2010 Z4 35i -- New Owner introduction

[HenryHank]

So you all know I've been posting lots of questions and that I bought a 2010 Z4 35i a few days ago, and promised to post the story.. So here it is.

It's a little long --- I wanted to include all the best details, but I did cut out a lot of the negotiations and discussions. It was down to a choice between two different cars:

Both cars have: Deep Sea Blue, Navigation; Cold & Premium packages; Manual Trans, iPod adapter

Car #1: 2009 30i 23,000 miles $39,900

• Includes: CPO, Beige interior; Sat Radio; 17" 5 spoke wheels
• Doesn't Include: Premium Sound; Sports Package
• Being sold by: BMW Dealer who sold and serviced the car (it was a lease return)

Car #2: 2010 35i 8400 miles $46,995

• Includes: Sports packages; Ivory White interior; Multi-spoke 18" sport wheels, upgraded electrical supply
• Doesn't Include: CPO, Sat Radio
• Being sold by: Chrysler Dealer (car was a trade-in)

My trade-in: 2005 Mercedes SLK350, 56000 miles, fully loaded, excellent condition.

These two dealers were coincidentally 15 minutes apart and about a two hour drive from me.

I found Car #1 a couple of weeks ago -- it was advertised without Nav, but I emailed the sales guy who wrote me back to tell me, in fact, it does have Navigation. Car #1 had most of the feature I wanted, so I was very interested in checking it out. So on Monday, Jan 10, I gave them a $1000 refundable deposit on a credit card to hold the car until I could get down there on the weekend. While Car #1 didn't have Premium Sound or Ivory White, it was close enough that I was sure (at the time) I would have been perfectly happy with it. But then on Tuesday night, checking online sites (like I've been doing several times a day looking for new inventory) I found Car #2 newly listed for sale on Autotrader. The "chat" button was active, so I started chatting with a sales associate about the car. Obviously, Car #2 had more of the better options I wanted, but also was a lot more money, and it didn't have CPO or Sat Radio. The sales guy told me that he took a couple of videos for another customer, and he could email me those videos in the morning (Wednesday). He suggested that if I'm interested, I should give him a $500 refundable deposit to hold the car for 24 hours.

Since I didn't know what either dealer would offer for my trade, I decided to take it to a local CARMAX to see they would give me at least a reasonable amount for it. No dice -- CARMAX's offer for the SLK was the lowest of any of the BMW dealers I've taken it to. CARMAX offered just $15,000 for the trade, whereas other BMW dealers had offered me $15,500, $16,000, and $16,500. I walked out of CARMAX, called sales guy for Car #2, and put down a $500 deposit that night... my hold on Car #2 was good until 9PM Thursday night, meaning I was driving down to see both cars on Thursday. I now had deposits on two different cars, and since I had already lost out on two other Z4s because I didn't act fast enough, I really needed to head down there as soon as possible.

So I get up early and drive down to see Car #1 first. Looks good, but wow -- the beige interior which looked really white in the photos looked really, really yellow in person. It looked like it had been a white interior that had been smoked in for 5 years... not really a nice color (compared to Ivory White). The sound system was also "just OK"... good enough, but not really fantastic -- which is what the SLK was (had a fantastic Harmon/Kardon stereo option). And I really don't like the 17" 5 spoke wheels, but that's also fixable later. I'll cut out all the time consuming negotiations, and just present their first offer for the car:

PHP Code:

Price       $ 39,900
Trade       $ 15,500
Cash        $ 24,400
Total       $ 39,900 


Now I told them that I don't care what the first two numbers are, I only care about the amount of cash I need to bring to the table, plus my trade. They can change the price of the car and/or my trade to any numbers they want, but the only number I'll be negotiating is the cash number.

I countered with (but didn't commit to):

PHP Code:

Price    $ 39,900
Trade    $ 15,500
Cash     $ 21,500
Total    $ 37,000 


I told them that's the number they would need to hit for me to consider the car, but I still had to see Car #2 first, and before they could give me a response to my counter offer, I left to go see Car #2.

WOW - - Car #2 is gorgeous! The Ivory White is STUNNING.. and makes Car #1 look even more dirty/dingy/smoke stained. And it has really great wheels, and a lot fewer miles, and turbos! As soon as I saw it, I knew I would be driving it home... but there was still a long day ahead of me. Again, I'll cut out all the negotiations and discussion, here was their first offer:

PHP Code:

Price    $ 46,995
Trade    $ 17,500
Cash     $ 29,496
Total    $ 46,995 


I countered with a Cash Due number of $26,000, which they totally balked at (which I knew was a lowball offer), so I pretty quickly upped my counter offer to:

PHP Code:

Price    $ 46,995
Trade    $ 17,500
Cash     $ 27,000
Total    $ 44,500 


At this point, the owner of the dealership came over to finish the negotiations, and put his offer on the table:

PHP Code:

Price    $ 46,000
Trade    $ 17,500
Cash     $ 28,500
Total    $ 46,000 


We went back and forth about the value of the trade (I had info from Galves, KBB, and BlackBook).. and of course, he told me it was a fair value. So I took their final offer, and was headed back to the Dealer #1 to finalize that deal (i.e. not buy the car and get my deposit back). But as I was leaving Dealer #2, there was another customer there taking the Z4 out for a test drive! Yikes! I'm glad I had a 24 hour hold on that car -- but it was really scary to think that some other people were out there test driving the car I was set on taking home that night. I was thinking to myself:... "please don't crash it.. please don't crash it"... and luckily, they didn't.

When I get back to Dealer #1, they presented their final/best offer:

PHP Code:

Price    $ 38,000
Trade    $ 16,000
Cash     $ 22,000
Total    $ 38,000 


They did try to convince me that buying a non-CPO car (Car #2) was a bad idea, and that the CPO inspection/process really ensures you're getting a good car, and that if the other car is not CPO'd, it's a big risk. Not just because of the CPO warranty, but because of everything they do to bring the car up to be a CPO. In the case of Car #1, they had to replace two rims and all four tires.

So at this point, I felt like I had good offers for both cars on the table, but I hadn't eaten much all day (it's about 6pm at this point and all I had was a donut on the drive down), so I headed out to dinner to consider both options. Car #1: Fewer options, CPO, less money; Car #2; all options (except CPO&Sat Radio), alot more money. The absolute difference between both offers was about $6000 -- was it worth $6000 for less mileage, Ivory White, Sports package and better wheels? I'd have to think about it.

When I got to the restaurant, I called Car #2 dealer and made one final offer (on the owner's voicemail):

PHP Code:

Price    $ 46,995
Trade    $ 17,500
Cash     $ 28,000
Total    $ 45,500 


I had dinner for about an hour, headed back to Dealer #1 to tell them the bad news that I didn't want their Car #1. This is where it (finally) gets interesting! While I was there previously, I let it slip that Car #2 was a 2010 35i.. so while I was at dinner, they looked it up and found it online (wasn't too hard considering they knew it was only 15 minutes away)... . Being a BMW dealer, they could look at all the internal service records for Car #2, since it was always serviced at their dealership! Now you'd think that if there were any red-flags or black-marks on the service records, they would show me/tell me to try to get me to buy their car instead... but it was just the opposite -- the car had a few minor things serviced, the sales manager asked the service manager about the car, and he said it was a good, solid car -- no real problems. We sat and talked about BMW warranty options and Sat Radio install options, etc -- even after I told them I chose to buy the other car (where in fact I hadn't closed that deal yet), they were still very friendly, open and helpful. So I left Dealership #1 feeling even better about Car #2, even though I hadn't heard back from Dealer #2 so it was not a totally done deal.. yet.

I get back to Dealer #2, and present my final offer (above) to my sales guy... I mentioned that my first offer was $26000+trade, and his first offer was $29,495+trade, and that my last offer of $28k+trade was more than half way between the first two offers (I came up $2000, while he came down $1,495). The sales guy finds the owner on the lot and presents my last offer -- he comes back and says "Congratulations!" -- the owner accepted my final offer. In reality, it was a bit more than I wanted to spend on the car (I was hoping to get it for my first offer of $26000+trade), but now I feel that I got the absolute perfect car for what I was looking for.. and that's definitely worth something! I also feel that I got a very fair value for my trade-in, which increases the comfort level. The owner even took the Z4 and filled up the gas tank for me. And while doing the paper work, they told me that they went online to lookup Car #1 to compare options, etc. I wonder if either dealer thought that maybe I was just using the "other car" as a negotiation technique, and no "other car" actually existed? I'm glad they both looked up their competing car, and that everything I told them was on the up-and-up. Dealer #2 also told me that the previous owner of the Z4 was a divisional president of a very large, global electronics firm, and that he traded in the Z4 for a Grand Cherokee (go figure??).. so it was another guy about my age that owned and cared for the car, and not a young hot-shot who may have mistreated the car. Both dealers were family-owned, friendly, helpful, no high-pressure sales techniques, etc. While it was a very long and trying day, I'm glad that neither dealer was a typical used-car dealer, and both maintained the utmost professionalism throughout the entire process -- and in the case of Dealer #1, even AFTER I told them I didn't want to buy their car. And what surprised me A LOT about Dealer #2 is that they didn't charge me any additional fees for the car -- All I paid them the original price of the car, minus the trade value, plus just $20 for the state-issued transit tags.. that's it! No Doc, prep, detail, or any other fees to jack up the profit. Really great dealership. On the other hand, Dealer #1 did want to charge me $175 for tags as well as also insisting on collecting out-of-state tax on the car -- that was non-negotiable, whereas Dealer #2 did not even ask about taxes and tags.

So once all the paper work was done and signed around 8:30pm, I got into my new Z4 and drove home. Unfortunately, it was an incredibility foggy and rainy night, and I was tired and had a two hour drive ahead of me, so I really couldn't enjoy the car that much as I had to focus on driving a new and unfamiliar car. And on top of that, there was a huge delay on the GW Bridge -- they had all toll lanes merging down to just two lanes on the bridge... and it was a terrible spot to be with a brand new (to me) car and huge trucks all around me that could only see me in their mirrors (I hoped). At one point, I was stopped on the bridge for about 15 minutes not moving at all, while the road surface bobbed up and down with the other traffic. Very disconcerting.

The next day, the salesman from Dealer #2 emailed me and told me that if I didn't buy the car, those other buyers were definitely going to buy it... so it's a good thing I put that $500 24-hour hold on the car and went down there the next day, or it would have been the third Z4 I lost out on. And I'm so glad I didn't buy Car #1 now -- it was definitely worth the $6000 more for Car #2.

The only real three downsides to Car #2 are that (1) it's not CPO, (2) it's going to cost a lot to have Sat Radio activated ($500-$600 I'm told) and (3) that the tires are high-performance SUMMER tires (the Bridgestone Potenza 050 Run-flats).. so I can't really drive this car in the winter at all unless I get new tires/rims, which I've already priced out at $1600 from TireRack. So it's about another $2k to get this car absolutely perfect, plus the cost of a CPO-like warranty (about another $2k).

So for the winter, I might just drive my E39 M5 which already has winter tires on it, and just garage the Z4 until warmer weather. I read that the Bridgestones on the Z4 shouldn't be used near or below freezing temperatures -- is that accurate?

So the bottom line is that I got a beautiful, low mileage Z4, with all the options and features. Can't wait until summer time to really take advantage of it, and I look forward to participating with all the great folks on this forum.

[DavidJS]

Congratulations! Sounds like a great car, and good deal!

[az34]

wow sounds like a long,long day but at the end you'd buy a great car that you will enjoy for years to come. Congrats.

[ChuckB]

You are correct on the loss of performance of the summer tires in low temperatures, but if you wrm them up and don't push hard you can still enjoy the "Z" on those few dry winter days. If you don't push hard then you are only using 30% of the traction, so with a temperature related loss of 50% traction still leaves you a 20% margin (my figures not taken from any authoritative source). I have run the RE50 at freezing and while they get noticeable harder, they still work, but don't push at all.

[richard in NC]

Congrats, the Z4 is a fun car. I do drive the Z4 on dry days below freezing but Charlotte rarely dips into the teens let alone low 20s. Just take it easy until the tires warm up a bit. It will still stick but not like warmer weather.

[cdeslandes]

Congrats!

1) your car is still under warranty, so you can have BMW check it thoughroughly and fix whatever needs to be addressed.
2) you can always add an extended warranty (sounds like you intend to)
3) a set of winter rims and tires is a wise investment. And you'll save in the long run by not putting miles on the summer tires (and not crashing the car!)

[Jayda]

Thanks for the story, it was interesting! Your story also makes me happy my phone negotiation for my car which included a trade in took under 30 minutes and only three phone calls back and forth between the dealer and I. Anyway, you will love the car and please post some pictures! I'm glad you finally got the car you wanted......however, I do love the beige interior on my AW Z4!

[tranquility]

Wow, what a thorough writeup! Welcome to the club and congrats on Car #2: it sounded like the better car.

[bmw-nj]

Great Writeup.

Be prepared to pay sales taxes as soon as you register the car at DMV.

[2gumby]

Great write-up!
Congrats and welcome to the club.

Winter (less than about 30 degrees) on summer-only tires: If dry, OK, if you are grandma-like. Like others have said, let them warm up some before doing anything even remotely "sporty."