Chicagoland buy/lease

[Gh0st0]

hello,
Long time lurker in the forums, finally decided to jump in. I've been searching through the past couple weeks through the topics and it seems like everyone leases and few purchase their x5. I'm leaning towards lease just based that I seem to keep my cars no more than 3 years, and I just bought a cheaper sedan for going back to and from the train station. Then go from there,being my first bmw, I want to jump in but am hesitant based on some of the things I've read.

I don't want to make this a debate, but this weekend we're going to check out a couple bmw dealers ( motor weeks in barrington, Patrick, or knauz). Obviously opinions vary but wanted to see if any members had some good experiences which would steer me in the right direction?

Thanks!

[Blackhawks]

Originally Posted by Mx23

hello,
Long time lurker in the forums, finally decided to jump in. I've been searching through the past couple weeks through the topics and it seems like everyone leases and few purchase their x5. I'm leaning towards lease just based that I seem to keep my cars no more than 3 years, and I just bought a cheaper sedan for going back to and from the train station. Then go from there,being my first bmw, I want to jump in but am hesitant based on some of the things I've read.

I don't want to make this a debate, but this weekend we're going to check out a couple bmw dealers ( motor weeks in barrington, Patrick, or knauz). Obviously opinions vary but wanted to see if any members had some good experiences which would steer me in the right direction?

Thanks!

I've been to all of them as I just took delivery two weeks ago.

I didn't have a bad experience anywhere, but went with Elmhurst. If you want to PM me, I'll share what I learned.

[Gh0st0]

Originally Posted by Blackhawks

I've been to all of them as I just took delivery two weeks ago.

I didn't have a bad experience anywhere, but went with Elmhurst. If you want to PM me, I'll share what I learned.

Thanks, PM sent. Much appreciated

[turboawd]

i went to patrick and they gave me a good price without even asking. however the x5 that i wanted sold right away. ended up going to bill jacobs, where i had to fight a little to get the same deal. lol

[Stunnaz]

I actually only went to only one dealership to check out the X5 and X6, didn't even do a test drive. Then I mass e-mailed all the dealerships around Chicago giving them the exact factory order specs I wanted and asked for an e-mail quote. Lowest price got my business.

[Blackhawks]

That's the luxury of car buying with the Internet as the best weapon. cars.com and Edmonds send mass emails for you... And the Internet managers know you're seeking other quotes.

[Stunnaz]

One major advantage of buying a BMW SUV in the U.S. is that the wait time for a factory order is only about 3 weeks. This allows you to spec the car exactly and then have the dealerships fight for your order. So make sure you take advantage of that. Typically with any non-domestic cars it takes 3 months or more to get a factory-ordered car, so you end up bargaining with the dealership that has the car you want on their lot, giving you very little leverage.

[Gh0st0]

Thanks, wasn't aware of new vehicle being a 3 week wait. Appreciate everyone's input.

[Blackhawks]

Originally Posted by Mx23

Thanks, wasn't aware of new vehicle being a 3 week wait. Appreciate everyone's input.

@Stunnaz is right. My dealership had an allotment available for the following week. My turnaround was 11 days. Incredible.

[jugdish]

Bought my last car at Motorwerks... Got a great deal (Infiniti), but the delivery was a strange experience that ended up taking a majority of my Saturday: They insisted on feeding me lunch (even though I declined a dozen times) which was a 2 hour ordeal, and felt like a salesmen's soup kitchen. Other then that, the deal I got made it worth it.

On a side note, Motorwerks has a loaded '14 X5 with only 6k miles on it. I almost bought it, but ordered new after finding out the short lead time with custom orders....

[VikH]

Originally Posted by Stunnaz

Then I mass e-mailed all the dealerships around Chicago giving them the exact factory order specs I wanted and asked for an e-mail quote. Lowest price got my business.

I found this is the best method to get the best deal in the Chicagoland area. I was able to get the best deal from Eugene at Elmhurst BMW. He was knowledgeable about the ordering process (surprisingly some dealerships screw this up) and very responsive via email.

Originally Posted by Blackhawks

@Stunnaz is right. My dealership had an allotment available for the following week. My turnaround was 11 days. Incredible.

That's crazy. I waited 3 months for my 335!

[kolosy]

I've bought from jacobs, fields, perillo and knauz (and isringhausen in springfield once). Knauz has been the best to work with. Granted this was over the course of the last 10 years or so. I've always done the deal over the phone, and come in for final items. Perillo felt the most like a used car salesman, and happened to be where i bought the x5.

Leasing makes sense with bmw, much more so than a lot of the other luxury brands because their residuals are so high. A comparable lease on an audi was almost twice as much / month the last time i looked.

[Gh0st0]

All good info here, taking everyone's advice. I'll most likely be going out to a dealer that has the inventory I'm interested in to test drive the 6 and 8 cylinder x5. Then go from there and reach out to different dealers.

[Tommyvee]

Elmhurst here too, others at the time were not wiling to deal very much.

[Gh0st0]

Thanks for the input all. Saturday went well, drove a 35 and 50. I should have never driven the 50, that engine is a rocket. Talked with the service manager after the salesman tried to get me to leave with a car after telling him I had no such intentions. 3-4 k off sticker was what was put out there, any good?

Also, anyone aware of engine noise from the 50 played over the stereo in the cabin? I know this was something done in the m5

[kolosy]

Check out the who paid what thread for a general feel. The answer depends on the options, but the goal should be around invoice, imo. I ended up buying a dealer demo that had all the stuff I wanted for ~3k under invoice.

[Blackhawks]

Elmhurst was at 7% off and wouldn't budge from there, but I still bought from them based on a relationship I built with the CA.

Laurel - 5.25% off
Fields - 3%
Orland Oark 7.5%
Perillo - No 2015 allocations left as of 6 weeks ago
Knauz - 7.25%
Motor Werks - very unresponsive. Never go past initial conversations

PM me if you want some more detailed info.

[Mako]

Originally Posted by Blackhawks

Elmhurst was at 7% off and wouldn't budge from there, but I still bought from them based on a relationship I built with the CA.

Laurel - 5.25% off
Fields - 3%
Orland Oark 7.5%
Perillo - No 2015 allocations left as of 6 weeks ago
Knauz - 7.25%
Motor Werks - very unresponsive. Never go past initial conversations

PM me if you want some more detailed info.

don't forget about Anderson in Crystal Lake. Motor Werks is probably the worst, okay Perillo is the worst... Knauz I have used for service and like them but anytime I am in the showroom they treat me like a 12 year old kid (I am 35, but not their stereotypical 50+ year old buyer), so I haven't bought a car from them yet. Used to go to Patrick before they tried to screw me over on a $500 credit (sales guy insisted that it was in the negotiated price, even thought I told him about the credit after the negotiation, credit was BMW credit, nothing to do with dealership money...).

[Stuey]

I received a fairly good deal from motorwerks. They were trying to move lot cars pretty aggressively but I ordered new for a bit less. So discounts inline with elmhurst after lots of pushing. Frankly I was fatigued trying to run the gauntlet of Chicago area dealers and finally just gave up when motorwerks was close. Can't say it was fun though.

[jugdish]

what kind of discount did you end up with at motorwerks? Just be prepared for a strange delivery experience....

[Stuey]

I'm from the school of not being too specific but it was a shade under what elmhurst is quoted above.
It was not a very fun car buying experience. Really a shame as I had a blast speccing/buying my 911 in highland park.
But pray tell on delivery experience... What should I expect?

[ChiTownM]

Orland Park tends to have highest discount. I prefrr Laurel myself and they tend to get close.