Buying a BMW - Page 2

In case you're wondering how this could happen, it went pretty much like this...I pointed to the Monaco Blue car in the showroom and said that's the color I want. I asked the salesman if that was Monaco Blue and he said yes. When all was said and done, I placed a deposit, signed the papers etc, etc, and got an invoice listing all the specifics of the car that was to be ordered on which, under color, it read:

"M Blue".

Not being aware that there was another M Blue, standing for Montego Blue, I thought nothing of this and the order was later placed by the salesman at some point after I left....During which time he apparently decided that M stood for Montego as in Montego Blue. I was quite surprised, to say the least.

Now we have a problem because as was the case 6 weeks ago when I bought the car, if we re-order it, another 2,500 miles will accumulate on my trade in car and therefore the cars trade-in value may decrease. So where I started out 6 weeks ago with a trade in value of $9,000 which today when I tried to pick up the car was $8,900...6- weeks from now, it could be and likely will be worth even less....problem is that the decrease between $8,900 and whatever it will be say 6 weeks from now should I re-order will be a cost to me that is the result of their error....making me pay for their mistake.

They offered another car out of inventory, but none had all the options I wanted, leaving me the option to settle for something that is not quite the car I want.

They then offered to increase the current trade in value of the car by $500, leaving me still at risk of getting hosed by the re-appraisal 6 weeks from now and possibly still paying for their mistake should the reappraisal come it at less then today's value of  $8,900.

Of course, I have the option of walking away.

So, I'm pondering what to do. I told them I wanted to think about it for a day or so....Opinions, anyone?

My visit to the dealer went ok. The manager called it an embarasment which I can't disagree with, and we agreed on taking $500 off price of the car. The manager then went to write up the invoice and order himself and when he came back with it, it still read Montego Blue! That had to be corrected again, and then when I reviewed the invoice more closely, I realized that they were charging me more for the car. The new invoice reflected 2010 pricing, but the original purchase in Nov, had 2009 prices...so we had to discuss that and get that corrected. Amazing. Finally though, after a 2+ hour visit, I walked away with the car re-ordered in Monaco Blue so I'm happy and hopeful all will go well this time.

I really like the Monaco Blue too Nelson. The Montego Blue is not my style. Very bright and sort of loud. The manager told me that this error hurt him too because he felt he would have a hard time selling the car due to the color which he said was more of a warm weather color more common down south, and because it had no heated seats which he said everyone wants. There was no way I was going to take that color car no matter what he offered. He asked if there was anything he could do to sell it to me and I said no.

I might have taken the car in black if they had one equally equipped. I love a black car if it's properly cared for but it's a lot of work as you know. The Monaco Blue will require work too, but from what I've read not quite so much as black. I do like white on BMW's...they look great in white. The one white car I had in the past though used to get these black streaks from moldings and such that I could never get out. I don't know if BMW's have that problem but I pretty much wrote off white for cars because of that. They did offer me a silver one today that had everything I wanted, but also a ton of stuff I didn't want like navigation and though the price offered was excellent, it was significantly more than I wanted to spend.

Color is definitely a purely personal thing, though I have an uncle who is a Mercedes fanatic going on 40 years now and he doesn't care at all what color car he gets. He has no need to get a bargain but he always ends up getting an end of the year inventory car they couldn't sell at a great price but an odd color...and then he proceeds to tell everyone what a bargain it was. His current car is an E class coupe in Quartz Blue and I've never seen another one in that color around here.

Chris, I didn't know that...was it an actual model name or just slang where somehow BMW motorcycles became beemers and cars became bimmers?