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Originally Posted by Fastfwd
Update to this search for an allocation. I realize this is TLDR for most of you. So, skip the comment. It’s just a friendly update on my journey for anyone interested.
I called about a half dozen dealerships around the country. I previously had a little luck finding a few cars that weren’t yet sold, but this time every single one was a customer car on order. I saw one dealership reflect 13 incoming vehicles. Possibly spread across multiple dealerships under one company name, but nevertheless. Unfortunately, the guy I talked to stated that the salesperson involved might keep any information on a customer falling through to themselves to keep the prospect of the sale to anyone else for themselves.
So, I got a range of answers on how many people each had waiting in line for an allocation. One dealership insisted that financing was a contingency of an out of state deal citing the prospect of penalties from BMW if the car is shipped out of the country. I’ve heard this before when buying a car out of state, but it sounded a lot like sour grapes over not getting the prospect of service on the car after the sale. He specifically mentioned not getting to service the vehicle in conjunction with the prospect of not getting the financing business being a deal breaker.
I’m not yet sure if I shouldn’t be alarmed that the service is expected to be such a valuable revenue stream. I had zero out of pocket expense for repairs with my Performance Pack 1 Mustang and I actually drove it like it was designed to be driven. I realize that these new BMW cars come with complementary service for 3 years 36k miles too though.
Every single dealership claimed that they sell at MSRP. Some were a little slippery about add on charges that they can ‘drop off’ the final price. Generally, the timeframe of expectation for a delivery seemed to magically be around 6 months no matter how many people there were on the waitlist for an allocation. I did note at least one that seemed like the brightest prospect of those called. One was kind enough to spell it out that they had rather undersell and exceed expectations than create a false sense of expectation.
If anyone has any leads on dealerships with allocations and no waiting list feel free to private message me. The sale of my Mustang went through this week and I got a nice price for it considering the mileage. So, there’s not much holding me back from placing an order. If that’s what I’m doing the sooner the better.
I’m currently doing some soul searching about my spec on the M2 if I place an order. Personally, I drove manual transmission vehicles from 16 to my early 30s and I still don’t miss it to be honest. I have never encountered so much controversy over a car with a manual vs automatic transmission.
I get it that people are distraught over manuals not being as available as they once were, but this ZF8 transmission would likely be the best automatic transmission I’ve ever owned. I hear about it in so many different vehicles and it sounds like BMW really have it tuned to perfection for the M2.
I’m also a little bummed out that the manual can’t be optioned with adaptive cruise control. Even the BMW R1250RT motorcycles have adaptive cruise and there is definitely a manual transmission on those. I’m conflicted on the carbon roof with a black spec car too. Red or white I might prefer it simply for the contrast. Red pulls off the sunroof ok though imo. I’ll never track the car. So, that’s a toss-up for me personally. Seems like a big liability if something happens to it though.
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FWIW, bought a 2022 MINI Cooper S at an out of state MINI dealer. Then bought a 2023 MINI Cooper JCW at an out of state MINI dealer. Then bought a 2023 M2 at an out of state dealer.
No financing involved. All 3 purchases involved a trade in. Trade ins were fully paid for and I paid the balance owed via a personal check which promptly cleared.
No dealer balked at the sale any reason and this included the fact being I lived anywhere from 200 miles to nearly 900 miles distant I would not use the selling dealer for servicing. (For the M2 there is a local BMW dealer. For the MINIs the local BMW dealer is able to do some servicing but for the free 10K mile services I'll have to book the MINI at the nearest MINI dealer, which is in Merriam KS.)
In my search for an M2 I did encounter several dealers who had allocations but were saving these for local buyers.
Be aware at least based on what I was told BMW "requires" sales tax be collected if the vehicle is financed. While I was not financing any of these out of state purchases every dealer initially wanted to collect sales tax. A few claimed the collected tax would be forwarded to Arkansas.
I spoke with someone at the Arkansas Department of Finance. I was told if I pay the sales tax to an out of state dealer the odds are the dealer would *not* send this to Arkansas. When I showed up to register the car I'd be required to pay the Arkansas sales tax and then file for a refund to try to get the sales tax back that was collected. I would probably not be successful. I was told Arkansas had no agreement with any state regarding sales tax collection/forwarding.
So if you are considering buying a car out of state you need to research how sales tax is handled by the selling dealer and your state. Otherwise you could find yourself paying sales tax twice...
I went with a manual equipped M2. One reason is the car I ended up buying off the showroom floor was not spoken for and just happened to have a 6-speed installed. I would have accepted an automatic equipped M2 just as fast.