530d Touring - Business Edition
Discussion
I got one of the rash that are coming through from BMW. I like it a lot. Coming from an S4 Avant, I have been pleasantly surprised by the ride. Runflats are supposed to be harsh and 19" can only make that worse ... except it's the best ride that I have had in years (an S3 before the S4). Cream and Piano Black make a good interior combination. Viz pack is great. I got one with the folding / dipping mirrors which has been a surprising godsend now that we have a drive where people need to pass down the side of the car.
GoLo said:
I got one of the rash that are coming through from BMW. I like it a lot. Coming from an S4 Avant, I have been pleasantly surprised by the ride. Runflats are supposed to be harsh and 19" can only make that worse ... except it's the best ride that I have had in years (an S3 before the S4). Cream and Piano Black make a good interior combination. Viz pack is great. I got one with the folding / dipping mirrors which has been a surprising godsend now that we have a drive where people need to pass down the side of the car.
Good to hear. There do seem to be a load coming through from BMW at the moment. Do you mind me asking how much you managed to knock off the asking price?Cheers.
FWIW, definitely on run flats as standard on a Business Edition.
I got nothing off the price at all and, IMHO, that's a pretty tough gig unless the car is a problem child (high miles, odd spec, odd colour etc.). There are dealers who seem to be consistently more expensive and whilst that may be about creating room to haggle I think that for most it is because patience has taught them that there are impatient buyers out there who will cough up. I think that your best chance to haggle is not to but do your homework, know your target spec, be patient for the good deals and be ready to just jump in with a credit card deposit. They do happen enough for me to say it and to encourage you to keep the faith - assuming your wish list is pretty mainstream.
I was trawling the BMW website for weeks* and the dealers with consistently higher prices became obvious as did the average prices of the specs that you like. Mine came through apparently as a one off but in retrospect was the first of the run. The price looked good and, in fact, turned out to be better because it had 2,300 miles less on it than BMW had said or the dealer certified.** When others came through in the couple of weeks after they were more often than not £1-2K more expensive (and, I'm afraid, it looks like they still are). I think that when dealers can see others being more adventurous they follow suit - the same happened late summer with a bunch of ex BMW Assist 525d cars that came through.
You might be able to haggle around accessories or servicing. I know Dick Lovett Swindon ran a free maintenance offer in October and that kind of thing may be the one thing that would make me try ringing around again. Some will say finance is another area but the truth is that third party finance should always leave then standing if you can be bothered to ring around. Those guys do also haggle because their market is competitive. I used Oracle.
I got nothing off the price at all and, IMHO, that's a pretty tough gig unless the car is a problem child (high miles, odd spec, odd colour etc.). There are dealers who seem to be consistently more expensive and whilst that may be about creating room to haggle I think that for most it is because patience has taught them that there are impatient buyers out there who will cough up. I think that your best chance to haggle is not to but do your homework, know your target spec, be patient for the good deals and be ready to just jump in with a credit card deposit. They do happen enough for me to say it and to encourage you to keep the faith - assuming your wish list is pretty mainstream.
I was trawling the BMW website for weeks* and the dealers with consistently higher prices became obvious as did the average prices of the specs that you like. Mine came through apparently as a one off but in retrospect was the first of the run. The price looked good and, in fact, turned out to be better because it had 2,300 miles less on it than BMW had said or the dealer certified.** When others came through in the couple of weeks after they were more often than not £1-2K more expensive (and, I'm afraid, it looks like they still are). I think that when dealers can see others being more adventurous they follow suit - the same happened late summer with a bunch of ex BMW Assist 525d cars that came through.
You might be able to haggle around accessories or servicing. I know Dick Lovett Swindon ran a free maintenance offer in October and that kind of thing may be the one thing that would make me try ringing around again. Some will say finance is another area but the truth is that third party finance should always leave then standing if you can be bothered to ring around. Those guys do also haggle because their market is competitive. I used Oracle.
- On a related note ... in my experience registering with most dealers was an absolute waste of time. Most BMW salesmen I came across couldn't sell a bottle of water in a desert but they could fill in the paperwork for you. Most are lucky / spoiled to be with a premium marque and, like the adage about two blokes facing an angry bear, only have to run a smidge faster than the duffer in the dealership to survive. Worse, I came across some arrogant fourletterword-ers who I pray never to come across again. Totally woo and wah geezers who snt txt msg spk emails. It would be an insult to call them Arthur Daley types - at least he was funny. That said, there were a couple of really glaring exceptions. Kings Lynn (Shaun) and Croydon (Andrew I think). Shaun in particular I wanted to deal with but he just didn't have the right car at the right time.
- I reckon AUC is meaningless on such a young car. Clearly the inspection never happened to my car (2,300 miles!) and the AUC warranty is less than the balance of the original BMW warranty. I suspect that as an HQ fleet car with only a few thousand on the clock, it came in got valeted and then sold.
As you are clearly a Dunlop or BMW product manager, I can only conclude that those bloody Chinese can obviously fake anything or I need my eyes tested or both. I cannot find a spare wheel, I've got no goo and the sidewalls say Dunlop RunOnFlat 245/35/R19 23Y. They have even taken the trouble to pop on those little triangles that the run flats have.
A-maze-in.
A-maze-in.
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