What's more important when buying your M3? Sales or service?

[jrlee53]

I see a lot of threads on bad dealership experiences and was thinking what is more important for you to go buy an M3 from a dealership? Is it ultimately the sales price they offer you or is it the customer service they provide after you've taken delivery? After owning my first BMW, I've come to think that the post sales customer service is more important to me than the initial purchase experience. You don't need to sell me on buying the M3 as long as the price is reasonable, but what if the dealership is known to have really poor customer service but gives you great deals? My thinking would be since the service at that particular dealer is so poor, how do you know that when you pick up your shiny new M3 from them was treated any better? I've read stories of people watching new m3's being hooned around before delivery, so its not so cut and dry to me to choose a cheap dealership and then take it to a good service one just for the cheap dealership to have already treated my car like crap and might have problems later on because of it. It bothers me that some dealerships fail to see the importance of building a relationship with customers and a lot of that has to do with the service. I bought my car from a different dealership than where I take it for service now. It's the same owners, but the difference in how they treat me and my car is night and day. Just for that, I'd most likely be buying my next BMW from them instead of my original dealer.

[PKL]

forgot to add poll?

[jrlee53]

Originally Posted by PKL

forgot to add poll?

Wow your fast, I was just posting the poll as this posted up, lol.

[donovan]

I can not make a decision, so I will type my ideas...


Service is what makes the deal but if there was two bmw dealerships trying to sell me a m3 and one is willing to give me another 5k off, I would have to chose the better DEAL.

Furthermore, if service is good, it would normally in a perfect world mean that they would treat your car with the utmost care, rather then if they wanted to just sell sell sell and not care about you afterwards.

All in all, I cant decide. I cant pass up a good deal but I do want good service. Why cant dealerships do both lol

[DiavelM3]

To me, service is more important than sales.
I bought my M3 and the salesman was probably the most pathetic salesman I have ever dealt with. Getting information from him was like pulling teeth. Short answers, unanswered questions etc.... I think he was there to only collect a paycheck. Nonetheless, he was fired shortly there after.
Apparently I wasn't the only one he treated that way.
To me, it doesnt take a whole lot to sell a BMW. They sort of sell themselves. We typically know what we want when it comes to these cars. Anyway, I've been getting my M3 serviced at RS BMW here in Colorado and they are beyond amazing. They treat everyone like Royalty there... Top notch service dept.!!!

[geneatals]

IMO: both are equally important

[sameh]

Originally Posted by ferrari4evr1

To me, service is more important than sales.
I bought my M3 and the salesman was probably the most pathetic salesman I have ever dealt with. Getting information from him was like pulling teeth. Short answers, unanswered questions etc.... I think he was there to only collect a paycheck. Nonetheless, he was fired shortly there after.
Apparently I wasn't the only one he treated that way. To me, it doesnt take a whole lot to sell a BMW. They sort of sell themselves. We typically know what we want when it comes to these cars. Anyway, I've been getting my M3serviced at RS BMW here in Colorado and they are beyond amazing. They treat everyone like Royalty there... Top notch service dept.!!!

Couldn't have said it any better.

[GOLFFRR]

def both are important, they go hand and hand. We have built our store based on customer service, but we also know its important to be the lowest price as well. best of both worlds

[sameh]

Originally Posted by GOLFFRR

def both are important, they go hand and hand.

Not so sure. I could care less about sales, I go there knowing exactly what I want and how much I should be paying for that, if we agree, fine and if not, I'll go to another dealer..simple
But when I take my M to a dealer for service, i give them my key and I have no control beyond this point..They can abuse my car, they can do halfass job diagnosing or fixing the problem, they can claim service that never happened, etc and I wouldn't be able to figure that out (well till much later when the issue becomes severe)..
Basically, when buying a new car I don't need to TRUST the salesman but when servicing my car I need that trust.

[e46e92love]

I had an excellent buying experience this time around, but this being my family's 6th BMW since 2005 from this dealer, I'm shocked. The sales department always disappointed in the past, but I got a different CA and the SM was actually cool as sh*t.

But at the end of the day, I always dealt with the sales because service was just so damn good. I don't care what anyone says, I have the best service department in the northeast, and I bet one of the best in the country. Throw on top of that an AWESOME SA and mechanic (yes, the same mechanic always gets my car, even after he switched teams / bays) and I just feel so blessed because I never run into the problems that people complain about. Always get a BMW loaner (not that I care), always have appointments, great valet team if you like your car being grabbed for you, very good body shop, AWESOME shop foreman and really educated parts guy. If I created the perfect service department irrespective of what it would cost to run, it would be my dealer down to the coffee cups

Cheers,
e46e92

[mkoesel]

What's more important when you want a nice steak, sales or service?
What's more important when you need a plumber, sales or service?
What's more important when you are ready to get married and are trying to choose a bride, sales or service?

Answer - always, service, service, service!

[DiavelM3]

Originally Posted by sameh

Not so sure. I could care less about sales, I go there knowing exactly what I want and how much I should be paying for that, if we agree, fine and if not, I'll go to another dealer..simple
But when I take my M to a dealer for service, i give them my key and I have no control beyond this point..They can abuse my car, they can do halfass job diagnosing or fixing the problem, they can claim service that never happened, etc and I wouldn't be able to figure that out (well till much later when the issue becomes severe)..
Basically, when buying a new car I don't need to TRUST the salesman but when servicing my car I need that trust.

Agreed. There is another element to this as well. Recently (about 2 months ago), I started shopping around for the new 1M coupe. Well, I contacted 3 BMW dealerships here in CO. Two dealerships (and salesman) I contacted, didnt even know this car existed!!!!!!!
One other dealership said, we are only getting one allocation and not sure if any others. Also, we dont have much information on it. To me, as a salesman, you should be up to speed on the products YOUR dealership is selling or going to sell. It shouldnt take a customer to walk in and educate you on the product your dealership will be or is selling....

[e46e92love]

Originally Posted by mkoesel

What's more important when you want a nice steak, sales or service?
What's more important when you need a plumber, sales or service?
What's more important when you are ready to get married and are trying to choose a bride, sales or service?

Answer - always, service, service, service!

Wow, you are on a role over the last 24-hours with your posts.......you drinking "super funny" koolade or something?


Cheers,
e46e92

[rbk1115]

Service is more important to me. I only need one transaction for the sale. I could have multiple transactions for service.

[///My5UV]

I only have one choice of dealer for service, and they do a great job so if they could have come close to the deal I got I would have bought from them. If they had been bad for service I wouldn't have bought another BMW.

[James T. Kirk]

I'm less concerned about service as I source out most of my work with a specialty shop (i.e., Active Autowerke)

[Technic]

A monkey can sell and service BMW's... to other monkeys.

I'm no monkey. I want the quickest, simplest, no bullshit sales transaction possible, which matches the numbers that I already got calculated. If you have to go back and forth to your finance circus owner to get me the numbers that I already got made then I will be really upset. And so far I have not been upset for quite a long time.

The forum BMW dealers here really understand that no BS = greater sales = less drama = more money = more customer recommendations to others = more money. That's the reason that for me they have taken that unpleasant feeling of going to the local dealership and just made it satisfying, even when we are not even looking at each other. That is important to me.

Service on the other hand is easier to deal with: either you get good or bad service. Good service = you go back, bad service = you complaint and get the hell out of there. So far I have two local service departments that are simply excellent, regardless if I bought the car there or not. And that's what is remarkable and what makes -and breaks- a dealership.

I know that in some states having this variety of dealer locations is practically impossible as there are one/two BMW dealerships within hundreds of miles. That must be some hell...

[James T. Kirk]

^ Agreed. If you life out in BFE with only one dealership as your only hope of contact to the civilized (BMW) world, then, yes, service is paramount.

Otherwise, just give me the reasonable price I want and I'll be on my way.

[-=Hot|Ice=-]

Service. You only deal with sales once. You have to deal with service for the next couple of years.

[Seattle S65B40]

Not that all of my polls are brilliant (remember the t-tops one? ), but this is a pointless poll IMO. Of course service matters more. You rarely deal with the salesman after you buy the car, unless he screwed something up with the order or you're looking for another one.

[SFPunjabi]

You could have good service one day and bad service the next, ultimately depends on who is assigned to work on your car and who your service rep is....

A good deal and good service are not mutually exclusive. If you are that worried about the dealership taking bad care of your car just wait there while they work on it. They won't mess around with in in front of you.

I've waited there before (if I couldn't find a ride) and even watched them work on the car, out of shear curiosity.

[OC3]

Poll result speaks volumes.