[jcl78]

I am putting on my rant hat as my experience with my local dealership has been less than stellar to say the least. It really revolves around a complete lack of communication, and a real sense of "phoning it in" by the salesperson in particular (who has to stick with you the whole process, they won't assign you another, and they are all on salary).

In late Feb, my wife, daughter and I test drove the 2023 330e xDrive, and fell in love with it. During the test drive, the salesperson literally sat in the back seat with my daughter, and said nothing. My wife commented how creepy it was to have no interaction whatsoever. My daughter (7 years old) commented the same. Just stared straight ahead, not making any comments, not talking about the car, or the process, etc.

Luckily, I knew all about the car, so this didn't seem like a big deal at first. That particular car was lacking many of the features I wanted, so we decided to custom order on 3/1.

Over a month went by, and I heard nothing from my salesperson. I contacted them, and asked if the dealership had acquired an allocation for me.

"Yes, we have".

Oh, Ok, can I have the production number?

"Yes, here it is. Usually I just call the customer when the car is in."

I reply, "In my experience, a lot of people like to track their build, since BMW has a production tracker".

"Oh, ok."

Fast forward to "in production, at the port" I called BMW Genius, and every single time, it has been a wonderful experience. Every agent has been professional, warm, and courteous. I find out that my 330e arrived at Port Hueneme on 5/28, and was scheduled to be on a train to the dealership, delivery on 6/3.

To prep, I contact the sales advisor, and ask about the delivery process, how long it would take, etc.

"I can't schedule a delivery until I have the keys in my hand"

"Ok, yes, I am talking about the process, the trade in value, the rates since we locked in during the order"

"I can't pull rates until the car is in, if March is lower, we'll use that".

"About the tint, you all are charging $795 for standard non ceramic tint, I have 3 quotes from these three companies, and even their top tier ceramic film isn't over $500. Can we come to a compromise?"

"I spoke to the manager, no, nothing we can do".

"Ok, on the trade in, our vehicle is paid off, I have 3 quotes all showing over $27,800 value".

"We can offer you $26,000. But you get the Colorado tax credit where you only pay sales tax on the after trade in price".

"Right, but that is a benefit from Colorado, meaning a $1,300 savings not so the dealership can take that from my pocket. I would still be out over $500".

"It's all we can offer".

So Saturday, comes and goes, no call.

Dealership is closed Sunday, and I find out, Mondays (today) as well.

I call BMW Genius, no update on status, still shows at Port Hueneme. The BMW line said that if is was delivered, and the dealership never updated that they received it, it could be the issue.

Rant off, this is just been a poor experience. When I pick up the car, I will give them one more chance to offer at least $27,000 for my trade in to receive good surveys and reviews. I really do think in this case and this dealership, they figure they have you since it was a custom order, and there has been no budging on any item. I believe I have done most of the leg work on this.

What are your thoughts? Am I being too picky here? At this point, i just want to pick up the car and be done with this whole thing.

[monkeyman8]

We live in a free market. They offer what they offer, take it or not is up to you. They don't owe you a better trade value. As for the salesperson, if you didn't like him then why proceed?

Personally, yes I think you making a big deal out nothing. Get the car, drive off and enjoy.

[tturedraider]

And I think your expectations for good customer service are right in line. I will say I probably wouldn’t have put up with this and would have found another dealership, but who knows for sure?

If I were you I wouldn’t bring up the survey at all. Then when you get it give a 100% honest assessment of your experience. If you give them an indication you may not give them a positive survey they have ways of making it so you do not receive it. Giving them an honest survey rating will cost the dealership and the salesman money. That’s what talks. At this point I also wouldn’t give them the opportunity to try to “make it up to you” for their unacceptable service. That opportunity passed quite some time ago.

Do you absolutely have to take the tinting from them? If not please don’t.

The level of incompetence in today’s world is growing exponentially and I am sick of it. I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, but this year I resolved that I am going to call out incompetence whenever I encounter it.

[vikes1818]

I had a similar experience as well. Lack of communication and bad trade offer. Instead of going through them with my trade I took it to carmax and they offered me 31k opposed to the 28k that BMW was offering me. They knew I owed 28k on the car so they offered enough so I would break even. I thought… screw that. I told them nothing & sold it at carmax and made 3k profit. Luckily, I don’t need a car while I wait for the new car.
My opinion is that they are free to offer whatever they want but you are also free to take your car somewhere else. I did, and it paid off.
One thing that their poor offer does though, is that it puts your guard up since they already tried to fleece you on the trade so it makes you aware that they can screw your in other ways. Hopefully the car makes up for all those issues. Good luck!

[jcl78]

Thanks for the replies. I feel stuck with the dealer as it was a custom order, and their allocation. I suppose it could have been transferred to another, but my time is also money, so that is something I am equating to as well.

The salesperson you are stuck with, it is dealer policy, part of their "one person experience".

As far as the free market, yes, true. However, the value of the vehicle is what others are willing to pay for it. I have 3 written offers from others for nearly $2,000 more. With that option though, the BMW is going to be in, the check for CarMax / Carvana / Toyota will take 11 days to process and clear. Colorado makes the process much easier with trade-ins, including the sales tax benefit, registration, etc. so I have to ask myself if losing $600 is worth those hurdles.

I will take the car to a well reviewed tint shop I have already spoken to, $440 for full ceramic LLumar film. Regular film would have been $275.

Like I said, I do appreciate the feedback. I am looking forward to the car, I suppose I really expected a better dealership experience from a brand like BMW. I have purchased 23 cars in my life, and this ranks near the bottom. I will definitely be letting folks know to avoid this particular dealer.

I will let everyone know what the outcome is.

[PK2348]

Keeping quiet during test drive is exactly what i want sales people to do. If they start yapping i usually tell them to stay quiet. We can talk after i am done driving.

[Randyg]

Are you dealing with BMW of Loveland by chance?

[Bc2005]

When I negotiated a trade-in of my F30 it had 108k miles on it and two local dealers both offered $9k. I don’t think they even really wanted it, because they prefer low mileage trade-ins, even though my car was in pristine condition overall.

I put it out on KBB, Vroom and at least one other site, and IIRC the offer I took was $11,800. I got an earlier offer from Vroom that was even higher, but I was confused about how these sites worked and didn’t realize the offers were only good for 5 days. Finally went with KBB and it was purchased by a local Ford dealer. Got the check the next day.

[dod328430]

My dealer told me that my car was at the port awaiting a ship when it was stuck in QC / Final Assembly for three months. I flew to Chicago and bought the same car and cancelled my order. Got a better price as well. I now belive its better to buy out of my market and just let the local dealer service it.