Ever hear of a \"punched\" vehicle?

[DDP2011X5M]

Something new to me that I learned when purchasing my first BMW.

Many of the remaining 2011 X5M\'s on dealers lots are punched meaning they are registered as sold. I heard many reasons on why a dealer will punch a vehicle including:
- tricking BMW inventory system so they can get another allocation
- wanting to meet sales figures for a particular month
- bonus money/incentive from factory

A few dealers said they would punch a vehicle once their local factory rep instructed them to so.

Depending on the level of punch, the factory warranty could start on the date the vehicle was punched.

I was working a deal with McKenna BMW in Norwalk on a 2011 X5M. I asked up front if the vehicle was punched and was told no. After we settled on a price, the GM let me know thru the salesperson that a service punch was in effect since 02/11. Obviously for me this meant I would loose 9 months of warranty so I backed out of the deal.

Just curious if others are aware of this since I have not seen it posted.

D

[krnboy817]

never heard... wouldnt this mean that the dealers would lose value on the vehicle? this also means that who ever buys this "new" vehicle will actually on paper be buying a second hand or used vehicle.

sounds fishy.

well was the stealership atleast willing to give you some kind of incentives for the 9 months it has be "purchased" for? or did they just up right want the sticker price?

[263464757]

Nothing like "Buyer-be-ware" on a new 100k vehicle. Un-Flippin-Believable!

Another way to find if its been registered...Have the SA pull and print the Vehicle Detail / Build Sheet. It will show the registration date.

It will obviously, also show exactly how the vehicle was optioned.

[DDP2011X5M]

They sell the car as new since it has never been registered. The only part that I believe tips their hand is a requirement they must disclose on the remainder of the factory warranty, if a full service punch was initiated on the vehicle.

The cars are not "demo's" either and have low mileage (30-40 miles) presumably from test drives.

I have never heard of this before myself and believe this is unique to BMW (I could be wrong).

McKenna BMW would not budge on their price even though they disclosed after an agreed upon price had been reached assuming no punch on vehicles.

I ended up purchasing from Vista BMW (San Diego). Although the truck I purchased had been punched as well (09/30/11), a full service punch had not been performed and I have a full factory warranty.

My guess any car 1-model year old that is being sold as "new" on a BMW dealership lot is most likely a punched vehicle.

For me this worked to my advantage since I purchased a 2011 X5M at over 15% off MSRP.

D

[DDP2011X5M]

One more thing regarding the question on a dealership losing value on a punched vehicle.

I asked the salesperson at McKenna this very question and her response was the dealership is gambling that most buyers of a $85K vehicle are going to lease the vehicle for 3-years vs purchasing the vehicle. If leased for 3-years, the 4-year of factory warranty lost doesn't hurt since the car is leased for only 3-years by the consumer.

They lose when the vehicles don't lease and they are stuck with service punched vehicles.

I can tell you this practice is true and performed by BMW dealership's per their regional factory representative's directive. I verified this with multiple dealerships.

The other interesting bit of info I learned is you may spot a particular vehicle on the internet that has been advertised by the dealer, but when you call or ask to see if they have this car, the low level salesperson may tell you they don't have the vehicle, because since it was punched, it doesn't show up as a vehicle that can be sold. I ran into this with Riverside BMW. Salesperson could not find car in their system, despite me finding it on their lot.

D

[Poindexter]

Originally Posted by DDP2011X5M

I have never heard of this before myself and believe this is unique to BMW (I could be wrong).

Any new car dealer can "punch" a car in the way you're describing it. The largest number I've heard of was performed by a Nissan dealer back in the mid-90s. They "punched" over 200 unsold cars in a quarter. Nissan did an audit and there was hell to pay.

There are a lot of other terms for it as well: RDR, roach*, report the sale, etc.

There are a number of reasons for practicing this also, and most of those were already listed in this thread. The two most common reasons for reporting an unsold car as sold to a manufacturer (technically what is done):

• Hitting allocation for the dealer to get bigger incentives
• Helping the manufacturer hit a number (yes, OEMs ask dealers to do this)

It does not mean the car has been titled/registered with the DMV so the car is truly brand new. The only thing it does is start the warranty time period clicking against the car. To the best of my knowledge a dealer is not required to disclose that to anyone, but there are varying laws in each state.

*roach: this is the term typically used int eh industry to describe "reporting a car sold to an OEM that still needs to be sold at a later date and is not going to go into demo/rental/loaner service." When you buy a new car a dealer will still "punch" the car, but the OP's original car in question was a "roach."

[treky11]

Dealers typically do this to lock on incentives they are being offered from the manufacturer. Yes its a slight gamble by them, but typically they do it because the incentives for them are VERY attractive. This happens all the time.

I bought my x5M punched with less than 100 miles on it, it was registered to me as new as I was the first buyer. No big deal at all, except for the warranty time you typically lose. I negotiated an extended 7 warranty at a huge discount and came out way ahead on the x5M and the warranty.

[DDP2011X5M]

Good info to know when buying/leasing a vehicle. As I see it, you should be able to use to your advantage when negotiating a deal.

[M5007]

I have never heard of such a thing. Sounds crazy to me that a dealership would screw around with warranty dates and falsify sales figures to get additional allocations.

[Dodge2Dub]

I know that Mercedes does this regularly. Before I purchased the M, I almost bought a punched C63. The price was 30% below MSRP with around 20 miles on the odometer. The difference in comparison to the OP was that the punch date was within 1.5 months of my purchase date so the loss of warranty was a non-issue.

For me, if I ever decide to pick up an AMG, I will wait until the end of July/beginning of August. They punch their vehicles in early July (possibly late June) in order to clear the sales floor for the next model year, secure the incentives offered by MB and to ensure their ability to receive a large allocations of AMG's (what the dealer told me). Around early August, they start getting nervous about sitting on their punched AMG inventory and start dropping the prices drastically. I also realized that a lot of people wait for this to happen and jump on the deals. If you are not quick, the only cars that are left are the less desirable (ie. no moonroof...in a Merc, this is a big deal). The other thing that surprised me is that the dealers were willing to negotiate over e-mail for their punched cars.

[DDP2011X5M]

Email negotiations and price commitments over the phone as well.

I had a deal on a 2011 E63 AMG (new) with MSRP $102,000, they were willing to go 18.2% below sticker.

This deal and the one I purchased my 2011 X5M were all on the phone, text messages

[krnboy817]

the fact that dealers are doing this is sort of shady in their part... but at least most people are getting a better deal (price wise) when it comes to these "punched" vehicles.

what gets me is the dealer that the OP had experience with, where the dealer didnt want to move a bit on the price knowing the fact that it was and is even admitted to have been punched.

if dealers are willing to sell these vehicles at a lower price 15% - 20% i say its pretty fair if you go in knowing the whole fact.

[DDP2011X5M]

I was surprised as well; especially since they have a total of five (5), 2011 X5 M's that are punched. Doesn't make sense to me that a dealer would do this, but what do I know.

Originally Posted by krnboy817

the fact that dealers are doing this is sort of shady in their part... but at least most people are getting a better deal (price wise) when it comes to these "punched" vehicles.

what gets me is the dealer that the OP had experience with, where the dealer didnt want to move a bit on the price knowing the fact that it was and is even admitted to have been punched.

if dealers are willing to sell these vehicles at a lower price 15% - 20% i say its pretty fair if you go in knowing the whole fact.