MY BMW

I really didn't think that dealerships, in the age of social media, operated as if it was 1985. I was naive. 
Back in January of 2014, I put a $5000 deposit down on a BMW i8. I was the first one at Monterey BMW to do so. 
Let me be clear that my situation is a complete "first world situation" to have. I'm not angry or disappointed. In fact, I'm slightly amused. The reason for my writing is so you can make a choice as to where you give your business too. 
And I also want to take my salesperson, Charles Joseph, out of the equation. He works for the management, he is not the management. I personally think he's a pretty decent guy, in a not so decently managed dealership. Of course, that's just my opinion. As is this review.
Back to the story. After many delays, my i8 was finally built and was going to be delivered around March 12th. I was not going to be here, so I went in before I left on my trip to pay for the car. 
They had put a $75,000 mark-up on the car. Think about that. That's more than 50% of the MSRP of the car. 
Charles and I never discussed a price for the car. I had assumed that since the car was in demand, I would pay MSRP for the car. Of course, after Charles showed me the paperwork, another sales manager came out and insisted that Charles had told me that the car was going to be marked-up by $50k to $100K over sticker. Ah, no he had not, because if he had, I would have asked for my deposit back a long, long time ago. 
The manager took me into his office (Tom Myers old office) and after some small talk, offered to sell me the car for only $25,000 over sticker. He was gracious enough to keep this offer open until tomorrow, in case I changed my mind. 
I won't be changing my mind. Nor will I buy another car from them or refer anyone to them again. I'm a pretty fervent "car-guy" and people ask me what and where to buy. Monterey BMW is off my list.
As I said, a "first-world problem" to have. But if they think that they can so easily gouge someone buying a $140,000 car, think of all the ways they have to take advantage of many people, buying $40,000 cars. 
Buyer beware, be careful and spend your dollars at ethical places of business.

In the fall of 2013, I was in the market to buy a new BMW, so I investigated some dealerships in my surrounding areas. I settled on this dealership because they were local to my Monterey home. Also the sales person was extremely helpful and knowledgeable; he investigated my needs into what exactly I was looking for. He went out of his way to help me and give me a good price on my new car. Gary Khils was my salesperson.

I took my car in for releated service under warranty they were never able to fix. Once off of waranty they were able to identify fixes and my costs were high. In all cases the minimum stay was 2 days. When they decided to charge me $250 to replace my wiper blades I called it quits. I love BMW but I have to switch brands to avoid this service experience/dealership again.