Category Archives: Information

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Tips for working at a BMW dealership

Building your own cars in your garage can be a great way to learn the ins and outs of automotive engineering, but it usually won’t get you close to any new luxury cars. If you want to get closer to your favorite car brand, try getting a job at one of their dealerships. If you love luxury cars but worry you’ll never afford one, getting in on the ground floor at a BMW dealership is a great way to make that dream a reality. Plus you’ll get to spend all day around your favorite cars.

Here are a few tips and tricks to help you land a job at a BMW dealership and how to succeed once you are hired.

Remember Your Job Interview Class

Applying for a job at a BMW dealership isn’t something you can do by walking in off the street and asking for a job — especially if you slum around the city in cargo shorts, a t-shirt and sandals. Think back to your high school job interview class — if you were lucky enough to go to high school before they got rid of those life skills classes. Some things that will make a huge difference are:

  • Your Appearance — They say dress for the job you want, so if you want a job at a BMW dealership, you need to dress it up. Take a peek inside the dealership to get an idea of what the average person there wears. You’ll want to go business professional — suit and tie — to create the best first impression even if you end up working as a porter in cargo shorts and a polo shirt.
  • Your Resume — Have a neatly printed one-page resume handy, even if you had to submit one during an online application.
  • Your Knowledge — Most of what you need to know for a dealership job you’ll learn on the job — but don’t walk in without some knowledge of the brand or the different models available. Take the time to study up.

Don’t be unprepared if you do manage to land an interview.

The Interview

An interview at a BMW dealership will be pretty straightforward. You will receive questions regarding your work history, your professionalism and work ethic, and your knowledge of the brand. Most interviews will be a one on one between you and a hiring manager. In addition to two interviews, you will likely need to complete a personality assessment and, depending on the position you apply for, a skills assessment as well.

As with most modern jobs, a career with BMW is also contingent on a drug screening and criminal background check.

It’s a good time to get into an automotive-adjacent career — car sales and other automotive services were an $862 billion industry in 2015. This is a nearly seven percent increase from the year before.

Expect to Start at the Bottom

Don’t expect to walk in the door and immediately start making over $100,000 a year. This is one of the few industries you can start at the bottom with the ability to work your way up — so expect to start at the bottom. You may want the role of a BMW salesman, but the best way to make it into that position is to start small — apply for a job as a lot porter or a car detailer. This is a great way to showcase your work ethic and professionalism. Impress your immediate supervisors, and you may find yourself on the fast track to sales or even management, depending on where your skills lie.

Working for a BMW dealership is a great way to be around the cars you love while still building a profitable career. Be professional, dress for the job you want and whatever you do, don’t peel out with a customer’s car in the parking lot — at least not where anyone can see you.

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Check Out the BMW M5 Competition Package

There’s been a lot of news about the M5 Competition, but in case you missed it, we have you covered.

You can’t look at a new BMW without at least glancing over all the fantastic performance packages and accessories you can add on to your new car. The newest and perhaps the most exciting of these packages is the Competition Package for the new M5 sedan. Let’s take a look at the already-beefy M5 and what this package has to offer.

The BMW M5

This luxury sedan is already a beast even by BMW’s standards. The 4.4L twin-turbo V8 engine cranks out a whopping 600 horsepower and 553 lb.-ft. of torque. While the newest models may have lost some fans because of the automatic transmission with no manual option, there are still plenty of drivers waiting for the newest incarnation of this powerful little sedan to roll off the assembly line.

Right out of the factory, this car can make it from zero to 60 in 2.8 seconds and can pull a quarter-mile in 10.9 seconds at 129 miles per hour. It comes with all-wheel-drive but can easily be switched into rear-wheel-drive mode with the push of a button, though rear-wheel-drive does knock a couple of seconds off its 0-60 and quarter-mile times.

With adjustable suspension modes, this sedan is just as much at home on the track as it is during your morning commute.

The Competition Package

Adding a good engine treatment can be a great way to squeeze a few extra horses out of nearly any engine, even one as powerful as the V8 under the hood of the M5. If 600 horsepower just isn’t enough for you, though, waiting for the new Competition Package was the best thing you could have done.

This package adds 25 more horsepower and 37 extra lb.-ft. of torque to the already-powerful engine. It also includes a firmer suspension — which can still be adjusted to fit your driving needs — and y-spoke alloy wheels to stand up to any punishment on or off the track.

This package also includes a Sports Exhaust. While it isn’t going to be the full titanium exhaust used on older models, it will reportedly be louder and offer more cracks that the titanium pipes, so we’ll have to see how the Competition Package M5 sounds out on the track.

Of course, no BMW package is complete without its branding — and you’ll see that in the door sills, rear badging, logos and engine cover.

One thing this package doesn’t include is BMW’s carbon ceramic brakes, which came as a surprise to many fans. While you can still add these to your M5 for an additional cost, leaving them off does take roughly 50 pounds off the car’s overall weight. It’s entirely up to you.

You might find it’s totally worth the cost for a few extra ponies under the hood and some snazzy additions to an already-fantastic little sedan.

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Why You Should Get a BMW for a Project car

Picking your perfect project car is a personal experience. Do you want a car that’s easy to work on or one you can sell for a lot of money later? Are you planning on turning your project car into your daily driver, or are you just tricking it out for showrooms or the track?

For many car fans, a BMW — especially an older one — can be an excellent option for a project car. Why should you pick an older BMW for your new project build? Here are four reasons.

  1. They’re High-Quality and Attractive

Utilitarian cars don’t always look the best — they’re certainly not something you’re going to take to your local car show unless it’s to show off that it’s 0-60. That’s one of the best things that BMW has going for them — they make those blocky, utilitarian cars sexy. Even if you pick up a model that is a couple of decades old, chances are it will still be in pretty good shape and might also run.

  1. They’re Everywhere

Sure, a brand-new Beamer might be out of your price range, but older BMW’s are just about everywhere.  You can pick up a used 3 series for a few thousand dollars — well below Blue Book value — nearly anywhere in the country. Seriously, pull up Craigslist right now, or your newspaper’s classified and search “Used BMW for Sale.”

A quick search for Tampa, Florida with a maximum price of $5000 brings back more than 800 results – and that’s just on Craigslist!

  1. Their Parts Are Easy to Get

You don’t have to worry about sourcing your parts from Germany anymore. You can find replacement parts online, or at your local auto parts store without too much trouble. Ordering parts online can help save you some money, but you’ll need to match up some other at the store before you bring them home to make sure you get the perfect replacement.

If you’re not able to find the perfect replacement part, don’t worry too much. Most of these old BMWs are made mostly of steel, making it easy to get custom parts stamped. Plus, metal stamping you know you’re always getting a part that fits perfectly.

  1. They’re Good for Everything

A BMW is good for just about everything — daily driving, shows, spending time on the track or any combination of the three. It doesn’t take much to swap your tires and spend some time on the road, then swap them back and drive home.

What your BMW can do will be entirely up to the work you do to it. When it comes down to it, these little cars are good for just about everything.

There’s nothing quite like owning a BMW, no matter how old it is. If you’re looking for a new project car, consider adding a BMW to your collection. You won’t be disappointed, and you may even find a new love for mechanics you would have missed out on otherwise.