Online Car Shopping: A Success Story

Yup, it’s true. I’m an amazon.com addict and shell out a few bucks there every month. I also love eBay so much I even wrote “eBay For Dummies” to help others navigate the popular auction site. But never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d buy an expensive car online. Then one night I surfed over to www.autobytel.com and started the process on a lark.
When it comes to big purchases, I am the most conservative person in the world. So when I began my research to replace my 1993 car with 150-thousand miles, little did I know that I’d be using the Internet to buy it online. The car that I replaced was a BMW 325i. Years ago I took a racing course at the Skip Barber Racing School at Lime Rock and tortured a 325i for hours. Even though they have to replace the tires every 3 days, the cars hold up just great. I went out the next day and bought my first BMW. All these years later, I still love this car and will continue to use it for short hops around town.

I started my search for a new car at 3 local dealerships. Because the 3-series BMW wins all kinds of awards and is on the top 10 list of almost every car magazine, this model is a hot commodity. I did the old “test drive-price haggle-see the manager-think about it” tango. Basically, they all would knock a few bucks off the sticker price if I bought a car they had in inventory. That’s great on paper, but all the cars I saw were loaded with options I didn’t want. On top of that one dealer even haggled over “car mats” like my Dad did in 1965 when he bought his first Ford Galaxy 500. Hey this is the 21st century, car mats should be included (or at least buried in the price).

So off to the Internet I went. I surfed over to www.autobytel.com and in 5 minutes I completed the all the questions on the car I wanted. It couldn’t have been easier – I picked everything from interior and exterior colors to the in-dash CD player to the size of the wheels I wanted. I logged of and went to bed.

Two days later I got an email from Claudio Balter at Center BMW in Sherman Oaks California. Autobytel.com forwarded my request to his dealership and now it was up to him to close the deal. He said he could find the car I wanted and all he’d charge is $1800 over invoice. Hmmm, invoice. What does that mean? Well, it’s the amount the dealership pays for the car. OK, not being in the car business, I’d believe anything and couldn’t double check it. Right? Nope. That’s where www.edmunds.com comes in.

Edmunds.com is the place to find out the actual invoice prices of cars. As a bonus they’ll tell you exactly what you should be paying for the car you want. It’s all very scientific and you can read all about it on their home page. If the dealership’s quote is over Edmunds True Market Value (TMV) price, head for the door. You’re being taken for a ride. Here’s how I got my results. I went through the edmunds.com questionnaire about the BMW 325i with the options I wanted and in seconds I had all the answers I needed.

• Invoice (the price the dealership paid for the exact car I want) came in at $32,790.
• MSRP (sticker price) was $36,535
• True Market Value (TMV) matched the MSRP at $36,535.

So what I learned from edmunds.com is that I should expect to pay sticker price for the car I wanted. That’s the problem when you want a hot car. In most cases, the TMV will be below MSRP (sticker price) and that should be your negotiation point. I only used edmunds.com but you can cross check their numbers will Kelley Blue book at www.kbb.com. or other car research sites on the web.

Now back to Claudio and his excellent Internet offer. Using his $1800 fee above invoice, my car came in at $34, 590 (before tax and licensing fees). That price is $1945 below what edmunds.com thought the True Market Value for this model is. This price was also $1500 to $1800 cheaper that what the other dealerships quoted me. Most important, I was getting the car with the exact options I wanted. No dealership filler for this freeway warrior. With numbers in hand I emailed my new best friend Claudio at Center BMW. He called me to see how serious I really was.

THE TRANSACTION
It took all of 24-hours for Claudio to find the exact car I wanted. I loved the Orient Blue exterior with tan leather interior. He called around and brought it in for me. That night I was reviewing the BMW brochure I picked up at a dealership when to my horror I realized I was asking for Orient Blue when I really wanted Steel Metallic Blue. And forget the tan interior, Steel Blue looks best with a gray interior. The next morning I left a message on Claudio’s voice mail updating him on my “blue issues” and asked what he could do. That afternoon he called back with 3 cars in the new and improved blue/gray combo to choose from. I selected the one I wanted and told him to write up a contract. I did all this over the phone without ever meeting Claudio. I liked his no pressure phone demeanor and the no-stress, no-haggle environment he created. Because I researched the numbers I knew I was getting a good deal. I asked around and heard good things about the dealership, so buying this car was a no-brainer for me.

Claudio faxed the contract to my lender and me and, two hours later with checks in hand, I was dropped off at Center BMW to meet my Internet buddy Claudio face-to-face. He is a kindly looking man with little or no stress around him. He says he enjoys this type of selling because he never liked high-pressure salespeople and this is the only way he can do business. He explained that he gets about 125 leads per month from autobytel.com. Of those about 12 turn into sales. The dealership pays a fee to autobytel.com for the leads but it’s Claudio’s professionalism that turns them into deals.

The first time I laid eyes on the car he came up with I knew it was exactly what I wanted. There it stood in the Southern California sun all ready for me to drive it away. I just had to pay for it.

After I signed the contract, handed over my checks, got the keys, manuals, assorted paperwork, and DMV materials, Claudio walked me back outside for his demo. He spent a half hour showing me all the nuances of my new car. We shook hands and I drove my new car gingerly out of the dealership parking lot.

EPILOGUE
This morning I got an email from autobytel.com with a survey. They want to know if I bought a car, and if I did, how the experience was. You can bet that Claudio will get outstanding on every questions. Now I’m just waiting for BMW’s survey. When Claudio Balter at Center BMW will be as happy as I am with my new car. This was my experience. Your experience, like gas mileage may vary. If I haggled at my local dealership they may have matched or even beat Claudio’s price by a few bucks. Who knows. For me, it just wasn’t worth the effort. The bottom line is, research, research, research. Then start your buying adventure.

To contact Claudio directly, contact him at www.sales@centerbmw.com.

For auto research and to find the True Market Value for new or used cars, go to www.edmunds.com.

To start your buying adventure online, go to www.autobytel.com.

For other online auto buying/research sites, try www.google.com.

New car owner Roland Woerner is a Producer at NBC’s Today Show and the co-author of “eBay For Dummies”.