Financing a vehicle?

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

I was out looking for a new sedan in June, and I came out owning a used luxury sedan from BMW. Not only was it actually priced better than most of the newer vehicles for what it had (originally worth over 60k and got it for 42k), BMW also spent about five grand fixing it up as part of their Certified Pre-owned Series. There's even still warranty left on it for two more years, and a five year tire coverage warranty, which is very handy considering tires are expensive for luxury sedans.

Consider a dealership's pre-owned car program; alot of the time the cars are practically like brand new vehicles.

Except that you could have bought that sedan privately for about $5-8k less. Certified pre-owned BMW's are the biggest ripoff. I'd be pretty shocked if they actually did anything worth $5000 to that car. That tire warranty is a joke too, did you actually read it?

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

Except that you could have bought that sedan privately for about $5-8k less. Certified pre-owned BMW's are the biggest ripoff. I'd be pretty shocked if they actually did anything worth $5000 to that car. That tire warranty is a joke too, did you actually read it?

I received the receipt of the work they did. It was done and priced appropriately.

And yes, I did read the tire warranty. I actually drove over a few nails and had to get the tires replaced. They did it, no questions asked.

What's the problem?

[Igottago]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

Except that you could have bought that sedan privately for about $5-8k less. Certified pre-owned BMW's are the biggest ripoff. I'd be pretty shocked if they actually did anything worth $5000 to that car. That tire warranty is a joke too, did you actually read it?

So are certified pre-owned generally priced higher than private sales (not just for BMW, but for other brands)? I've been looking around for new wheels but haven't decided on my buying strategy yet.

I do worry about getting a piece of junk through private sale, that no one will have to answer to once the sale is complete. At least a certified pre-owned has a dealership to deal with and some type of warranty to back it up.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by Igottago

So are certified pre-owned generally priced higher than private sales (not just for BMW, but for other brands)? I've been looking around for new wheels but haven't decided on my buying strategy yet.

I do worry about getting a piece of junk through private sale, that no one will have to answer to once the sale is complete. At least a certified pre-owned has a dealership to deal with and some type of warranty to back it up.

Bingo. Exactly why I went that route. And so far it has been a great choice.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

I received the receipt of the work they did. It was done and priced appropriately.

And yes, I did read the tire warranty. I actually drove over a few nails and had to get the tires replaced. They did it, no questions asked.

What's the problem?

The tire warranty I read didnt cover road hazards. Also it said if your tires were wearing poorly you had to prove you had them rotated every 5,000 or 10,000 km. Mind you this was a manufacturer warranty on those stupid runflats. Regardless they have these programs to make money. I'd be very surprised if a 3 year old lease back BMW needed the amount of repair required to bridge the cost between paying for a private sale versus the pre-owned certified cost. Besides the bumper to bumper warranty is still valid for at least another year or two. After kicking tires on a couple 335i coupes and seeing the cost variance between private and pre-owned certified I can't fathom buying one from BMW. On the 335i's we looked at the cost difference was 25%. To be honest we found the whole thing so disgusting we opted for a different make and model all together.

[Deegee]

Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler

Well, you can buy used from a dealership, or just get it thoroughly checked out. But, aside from that, you realize that paying 4.9% for 6 years is crazy given that virtually everyone short of Mercedes is offering 0% financing?

People see 0% and get excited. Too bad they ignore the fact that they are being ripped off almost all the time. How exactly does a company make money on 0% loans? They hide it in a higher purchase price.

Always ask what the cash purchase price is. Usually the dealership tacks on thousands if you want 0%.

For example, is it cheaper to pay 21,500 at 4.90% or 25,000 at 0% over 5 years? Just make sure you do your homework.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by Deegee

People see 0% and get excited. Too bad they ignore the fact that they are being ripped off almost all the time. How exactly does a company make money on 0% loans? They hide it in a higher purchase price.

Always ask what the cash purchase price is. Usually the dealership tacks on thousands if you want 0%.

For example, is it cheaper to pay 21,500 at 4.90% or 25,000 at 0% over 5 years? Just make sure you do your homework.

Not necessarily true. I was explained all this from an ex-coworker who used to be a car salesman. Basically, the 0% financing is taken care of by the head office, not the dealership itself. The dealership makes no money on this portion. Besides, it isn't even financed directly through the car manufacturer, but rather, most of the time, Scotiabank through a special dealer financed loan. If you are looking to buy a new car, simply go on carcostcanada's website, pay the few dollars to get the dealer invoice price on the new vehicle, and go dealership to dealership saying you'll pay $500 over the dealer invoice and see who budges.

As for where I got the info from that you can't bring brand new cars over? I believe in 2007 there was a crazy rush down to the States because of the sudden high value of the CDN dollar. The CDN side began to suffer due to the decreased sales, and so a few weeks later they lobbied the government to impose restrictions on bringing new cars over. I don't know the exact stipulations on what new cars can and cannot be brought over, but I've heard more than a fair share of people say it was a great deal of savings to get their cars from down there. I'm even considering it myself at the moment, but for some reason I was sure you couldn't bring a brand new one back anymore?