Floor Mats 2011 335i

[The2011335i]

I guess I am going to be purchasing the first accessory (if you call it that) for my car. The stock mats/carpet that came with the car look so nice, but they are on the limit of getting extremely dirty (I have a beige interior). I asked my dealer to see if they can give me a BMW one thinking it'd be okay since I paid a good amount of money for the car and got no "gifts", but obviously got turned down since they cost so much (~$100).

I just wanted to find out if it's a good idea to pay $100 for mats, or should I keep what I have and try to clean it (can they be cleaned?). My past experience tells though once the beige carpet mat gets dirty, it will never look like new which sucks:(

[camplou]

I have an extra set of custom made beige mats for my last 335 xi sedan that I just traded in. Made by Roadworks auto, they are a much nicer grade of material than the stock mats, and I used them for summers and put the OEM mats back in for the rest of the year. Less than one year old. They are clean and have the same velcro fasteninf system on the driver's mat as the stock one. PM me if interested in them. I am in New England but travel to the NYC area frequently.

[DTRJ]

BMW also makes rubber mats in colors to match your car. You can get only the fronts if you want and I believe they retail for about 55-60 bucks.


I guess I am going to be purchasing the first accessory (if you call it that) for my car. The stock mats/carpet that came with the car look so nice, but they are on the limit of getting extremely dirty (I have a beige interior). I asked my dealer to see if they can give me a BMW one thinking it'd be okay since I paid a good amount of money for the car and got no "gifts", but obviously got turned down since they cost so much (~$100).

I just wanted to find out if it's a good idea to pay $100 for mats, or should I keep what I have and try to clean it (can they be cleaned?). My past experience tells though once the beige carpet mat gets dirty, it will never look like new which sucks:(

[Jhunter]

Did you get mats originally and now they are dirty or have you been going without mats and now the carpet is dirty. Obviously the time to get the dealer to throw in free mats is while you are negotiating, not after the fact. I negotiated in a set of carpet mats and a set of rubber mats. Although at delivery my dealer conveniently forgot about this until I almost had to walk to get them to honor the deal.

To clean, try a carpet cleaner like Resolve and a brush. In my opinion mats have a limited life span so if you don't like the looks of them buy new ones. The rubber ones are a good idea for winter.

[The2011335i]

Did you get mats originally and now they are dirty or have you been going without mats and now the carpet is dirty. Obviously the time to get the dealer to throw in free mats is while you are negotiating, not after the fact. I negotiated in a set of carpet mats and a set of rubber mats. Although at delivery my dealer conveniently forgot about this until I almost had to walk to get them to honor the deal.

To clean, try a carpet cleaner like Resolve and a brush. In my opinion mats have a limited life span so if you don't like the looks of them buy new ones. The rubber ones are a good idea for winter.

It's a brand new car which I ordered from Germany, so yes I have mats in the car, I am not talking about the carpet, but the mats that came are so nice and they look like part of the carpet. The dealer at the time gave me very good discounts (around %40) for tire/rim protection as well as lojack, after those, he was like "you got enough" lol and I didn't want to be cheap for mats. I didn't know they'd cost $100, if I knew, I'd bargain. But when you hold the keys to a 335i with 14 miles (I think my SA drove the car because it was manual and it had 14 miles on it lol) you don't think much.

[sickem]

OP, get the all-weather OEM mats from Tischer. They are excellent...high quality, they look nice and I am actually going to keep them in all year round I think. I bought them for front and back seats. I think the fronts were like 45 bucks. Highly recommend Tischer and the mats!

[Jhunter]

The dealer at the time gave me very good discounts (around %40) for tire/rim protection as well as lojack, after those, he was like "you got enough" lol and I didn't want to be cheap for mats. I didn't know they'd cost $100, if I knew, I'd bargain. But when you hold the keys to a 335i with 14 miles (I think my SA drove the car because it was manual and it had 14 miles on it lol) you don't think much.

The dealer didn't "give" you a discount on the tire/rim insurance and lojack. He made money off of you. He gets paid a commission to sell those so it is all profit. They may have some pricing power that affects their commission but they still made more off of you then they would have had you not bought the insurance and lojack. Kinda the opposite of giving you a discount. :)

Negotiating over $100 floor mats is not being cheap. The dealer will take any opportunity to make a $100 off of you so there is no reason you should not do the same.

[sickem]

The dealer didn't "give" you a discount on the tire/rim insurance and lojack. He made money off of you. He gets paid a commission to sell those so it is all profit. They may have some pricing power that affects their commission but they still made more off of you then they would have had you not bought the insurance and lojack. Kinda the opposite of giving you a discount. :)

Negotiating over $100 floor mats is not being cheap. The dealer will take any opportunity to make a $100 off of you so there is no reason you should not do the same.

good point, Jay. negotiations are all about psychology and leverage and if you let them bully you then they will. I have learned this the hard way (with the price of my house, for example..."hey I don't want to haggle over a few thousand dollars!"...ayayayayay...)

[The2011335i]

good point, Jay. negotiations are all about psychology and leverage and if you let them bully you then they will. I have learned this the hard way (with the price of my house, for example..."hey I don't want to haggle over a few thousand dollars!"...ayayayayay...)

With all due respect (I know I will get grilled for saying this), this is where the cultural difference between a european and an american becomes very clear. When you walk into a BMW dealer and order a $50,000 car, you shouldn't act like a guy shopping for a 2002 ford focus. There is a style for driving a bmw, as well as buying one. I have been here long enough to know money matters here the most and I can see (and I agree with this) how for most americans every single penny count and they will do everything possible to save money. That's all good and you can do that (heck I learned that and I do that myself) 99% of the time, except when you are shopping for a brand new BMW or buying a $200 shirt from Brooks Brothers etc. Don't get me wrong, I am not a rich guy. I worked my butt off for that car, saved for years and never saw a penny from my family all my life. I am just the type of person who wouldn't enter a store unless he can actually afford what he is going to look at. I HATE looking at price tags I can't afford, it's a stupid torture in my opinion.

Dealer may have made money on me, yes, but I have put all that on with %40 off, on top of a very nice low APR finance offer for 5 years. The entire cost of that deal to me is $25/month. That's what I pay for netflix - maybe even less. It's not like I went in and bought the car cash and paid all that with everything.

[sickem]

so, because I'm buying a more expensive car I should allow the dealer to rip me off? I guess you are more nuanced and sophisticated than someone buying a Ford Focus? I think statements like that are the reason bimmer drivers have such a stigma.

In any case, negotiation margin is built into the price of these cars. IMO you are a fool if you don't leverage that. No one said you had to go in there and be cheap and obnoxious about it. There are certain types of negotiations that can be win-win. It is known as integrative bargaining. Maybe instead of haggling on the actual price of the car, you could ask them to throw in mats and a few other goodies. Then they get the "price" they wanted and you get a few extras you would've spent that money on anyway. If it makes you feel more elite to go in and pay full honk for a car, then be my guest. But with all due respect to you, you're not in Europe, so I would recommend adapting to the business environment in which you are operating. I can do without the "upward-pointing nose" at Americans.

[Jhunter]

I don't think there is much style to buying a BMW. It's just buying a car after all. Buying a car is not very transparent. Dealers make money lots of different ways and they don't volunteer information so you have to fight for yourself. Your dealer sold you some add-ons that are pure profit and presented it to you like he is doing you a favor and giving you a 40% "discount". For me the dealer ruins the "style" of buying a BMW by sitting me down and presenting the tire/wheel warranty, extended warranty, paint protection, Scotchgard, and all that other BS.

A lot of my business attire is Brooks Brothers but I wait for their sales, use a Brooks Brother credit card to get the rewards, and get a $20 gift card from them on my birthday. I don't feel cheap and dirty afterwords, their clothes are expensive enough!

Although temped I will keep my jingoistic American opinions the on cultural differences to myself.

[The2011335i]

I don't think there is much style to buying a BMW. It's just buying a car after all. Buying a car is not very transparent. Dealers make money lots of different ways and they don't volunteer information so you have to fight for yourself. Your dealer sold you some add-ons that are pure profit and presented it to you like he is doing you a favor and giving you a 40% "discount". For me the dealer ruins the "style" of buying a BMW by sitting me down and presenting the tire/wheel warranty, extended warranty, paint protection, Scotchgard, and all that other BS.

A lot of my business attire is Brooks Brothers but I wait for their sales, use a Brooks Brother credit card to get the rewards, and get a $20 gift card from them on my birthday. I don't feel cheap and dirty afterwords, their clothes are expensive enough!

Although temped I will keep my jingoistic American opinions the on cultural differences to myself.

Alright, take it easy, I didn't mean I like getting ripped off and I absolutely didn't mean to insult you. People are different, this was my first BMW, heck, if I don't count the piece of crap car I used to drive in college which I sold for $500, it was my first true car. I basically wanted to go into the dealer, order a brand new 2011 car, and get out. Invoice + < $800 was what I got and it was a very good deal. He gave me the lojack and the tire/rim protection reasonable cheaper without me even asking for a discount. I wanted this to be perfect, I didn't want to nit pick there.

The first time I ever entered into a BMW dealer years back when I was barely old enough to drink, I wasn't even allowed to test drive, I was shown the door with a pat in the back - all I heard was "let's not waste each other's time". I promised myself, the next time I was around, I'd order a brand new car, not buy a CPO one, or a new 2010 one, but a truly, brand new car, and I have. I don't care if I didn't negotiate a floor mat. There are a million things I would have done differently in my life, 5 years from today, if I get to order a new M3, I will probably go in a bit more prepared.

By the way, there are differences between europe and america, culturally, economically, socially, and so on. I didn't mean to insult you or anyone, after all I wouldn't have been here if I didn't like it. I just wanted to point out I "may" be seeing things from a different perspective that people may not immediately understand or agree. Places like brooks brothers do not have sales in Italy or Germany, period. They don't have "rewards", they don't have "discounts". I have never seen or heard such things on such high quality products until I stepped into this continent. Not that I disagree with you, I love their discounts, I go buy 4 shirts instead of 2 every time they have those nice %40 discounts online.

Anyways, I will go buy the mats from the shop in BMW. I think it's worth the $100 for four mats. I will keep the current ones for summer and use those for winter. If you think about it, the car does come with free mats lol, they just look so nice, you don't want to mess them up:D

[Jhunter]

I didn't mean to insult you or anyone, after all I wouldn't have been here if I didn't like it.

I am not insulted, just having fun. :)


Places like brooks brothers do not have sales in Italy or Germany, period. They don't have "rewards", they don't have "discounts". I have never seen or heard such things on such high quality products until I stepped into this continent.

Isn't a free market econmy great!:alright


Now I did buy with style a few years ago when I bought a jacket at Burberry in Knightsbridge London. They wouldn't dream of anything as vulgar as having the customer stand at a counter while being rung up. I was shown to a nice lounge and offered a drink while my purchase was packaged up and credit card run.

BMWs are nice and expensive cars but to me it isn't any different than buying a Chevy. Now if I was buying a Ferrari, it might be a different story.

[Kernel Kurtz]

Back to the mats....

My new e90 came with rubber mats from the factory, though they are not the same as the "all weather" mats (I kept the set I bought for my previous e90, which had carpet mats for summer, when the lease was up).

The carpet mats look much nicer, but I don't really want to go spend $100+ to buy a set. I must say the rubber mats really are a case of BMW cheaping out. You would think they could do better on a $60,000 (cdn) car.