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      04-30-2012, 09:57 AM   #16
jphughan
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Drives: '16 Cayman GT4
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Austin, TX

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Quote:
Originally Posted by matthewEW View Post
Can one put in an order even if no allocations have been given out to the dealers? I asked two BMW M dealers and was told that they won't accept any orders probably until the middle of May though they can take in deposits for the "eventual" purchase. My concern is if I put in a deposit of say, $10,000 I might wind up waiting with that dealer's allocation to come in where another dealer somewhere in the country already has received his and I may have a problem getting that deposit to change dealership. I would like to get anyboody's thoughts on this.
First of all, I think a deposit to reserve an allocation should be no more than $1000, deducted from the total purchase price of the car and not an additional fee just to reserve a spot. But if you're really itching to have this, I guess you'd have to weigh the risk of depositing with a dealer that gets a later allocation vs not paying anyone a deposit and having to wait longer because ALL the dealers will have a backlog. The chances of getting your deposit back I'd say are 50/50, possibly yes because they'll probably be able to fill your allocation spot so they won't lose any money, and possibly no because the whole principle of a deposit is to lock you into the purchase, so that's the penalty for backing out. I'd say your best strategy is to talk to the dealer who currently has the fewest number of deposits down to make sure you get the highest possible spot on their allocation. I doubt any dealers will get deliveries substantially later than others.

And if all else fails, patience is a virtue. It seems you're sure you want the car right away despite the likelihood of first model year glitches and having to pay a huge dealer markup, both of which were issues with the M3 -- but not having to deal with either of those might be nice too. I know I'm happy I got mine after all of the options were available and (apparently) the major kinks had been worked out.
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'16 Cayman GT4 (delivery pics, comparison to E92 M3 write-up)

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'11.75 M3 E92 Le Mans | Black Nov w/ Alum | 6MT (owned 5/2011 - 11/2015)
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