3asy Financing from BMW

Jogitu said:

So if you were given the option of 0% would you still put down cash?

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In February, I was offered 0% financing on my 2012 Vstrom. I paid cash. What's so hard about understanding that I don't want payments? My whole life has been filled with payments. I work for myself, my income is not the same every month. Payments suck.

tommcgee said:

In February, I was offered 0% financing on my 2012 Vstrom. I paid cash. What's so hard about understanding that I don't want payments? My whole life has been filled with payments. I work for myself, my income is not the same every month. Payments suck.

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I understand but it could be interpreted that you think financing is foolish. If you pay cash when you could invest that money to make money while the bank is giving you interest free money to do so then it could be said that is not a wise decision either. You may not have been going that way but the pay cash crowd and he Dave Ramsey apostles of the world seem to miss the boat sometimes. Going into any transaction with a closed mind to the options is just foolish. Just because it may sound too good to be true does not mean that it is not a good deal. I see this everyday in my business and it is maddening as people screw themselves everyday by blowing off options as bad ideas.

Common Consumer Falsehoods

1.Paying cash or waving cash at the dealer gives you a batter deal - dealers get paid a fee from the bank to originate the loan. You are essentially offering them less by paying cash.

2.Rates will be cheaper at the banks or credit unions than the dealer - sometimes yes sometimes no. The rate can be higher, lower or exactly the same. The bank has to give some incentive to the dealer to attract their business. The dealer gets paid a origination fee regardless if they mark up the rate to you or not. Yes they can mark up the rate and before you faint what do you think the bank does? If they are passing you the best rate they still get paid the fee if only $200. Dealers usually get paid even at the 0% rate.

3.Leasing is a terrible idea - Can of worms here and way too long to explain here but wrong, wrong, wrong. Could be for you or your situation but not everybody. The bank still owns the vehicle just like they do when you finance it so the dealer does not make more money by leasing. They do turn vehicles more often that way. It is why they push it as it is like an annuity for their business.

4.The dealers are out to screw you - could be but most likely not. It is hard to stay in business that way. They are there to make money and profit is not a four letter word. Profit is what pays your salary and without it the doors close. Bad dealers don't stay around long. If you assume they are out to screw you then you will never be happy. Also, treating the guy like crap that is trying to help you does not really make him want to go the extra mile. Threats and lies on your end as a preemptive strike just makes you a liar and a thief not the dealer. Karma will get you with this strategy. They sell everyday you buy once every 3-4 years so don't play a game with someone who knows them all. Guess who taught them the game? You did.

5.Buying at the end of the month will get you a better deal - Maybe but maybe not. There is no hard rule on this and quite frankly if the dealer has had a great month then he really has no incentive to cut a better deal to add one more to the month. Perhaps his month has been so bad he can't afford to cut a deal and he needs to extra profit. This is a strategy that hold as much water as the pay cash strategy.

6.The deal now will be there later - This I love. So there is a big incentive such as cash or gear and you think it will be there next month. 99% of a good deal is knowing when to take it. Any manufacturer gives incentives to move their inventory not the dealers. Deals do go away and they don't always get better. The other factor is that if the deal is good the desirable units move first which means you end owning the Polar Metallic color.

In the end a good dealer wants to make money and make life long customers. They can't do this by screwing everybody and talking them into horrible financial decisions. Yeah they are there to sell units, that is what they do and this is no secret. Bad dealers exist because bad people exist but you can't go around acting like all of them are bad no more than you can act like all people are bad.

Great post, thank you. All true. But I didn't think about the end of month issue. Duh, we're the same way. Thanks again.

Jogitu,

Well stated.

tommcgee said:

What's so hard about understanding that I don't want payments? My whole life has been filled with payments. I work for myself, my income is not the same every month. Payments suck.

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Precisely the point... you do not want payments. Doesn't mean it's the right thing for everyone given that situations can vary so widely. Works for you and yet Classic made $$ by financing. That was my original point - options exist for each to make his or her own best decision.

BTW - Well played Classic! (and i too want to know where I can get 9% ).

The OP was asking about 3asy Payments... and hasn't been back so I'm going to assume they are either playing around with a calculator or saving some money for a 'pay with cash' experience.

I don't think BMW NA Financial was the concern, and I bet that most don't have a problem. A finance company serves one major purpose - taking payments. I have only dealt with BWWFS this one time, but no issues. I have dealt with several over my vehicle history and have had no issues. Sign the document and start sending money... it's not that hard to be a good customer.

I agree with most of what kevin posted, it was an excellent post and to the pont, BUT- end of the month deals are real.

Just don't show up on the last day of the month expecting to take delivery later on. The delivery- not just the deal- has to be made in the same month, so if tomorrow is Sept 1st, you have to sign and drive away now.

I sold Toyotas for a while after 'retiring' from being a LEO and if the dealership was behind in numbers, the sales manager would loosen things up a bit so he could look better when the general manger looked at the month's sales numbers. Everybody's head was constantly on the chopping block. There even was a time near the end of one month that the sales manager was approving every deal we brought him. Normally, a lot of the time he would send us back to the customer to tell them their offer was too low. I was brand new at car sales and I was scratching my head wondering why he wasn't rejecting anything that week. Turns out that Toyota had an area contest that ran 3 months where the top sales manager got a free family vacation to the Caribbean. And, sure enough, thanks to those crazy deal approvals, my manager won the contest! Probably at the expense of the Dealership's bottom line, but he got away with it, he's still there.

Kevin said a bunch of stuff, but jeeeeze, man, you're assuming a whole lot. I know what I did doesn't make sense for everybody, but the only reason I jumped into this thread is because I happened to be reading the details of the 3easy deal earlier yesterday morning, thinking about dumping my K75 for an RT. I'd never sign a deal like that, and I have bought several dozen vehicles on credit in my time.

With the Vstrom deal, I'd been saving money for the bike for a few years, got some interest on it, got the deal I wanted, don't have to write checks to Suzuki for the next umpteen years, I'm happy, I like my dealer, have known him for 30 years, and the bike is mine mine mine.

RogerWilco said:

I purchased two motorcycles at the same time, on two separate notes. Firstly, I had to notify BMW Financial after noticing I never received an invoice. They apologized and sent them out. I then paid several times over the amount due on each note, making sure I checked the box labeled for "additional principal" and indicated the proper amounts for both the payment and the additional principal( when they said I didn't, I pulled out the copies I had made and faxed to them. "Oh", they said, when caught in a "misspeak": I wouldn't want to say "lie".)
BMWF then notified me I was delinquent on both accounts, so I called them. They had logged ALL of the funds I forwarded them as additional principal and chose to show the original monthly amount as in arrears. They apologized (again) and corrected it. This only took them three weeks or so.
Next, as I was now a bit leery of them, I called to discuss my plans to provide additional principal, and was told that I couldn't even include both payment slips and TWO separate checks in the same envelope or I would be considered to be delinquent. Considered delinquent, because I'm sending them more than is required, explaining all on THEIR form using their format, just because two transactions are included in one envelope. What business acumen they have, those 20-somethings, the financial whiz's at BMWF. They think they are sooo grown up.
After still more problems, the details of which escape me now, I just paid both notes off with the next installment. I really expected more from the marquee. I have been in the same situation with other lenders and had no problems at all.
If one is to finance a single motorcycle from them it might go just a bit smoother, though.
My dealer has been great to do business with and was just as disgusted with BMWF as I was, and we really enjoy the bikes we purchased.
If you do choose BMWF, plan to be diligent in your dealing with them.

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You do know that BMW has an online payment service ? That is all I ever have used with BMWFS, and never had a problem. Much easier than fooling with checks and papers.

if you can't explain your finances to a six year old...

...you're screwing up

f14rio said:

...you're screwing up

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ClassicVW said:

Not really. Kind of like the lease vs. buy car discussions. There is no one correct path for each buyer. Some people will always walk into the dealership and plop down cash for a new car, saying "Why pay intetest"? while others will argue that you should never buy outright any large-ticket item that will depreciate. Many businesses lease their machinery as opposed to buying.

With interest rates being so low, it could pay for you to leave your pile of cash in whatever investment forum you have it in, and gladly pay the interest on a motorcycle loan. Even if it doesn't work out where you earn money or exactly break even, at least that cash will still be available to you for any unforseen emergency that may pop up in the 4 or 5 or 6 years of the loan.

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It was the use of the word stupid to describe those that choose to avoid debt that I found odd. I'm familiar with the rudimentary facts about interest, it isn't rocket surgery.

ka5ysy said:

You do know that BMW has an online payment service ? That is all I ever have used with BMWFS, and never had a problem. Much easier than fooling with checks and papers.

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Yes, I am aware of this service. However, one pays a rather substantial additional fee to use this service, if one if making a rather large payment via this method.

I have been dealing with BMW FS for over two years and have no complaints.

And I pay my bill online every month and there is no additional fee to do so. You can set it up in minutes and pay immediately.

RogerWilco said:

Yes, I am aware of this service. However, one pays a rather substantial additional fee to use this service, if one if making a rather large payment via this method.

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a) there is no fee, b) you can always use your on-line banking (I use BofA) to send a payment again for no fee (heck they even pay the postage on the mailed check).. and c) the best part about the BMW 3Easy is for the next few months, they'll also actually make your first months payment for you... had I know this, I might have put 0 down and let them pay the $220/month 1st payment... but that's ok.

I am glad you guys have been pleased with your experiences with BMWF. It sounds like you have been dealt with well. This is no less than I had hoped for, as well.
Unfortunately, my dealings were a bit lacking, and I was informed there would be additional fees involved. I just decided to clear both notes with the third installment and be done with it. The little finance kids involved are probably no longer employed at BMWF.
Even my dealer was a bit taken aback by BMWF's actions concerning theses two notes. Who knows, another agreement in the future might go as yours have.
I did get an apology, well after the fact, from someone in the organization, though.
I'm sure there are many satisfied customers, yourselves included, but the OP asked for experiences and these were mine.

This is a bit off track but I'll throw it in as we are discussing the plusses and minuses of financing. Investigate the ramifications of financing if you have any plans of future foreign travel.
Some required shipping documentation paperwork submissions must show a clear title (no liens) or a release document from your lender. Lenders hesitate giving up any chance of recovery on a lien.

Bokrijder

Well that is some very interesting information that I knew nothing of.

And so again on the general topic of financing, if I want to sell my bike
before I have it paid off, the buyer is going to have to send his/her check
to BMW and then trust that I will forward the title to the buyer after BMW
sends it to me some weeks later. Doesn't exactly make for a clean,
easy deal when you have to tell a buyer (probably a complete stranger
in a different state) to "trust me, I'll send you your title in a few weeks".

Yes, another very touchy subject often not considered.

As a general statement. The lender holds you the borrower responsible for clearing the lien. They may have little interest in hearing that Joe Schmoe from somewhere will be sending a check to clear the lien. They have a very tight legal contract with you the borrower, why complicate it with a third party?
Is the note transferable, maybe, maybe not. Remember the lender can set the qualification standard as high as he wishes. Lots of flowery words can be put in a loan contract but the lender will ALWAYS be in the drivers seat.

As a buyer, I touch nothing without a clear lien free title. Others would be wise to follow suit. IMHO of course.

Bokrijder

Some states the buyer can hold title even though there is a lien. So the seller having the title in hand means nothing. You could easily have a title with no lien recorded on that title only to find you have one when you try to title it in your name. Dealers have to sue buyers from time to time for this reason. Even if they hold the title in a non title holding state it does not mean the title is clear. It could be an old title where another one was issued after a second loan was taken out using the vehicle as collateral.

The only way you are protected as a consumer is buying from a dealer. Whether buying a car, motorcycle or truck they are licensed and regulated by the state. if someone sells them a vehicle that has a lien issue it is not your issue. People lie and the worst offenders are normal people that have no regulatory boards looking over their shoulders. You thought buying off Craigslist only meant you could get robbed or killed. You could easily think you had a great deal only to find you hold a title with a $5000 lien that must be satisfied and a owner that has disappeared. I have not even mentioned fake titles and stolen vehicles yet.

We could go on and on listing the various ways a deal can go bad. Counterfeit cash, counterfeit cashiers checks, titles with no liens recorded on them, yadda yadda yadda. If we worried about all possible ways, we'd never buy anything. Kind of like all the final drive failures posted here, but we still bought a BMW didn't we?

Buying from a dealer may be a better option but is no guarantee either. A local Chevrolet dealer sold 30 or 40 cars and trucks without the dealer even having clear titles on them! They promised to forward the titles to the buyers 'soon'. They just kept issuing them temporary registration after temporary registration- a violation of state law. Newspaper says a total of $450,000 in bad sales. Ally and GM pulls the financing and their support for the dealership. Dealership now goes into bankruptcy liquidation.

I've bought and sold quite a few motorcycles, and most were long-distance deals. One or two even involved one of us paying up front and then waiting 3 weeks for the prev owner to forward the title after the lien was paid and receiving it from the bank. You just have to establish a rapport with the buyer or seller and use your common sense.