Is BMW Graduate Program Incentive Negotiable?

[Mooseman12]

I will be starting my final year in a graduate program this coming fall and am looking to buy a new BMW at the end of the summer (around July/August 2015). I've been doing a bit of research about incentives, and came across the BMW Graduate Program Incentive.

In order to be eligible, the program requires that:

"You've earned an undergraduate, graduate or Associate's degree from an accredited college or university within the previous 12 months OR you are eligible to graduate within the next 4 months and have a verifiable offer of employment."

As I said, I will be starting my final year of school in the fall (graduating May 2016), so I will be 9 or 10 months away from graduating rather than within 4 months. However, I already have an offer and proof of employment, and will be making north of $150,000 base salary, not including generous bonuses.

Can I negotiate this "eligible to graduate within the next 4 months" stipulation and still take advantage of the incentive? In all honesty, I probably will go with another make of car if they won't honor it, because it's just bad business. Anyone have any experience or insight into this sort of thing? Thanks in advance.

[dmw16]

Typically these incentives are pretty rigid. That's not to say the dealer can't offer a discount to offset them not being able to use the graduate incentive.

I don't see how it's bad business really. They create a program and do the business case and decide the guidelines are x, y, and z. Those types of guidelines come from far above a dealer's ability to change them or get exceptions. But I'd imagine if the dealer wants to earn your business they'll find a way to make it work. Unless it's on a car they'll just sell to the next guy if you don't want it...so on a 335 or 435 you're probably good to go. On an M3 it will likely be harder.

The other challenge might be financing. Not sure if BMW Bank will take a job offer that's so far out. Not sure what graduate school pays these days, but my friends who were in grad school a few years back never raved about the income :-)

[Mooseman12]

Typically these incentives are pretty rigid. That's not to say the dealer can't offer a discount to offset them not being able to use the graduate incentive.

I don't see how it's bad business really. They create a program and do the business case and decide the guidelines are x, y, and z. Those types of guidelines come from far above a dealer's ability to change them or get exceptions. But I'd imagine if the dealer wants to earn your business they'll find a way to make it work. Unless it's on a car they'll just sell to the next guy if you don't want it...so on a 335 or 435 you're probably good to go. On an M3 it will likely be harder.

The other challenge might be financing. Not sure if BMW Bank will take a job offer that's so far out. Not sure what graduate school pays these days, but my friends who were in grad school a few years back never raved about the income :-)

Thanks for the feedback.

I figured the incentive guidelines were set by BMWNA, but I guess I was more asking if it's common for the dealer to match it/work with you to give you the same discount. I guess I could shop around until I find a dealer that is willing to do so.

And in regards to financing, I understand that not many graduate degrees pay that kind of money/make job guarantees that far out, but the field I'm entering does. It's a professional degree and the salary information is very, very publicly available, and a permanent job offer that far in advance is very common for the industry (read: it's the industry standard). Also, I will be putting ~25k down, and probably not be financing a huge amount. But I guess time will tell lol.

[dmw16]

Yeah, I think if it's a car they want to sell they should work with you. If it something they need to order or have no trouble moving it could be a little harder. I've never bought a new BMW so I don't know how much dealers tend to move. But there are a fair few out there on the west coast so that probably helps.

Everyone always raves about Steve Thomas BMW so that might be a good option as a place to start. There's a guy who's a salesman who posts over on m3post, might want to drop him a line.