[Inline_Six]

Mine wasn't the best, so, I was curious about you guys' experiences with dealers for your F22 purchase. Because I want to be fair to my dealer and I don't want to bash my dealer publicly, I will not name the dealer.

Initial experience when test driving the car was ok ... they didn't like me driving their only M235i present on the lot, stating that it has ~100 miles, making it hard to sell as "New". I understood, but I had to convince them that I'm a serious buyer and really need to test the car out - handling, steering, power, braking, comfort, tech, etc. They finally gave in and let me drive a decent amount. SA was friendly and professional.

After signing the deposit to order the car, my experience has been so-so. The CA is very friendly and helpful when I can get a hold of him ! But, a few times, emails and calls have been met with no response.

Since this is my first BMW purchase, and I'm totally new to the whole ordering process, Deutschland, production, trans-Atlantic shipping, etc, I really wanted them to take the initiative to keep me informed about the status, but have not received any updates (proactively, without me contacting them) after the prod # was assigned.

Overall, I like my CA a lot ... he's a cool guy and helpful, but just would have liked them to be more proactive with sharing updates.

I want to build a good relationship with them, so I'm not going to criticize them on the satisfaction survey from BMW NA, but ...

Your experience ?

[huma]

Not good so far. Don't want to get into details.

[MrBones93]

Ordered my car today and can say I had a great experience all around. However, my experience may not be a good benchmark as my family has a long history with our dealer and we bypass sales associates to work directly with the sales manager whom we also have a long relationship with. We had been in phone and email contact for a few weeks prior ironing out order and delivery details and simply dropped in this afternoon to sign the paperwork. Got 6.5% off immediately, no haggle required. Literally in and out. Sorry others are having negative experiences.

[TBro2002]

I've been doing my entire 2er ED order and lease through emails. So far the process has been the easiest way I've ever acquired a new car. Over the course of less then 7 days and 5 emails I closed a great deal, got excellent lease approved, confirmed a delivery date. My CA was very responsive with all emails.

Now as for my experience with actual visits to BMW dealers to look at 2's, test drive, and discuss deals, I encountered nothing but flakes. The CA's working the showroom and lots are not the best people to deal with (much better to deal with the internet CA's through emails). I was also surprised about their lack of enthusiasm about selling BMW 2's, many could care less about dealing with me.

[tccox]

Absolutely wonderful experience with hendrick northlake from initial order onward. Zero complaints

[overcoil]

I'm in Maryland and visited five different BMW dealers and every CA I delt with were very good. As for test driving an M235 I would only do very short test because I wouldn't had wanted a car with miles on it. Actually all the time I spent looking and hanging in showrooms I never overheard a salesman utter anything that wasn't professional, never a slight of someone or a crude remark, extremely professional. I took my mother with me to a Mercedes dealer (a dealership I like) and the whole time in the showroom the salesman was sideling up behind or hovering around and my mother was totally annoyed with it.
When it came to choosing which dealer to close the deal I went with the closest and a store where I just negotiated with the salesman and no back and forth with a sales manager. Did the figures over e-mail, wasn't interested in witteling the deal down to the lowest dollar amount. Went with what I thought my trade in was worth and OTD price in the neighborhood of the deals I was reading about on this forum.
On pick-up, no license plate mounting on front bumper had the Michelin PSS's and watched the detailer wash the car - everything I wanted.
Really good experience with BMW, 4600 miles and the car has been perfect.
Bought oil & filter, wash supplies and accessories from parts department and they really treat you like they value your business.

[gaijin]

As I had stated in a previous missive, my region's half a dozen or so BMW dealership did not have a M235i in stock. A test drive was out of the question. Test drove a 228i and a 6MT 435i (as close as we can get to one) right before finalizing our order with an out-of-state dealership. Side note: we did find a pre-owned 2014 M235i at a local Audi dealership soon after placing the order for our 2015 M235i and test drove it.

After contacting a dozen or so BMW dealership up and down the coast, I went with BMW of San Antonio. I dealt directly with their Sales Manager and it was smooth. He quoted me a little over 6% take back from MSRP as optioned and I decided to go with their M235i production allocation.

It was a no nonsense allocation for as soon as I firmed up the order, it was processed by BMW. In fact, my wife, whom I bought this M235i for as a gift had only a few days to get her final options committed to as the production was going to "build" by mid-month.

In a nutshell, it was extremely pleasurable dealing with Jim Wester. He even assigned Kevin Clarke, a young CA to handle the day-to-day admin stuff of the ordering and updates to us. Would I go back to them at BMW of San Antonio? Yes, I will. Maybe on a trip west, we might even swing by and pay them a visit. After all, San Antonio is a nice city for sightseeing with premium accommodations.

[Supernaut]

Did you ask your CA to update you regularly on the progress of your order? It's my first ordered car, but I suspect we're 1%ers in wanting to know every detail of production. Maybe if you give the CA a list of dates you want to know about - like production complete, on a boat, off a boat - he can update you with those. Really, BMW ought to have a better interface so that the website is updated with the daily info that the dealers and phone support have access to.

I'm in an area with limited competition, so I was warned my local store wouldn't deal much, and that turned out to be the case. It's a shame, because I really liked the CA I was working with. I went with one of the better known CAs from the forums who a friend had used and the process was efficient and transparent. I only once had an email not returned, because he was on vacation. I'll pass final judgement once the process is done, but so far, so good.

[Inline_Six]

Originally Posted by Supernaut

Did you ask your CA to update you regularly on the progress of your order? It's my first ordered car, but I suspect we're 1%ers in wanting to know every detail of production. Maybe if you give the CA a list of dates you want to know about - like production complete, on a boat, off a boat - he can update you with those. Really, BMW ought to have a better interface so that the website is updated with the daily info that the dealers and phone support have access to.

I'm in an area with limited competition, so I was warned my local store wouldn't deal much, and that turned out to be the case. It's a shame, because I really liked the CA I was working with. I went with one of the better known CAs from the forums who a friend had used and the process was efficient and transparent. I only once had an email not returned, because he was on vacation. I'll pass final judgement once the process is done, but so far, so good.

I kind of did ask for regular updates. I agree that we're a minority, but the communication with the CA has been so-so ... he acknowledged it.

I also agree that the BMW site really should show more details.

Glad to hear that your experience is good. It's too bad that dealers without much competition in the area can pretty much do what they want, knowing that we are relying on them. Anyway, it's not too bad.

[DanG]

I had a great experience with BMW Seattle. I have bought four BMWs from the same sales associate over the years. I have always been treated fairly.

[hyperzulu]

Perfect. Could not have been any better, seriously. Jon Shafer at BMW Santa Barbara.

[wujin941005]

See my thread. I bought it from BMW of Macon. F**king terrible

[kds372]

So far, not good. Test drive was scheduled over a week in advance. Day of the test drive, you would have thought I was asking to get the M6 out off the showroom floor. Following test drive I sat with the sales rep who gave me about 5 minutes to discuss ordering and pricing, then left to assist other customers. Basically he said they don't have many allocations for the vehicle and if I didn't want the one on the lot, I'd be waiting quite some time before being able to purchase.

[den525]

So far my dealer in Sydney hasn't been great, its not bad... just very slow communication.

[ABPReader]

.

[darkladyjadey]

Love my dealership even though there were hiccups throughout the process. I signed and executed my lease with the vehicle on Monday night, the vehicle should of been transported from another dealership, but the next morning the dealership ended up selling the vehicle I had already signed for, so my dealership put me up in a new bmw loaner free of charge until I got the one I wanted in exterior/interior colors. They said not to compromise in anything and did everything to get me what I wanted, even though they heard an earful from me on how pissed off I was. At the end of the day, I got everything I wanted originally and a little extra more!

[Nahlem]

I had a great experience with my dealership, The first time i heard about the 2 Series and read about it i was totally sold, The tricky part was not showing it to the dealer to much.

So i went over to dealer first time asked about the 2 series and he talked to me about the specs that would follow with the car and the gadgets. If i may say so. Then i told him to contact me when they got a 2 series for testing at this point i said to him doesn't matter what engine it is just want to try it out and see how the size of the car feels and everything. So one Saturday evening and note in Sweden they usually don't work during Saturdays. He called me on my phone around 17.20 or so i remember it very well. HE said hey man i got a 2 Series for you to try and laughed and said unfortunately its a M235i with M-Performance parts all over the car. So went in to try it and well here i am with an M235i of my own. And through out the whole buying process he was totally honest with me about what parts he though i might like and what i shouldn't chose and so on. So he dint try to force sell me anything and answered every question honestly.

So I'm pretty happy with my experience so far :-)

[crbalch]

My CA is not as responsive as I thought he'd be. Kind of frustrating but oh well. Want to maintain a good relationship with them, which is the whole reason I went with this dealer in the first place.

[EternalVendetta]

I highly, highly recommend Mike Wendroff of BMW Morristown in NJ. I worked with him on my first BMW and my first ED, and he exceeded all of my expectations. He was very responsive to emails, accommodating on spec. changes (e.g., changing from AT to MT), and overall a pleasure to do business with. I won't be going with anyone else if my next car purchase is a BMW.

[krhodes1]

Could not have been better for me - Brittney Hale, BMW of Westbrook, Maine. No particular problem getting a very attractive price, just some e-mails back and forth. And we had to re-negotiate as the delivery date I wanted meant I had to wait for the 2016s to be released. Just as good a deal the second go-round. She has been great about keeping in contact every step of the way. Though realistically, once the order is in, you can track it yourself fairly easily. Same with the shipping.

I did not test drive an M235i - they have simply never had one in for stock. It is a tiny dealership, probably one of the smallest in the country before they built their new corporate standard building this summer. I had 228i rentals a few times, how could an extra 90hp make the car worse?

I'm in the home stretch, my car has been in NJ at the port since last Thursday. Any day now.

This is my second order through this dealership, first one went just as well. Different CA, the first one actually left for another branch of the same dealer group before my car was delivered, but he came back to do my (re)delivery with me. I will say that they have a reputation in my area for being stubborn about pricing on in-stock cars, but both my cars have been Euro Delivery and they have given me great deals both times.

[H3G0N3_F22]

Being in the military I got to experience the way car buying is done in Europe and I can honestly say it has been hands down the best out of all my 5 auto purchases in the U.S, plus I save a ton of $$$$ in comparison. The Dealer Associates focus directly on yours wants and needs of whatever budget your looking to stay within, which I found refreshing. NO GAMES, just good personable service from start to finish. They even gave me a Euro Spec M235i to drive while my car was being built. The only bad part is that the car must be on foreign soil for a year to avoid the new car sale/import taxes....Port charges still apply and from what I have heard BMW has discontinued their free shipping incentive....

[BEM-S4]

Peter Ryan at BMW Main Line in Philly is awesome. Have done a number of cars w him. I always call around at least 5 other dealers for pricing and he is always the best deal and a great guy to work with. Would recommend them with no reservations. Service is also top notch Debbie there is the best.