rss997

Went to harloff BMW here in San Diego today. 3 M5's on showroom floor.

Sticker had 30,000 "California Market adjustment" added to list price of $88665...

Dealer said that you have to strike a deal acceptable to the delaer in order to drive one.....What a jackass. I said how can I know if I want one if I've never driven one? He said that they are just so hot that they don't let anyone just stop bye and drive one....

I can understand seeing a credit report first or a bank statement....but c'mon, Its a freaking BMW, not a Ferrari..........

What a joke!

scycle2020

i agree, its a joke...but our local chevy dealership is doing the same with the z06...they wont let you drive one unless you strike a deal...15k above list for no wait,msrp with a 4 month wait...like you said, these cars are not ferraris or lambos...ironically, our ferrari -lambo dealership let me test drive a 200k ferrari and a 280k murcielago, no problems....i will say that if this m5 does what the last one did, it will be selling for 50k in a few years.....

doc2s

it's all about demand.

Lotus350

There have been much discussion on the BMW M5 board regarding these blood sucking dealers asking for $10K to $30K over MSRP. It's a total joke. There are some 1,000 (YES, 1,000) new M5 allocation available still, with most of them going for MSRP. Dealers here in Southern Cal. will learn the hard way soon. There is a reason why their cars are just sitting in the showroom floor....it's call backfiring on them.

caf

From what I understand on the BMW boards, M5's are not really that hot. Pretty much going for MSRP everywhere, and there are cars out there to be found. Only in SoCal are dealers playing their usual big mark-up game. Does anyone really fall for this?

boolala

Whenever MB comes out with a new model it's hot and it's in short supply. My understanding is that MB corporate does not allow dealers to sell new cars above MSRP. The way the dealers have gotten around this is to buy back these cars with just a few hundred miles on them. They are then considered used cars and MB cannot control the used car market. (They may not be able to "control" the new car market either but they can "punish" dealers by limiting their allocation). They are then sold above MSRP. I've seen this happen quite often especially several years ago when the new SL (R230) was introduced. A relative of mine paid a 30 K premium on the 185 K SL65. Personally I would never pay more than MSRP for a car.

LVDell

boolala....I have seen several MB's in the recent past at my local dealer with MSRP + markup "markey adjustment".

boolala

Were these new cars or newer cars which have already been titled? I've never seen markups on brand new MBs in the midwest. But things may have changed since I bought my last one (Sept 04).

MJones

There are a few folks out there with:
STUPID
tattoed on their forehead
and
KICK ME
on their back.

Members of the more money than brains club.

mal28

Acura dealer did this crap with me with an NSX, wanted $5000 to let me test drive it! I have never set foot in an acura dealer since then

texas911

I don't blame them, if I were buying a new car, I wouldn't want someone to have taken a joy ride in it before I bought it. Capitalism is what this country is based upon so good for the dealer if he can make a buck. No one is forcing anyone to buy those cars.

For me, I've bought numerous MB's and never have paid over MSRP, its a policy. I even got a discount on one of the first E55's my dealer got. Of course they have my loyal patronage for life now. This is how it should work. High end buyers usually have high turn over in cars and they'd(dealers) be really stupid to **** them off.

LVDell

Brand new ones. My favorite was the damn near 10K market adjustment when the C55 came out since the C32 was "so yesterday" according to them. Whatever.

PTEC

Some marquees strictly forbid dealerships adding "market adjustment" to new, untitled vehicles. Im not exactly sure why but I always heard it was in case a car gets bought back under the lemon law( so they dont have to buy a 100k car for 150k). The way dealerships get around it is the sales manager sells the car at MSRP to his buddy who puts 20 miles on it then he sells it back to the dealership at no loss. The dealership now has a "used" car, which it can sell for whatever they want.

This is what I've heard.

boolala

Ditto. You've explained it better than I did.

infestation

Apparently, this is going on with M5s in some areas and not in others. (Some are already showing up on eBay at MSRP.) BMW sent our local dealer here an extra one and a family member bought it today at MSRP. For some dealer to mark up the price is ridiculous, but I guess there are some willing to pay it. My feeling is that you shouldn't unless you have to. People in areas where cars are being marked up should check with other dealers.