BMW: Miracle on Auto World Circle

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. I have been laboring under a long-term, negative equity lease on a 2013 328i for several years all because I desperately wanted to play with BMW Apps. It seemed like a great idea at the time - four years ago.

Desperate to get out from under this lease and tantalized by the latest technology touted by "Roundel" (the BMW car club magazine) I ventured out last Saturday evening just to dip my toe in the water. Lo and behold, less than a week later I am the proud owner of a lightly used 2014 328i and a very happy Sterling BMW customer. How this came to pass is a miracle worthy of recounting.

But even more miraculous is what I learned from chatting with my salesman and the business manager. The miracle began when my salesman, Sal Ufyani, pulled up my car and my lease on his computer and gave me the bad financial news. But within an instant he had good news in the form of the aforementioned used BMW that I could purchase in exchange for my car, now on a lease.

The deal would lower my monthly payment considerably, provide for extended service coverage and get me into a car with updated technology (next gen iDrive, backup camera, etc.) - though not the very latest gizmos and, sadly, not Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. But, hey, you can't have everything...if you can't afford it.

This conversation, financing assessment and prospective deal discussion took no more than 15 minutes, by which time it was close to closing time and it was already dark outside. I said I'd return Monday.

My past experiences buying new cars from my first new car (Renault) through subsequent new vehicles (Chevrolet Suburban, Toyota Sienna, Acura TL and Infiniti G35) have taken hours to complete. When I returned Monday I told Sal I did not have hours. We needed to move quickly.

Sal could not have been more efficient. The mountain of paperwork and vehicle inspection and F&I process were dispensed within 1.5 hours during which time I was able to work at a vacant desk. If you are familiar with this process you know how impressive that 1.5 hours is.

But the miracle didn't stop there. Sal's colleague, Business Manager Josh Jones, showed what a difference a clever human being working in a new car dealership can make in the customer relationship.

Several things had changed since the last time I had visited BMW of Sterling to make a change in my wheels:

Stolen Vehicle Technology - Years ago, BMW of Sterling switched from LoJack to Guidepoint for its aftermarket stolen vehicle tracking and recovery solution. The average BMW customer probably doesn't feel a need for this technology since the built-in BMW Assist technology provides this already.

LoJack uses RF technology, which can be picked up through a shipping container unlike cellular and is installed in a secret location on the car. Guidepoint uses cellular technology which requires an antenna and can be more easily defeated. But it wasn't the technology that defeated Guidepoint, it was the annoying affinity program partners of Guidepoint who began harassing BMW of Sterling customers. Bye-bye Guidepoint.

Recalls - BMW's don't see all that many recalls. Not to say that BMW doesn't have its share, but over the years of owning BMW's I have not experienced a single recall - which is pretty miraculous in and of itself.

But not even BMW has been able to escape the grasp of the massive Takata recall - which currently stands at 100M vehicles from nearly every brand on the planet. BMW of Sterling has a policy of not selling any cars with open recalls. This is not an industry-wide policy and used car reseller Autonation has even taken a step back from a similar no-sale stance.

There's a good reason why Autonation may have folded its no-sale tent, though, which is the fact that Takata can't supply the replacement parts fast enough. This has the collateral impact at BMW of Sterling that owners of cars with open recalls cannot buy out their leases from the dealer. Takata will be long remembered for single-handedly gumming up the works for the entire automotive industry including dealers.

Sales Leads - The last time I visited BMW of Sterling for a new car, the salespeople had certificates of completion for training on an application called AutoAlert, which would help sales people identify sales leads from the existing customer base. AutoAlert, as I understand it, calculated potential future new car purchasing intention related to scheduled maintenance and other ownership metrics.

I thought the existence of AutoAlert was a little odd given the fact that BMW's own TeleServices built into its cars communicates service leads to the service department. But, as I learned at that time, BMW of Sterling service and BMW of Sterling sales generally don't interact much.

I asked Josh Jones about AutoAlert and he said it had been replaced by Automotive Mastermind. He noted that he never had much use for AutoAlert because when he was a salesman for BMW of Sterling he started his day by visiting the service office to see if any of his customers or anyone else's were coming in for service. Josh rightly perceived service customers as some of the best prospects for new car sales.

Automotive Mastermind - This application has essentially automated a lot of Josh's instinctive behavior by using big data analytics to identify sales leads. The Automotive Mastermind application looks at product life-cycle, socio-demographics, social media and market data - among other inputs - to identify sales leads from the existing customer base. Again, existing customers are the best source of future sales leads.

No Hassle - Josh further demonstrated his customer friendliness by not trying to sell me anything. He added GAP insurance to my deal and worked out a few other details but he never gave me the paint treatment pitch, the LoJack offer or the tire program. I asked him why and he told me that he looked back at my previous three deals and saw that I had never opted into any of those programs - so he saved us both the time and aggravation.

That being said, there were still more than 10 documents requiring my signature and review. I'd never been in and out of an F&I encounter so fast in my life. Kudos, Josh.

Tires - BMW is renowned and reviled (by some) for its preference for run-flat tires. I don't have an opinion either way, I'm just terrified of having to replace the entire set as a prohibitive expense. Through personal experience I had already learned that BMW of Sterling has the best prices on Pirelli run-flats in the area. Josh let me know that the dealership has found a way to cut its costs even further for tire replacements.

BMW of Sterling understands that tire failures and tire repair and replacement are a key source of customer defection to independent third party retailers and service providers. He even noted that the dealership has an expert in managing tire recalls - which is a huge unsolved problem in the industry.

By the time I was out the door, relieved of my negative equity burden and ensconced in a certified pre-owned white 2014 328i I was wiser and happier and full of the Christmas spirit. I still don't believe in Santa Claus, but miracles can happen on Auto World Circle in Sterling, Virginia, and, now, in my driveway.

Roger C. Lanctot is Associate Director in the Global Automotive Practice at Strategy Analytics. More details about Strategy Analytics can be found here: https://www.strategyanalytics.com/access-services/automotive#.VuGdXfkrKUk