# Is this the best car dealer in the country?



## Spinning Blue (Oct 19, 2003)

Attention, Bimmerdealers. The bar has just been raised:
http://www.lacar.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=260

:yikes:


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## LDV330i (May 24, 2003)

That is impressive. :wow: My local BMW dealer has a 4 seat customer waiting lounge.


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## Artslinger (Sep 2, 2002)

My dealer offers free Starbucks coffee.


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## Desertnate (Mar 11, 2002)

Pretty impressive, but what does that say for your wait time for service :eeps:


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## nate (Dec 24, 2001)

LDV330i said:


> That is impressive. :wow: My local BMW dealer has a 4 seat customer waiting lounge.


 Which one is that?

Momentum has a track, performance center, and Cafe Express though...


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## LDV330i (May 24, 2003)

nate said:


> Which one is that?
> 
> Momentum has a track, performance center, and Cafe Express though...


Advantage Midtown. For 5 years they have been saying they will be building a new facility to bring it up to standard. Earlier this year they remodeled and expanded the service area. Now if they would just build the new showroom across the street.


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## adrian's bmw (Feb 14, 2003)

No biggie... there's a MBZ dealer in north Atlanta that has a driving range, putting green and workout room. :yikes:


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## LeucX3 (Dec 26, 2001)

Maybe it's because you're there so often ...  

That would be a valid point if it were anywhere else besides Toyota.


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## SARAFIL (Feb 19, 2003)

LeucX3 said:


> Maybe it's because you're there so often ...
> 
> That would be a valid point if it were anywhere else besides Toyota.


Longo belongs to Roger Penske. He's a fanatic about having the best-looking, most modern and efficient dealerships out there. You could eat off of the floors of his service bays.

Longo and a few other dealerships belong to Penske directly, and are not part of UnitedAuto Group, which Penske runs (and which my dealership belongs to). We're having a similarly-impressive facility built as we speak, though I haven't seen a Starbucks on the plans.  (although, there is one a few hundred feet away one the back road connecting our main lot to our satellite lot.)


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## TXE39 (Oct 2, 2003)

LDV330i said:


> Advantage Midtown. For 5 years they have been saying they will be building a new facility to bring it up to standard. Earlier this year they remodeled and expanded the service area. Now if they would just build the new showroom across the street.


When I bought my E39 from Advantage "Downtown/midtown" (whichever they want to call it now) they were in the midst of destroying parts of the building. I was waiting for my car when I had to take it back for something and it was a friggin mess - and LOUD! There was a guy with a jackhammer having a helluva time.


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## swchang (Oct 5, 2003)

SARAFIL said:


> Longo belongs to Roger Penske. He's a fanatic about having the best-looking, most modern and efficient dealerships out there. You could eat off of the floors of his service bays.
> 
> Longo and a few other dealerships belong to Penske directly, and are not part of UnitedAuto Group, which Penske runs (and which my dealership belongs to). We're having a similarly-impressive facility built as we speak, though I haven't seen a Starbucks on the plans.  (although, there is one a few hundred feet away one the back road connecting our main lot to our satellite lot.)


I think he also owns the HBL dealerships near where I live. MB, Audi, Porsche, and (recently) Aston Martin. :thumbup:


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## LeucX3 (Dec 26, 2001)

SARAFIL said:


> Longo belongs to Roger Penske. He's a fanatic about having the best-looking, most modern and efficient dealerships out there. You could eat off of the floors of his service bays.
> 
> Longo and a few other dealerships belong to Penske directly, and are not part of UnitedAuto Group, which Penske runs (and which my dealership belongs to). We're having a similarly-impressive facility built as we speak, though I haven't seen a Starbucks on the plans.  (although, there is one a few hundred feet away one the back road connecting our main lot to our satellite lot.)


Yeah, BMW of SD was owned by Penske, then United (who built their big new facility). What percentage of BMW stores are still family owned?


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## SARAFIL (Feb 19, 2003)

swchang said:


> I think he also owns the HBL dealerships near where I live. MB, Audi, Porsche, and (recently) Aston Martin. :thumbup:


Penske personally owns a hand-full of stores in California (known as Penske Automotive Group, the stores either bear the name Longo or Penske). HBL (along with ~200 other stores across the globe) belong to UnitedAuto Group, a publicly traded company of which Roger Penske is the director.


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## SARAFIL (Feb 19, 2003)

LeucX3 said:


> What percentage of BMW stores are still family owned?


I remember that the number of dealerships in the US is in the low 300s.

UAG alone owns eight of them. BMWNA owns one directly (Manhattan), and then there are probably dozens of other dealership groups that own many of the rest. I'd guess that the number of dealerships that are independently owned is quite small.


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## gojira-san (Mar 1, 2004)

The dealer I go to (Tulley BMW in Nashua) I believe is still family owned. Of course they are a village unto themselves with VW, Buick, Pontiac, GMC Truck and Mazda marques also. Interestingly, I think most of the car dealerships in Nashua are locally/family owned. But then again, we aren't a very big state!


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## 01silber (Jun 28, 2002)

SARAFIL said:


> BMWNA owns one directly (Manhattan),
> 
> Question, Why is it that bmwna doesn't own more or all over their dealers, Wouldn't that equate to better over all everything in the long run


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## SARAFIL (Feb 19, 2003)

01silber said:
 

> SARAFIL said:
> 
> 
> > BMWNA owns one directly (Manhattan),
> ...


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