# National Inventory Search?



## Ty Vil (Dec 19, 2002)

Mikla said:


> Why would my local CA run the locator to find a car they don't have on the lot? A. That would take them time, which they don't have to spend on you. B. They are afraid you'll go and get the car yourself at the dealer who has what you want. C. They'd rather sell you what is on the lot right now. From experience, I can tell you that it takes an act of God to get it done. I guess you guys must think me a horrible whiner. Please, I invite you to visit south Florida and try to buy a BMW as a regular customer. Then you'll see what I'm talking about.
> 
> Mikla


Running a locate is not for me to tell you where the car you're looking for is located...

If I run a locate for you; I'm not disclosing where the car is physically. I'll run locates for two types of cars; those inbound which I can have rerouted to me at zero cost and those within my region that I can have trucked to me for a reasonable cost. I don't do it as a service to the local public. I have this ability so that I can earn your business.

Also, all the complaining about "why doesn't the website show accurate options" is easily answered... Most websites are auto populated by VIN numbers. We don't manually enter every factory option on every car; frankly it isn't worth the time or effort.


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## Mikla (Nov 20, 2011)

So are you saying that the VIN number tells you nothing about the car, its transmission, colors, and options?


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## Ty Vil (Dec 19, 2002)

Most dealer web software will pull basic info but not all the details of options/equipment.


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## Mikla (Nov 20, 2011)

Does basic information include the type of transmission and the exterior/interior colors? That alone would be a great help. One local dealer lists its transmissions as CH and another dealer listed a TCH. I don't even have any idea what those acronyms represent and when I called to ask a salesman, they didn't know either. 

Look at the cars on Vista's page. You can't tell the transmission type for any of the new ones. I just assume that they are all DCT because MT is so hard to find. http://vistabmw.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=SRCH&Store_Code=vbmw&Search=m3


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## SARAFIL (Feb 19, 2003)

Mikla said:


> Does basic information include the type of transmission and the exterior/interior colors? That alone would be a great help. One local dealer lists its transmissions as CH and another dealer listed a TCH. I don't even have any idea what those acronyms represent and when I called to ask a salesman, they didn't know either.
> 
> Look at the cars on Vista's page. You can't tell the transmission type for any of the new ones. http://vistabmw.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=SRCH&Store_Code=vbmw&Search=m3


No, it doesn't. By basic info they mean the first 10 characters of the VIN which tell year, make, model, body style and for some cars only the transmission.


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## Mikla (Nov 20, 2011)

Wow, that's pretty sad. :soapbox:


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## Mikla (Nov 20, 2011)

Update on the search - I called Coggin BMW at 10:15AM today. The car advertised on their website has been sold. Salesman asked me if the sold car is the car configuration I want. I say yes (although they never told me what the configuration was) and tell the salesman what combinations I would consider and ask them to do a locator search. Salesman takes my name and number and says they'll call back. Haven't heard a thing from them in three hours, which means they either forgot or didn't bother, not even to say that they couldn't find a matching car. Didn't even bother to try to sell me something else or suggest that I order what I want. Definitely an improvement from Lauderdale BMW because at least they knew that the 2012s were out. :tsk:

Mikla


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## BWM135 (Mar 11, 2009)

Just wanted to thank everyone for the replies, especially Ty for taking the time to run a locate for me. I'll check on the car up at Fields in Asheville tomorrow. Without the kindness of the CAs here if a buyer wants to find a particular car with particular options on the ground or inbound and their dealer doesn't have it or can't get it through a sister store or trading partner you're on your own to find it. And to do that you'll need to wade through dealer web sites with wildly varying quality and accuracy of info one by one or hope to hit a lead on Autotrader for your car (which may or may not actually be available or what it's represented to be).

I appreciate the candidness from the other folks that responded, I appreciate the points of view and get why things are how they are. I understand as we all do that business is business. Just seems a shame that I can get what appear to be fairly accurate dealer inventories for every dealer within 25 miles of a given zip code and view actual window stickers with a click if I was shopping for a $17K Ford Fiesta, but not here. Bottom line is I've spent hours of my own time trying to determine what's out there in the way of 328 sedans, and worse still had to take up the time of others in the process. 

As they say, it is what it is.

Thank you Ty and everyone that took the time to weigh in on the discussion.


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## kck7 (Dec 21, 2010)

I had decent luck on Autotrader in finding BMWs with the options/colors I wanted. I also called a couple of dealers and their CAs were helpful enough. Not great, but enough.

True story: When I went looking for a specific G35 in 2002, about a month after the car was announced and there weren't too many of them around. Also the internet wasn't as developed a resource as it is today. I went to my local Infiniti dealer and described the car I wanted (white or silver, moonroof, NO BOSE stereo). He said he didn't have any and ran a search 500 miles wide that didn't show any either.

I hit the web and managed to find one about 150 miles away, EXACTLY what I wanted. I called the dealer and he was helpful. Got me a decent deal on my trade in sight unseen, I drove there on Saturday, spent ten minutes driving it and another 10 minutes doing paperwork, and drove back home in my new G35.

For warranty work, I went back to the local dealer, the guy who couldn't find this car with a supposedly sophisticated locator system while a schlub only moderately comfortable with the web was able to. Every single time I went there for service, they asked me I had bought the car from them, and every single time I had to explain that I had tried to but could not. They also made numerous bad customer decisions nearly every time I took it in for service (1. They 'found' a nail in my tire, although I drove the car in perfectly fine, then charged me for a new tire. 2. They couldn't find a noise in the dash with a special noise sniffer, that I eventually found myself just by having my wife drive while I put my ear to it. 3.They fixed a defective ashtray 'under warranty', then the SA called me at home three times to say it shouldn't have been a free repair and I owed him $60; 4. They'd advertise oil changes for $30 then charge an additional $5 for shop supplies and $10 for gas for the loaner, even if you only had it an hour). 

I stopped going to that dealership the day the car broke out of the warranty period. Amazingly, for five more years it was 100% trouble free and I did my own maintenance. While I enjoyed that car and thought it well designed and made, I didn't even consider Infiniti when it came time to replace it. I just couldn't handle going back to that dealer for service, and I couldn't really go anywhere else unless I wanted to drive an hour more each way.

I don't think manufacturers are quite aware of how much poor dealer service costs them in sales.


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