[MidnightMarauder]

I am highly interested in leasing the i5 as my wife's next car. She is looking for a luxury EV sedan with a big backseat for kids, and this model could be a winner. We are new to the BMW brand, and this would also be our first EV.

I've looked around at inventories in our area (Atlanta), and I haven't seen any configs that have our desired combo of options. As of now, we are interested in the eDrive 40 with base wheels, Prem package, Luxury seating package, and B&W sound.

So we are looking at doing a custom order. A few questions before I talk to a dealer:

- Is it going to be difficult to negotiate on a custom order? It seems like the going rate for in-stock models is 10% off MSRP + the $7500 lease credit. Can I get anything close to that on custom?

- Can the price change in-between ordering and receiving the car? I'm curious what happens if the $7500 EV credit is active when I order, but is eliminated by the time I get the car.

- What is the typical timeline for a custom order?

Anything else I should know about?
Appreciate any insight!

[AiredaleDad]

Originally Posted by MidnightMarauder

I am highly interested in leasing the i5 as my wife's next car. She is looking for a luxury EV sedan with a big backseat for kids, and this model could be a winner. We are new to the BMW brand, and this would also be our first EV.

I've looked around at inventories in our area (Atlanta), and I haven't seen any configs that have our desired combo of options. As of now, we are interested in the eDrive 40 with base wheels, Prem package, Luxury seating package, and B&W sound.

So we are looking at doing a custom order. A few questions before I talk to a dealer:

- Is it going to be difficult to negotiate on a custom order? It seems like the going rate for in-stock models is 10% off MSRP + the $7500 lease credit. Can I get anything close to that on custom?

- Can the price change in-between ordering and receiving the car? I'm curious what happens if the $7500 EV credit is active when I order, but is eliminated by the time I get the car.

- What is the typical timeline for a custom order?

Anything else I should know about?
Appreciate any insight!

I don't know about the I5, but I made a custom order on a 540i X Drive. Once you fill out the order sheet it has all the pricing and discounts on it. That is the price the dealer has agreed to sell/lease you the car for. When you get the VIN Number, that's when you need to complete the financing/lease approvals and such. Mine is a purchase, not a lease, so it might be a bit different. Also a lot of folks here have found a broker better than a dealer as far as discounts go.

As to time, it all depends on if the dealership/broker has any build allotments left unfilled, and what production week they are for. Most of them will be filled with dealer SPEC vehicles (Orders the dealer has placed in anticipation for them to sell on their lot, with the most common or more popular options). As long as production has not started on a particular vehicle, they can modify their order to your specific options. If not you may have to wait until their next allotment. Dealers only get X number of allotments for the model year. Once they run out, if they can't, or won't modify them you may need to find another dealer or broker. They usually keep some for special orders and wait to fill them until the last quarter of production.

[MidnightMarauder]

Originally Posted by AiredaleDad

I don't know about the I5, but I made a custom order on a 540i X Drive. Once you fill out the order sheet it has all the pricing and discounts on it. That is the price the dealer has agreed to sell/lease you the car for. When you get the VIN Number, that's when you need to complete the financing/lease approvals and such. Mine is a purchase, not a lease, so it might be a bit different. Also a lot of folks here have found a broker better than a dealer as far as discounts go.

As to time, it all depends on if the dealership/broker has any build allotments left unfilled, and what production week they are for. Most of them will be filled with dealer SPEC vehicles (Orders the dealer has placed in anticipation for them to sell on their lot, with the most common or more popular options). As long as production has not started on a particular vehicle, they can modify their order to your specific options. If not you may have to wait until their next allotment. Dealers only get X number of allotments for the model year. Once they run out, if they can't, or won't modify them you may need to find another dealer or broker. They usually keep some for special orders and wait to fill them until the last quarter of production.

Thanks! So I gather that right now could be a good time to do a '25 custom order, since it's a new model year and the dealer may have more allotments?

[SkykingUSA]

I custom-ordered an eDrive40 back in January 2024, and here are my thoughts related to your questions. Keep in mind that your mileage may vary because each market is a little different, especially east coast vs. west coast. I am in the Los Angeles area.

You should still be able to negotiate a discount, but I suspect it will be less than what you might get from a car that is already on a lot. Dealers still want to sell cars, but they would rather sell what's already on the lot so they will probably give you higher discounts for those cars.

Anything can change between the time you agree on a price with the dealer and when you actually close the transaction. The best thing you can do it to agree on a price, and have the dealer give you a written quote on their form and then ask for the Sales Manager to sign it. I think that's the best you can do. The good news is that you probably don't have to put down any deposit and you are not committed to the purchase after you place the order (that's how it worked with the two dealers I placed an order with anyway) so you can always back out if the price changes. The only bad part about that is the delay - you would have to start all over again with a new order, or just find something on a lot.

If the $7500 credit goes away before you take delivery and finalize the deal, I suspect you'll just be out of luck because the dealer will not want to subsidize that on their own. I think it's pretty reasonable when a government sponsored deal goes away, that the dealership stops offering that too.

Typical timeline for an order varies, but for me, I placed my order in mid-January and my dealer gave me a production number the next day. I took delivery of my car on March 21. So, for me on the west coast is took a little over 2 months. Most of that was time on the ship in transit. Since you're car would be delivered to the east coast, it would probably save about two weeks for you.

Depending how much you like wheeling and dealing, and working with sales people, you may want to consider using a broker to arrange the purchase and delivery - they may be able to get a better deal for you. Also, I would recommend using sites like CarEdge.com to learn about what to expect from a sales person and what to focus on when dealing with them. Their web site even has a Community forum section where you can post any quotes you get from your dealers and staff members will comment on whether it's a good deal or crummy one for free. They have a ton of YouTube videos you can watch with a lot of good information. I didn't pay anything, I just watched some videos and posted some of the quotes I received to their forum and got some feedback from the CarEdge staff. Example: https://community.caredge.com/c/review-my-deal/

Good luck and try to enjoy the experience as much as you can. For me, the most stressful part was wondering if my dealer was going to change the price after the car came in. We agreed on a price when I placed the order and I had the Sales Manager sign the quote they gave me. After that, while I was waiting and tracking my production number online, I looked at BMW's website each month to see if any better discounts became available and by the time my car was due to arrive, the BMW web site was advertising a better leasing rate than when we first made the deal, so I sent it to my sales person and he agreed to lower the price based on the improved leasing rate being offered by BMW. So, luckily in my case I saved a little more by waiting a couple of months, but you never know what a dealership might say or do until it's time to sign on the dotted line.

Another thing you should do if you're custom ordering is make sure the sales person gives you a copy of the build sheet/order sheet once they have submitted the order. It will list all the parts and options that you ordered and you can check it against what you actually said you wanted. There is a period of time after you place the order where changes can still be made (before it enters the production queue basically) so if you find something wrong on the build sheet, you can let the sales person know and have it changed before it's too late. In my case, the sales person was reconfiguring an existing allocation they had to suit my order, so he placed the order while I waited. He gave me a printout of the build sheet before I left the dealership and had me sign it to confirm it's what I wanted. I then took it home and compared everything listed on it to the BMW order guide to make sure there were no mistakes. I had about a week or two where I could make changes if I needed to but luckily, everything was good in my case. In case you missed it, the order guides and pinned to the top of this forum.

Sorry for the long post, but hopefully you find it helpful.

[RichardInCA]

One thing you might consider is to see if you can find your desired configuration at dealers beyond your area. You might well be able to negotiate a sale with them and end up with the best deal/shortest time to delivery/less chance of any changes in tax incentives (presumably not gonna change before at least January 2025….).

You can still get your maintenance, recalls etc taken care of locally, although candidly, the first maintenance on an i5 doesn’t come up until 2yrs!

[LVBMW]

I agree with the suggestion to consider a broker. Many good ones can be found on the Lease Hackr website. It makes life much easier. Better discount and no messing around with negotiations. Yes, you may have the expense of shipping the car to you from a dealer across the country. But the savings may far exceed that cost (they did in my case). You’ll need to complete the BMWFS application and get approval before the dealer will submit a custom order for you. Dealers receive allocations for orders on a monthly basis, although the specifics are a bit opaque. Once the order is in and you have a production number, your dealer can tell you the production week. Once you are approved by BMWFS, you are locked into any current specials or promotions for 90 days (I believe that can be extended in some situations). Or, if the specials or promotions are better when you take delivery vs when you ordered, you can opt for those also.

[LVBMW]

PS - I noticed you didn’t mention the driving assistance professional package. You might want to take another look at that. It’s an amazing package of features and tech that work extremely well and make driving much easier

[AiredaleDad]

Originally Posted by MidnightMarauder

Thanks! So I gather that right now could be a good time to do a '25 custom order, since it's a new model year and the dealer may have more allotments?

It all depends on the dealer. I would call or go in and ask the Sales Manager first if they have any allotments for Custom orders for2025 5 series I5 available or for Spec cars that have been ordered but not to late to be modified. And if they say yes, ask if they have the build date assignment for them. That will tell you when the car will be built. If they say no, go elsewhere.

The new 5's are a hot ticket item right now. Depending on how many the dealer is allotted, they may use them all on spec cars, or keep some open for custom builds. It also depends on that particular dealer's sales history. If they get a lot of custom ones, they will hold a few open. If they are used to selling Spec cars only, they might not.

[AiredaleDad]

Originally Posted by SkykingUSA

I custom-ordered an eDrive40 back in January 2024, and here are my thoughts related to your questions. Keep in mind that your mileage may vary because each market is a little different, especially east coast vs. west coast. I am in the Los Angeles area.

You should still be able to negotiate a discount, but I suspect it will be less than what you might get from a car that is already on a lot. Dealers still want to sell cars, but they would rather sell what's already on the lot so they will probably give you higher discounts for those cars.

Anything can change between the time you agree on a price with the dealer and when you actually close the transaction. The best thing you can do it to agree on a price, and have the dealer give you a written quote on their form and then ask for the Sales Manager to sign it. I think that's the best you can do. The good news is that you probably don't have to put down any deposit and you are not committed to the purchase after you place the order (that's how it worked with the two dealers I placed an order with anyway) so you can always back out if the price changes. The only bad part about that is the delay - you would have to start all over again with a new order, or just find something on a lot.

If the $7500 credit goes away before you take delivery and finalize the deal, I suspect you'll just be out of luck because the dealer will not want to subsidize that on their own. I think it's pretty reasonable when a government sponsored deal goes away, that the dealership stops offering that too.

Typical timeline for an order varies, but for me, I placed my order in mid-January and my dealer gave me a production number the next day. I took delivery of my car on March 21. So, for me on the west coast is took a little over 2 months. Most of that was time on the ship in transit. Since you're car would be delivered to the east coast, it would probably save about two weeks for you.

Depending how much you like wheeling and dealing, and working with sales people, you may want to consider using a broker to arrange the purchase and delivery - they may be able to get a better deal for you. Also, I would recommend using sites like CarEdge.com to learn about what to expect from a sales person and what to focus on when dealing with them. Their web site even has a Community forum section where you can post any quotes you get from your dealers and staff members will comment on whether it's a good deal or crummy one for free. They have a ton of YouTube videos you can watch with a lot of good information. I didn't pay anything, I just watched some videos and posted some of the quotes I received to their forum and got some feedback from the CarEdge staff. Example: https://community.caredge.com/c/review-my-deal/

Good luck and try to enjoy the experience as much as you can. For me, the most stressful part was wondering if my dealer was going to change the price after the car came in. We agreed on a price when I placed the order and I had the Sales Manager sign the quote they gave me. After that, while I was waiting and tracking my production number online, I looked at BMW's website each month to see if any better discounts became available and by the time my car was due to arrive, the BMW web site was advertising a better leasing rate than when we first made the deal, so I sent it to my sales person and he agreed to lower the price based on the improved leasing rate being offered by BMW. So, luckily in my case I saved a little more by waiting a couple of months, but you never know what a dealership might say or do until it's time to sign on the dotted line.

Another thing you should do if you're custom ordering is make sure the sales person gives you a copy of the build sheet/order sheet once they have submitted the order. It will list all the parts and options that you ordered and you can check it against what you actually said you wanted. There is a period of time after you place the order where changes can still be made (before it enters the production queue basically) so if you find something wrong on the build sheet, you can let the sales person know and have it changed before it's too late. In my case, the sales person was reconfiguring an existing allocation they had to suit my order, so he placed the order while I waited. He gave me a printout of the build sheet before I left the dealership and had me sign it to confirm it's what I wanted. I then took it home and compared everything listed on it to the BMW order guide to make sure there were no mistakes. I had about a week or two where I could make changes if I needed to but luckily, everything was good in my case. In case you missed it, the order guides and pinned to the top of this forum.

Sorry for the long post, but hopefully you find it helpful.

See, My experience was a little different. I was told once I signed the PO, and the dealer/Broker signed the PO, and BMW accepted it and sent an ON back, it was a contract. And even if the pricing changed, That was the price they agreed to sell the car for, so they would have to honor it. That's why each time I made a change (3 of them) i had to go back and re-sign the new PO, superseding the old one, which was torn up in front of me. And each time we received an updated Order from BMW accepting and confirming the changes. He also told me if the car came in not exactly as I ordered it, I had the right to refuse delivery. Even if the difference was in my favor (Say, it came in with options I did not order, as it happened to me in 1993). I could reject the car, or accept it as is with no penalty to me.

[SkykingUSA]

Originally Posted by AiredaleDad

See, My experience was a little different. I was told once I signed the PO, and the dealer/Broker signed the PO, and BMW accepted it and sent an ON back, it was a contract. And even if the pricing changed, That was the price they agreed to sell the car for, so they would have to honor it. That's why each time I made a change (3 of them) i had to go back and re-sign the new PO, superseding the old one, which was torn up in front of me. And each time we received an updated Order from BMW accepting and confirming the changes. He also told me if the car came in not exactly as I ordered it, I had the right to refuse delivery. Even if the difference was in my favor (Say, it came in with options I did not order, as it happened to me in 1993). I could reject the car, or accept it as is with no penalty to me.

I suspect the process works a little differently depending where you are. I contacted at least 4 dealerships in southern California and they all worked that way. Perhaps because you're working with a dealer is Spain, and through a special program for US military, things work differently. The dealerships here didn't even have me sign a PO or anything official except for the build sheet (probably so I couldn't claim the car wasn't built to my spec when it arrived), and a standard credit application at the time of order. They told me if I don't want the car, they can sell it to someone else. I suppose they sell well in this market and they don't have to worry about getting "stuck" with it. Heck, they may even be able to sell it to someone else for more money that what I would pay. It is a very flexible environment here in SoCal and that has it's pluses and minuses. :-)

In fact, I did have two orders placed overall, but decided not to move forward with the first one because I didn't like the way the sales person was interacting with me afterwards regarding the pricing. I "cancelled" that order and they either changed it for another customer's build or maybe they took it as I spec'd it and sold it to someone else. I found another dealer who I felt much more comfortable dealing with and stuck with that order through to the end.

[LVBMW]

Originally Posted by AiredaleDad

See, My experience was a little different. I was told once I signed the PO, and the dealer/Broker signed the PO, and BMW accepted it and sent an ON back, it was a contract. And even if the pricing changed, That was the price they agreed to sell the car for, so they would have to honor it. That's why each time I made a change (3 of them) i had to go back and re-sign the new PO, superseding the old one, which was torn up in front of me. And each time we received an updated Order from BMW accepting and confirming the changes. He also told me if the car came in not exactly as I ordered it, I had the right to refuse delivery. Even if the difference was in my favor (Say, it came in with options I did not order, as it happened to me in 1993). I could reject the car, or accept it as is with no penalty to me.

Yes, but your purchase experience is quite niche as you’ve described and quite different from the typical customer acquiring in the U.S.