Offer to Buy, what do you guys think?

[supraking]

Update: Decided that I will offer the dealer I'm working with $2000 below MSRP (about $1000 above invoice), if they don't take it, I'll go make the same offer to other dealers. Seems fair enough.

I'm going to send this message to dealers that are not within a 45 minute drive of my home/office. What do you guys think? And do you recommend faxing over emailing (I think that if I email it, nobody will see it for a couple of days)?


ATTN: Sales Manager

Good afternoon,

I live in Montreal and will be leasing a new BMW 128i Coupé in the next 7 days. I have already driven the car and am ready to buy. Here are the complete specs that I require:

- New 2009 BMW 128i Coupé, Manual
- Monaco Blue Metallic
- Taupe Leatherette
- Sport Package
- 48 month lease

Additionally, I will be purchasing the following:
- Sherlock engraving
- Car cover

I am requesting a price quote from every dealer in Quebec and eastern Ontario, and will purchase from the dealer who submits the best offer. I will not be bargaining or shopping back and forth, thus you will only submit an offer once. Your offer can include cash discounts, changes to lease rate, down payment, security deposits, complimentary options, and so on (at your discretion). Please do not offer to include something that is not listed above.

If your offer is selected, the sales process will consist of applying for a lease, preparing the documents, and signing on the dotted line, thereby minimizing your time and costs associated with the sale.

Please fax me your signed offer no later than *insert date +1 day*, with full price disclosure and all associated fees and taxes itemized separately and rolled into my lease payments. I will phone your dealership Monday morning if I have selected your offer.

Thank you for your time, and please don't hesitate to call if you have any questions.

Regards,

*Contact Info*

[airs]

I just used email, got lots of responses!

[bdardashti]

Hey man, I read over your offer and it sounds a little too strong, I think. Another thing is that many dealers may just give you $1,000 off, thinking "okay this guy doesn't know about invoice pricing, let's do $1,000 off." I think if you're faxing a document, might as well fax them something you feel is reasonable so at least they are aware that you know the prices and what not perfectly.

[supraking]

Originally Posted by bdardashti

Hey man, I read over your offer and it sounds a little too strong, I think. Another thing is that many dealers may just give you $1,000 off, thinking "okay this guy doesn't know about invoice pricing, let's do $1,000 off." I think if you're faxing a document, might as well fax them something you feel is reasonable so at least they are aware that you know the prices and what not perfectly.

What do you mean by "sounds a little strong?" Elaborate if you could please

As for the costs, I suppose I could include the mention that I'm aware of invoice cost but wouldn't THAT be coming on a bit strong? Almost like saying "and don't bother with crappy offers because I know what this car is worth." In essence, I want these guys to outbid each other, to think "okay what would the other dealers in the region be willing to offer and how can I sweeten the deal a tiny bit."

And at the end of the day, I'm taking the lowest offer back to the dealer I have been working with the whole time and letting them match it if they want.

At the end of the day, if the markup is $3,000, I'm not expecting miracles. I figure all offers will be within 5-10% of each other, but who knows, maybe someone will throw in the Sherlock engraving free or something.

[Ender_]

Why would you put this in if its not true?

"and will purchase from the dealer who submits the best offer. I will not be bargaining or shopping back and forth, thus you will only submit an offer once"


Why not just ask the dealership that you've been working with if your happy with them to go in at $1000 over invoice, they may counter at $1400 so which isn't such a bad deal it seems for the MTL, Ottawa area...

[supraking]

Originally Posted by Ender_

Why would you put this in if its not true?

"and will purchase from the dealer who submits the best offer. I will not be bargaining or shopping back and forth, thus you will only submit an offer once"


Why not just ask the dealership that you've been working with if your happy with them to go in at $1000 over invoice, they may counter at $1400 so which isn't such a bad deal it seems for the MTL, Ottawa area...

Yeah, I've actually been thinking about it. I'm going to submit my offer of $2000 off (about $1000 above invoice) to the dealer I've been working with and if they don't accept I'll go make the same offer to other dealers. If nobody bites I'll take it cheaper. Going to be much easier and I don't have to lie to anyone!

[singular]

You have a lot of irrelevant information in this offer. To be taken seriously you should keep it short and sweet. You should also work on the tone. You don't want to appear so arrogant as to p*ss the dealers off - that's a no-win situation.

Do you think the dealer really cares where you live or whether you've test driven? Your time-line is NOW, so why say 7 days? etc.

If you want a serious discount, demonstrate to the dealer that you know the exact invoice & fees involved and give him an exact out-the-door quote of what you are willing to take. If you do your homework you should be able to get a few offers at your price within a couple of hours.

See Payne's thread on his armchair technique. Worked for me.

[bdardashti]

Originally Posted by supraking

What do you mean by "sounds a little strong?" Elaborate if you could please

As for the costs, I suppose I could include the mention that I'm aware of invoice cost but wouldn't THAT be coming on a bit strong? Almost like saying "and don't bother with crappy offers because I know what this car is worth." In essence, I want these guys to outbid each other, to think "okay what would the other dealers in the region be willing to offer and how can I sweeten the deal a tiny bit."

And at the end of the day, I'm taking the lowest offer back to the dealer I have been working with the whole time and letting them match it if they want.

At the end of the day, if the markup is $3,000, I'm not expecting miracles. I figure all offers will be within 5-10% of each other, but who knows, maybe someone will throw in the Sherlock engraving free or something.

I think singular and I share similar ideas. I meant the tone by "a little too strong." Try working that down. Also, I'm not saying mention that you know what the invoice price, etc is, but I would rework the letter to make it YOUR offer to them, instead of an opportunity for them to make an offer to you. Basically like the Payne method you talked about from the start a while back. I think if you're sending letters, and you only have one chance (obviously you can't send them another one next week), might as well take the method that has been tested.

[supraking]

Just told my dealer to give me the 4% he offered and throw in another few hundred dollars worth of freebies. He said I should come in and sign the paper, put down my deposit, and he'll present it to the sales manager (signed offer with cash is in front of him rather than just approval without it).

Wouldn't I need to get approved by the credit dept. before I even put any money down? Or is this a normal practice?

[dbtheo]

Originally Posted by supraking

Wouldn't I need to get approved by the credit dept. before I even put any money down? Or is this a normal practice?

we never run credit until we have signed orders & money on the car. We like to know as a fact that we have done deal. The other part is, quite frankly we rarely have major credit issues, we pretty much assume & expect everyone has good enough credit

[singular]

Originally Posted by supraking

Just told my dealer to give me the 4% he offered and throw in another few hundred dollars worth of freebies. He said I should come in and sign the paper, put down my deposit, and he'll present it to the sales manager (signed offer with cash is in front of him rather than just approval without it).

Wouldn't I need to get approved by the credit dept. before I even put any money down? Or is this a normal practice?

IMO don't sign anything or put any money down until you have an offer accepted by the sales manager. It's a common tool in sales negotiation to have more than one person involved, the manager being the "bad cop" that refuses to budge. Your deal will never get better than what you agreed to with the dealer you're working with, but may get a lot worse with the sales manager.

Signing papers and putting a deposit down before the real deal is struck also makes it harder for you to walk down the street to the next dealership if you come to the conclusion you're being jerked around.

[supraking]

Originally Posted by singular

IMO don't sign anything or put any money down until you have an offer accepted by the sales manager. It's a common tool in sales negotiation to have more than one person involved, the manager being the "bad cop" that refuses to budge. Your deal will never get better than what you agreed to with the dealer you're working with, but may get a lot worse with the sales manager.

Signing papers and putting a deposit down before the real deal is struck also makes it harder for you to walk down the street to the next dealership if you come to the conclusion you're being jerked around.

Oh, I plan to make it very clear that if his sales manager refuses it, they lost the sale. I won't sit there and bargain back and forth, especially since I'm being very reasonable. I don't care to be dicked around and won't waste my time, I'll go to another dealer that didn't invest ANY time on test drives or sitting and chatting and I'm sure they'd accept my offer hands down.

So I'm not going to be a jerk about it, nor do I think that this kind of thing would happen. But I'm going to say right off the bat "okay, you agreed to this and you said you've never been turned down by your sales manager. If he doesn't accept it, I'm walking out of here, you can tell him that." Simple as that.

[BimmerLearner]

My email said pretty much, sticker, price I offered, base mf, 725 aq fee.

[djminkin]

If you dont have to have a new one buy a trade in from a dealer with low miles. I paid 10K off original sticker for basically a brand new car with 2500 miles on it. Seems the best way to go if you can find the car optioned the way you want it. The only bad thing is the dealer didnt have the comemerative book which I wanted.

[Ender_]

Pretty sure they won't go for that, pretty much 6% off MSRP right? I've heard its hard in MTL to get more then even 2% (unless its a demo or '08/ instock).

Anyway let us know, when are you going? Good luck.

[supraking]

Going tomorrow night, like I said I'm happy with the 4%+ so as much as I WANT to try and bring them down, it's not even worth my time to save another hundred or two hundred bucks. Going to have to shop around to dealers that are 3 hours away, so I'll swallow my pride and take what I'm comfortable with

Just curious to see if the salesman (who had worked with my cousin at BMW, sold my uncle his car, etc.) is going to be a weasel or whether he'll stay genuine as he's appeared to be so far.