# PCD vs. Discount



## Shanhi (Apr 24, 2016)

If you find your car in the lot that match your specs, and if it is cheaper than if you do PCD.

How much discount should you go for the car in the lot vs the PCD. 

Say X amount out of the door for car in the lot. This include April incentives.

Say Y amount out of the door for order the car to do PCD. This Y amount does not include April incentives because you cannot get your car now. Given when you get your car, there is no incentives.

If you can travel to PCD for free, how much X lower than Y to consider get the car in the lot?


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## Wine-O (Feb 17, 2010)

I don't believe there is any incentive whether you do PCD or not. PCD is just a nice perk. You can buy a car off the lot and schedule a PCD event or order one direct from the factory and have it delivered to the PC.


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## Michael @ BMW Seattle (Mar 5, 2016)

There's no set math here.

It depends on the model, the inventory supply, the allocation supply, etc.

Generally dealers want to first sell inventory on the ground, as they have bought those cars and may have excess inventory of the model.

Or, it's a hot commodity (like an X5 out here in Seattle) and they have less incentive to heavily discount either option.

The dealer will save on prep, so that should be passed on to you (vs the car in stock.)

And lastly, you won't really know if the incentives for this month will be better or worse than with a future month. 

I know I have not helped in any way. ; - )

What model are you considering?

~M~


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## jjrandorin (May 8, 2013)

Shanhi said:


> If you find your car in the lot that match your specs, and if it is cheaper than if you do PCD.
> 
> How much discount should you go for the car in the lot vs the PCD.
> 
> ...


@Op

There is no "inherent" discount in doing Performance center delivery (unlike doing European delivery). The "discount is in the fact that you can order from any center in the US (thereby ordering from one of the highly competitive california dealers).

So, unless you are looking at an M car (particularly M3 or M2), or a car like the X5 which does not currently need much support from BMW, you might be able to order a car for XXX over invoice just like you could buy one for XXX over invoice.

The difference in a car on the lot is, a dealer "might" have a larger incentive to move one of those cars, so you could "potentially" get a really large discount on a car that has been sitting. Of course, for it to be sitting, it would need to be have a REASON to be sitting at that particular dealer (like a X drive car in sunny california, or a RWD only car in Minnesota, or a somewhat strange color / optioned car... either with no options, or fully loaded up).

All of this to say, getting the "deal of a century" on a car on the dealer lot requires some luck. There is no real formula for it. "more" dealers will deal on a car on the lot, but if you are in a less competitive area than california (which is most of them) then PCD will let you get that kind of pricing from any dealer in the country.


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## Shanhi (Apr 24, 2016)

I'm not sure if i describe this clearly. Look like everyone missed interpret what i was saying...

If you find your car in the lot for X mount, but if you want to do PCD, you have to order the car right? And since you order the car, it is not cheaper than to get it from the lot in mose cases. How much more expensive that you could really want to do PCD compare to take the car from the lots.

Hope it make sense now?


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## Ninong (May 20, 2014)

Shanhi said:


> If you find your car in the lot for X mount, but if you want to do PCD, you have to order the car right?


Yes, in order to take advantage of Performance Center Delivery you have to order the car.



> And since you order the car, it is not cheaper than to get it from the lot in mose cases.


No, that is not true in "most cases." In "most cases" it should make no difference since there is no difference in the dealer's cost whatsoever. It's only true for the buyer in a case where BMW is offering an incentive that applies to in-stock cars only and not ordered cars. However, that's not "most cases."

It's always possible that your salesperson would much prefer you to buy as car out of stock but that's always the case and has nothing to do with any real difference, only his preference to sell you something that will count as a sale now and not a maybe sale at some point in the future, assuming you don't cancel the order later.

The advice that you can usually get a better deal on a car out of stock than on an ordered car is based on actual experience but it has nothing to do with any actual differences in cost to the dealer as far as his invoice. Unless there is a specific incentive that applies only to cars in stock, then there is no difference.

There is no reason for you to settle for something in stock that is not exactly what your want or to take a car from stock if you would really like to experience a Performance Center Delivery. Don't let that idea force you to do something like that because there is no real difference unless the dealership decides to make a difference by refusing to give you as good a deal on an ordered car as they are willing to give you on one in stock. That is the only way there is a difference and it's a fictional one invented by the salespeople to push you into taking something out of stock. Every dealership does that if they think you'll go for it. Why not? A deal now is better than a deal two or three months from now.



> How much more expensive that you could really want to do PCD compare to take the car from the lots.


Zero dollars more expensive unless you think it is. It's entirely up to you. There is no difference in the dealer's cost. That's what everybody has been trying to tell you but you seem to think there is a way to put a number on something that is imaginary. The price of the car is negotiated between you and the dealer. His cost is the same either way. Now that you know that maybe you will be better equipped to get what you want.

Good luck!


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## ksuderman (Mar 15, 2016)

Shanhi said:


> How much more expensive that you could really want to do PCD compare to take the car from the lots.


What Ninong said. If you can find the exact car you want on a dealers lot then go for it, but the goal is to get invoice + $X regardless of whether the dealer has the car in stock or has to order it.

I ordered my car and got a good deal. After we agreed on the price I said I wanted to do a PCD. If anything it is cheaper for the dealer for me to do a PCD as then BMW preps the car not the dealer. The only added cost for me to do a PCD is flying to S.C. and then driving home... and I consider the 1K mile road trip home a "benefit" of the PCD 

38 days until I leave for Spartanburg :thumbup:


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## David1 (Jan 16, 2007)

ksuderman said:


> What Ninong said. If you can find the exact car you want on a dealers lot then go for it, but the goal is to get invoice + $X regardless of whether the dealer has the car in stock or has to order it.
> 
> I ordered my car and got a good deal. After we agreed on the price I said I wanted to do a PCD. If anything it is cheaper for the dealer for me to do a PCD as then BMW preps the car not the dealer. The only added cost for me to do a PCD is flying to S.C. and then driving home... and I consider the 1K mile road trip home a "benefit" of the PCD
> 
> 38 days until I leave for Spartanburg :thumbup:


The dealer gets paid by BMW to prep the car so the dealer looses that, but it's not that much anyways.


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## FairfaxM3 (Sep 11, 2002)

You should be able to order your car, exactly as you want it, get PCD, and get as good of a deal, or better, as you would get taking a car off the lot. 

The advantage of PCD is that you can buy and order from any dealer in the USA.


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## Ninong (May 20, 2014)

David1 said:


> The dealer gets paid by BMW to prep the car so the dealer looses that, but it's not that much anyways.


Yes, the dealer gets reimbursed for PDI but that credit should really go to the service department, that performs the work, and not the sales department.


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## Ninong (May 20, 2014)

FairfaxM3 said:


> You should be able to order your car, exactly as you want it, get PCD, and get as good of a deal, or better, as you would get taking a car off the lot.


+1

Exactly. In fact, if you casually mention that you are considering doing what is suggested below, you might get an even better deal. It all depends. 



> The advantage of PCD is that you can buy and order from any dealer in the USA.


+1

In fact, even if you know you have no intention of ordering a car for Performance Center Delivery, it won't hurt to casually mention that you read in one of those BMW hobby forums online that some people are recommending ordering the car from one of those crazy Internet Sales Specialists on the West Coast that are known for giving great prices and that's something you might consider if you can't get an acceptable deal locally.


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## JimD1 (Jun 5, 2009)

Performance Center Delivery is paid for by BMW, not the dealer. From their point of view, it is a question of using a car from their allotment for the month from BMW versus selling one off the lot that they pay interest to have there. Many people will not wait and will only buy off the lot. They might give a better deal on one you order or one off the lot, there are arguments both ways. But PCD doesn't matter to them. I ordered mine and did PCD. My wife got hers off the lot and got a delivery experience that was equivalent to PCD from the dealer for nothing.


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## Shanhi (Apr 24, 2016)

JimD1 said:


> .... My wife got hers off the lot and got a delivery experience that was equivalent to PCD from the dealer for nothing.


can you be more specific about the equivalent of PCD at dealer?


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## GeorgeT (Jun 22, 2007)

JimD1 said:


> My wife got hers off the lot and got a delivery experience that was equivalent to PCD from the dealer for nothing.


It's hard to believe that a dealer would have access to a vehicle manufacturing plant to tour and a super large autocross course with a skid pad.


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## The Other Tom (Sep 28, 2002)

There's a thing called BMW101. There are several posts about it on this forum (you can use the search function to find them). It's where you get to do the PCD experience at the PCD but you don't pick up your car there. In other words, you buy your car from the dealer as normal and then the dealer arranges for BMW101. I think the dealer gets a limited number of slots so they don't make it available to everyone. And maybe not all dealers get slots, just "local" dealers ?
They did it for me the last time I bought a car. That makes me think I probably paid too much for the car


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## Versipellis (Jun 15, 2015)

Ninong said:


> one of those crazy Internet Sales Specialists on the West Coast that are known for giving great prices and that's something you might consider if you can't get an acceptable deal locally.


Any suggestions for where I can find one of these?


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## DDGator (Mar 4, 2013)

JimD1 said:


> My wife got hers off the lot and got a delivery experience that was equivalent to PCD from the dealer for nothing.


I don't understand how that could be remotely possible.


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## David1 (Jan 16, 2007)

DDGator said:


> I don't understand how that could be remotely possible.


They do have a program for this. I have done PCD twice now and each time there were people doing it without picking up their car there. They had purchased a car off the lot. Even if you do not pick your car up at the PCD center you still drive what you purchased just like if you were taking delivery at the PCD.


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## The Other Tom (Sep 28, 2002)

DDGator said:


> I don't understand how that could be remotely possible.


See post 15 in this thread


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## Versipellis (Jun 15, 2015)

David1 said:


> They do have a program for this. I have done PCD twice now and each time there were people doing it without picking up their car there. They had purchased a car off the lot. Even if you do not pick your car up at the PCD center you still drive what you purchased just like if you were taking delivery at the PCD.





The Other Tom said:


> See post 15 in this thread


I think you guys are misreading the post, or I am...



> got a delivery experience that was *equivalent to PCD from the dealer*


I'm reading the original post as this lol, emphasis added


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