[mvigod]

I ordered my BMW before Xmas and it is now in the production stage. Yesterday Trump announced he will be placing tariffs on the EU across the board. We don't know the amount or the date but based on what happened with Mexico and Canada this seems like a probable event soon.

I have an M4 Comp ordered and if there is a 25% tariff that will add over 25k to the cost of the car as BMW and the dealer will not be eating the tariff. Also, there will be no carve out for cars ordered before the tariff goes into effect it seems. If your car hits the port when the tariff is in effect it will jack up the price accordingly.

I won't say what I plan on doing because I do not want to skew the vote at all.

The question is if you have a BMW on order coming in from Germany and it gets hit with a tariff will you cancel the order and walk away from it or will you pay whatever the tariff is and take delivery? I'm curious what the consensus is from the BMW community here.

[X5MnM3comp]

Originally Posted by mvigod

I ordered my BMW before Xmas and it is now in the production stage. Yesterday Trump announced he will be placing tariffs on the EU across the board. We don't know the amount or the date but based on what happened with Mexico and Canada this seems like a probable event soon.

I have an M4 Comp ordered and if there is a 25% tariff that will add over 25k to the cost of the car as BMW and the dealer will not be eating the tariff. Also, there will be no carve out for cars ordered before the tariff goes into effect it seems. If your car hits the port when the tariff is in effect it will jack up the price accordingly.

I won't say what I plan on doing because I do not want to skew the vote at all.

The question is if you have a BMW on order coming in from Germany and it gets hit with a tariff will you cancel the order and walk away from it or will you pay whatever the tariff is and take delivery? I'm curious what the consensus is from the BMW community here.

I just posted similar topic to alert. I’d say depending on how the contract is written for your preorder agreement. I’ve never ordered a custom car, always buy what’s in the lot or have my dealer allocate something close to my criteria so I’ve never read the contract. You may want to read it for the portion pertaining to tariff. If the language decides it to be volatile condition based on time of transit, then there’s no debate to avoid the surcharge. But if it states fixed condition, your dealer cannot pass this charge onto yiu.

But most likely you will be responsible for this surcharge. Would anyone cancel the order? I’m lucky that I just bought one, 25’ model. But if I was in your position, I would not. It’s not been said by trump what percentage of increase, 25% is applicable to Canada and Mexico. It could be less for euro countries. Some may say, then I just cancel and find an existing allocation or a used one to avoid paying the tariff. Wrong, you might think the plan helps to escape paying tariff, however the increase in tariff usually drives existing market prices up as well. If a brand new 25’ model car from Germany is now 10% more expensive, why would anyone sell their existing 25’ or 24’ models at the previous going rate? What I would do is trying to locate an existing one somewhere in the country now if possible before the tariff is officially announced if you value $ over the perfection of your built.

[mvigod]

Originally Posted by X5MnM3comp

I just posted similar topic to alert. I’d say depending on how the contract is written for your preorder agreement. I’ve never ordered a custom car, always buy what’s in the lot or have my dealer allocate something close to my criteria so I’ve never read the contract. You may want to read it for the portion pertaining to tariff. If the language decides it to be volatile condition based on time of transit, then there’s no debate to avoid the surcharge. But if it states fixed condition, your dealer cannot pass this charge onto yiu.

But most likely you will be responsible for this surcharge. Would anyone cancel the order? I’m lucky that I just bought one, 25’ model. But if I was in your position, I would not. It’s not been said by trump what percentage of increase, 25% is applicable to Canada and Mexico. It could be less for euro countries. Some may say, then I just cancel and find an existing allocation or a used one to avoid paying the tariff. Wrong, you might think the plan helps to escape paying tariff, however the increase in tariff usually drives existing market prices up as well. If a brand new 25’ model car from Germany is now 10% more expensive, why would anyone sell their existing 25’ or 24’ models at the previous going rate? What I would do is trying to locate an existing one somewhere in the country now if possible before the tariff is officially announced if you value $ over the perfection of your built.

I agree, the cars on the lot and used cars will instantly increase in price. Think of the covid area spike in autos. It would come back immediately for new and used vehicles.

For my order, I didn't sign an agreement or have to put a deposit down for my build. The dealer will have the same right I have where they can pull my order and sell to somebody else at a higher price if I don't want to pay the price change due to a tariff should it be levied before it hits the port.

Typically MOST dealers regardless of the sales agreement that might say "no refund of deposit", will always give your deposit back after they sell the vehicle. So you might have to wait a bit for the refund unless you amended your agreement - or you could lose the deposit depending on how the particular dealer does business.

I'm the opposite of you though I almost always order custom cars. It is rare something on the lot matches close enough to what my spec will end up being. I tend to order very heavy specs with nearly every option, if not all options available, so finding those models with my color combos is always a long shot.

I won't say if I would or would not cancel until the poll results are in so I do not skew anyone's vote in either direction.

[X5MnM3comp]

Originally Posted by mvigod

I agree, the cars on the lot and used cars will instantly increase in price. Think of the covid area spike in autos. It would come back immediately for new and used vehicles.

For my order, I didn't sign an agreement or have to put a deposit down for my build. The dealer will have the same right I have where they can pull my order and sell to somebody else at a higher price if I don't want to pay the price change due to a tariff should it be levied before it hits the port.

Typically MOST dealers regardless of the sales agreement that might say "no refund of deposit", will always give your deposit back after they sell the vehicle. So you might have to wait a bit for the refund unless you amended your agreement - or you could lose the deposit depending on how the particular dealer does business.

I'm the opposite of you though I almost always order custom cars. It is rare something on the lot matches close enough to what my spec will end up being. I tend to order very heavy specs with nearly every option, if not all options available, so finding those models with my color combos is always a long shot.

I won't say if I would or would not cancel until the poll results are in so I do not skew anyone's vote in either direction.

I highly doubt it will be 25% unless trump really wants to kill the economy. We rely on EU for oil energy and good alliance. If you’re that specific as you stated, your best option would probably be eating the bullet but I don’t think it’s as bad as you think

[tracer bullet]

I received and paid for my Z4 in June of 2024, but if it was a more recent purchase and still in transit and this actually came to pass, there's no chance I'd pay an additional 25%. It's barely a $75k car as it is, but I wanted it. It's absolutely not a $94k car under any circumstance, even if the Boxsters also went up in price as well.

[zx10guy]

Those that have some financial literacy will walk away from such increases in price due to a tariff. I get swallowing the increase if you're fully aware of the increase and make the conscious decision to still pay it.

But I see this as nothing more than those mark ups people were paying during Covid. Many of the mark ups were insane; some exceeding what is being projected here. So I do expect sales to possibly take a hit, I don't think it's going to be that bad as many people lose their minds when it comes to buying cars.

[zvez]

Yeah I told the dealer when I put the deposit I would not buy the car if price increased from tariff. My car was built to weeks ago and just left factory for port.

[KevinC]

Tariff won’t happen, or if it does, will quickly be negotiated to oblivion. This is Trump the businessman negotiating, and he doesn’t want to kill the economy either.

[X5MnM3comp]

Originally Posted by KevinC

Tariff won’t happen, or if it does, will quickly be negotiated to oblivion. This is Trump the businessman negotiating, and he doesn’t want to kill the economy either.

I think so too. It’s a bluff, I certainly hope so. US is in no position to make enemies and isolate ourselves today. People have little desire to purchase domestic cars let alone they aren’t that cheap either. I get that he wants to stop feds from printing money because of the owed deep financial deficiencies we are in, but that money ain’t coming back to our taxpayers pockets while things get more and more unaffordable. We can’t afford to do that

However, even if it was a leverage to negotiate some deal, I would still expect car prices to increase a bit. There are many other components play their parts like raw materials, labor costs, logistics costs, when they go up, car prices will too regardless of tariff or not.

[zvez]

Originally Posted by X5MnM3comp

I think so too. It’s a bluff, I certainly hope so. US is in no position to make enemies and isolate ourselves today. People have little desire to purchase domestic cars let alone they aren’t that cheap either. I get that he wants to stop feds from printing money because of the owed deep financial deficiencies we are in, but that money ain’t coming back to our taxpayers pockets while things get more and more unaffordable. We can’t afford to do that

And yet he's using c17s to transport a few dozen immigrants instead of chartered jets which would be tiny fraction of the cost, wants an iron dome missile system, his first term he massively ballooned the deficit. Explain how this is fiscal conservatism?

[X5MnM3comp]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

Those that have some financial literacy will walk away from such increases in price due to a tariff. I get swallowing the increase if you're fully aware of the increase and make the conscious decision to still pay it.

But I see this as nothing more than those mark ups people were paying during Covid. Many of the mark ups were insane; some exceeding what is being projected here. So I do expect sales to possibly take a hit, I don't think it's going to be that bad as many people lose their minds when it comes to buying cars.

Financial literacy has very little to do in this particular context. It’s more about desire vs affordability. The cost increase is a fixed condition, it’s your choice to buy or walk away. Own the perfect M4 that you’ve been waiting or never. Simple. And if you think waiting it out will help the price to drop? No it won’t. There’s always going to be certain percentage of demand no matter how much more it costs, rich people everywhere. Dealers are not going to bring standard builds as much as previously. For those ordered custom builds, it’s secure for dealer to bring it in because stated in contract of the tariff term otherwise lose deposit, dealer turns around sells to another buyer. Still wins. What dealer wouldn’t do is, lose money on the car because they paid tariff for you. They aren’t stupid. If the demand from consumers takes a hit, dealers purchase will align or further reduce so they can jack up the price even more. Just as you said, the markups during Covid was caused by shortage of everything. So of the supply is lower than demand, it’s a good position for dealers to jack up prices further. But Covid can go away, will trump lower or remove tariff for as long as he is president? Probably not