Using a broker to buy a car

RigaTony1982 · 02-12-2023, 12:45 PM

I wanted to post about my experience with this just in case anyone has ever looked into it and had some hesitation about it, as my wife and I certainly did. After picking up our first of two orders yesterday, I can honestly say it was the easiest car purchase transaction I've ever done in my life, and I don't think I'd buy a car without going this route again.

First some background. The lease on my wife's X1 is coming to an end the beginning of April. We started shopping around and looking at cars for her in late November, figuring we'd need to order something and also wanted to have time to try and negotiate as much as reasonably possible, since everything we read was basically saying how it's such a bad time to buy a car.

In keeping her options open (she wanted a smaller SUV), we looked at the new X1, the X3, the Audi Q3, Lexus NX, Mercedes GLB and the Genesis GV70. Right off the bat, I figured getting a decent price would be a challenge. The Audi dealer we went to had "market adjustment" stickers on all their cars. In the case of the Q3 it was $5K. After driving it my wife didn't really care for it, but we chatted briefly about pricing, and the sales guy was quick to say they would remove the market adjustment if we bought it that day.

Mercedes was the same way. Market adjustments on everything (as a side, they had a $200K G-wagon on the floor with an additional $100K market adjustment). They didn't budge on the adjustment, saying everyone else was doing it (which was not the case with BMW, Lexus or Genesis). Needless to say we ruled that out pretty quickly. Will mention they did text my wife about a month and 1/2 later asking if she was still in the market and offered to remove the adjustment (this was also our second bad experience with Mercedes Benz of Chicago, FWIW).

After some going back and forth, she finally decided to go with the X3. I started doing some research if there were any real discounts available on these. One of the sites I have found helpful in the past for this information is leasehacker. I had read about and seen numerous posts from brokers before on this site, but has always been hesitant. Something about sending some random person online a bunch of money that had no true affiliation with a dealership had always kinda scared me.

I started the usual process of emailing a few local dealers (including ones we've bought from in the past) to get pricing quotes on the X3. They were pretty much all the same, offering MSRP or a very small discount ( a few hundred dollars). That's when I decided to reach out to a broker just to see what they had to say. After reading more reviews on leasehacker I found a broker who did BMW deals in the Midwest (I live in Chicago), Clutch Auto Deals (link to their website is towards the bottom of this post).

On their site they post a Google Sheet each month that lists all the BMW models, the % off MSRP they are offering and any rebates/incentives offered by BMW each month (also do other makes if you're not in the market for a BMW). Right away I was wondering if this was too good to be true. For December (when we placed the order) he was offering 9% off of MSRP for an X3 xDrive 30i. Also had listed the available incentives, which in our case included $750 loyalty and $1,000 purchase cash. These were on top of the 9% discount. As this was thousands less than what we were offered in our own dealings, my wife reached out to find out more.

They responded back right away with even more details. Everything they had posted on the website was accurate. In addition, he gave us the financing rates through BMW for the month. These were not marked up at all (I believe dealers can mark them up 1%). Also laid at all dealer/doc fees (very reasonable) and mentioned there were no additional add-ons or any of the usual dealer type stuff. Lastly, (as some of you may be aware if you've done an order) if the financing/incentives changed for the better the month the car came in, we would get the better of the two. The 9% of MSRP was locked in though.

By this point in time, I had done a fair amount of research on brokers. Clutch had great reviews on everything I could find online. As the savings was so significant versus what we were getting on our own, we decided to try it. We paid the $699 broker fee and started the process.

From there, they had us send them copies of a few items you'd do for any purchase (license, insurance information, etc). Also filled out the BMW credit application and sent our build code for the vehicle my wife built. In the next 48 hours or so, we heard back that our credit app was approved and received a copy of the production order to verify accuracy of the build. We were also told it would take 12-15 weeks to receive the car, which would align with the end of the X1 lease perfectly.

Over the next few weeks, we reached out with a couple questions to Clutch. They were always very quick to respond, either over email or text. Did not matter what day of the week it was. I always try to respect people's time (especially on weekends), but was told by them they are always available if we had a question.

On Monday of this week, we got a call from a local BMW dealer that my wife's car had arrived. While she was super excited, she was also a tad bit nervous as it had come in way quicker than expected (about 6 weeks) and she still had 2 payments left on the X1 lease she figured she was going to have to eat. My wife explained the situation with her X1 lease. They told us not to worry, and they would take care of us. We set up an appointment to pick the car up and turn her's in for Saturday (yesterday).

This was my next point of concern, the actual pick up/paper work. We had gotten all the expected pricing info from Clutch ahead of time, but I was ready for some of the dealer stuff you usually get, where the numbers don't tie, they try to sell you a bunch of extra stuff, etc.

I am pleased to say this was 100% not the case. Not even close. Everything we were shown was exactly as originally promised to us. The entire process from when we got there to when we left was probably 1/2 hour to 45 minutes to just sign all the documents and to turn in the X1. They also took care of those last 2 payments on the X1 for us. And because I knew what our X3 pricing was ahead of time, they didn't bury those payments in our numbers. Straight just took care of them for us. No joke, the easiest, least stressful time I've ever had at a car dealer.

Also worth mentioning they ship out of state, meaning you can use the broker and don't have to be local to the dealer. We lucked out because we live close by and could just go pick it up, but it was mentioned yesterday they had 4 cars that had come in via Clutch orders that were being shipped out of state that day. Depending on where you live and if your state has high doc fees, the shipping fee may almost be a wash for you (Doc Fee via Clutch is $350).

I'd be happy to answer any questions anyone has or clarify anything in the above. Again, I wanted to post this because I'm sure there's others that may be apprehensive about this process. I'm 40, so I've kinda grown up with doing stuff online, Uber, etc. and was still a tad uncomfortable with this beforehand.

Here is a link to Clutch's website if anyone else is interested (https://www.clutchautodeals.com). I have NO affiliation with them at all. I'm just very pleased with the ease of this process and the discount we received. If you don't want to deal with the hassle and back and forth with dealers and just want a fair price with no BS, it is 100% worth it IMO.

As a result, I also placed an order with them for myself for a Z4, which has just entered the "scheduled for production" phase. Their price on a 2023 model was better than I could get from a local dealer who has a 2022 model in stock (same exact options) that has been sitting there since around October/November. I'm looking forward to the same easy process when I pick it up here in a few weeks!

AlBoston · 02-12-2023, 01:31 PM

Nice! Congrats on the new ride.

I also used Clutch for a BMW and a Jeep and they were just as you described. Super responsive, always helpful, looking out to get me the most rebates etc. They also had a great shipping reco who ive used a few times.

RigaTony1982 · 02-12-2023, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nerdogray

I've contacted numerous brokers a few times, including Clutch, and none of them stepped up and followed through... even the one recommended here. Maybe they didn't think I was serious? My recent delivery should say otherwise, but I found them as bad as dealers as far as communication and ennui.

Glad your experience was otherwise, though, and congrats on the impending addition!

That’s unfortunate. Hopefully it works out if you try again in the future!

John4C · 02-12-2023, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nerdogray

I've contacted numerous brokers a few times, including Clutch, and none of them stepped up and followed through... even the one recommended here. Maybe they didn't think I was serious? My recent delivery should say otherwise, but I found them as bad as dealers as far as communication and ennui.

Glad your experience was otherwise, though, and congrats on the impending addition!

I don’t know what your outreach consisted of but something seems off. It’s possible you were asking for a car they didn’t have.

Regardless, I used a broker once (another car not my M) and my experience mirrored that of the OP. It’s extremely easy. I would almost prefer to buy through a broker all else equal. It’s usually a fair, market price and you can feel good that there won’t be any games at the finish line.

John4C · 02-12-2023, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nerdogray

Email. Nothing unusual. Dan even came back and apologized, but by then I'd moved on. Both he and Clutch completely dropped communication and had no obvious intention of taking me seriously. Just another M5, which I now have. But I appreciate the inferrence that it was my fault. No, couldn't possibly be shitty customer service.

Wasn’t implying it was your fault at all. My something seems off seems to be exactly what you described if Dan apologized. People are human. It must’ve slipped through cracks.

The ‘just another M5’ comment is interesting (and again not anything at you) but I think you kind of misunderstand the broker business model if you think a M5 has some additional value to them. That’s a car that dealers may not want to push through brokers (at least when it sounds like you did this and the market was super hot). Brokers play off volume (and usually a flat rate) so a x3 is actually a much more attractive sale to them than a M5 (they know the x3 is easy to get, simpler sale, faster turn, etc).

I’m not defending anyone, nor am I blaming anyone. Certainly not blaming you. I have never used Dan or Clutch so can’t speak to their customer service at all. I do think brokers work best on volume cars though.

Randy Johnson · 07-23-2023, 02:47 PM

Are there car broker services for used off lease cars?

RigaTony1982 · 07-23-2023, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Randy Johnson

Are there car broker services for used off lease cars?

I’m not sure. I think the guy I used only does new cars, but you could reach out and ask.

mjr24 · 07-25-2023, 03:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nerdogray

Email. Nothing unusual. Dan even came back and apologized, but by then I'd moved on. Both he and Clutch completely dropped communication and had no obvious intention of taking me seriously. Just another M5, which I now have. But I appreciate the inferrence that it was my fault. No, couldn't possibly be shitty customer service.

Had the same experience…..shitty ass communication. I had actually gotten our X7 through Dan about 2 years ago and it was easy even though his dealer seemed shady….but apparently I’m not worth his time on anything since then. He will reply to a random message and then disappear. There is a difference between falling through the cracks and being a shitty communicator. Won’t be using him again….he isn’t the only game in town anymore, either.

snareman · 07-25-2023, 12:54 PM

I used Dan for my M8 and had an overall good experience. He got me a discount when no one was discounting cars during covid. There were times where he was slow to respond to texts and emails and eventually when my car went into some mystery 78 day hold in Germany he just turned me over to the dealer to deal with my issues. I'd use him again, but I think I can get good deals through the dealer he hooked me up with and now that I've disowned my local dealer after 15years and 6 cars my new dealer is 2 states away.

jkoral · 07-25-2023, 02:02 PM

A couple years ago I bought a 2022 X3 through a broker and it was also my first time using one. Similar experience, at the time, all my local BMW dealers were not discounting. Broker had a relationship with one area dealer and offered a fixed percentage for cars in stock (or coming in) and a slightly lower discount for orders.

Found the spec we were interested in transit, paid broker half fee up front, remainder after conclusion of sale. Around 30 minutes with the finance guy who already had our paperwork written up for the agreed on price, out the door. Venmo'd the broker the remainder as my wife was driving away. Definitely one of the quickest and easiest deals. With the discount, paid the same amount as the 1-2 year old used (overpriced) X3s on the lot, so it was a no brainer.

Coincidentally I also found him on leasehacker.

02-12-2023, 12:45 PM	#1
RigaTony1982 Colonel 3484 Rep 2,421 Posts Drives: 2023 BMW Z4 M40i Join Date: Mar 2021 Location: Chicago iTrader: (0) Garage List 2023 BMW Z4 M40i [8.20]	Using a broker to buy a car - first time experience (kinda long, FYI) I wanted to post about my experience with this just in case anyone has ever looked into it and had some hesitation about it, as my wife and I certainly did. After picking up our first of two orders yesterday, I can honestly say it was the easiest car purchase transaction I've ever done in my life, and I don't think I'd buy a car without going this route again. First some background. The lease on my wife's X1 is coming to an end the beginning of April. We started shopping around and looking at cars for her in late November, figuring we'd need to order something and also wanted to have time to try and negotiate as much as reasonably possible, since everything we read was basically saying how it's such a bad time to buy a car. In keeping her options open (she wanted a smaller SUV), we looked at the new X1, the X3, the Audi Q3, Lexus NX, Mercedes GLB and the Genesis GV70. Right off the bat, I figured getting a decent price would be a challenge. The Audi dealer we went to had "market adjustment" stickers on all their cars. In the case of the Q3 it was $5K. After driving it my wife didn't really care for it, but we chatted briefly about pricing, and the sales guy was quick to say they would remove the market adjustment if we bought it that day. Mercedes was the same way. Market adjustments on everything (as a side, they had a $200K G-wagon on the floor with an additional $100K market adjustment). They didn't budge on the adjustment, saying everyone else was doing it (which was not the case with BMW, Lexus or Genesis). Needless to say we ruled that out pretty quickly. Will mention they did text my wife about a month and 1/2 later asking if she was still in the market and offered to remove the adjustment (this was also our second bad experience with Mercedes Benz of Chicago, FWIW). After some going back and forth, she finally decided to go with the X3. I started doing some research if there were any real discounts available on these. One of the sites I have found helpful in the past for this information is leasehacker. I had read about and seen numerous posts from brokers before on this site, but has always been hesitant. Something about sending some random person online a bunch of money that had no true affiliation with a dealership had always kinda scared me. I started the usual process of emailing a few local dealers (including ones we've bought from in the past) to get pricing quotes on the X3. They were pretty much all the same, offering MSRP or a very small discount ( a few hundred dollars). That's when I decided to reach out to a broker just to see what they had to say. After reading more reviews on leasehacker I found a broker who did BMW deals in the Midwest (I live in Chicago), Clutch Auto Deals (link to their website is towards the bottom of this post). On their site they post a Google Sheet each month that lists all the BMW models, the % off MSRP they are offering and any rebates/incentives offered by BMW each month (also do other makes if you're not in the market for a BMW). Right away I was wondering if this was too good to be true. For December (when we placed the order) he was offering 9% off of MSRP for an X3 xDrive 30i. Also had listed the available incentives, which in our case included $750 loyalty and $1,000 purchase cash. These were on top of the 9% discount. As this was thousands less than what we were offered in our own dealings, my wife reached out to find out more. They responded back right away with even more details. Everything they had posted on the website was accurate. In addition, he gave us the financing rates through BMW for the month. These were not marked up at all (I believe dealers can mark them up 1%). Also laid at all dealer/doc fees (very reasonable) and mentioned there were no additional add-ons or any of the usual dealer type stuff. Lastly, (as some of you may be aware if you've done an order) if the financing/incentives changed for the better the month the car came in, we would get the better of the two. The 9% of MSRP was locked in though. By this point in time, I had done a fair amount of research on brokers. Clutch had great reviews on everything I could find online. As the savings was so significant versus what we were getting on our own, we decided to try it. We paid the $699 broker fee and started the process. From there, they had us send them copies of a few items you'd do for any purchase (license, insurance information, etc). Also filled out the BMW credit application and sent our build code for the vehicle my wife built. In the next 48 hours or so, we heard back that our credit app was approved and received a copy of the production order to verify accuracy of the build. We were also told it would take 12-15 weeks to receive the car, which would align with the end of the X1 lease perfectly. Over the next few weeks, we reached out with a couple questions to Clutch. They were always very quick to respond, either over email or text. Did not matter what day of the week it was. I always try to respect people's time (especially on weekends), but was told by them they are always available if we had a question. On Monday of this week, we got a call from a local BMW dealer that my wife's car had arrived. While she was super excited, she was also a tad bit nervous as it had come in way quicker than expected (about 6 weeks) and she still had 2 payments left on the X1 lease she figured she was going to have to eat. My wife explained the situation with her X1 lease. They told us not to worry, and they would take care of us. We set up an appointment to pick the car up and turn her's in for Saturday (yesterday). This was my next point of concern, the actual pick up/paper work. We had gotten all the expected pricing info from Clutch ahead of time, but I was ready for some of the dealer stuff you usually get, where the numbers don't tie, they try to sell you a bunch of extra stuff, etc. I am pleased to say this was 100% not the case. Not even close. Everything we were shown was exactly as originally promised to us. The entire process from when we got there to when we left was probably 1/2 hour to 45 minutes to just sign all the documents and to turn in the X1. They also took care of those last 2 payments on the X1 for us. And because I knew what our X3 pricing was ahead of time, they didn't bury those payments in our numbers. Straight just took care of them for us. No joke, the easiest, least stressful time I've ever had at a car dealer. Also worth mentioning they ship out of state, meaning you can use the broker and don't have to be local to the dealer. We lucked out because we live close by and could just go pick it up, but it was mentioned yesterday they had 4 cars that had come in via Clutch orders that were being shipped out of state that day. Depending on where you live and if your state has high doc fees, the shipping fee may almost be a wash for you (Doc Fee via Clutch is $350). I'd be happy to answer any questions anyone has or clarify anything in the above. Again, I wanted to post this because I'm sure there's others that may be apprehensive about this process. I'm 40, so I've kinda grown up with doing stuff online, Uber, etc. and was still a tad uncomfortable with this beforehand. Here is a link to Clutch's website if anyone else is interested (https://www.clutchautodeals.com). I have NO affiliation with them at all. I'm just very pleased with the ease of this process and the discount we received. If you don't want to deal with the hassle and back and forth with dealers and just want a fair price with no BS, it is 100% worth it IMO. As a result, I also placed an order with them for myself for a Z4, which has just entered the "scheduled for production" phase. Their price on a 2023 model was better than I could get from a local dealer who has a 2022 model in stock (same exact options) that has been sitting there since around October/November. I'm looking forward to the same easy process when I pick it up here in a few weeks! __________________ 2023 Z4 M40i - San Francisco Red Metallic/Ivory White Past: 2021 M340i xDrive - Sunset Orange Metallic/Black w/blue stitching Last edited by RigaTony1982; 02-12-2023 at 01:46 PM.. Reason: Edited for clarity/grammar
	Appreciate 8 chad86tsi1605.00 StradaRedlands6634.00 mlody32.00 bluzbra418.00 VipinLJ1969.00 wtwo319294.00 POBEP428.00 Westside Guy7469.00 Tweet Quote

02-12-2023, 01:31 PM	#2
AlBoston Private First Class 19 Rep 165 Posts Drives: 2019 740i xdrive & 2018 640GT Join Date: May 2006 Location: Desert iTrader: (0)	Nice! Congrats on the new ride. I also used Clutch for a BMW and a Jeep and they were just as you described. Super responsive, always helpful, looking out to get me the most rebates etc. They also had a great shipping reco who ive used a few times.
	Appreciate 1 RigaTony19823484.00 Quote

07-23-2023, 02:47 PM	#6
Randy Johnson M340i 503 Rep 1,152 Posts Drives: BMW M340i Join Date: Sep 2019 Location: South FLA iTrader: (1) Garage List 2021 BMW M340i [9.90]	Are there car broker services for used off lease cars?
	Appreciate 1 Westside Guy7469.00 Quote

07-25-2023, 12:54 PM	#9
snareman Leave the gun. Take the Canoli. 10350 Rep 8,421 Posts Drives: ///M8 & X5 ///M60 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Ohio iTrader: (0)	I used Dan for my M8 and had an overall good experience. He got me a discount when no one was discounting cars during covid. There were times where he was slow to respond to texts and emails and eventually when my car went into some mystery 78 day hold in Germany he just turned me over to the dealer to deal with my issues. I'd use him again, but I think I can get good deals through the dealer he hooked me up with and now that I've disowned my local dealer after 15years and 6 cars my new dealer is 2 states away. __________________ Current: 2023 ///M8 \|\|\| 2025 X5 ///M60 Retired: 2023 X3 M40 \|\|\| 2021 M4 \|\|\| 2018 M4 \|\|\| 2017 M4 \|\|\| 2014 435 \|\|\| 2009 335 \|\|\| 2007 335
	Appreciate 0 Quote

07-25-2023, 02:02 PM	#10
jkoral Colonel 1147 Rep 2,065 Posts Drives: 2017 M2 LBB 6MT Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: MA iTrader: (7)	A couple years ago I bought a 2022 X3 through a broker and it was also my first time using one. Similar experience, at the time, all my local BMW dealers were not discounting. Broker had a relationship with one area dealer and offered a fixed percentage for cars in stock (or coming in) and a slightly lower discount for orders. Found the spec we were interested in transit, paid broker half fee up front, remainder after conclusion of sale. Around 30 minutes with the finance guy who already had our paperwork written up for the agreed on price, out the door. Venmo'd the broker the remainder as my wife was driving away. Definitely one of the quickest and easiest deals. With the discount, paid the same amount as the 1-2 year old used (overpriced) X3s on the lot, so it was a no brainer. Coincidentally I also found him on leasehacker.
	Appreciate 1 RigaTony19823484.00 Quote