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Discount BMW Parts - from a BMW Dealer

globalrider

Alps Adventurer
Who is everyone using for discount BMW parts from a BMW dealer?

In the past I've used Competition Accessories when they were a BMW dealer and then Bob's BMW and Hammersley BMW thereafter.
 
Were you not happy with Bob's?

Its been a while, but I do remember them screwing up one of my orders...and I only placed a couple of orders with them at the time.

Besides, do they offer 20% off MSRP?

The late Frank at Hammersley was great to deal with.
 
Its been a while, but I do remember them screwing up one of my orders...and I only placed a couple of orders with them at the time.

Besides, do they offer 20% off MSRP?

The late Frank at Hammersley was great to deal with.

I have never dealt with Bob's, I'm only aware of their excellent reputation. 20% off MSRP is nothing short of incredible so the price is right in anybody's book.

Let me ask you this: I have never met Bob and have never purchased a single penny from him. I do however believe strongly in being fair. Bob's has an excellent reputation, has excellent pricing and presumably sends out thousand upon thousands of orders a year. Do you think that every order was sent out perfectly? Do you think Bob's is perfect? GlobalRider, in the interest of fairness you really need to give him another chance until he proves or disproves the dealerships reliability. One or two orders simply isn't going to show you anything. It is merely building a track record which over the course of time, or the quantity of orders from you, will determine if he is a trusted source or not.

Put the shoe on the other foot. If everyone stopped doing business with you every time you made a mistake what would be your response? I assume the goal of striving for AND reaching perfection is not going to be on the list. Obviously I'm a consumer just like you. We all are. You apparently have placed orders with Bob although the exact quantity isn't stated. You do say he screwed up "one" order. Can that possibly be enough reason to not deal with someone again?
 
Bob's "excellent pricing"-is it discounted or MSRP? Please, spare the lectures on the cost of operating a business, I want to save if possible & lack the funds to throw it around anymore than I have to.
I'm with OP, I want a discount if somebodies gonna do it , so, who does it now? There are lots of BMW auto dealers out there online & happily discounting BMW auto parts from their parts department @ around 20% & they are obviously doing it on purpose & I suspect they are trying to make some money too. :lurk
 
There are lots of BMW auto dealers out there online & happily discounting BMW auto parts from their parts department @ around 20% & they are obviously doing it on purpose & I suspect they are trying to make some money too.

Keyword: auto

Supply & Demand; more cars than motorcycles.
 
Please, spare the lectures on the cost of operating a business.

Yeah, my local dealer whines about not making any money as he drives by with his window down in his Audi A8 and his son in a Porsche Carrera. Gosh, can I also not make any money and own those. :rolleyes
 
Bob's "excellent pricing"-is it discounted or MSRP? Please, spare the lectures on the cost of operating a business, I want to save if possible & lack the funds to throw it around anymore than I have to.
I'm with OP, I want a discount if somebodies gonna do it , so, who does it now? There are lots of BMW auto dealers out there online & happily discounting BMW auto parts from their parts department @ around 20% & they are obviously doing it on purpose & I suspect they are trying to make some money too. :lurk

I have re-read the OP and I jumped to a conclusion. I do not know if Bob discounts or not. Why not contact him direct at (301) 497-8949?

Sorry for the misinterpretation... my fault completely.

Given the number of dealers that have closed shop you should actually care if your dealer stays in business. There are many who would have no one nearby for their motorcycle problems especially so on a BMW.

You can't compare motorcycles and cars. BMW is nothing but a small niche player in the motorcycle business. There is no such thing as a large BMW motorcycle dealership although you may find BMW's within a large store as part of a multi-franchise store. Car components are popped out by the ten's of thousands and probably hundreds of thousands in some instances. No such thing exists in the motorcycle business. Sorry in advance for the business lecture. Sometimes the truth gets in the way of life.
 
Doesn't mean a thing. For 12 years I got 20% off on parts/large parts like wheels I got 25% off. The dealer was still making money. You have no idea what the markup is.

Yes, but I do. Margins have decreased quite a bit through the decades. Folks outside of the business more than likely would not be aware of that. 20% in the motorcycle business is an extremely good discount. Increase that by another maybe 1 to 3 points merchant fee discount if the customer used a credit card for the purchase. Even more with Amex. Merchant fees are taking right off the gross revenue and not the net. Merchant fees also take a portion of the sales tax. The dealer needs to make up for the loss on the sales tax liability with the dealers own funds. The state doesn't care if someone paid with a charge card. Most transactions today are card based. A complete flip from maybe 30 years ago.

Let me make this clear. I do not fault someone wanting to save money. I do object to people accusing someone of ripping them off because they won't sell something at the requested price. And then blogging about it on the internet because the customer didn't get their way. Is that really the right way to handle it? When's the last time you went into the grocery store and asked for a discount solely because you felt you were entitled to one.

My real concern is doing things in the spirit of fairness and doing right by one another as hokey as that may sound.
 
Yeah, my local dealer whines about not making any money as he drives by with his window down in his Audi A8 and his son in a Porsche Carrera. Gosh, can I also not make any money and own those. :rolleyes

Most stores require 7 figure net worth's today and the ability to obtain high 6 figure and 7 figure floor plans. Is it possible this gentleman already has money or the business was the sole provider of these goodies?
 
Billy, I saw some of the margins about 1 month ago. Is that recent enough?

That's no secret. Most gross margins today run from approximately 25% to approximately 40%. I no longer work in a dealership but take any aftermarket item and I will gladly tell you dealer net and MSRP. Furthermore, I'll document it by taking a screen shot and faxing it to you.

Most dealer gross margins in their parts department run from the mid-20's to the mid-30's overall. A few will exceed mid-30's and a few will be less than mid-20's. Remember we're talking gross margins here. Merchant account fees have not been removed nor have freight charges, payroll, parts that never get sold and can never be returned etc., etc. Every parts department will end up with their share of no-solds. Those no-solds if not controlled will eat you alive. Margins 25 to 30 years ago we approximately 10 points higher.

Ask me anything and I'll gladly give you the truth and support my statement with proof thru screen shots. I am not embarrassed by what we charge. We ain't leaving the store at night and laughing all the way to the bank I can assure you of that. If you have business skills you will readily see we are not getting rich in this business. You only need to understand a P&L and have a comprehension of the business-side of being in the motorcycle business. This is not my opinion, this is fact.
 
Most stores require 7 figure net worth's today and the ability to obtain high 6 figure and 7 figure floor plans. Is it possible this gentleman already has money or the business was the sole provider of these goodies?

And on top of him complaining about not making any money (he was kidding), he charges 25% on top of MSRP.

And you wonder why I shop stateside for my BMW motorcycle parts, my Honda and Porsche car parts and everything else under the sun. I just don't like bending over and spreading my cheeks.
 
And on top of him complaining about not making any money (he was kidding), he charges 25% on top of MSRP.

And you wonder why I shop stateside for my BMW motorcycle parts, my Honda and Porsche car parts and everything else under the sun. I just don't like bending over and spreading my cheeks.

That's a pretty healthy add-on unless it applies to extremely low priced items. I would guess his quantity sold numbers are pretty low. Is the operation located in an exceptionally expensive part of town? Did the OEM force him into a newer Disneyland and he's actually trying to keep up with the new overhead, or is he exceptionally greedy? I guess folks are paying the tab?
 
That's a pretty healthy add-on unless it applies to extremely low priced items.

That is quite typical at the dealers. I know of at least two. Initially it was 10% and I later saw 25% add-ons. And I'm not talking nickle and dime stuff.

I stocked up on -130, -200 and -300 sealing rings. They were 20 to 40 cent items at the time. Well when you round them up to a buck each, a $28 order ended up being almost $100. I had a talk with the owner...he dropped it back down to MSRP.

I can do without creative number crunching.

Anyway, end of story.
 
That is quite typical at the dealers. I know of at least two. Initially it was 10% and I later saw 25% add-ons. And I'm not talking nickle and dime stuff.

I stocked up on -130, -200 and -300 sealing rings. They were 20 to 40 cent items at the time. Well when you round them up to a buck each, a $28 order ended up being almost $100. I had a talk with the owner...he dropped it back down to MSRP.

I can do without creative number crunching.

Anyway, end of story.

I am familiar with that. As with many things sold in the world deiiferent items have different percentage mark-ups. This is not unusual on very small items. It's the sellers way of trying to keep the margins to a realistic area. I can understand a customers viewpoint on this. And, I know it will always make a dealer look bad. Without it margins would certainly go down and may or may not harm the overall profitability of the store. Variable margins actually exist in many industries in an attempt to keep the overall margin to a "realistic" number.
 
It's the sellers way of trying to keep the margins to a realistic area.

You make less on a $1 part and you make lots on a $100 part. Both have the same percentage markup from BMW.

There is no need for the dealer to mark up anything. If he is going to mark up a cheap part by 50%, then he can mark down an expensive part by 50%. Can't have it both ways!

There is no need to discuss this further, and I'm certainly not interested in doing so with someone that has a vested interest.
 
You make less on a $1 part and you make lots on a $100 part. Both have the same percentage markup from BMW.

There is no need for the dealer to mark up anything. If he is going to mark up a cheap part by 50%, then he can mark down an expensive part by 50%. Can't have it both ways!

There is no need to discuss this further, and I'm certainly not interested in doing so with someone that has a vested interest.

I do not have a vested interest in any motorcycle dealership. I do know how to read a P&L however. I have intimate knowledge of dealer operations. Unless you have seen a number of P&L's that represent the condition of the industry as a whole you will never understand what I'm saying. I have no idea of your financial knowledge when it comes to dealership operations. If your percentage numbers stated above reflect your concept of what goes on I dare say you have room to learn. Shutting down the conversation will certainly not make you a more knowledgeable person. Before you make comments of this nature you really need to understand what goes on within a dealership from a financial point of view. At that point you can make valid statements. Until then we really have assumptions going on. It is my sincere hope you take this as intended. We are all better off when we understand everyone's needs and requirements. This is NOT an attempt to make you look bad.
 
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