is at Shelly now? He arranged a great deal for me on a 135i a while back when he was still at Long Beach BMW. If anything he's as much of an enthusiast as any of us having previously owned an M Coupe and 1 series himself.

I had the "pleasure" of conversing with Suzanne Kingston while car shopping(more like 1). I have to say my first impressions weren't the best, very aggressive and distressful sales approach, the numbers didn't add up so I bailed. To hear your experience at the dealership in person just blows me away. I can honestly say that I've been treated better at used car lots where the manager sit around all day posting comments on youtube.

I truly wish you encounter a sales rep who is capable of earning your business and good luck with your pursuit!!

Yup Will moved to Shelly BMW, first salesman I've ever met that knew more about the car then I did! I'm pretty sure I didn't get the best deal in the world but I think we both came out with a fair deal. He has an award on his desk that says he sold the most M cars last year in North America.

[JefryHorizon]

Originally Posted by tlee55

Yup Will moved to Shelly BMW, first salesman I've ever met that knew more about the car then I did! I'm pretty sure I didn't get the best deal in the world but I think we both came out with a fair deal. He has an award on his desk that says he sold the most M cars last year in North America.

Nice, what I really liked about him is that he's straight up with the numbers. None of that back and forth bullshit with the finance manage and sales rep. On top of that, there were a few minor scratches on the car I had only noticed after the purchase a few weeks later, Will actually told me to bring the car back for body work at their cost which I'm pretty sure is going out of your way to help a customer out. OP I'm quite sure he can find you what you want, just give him and call.

[M_BYEEE]

take the extra time and go to Steve Thomas!