[9thsphinx]

Such an eye-opener this topic and the discussions that follow within.
I was literally thinking of going in for an upgrade to a premium car from a Civic, but with such clarity and the literal math behind it, it totally seems logical not to do so.

Owning a BMW here in India and paying almost twice of what you would pay for the same, say in the US, was always something that was making me think twice of whether I should take the plunge or not, and this thread just made the decision so much simpler.

The X1 deal sure sounds tempting, per se, but sure it doesn't make sense to fall for this one for an average Joe.

[DudeWithaFiat]

Originally Posted by 9thsphinx

The X1 deal sure sounds tempting, per se, but sure it doesn't make sense to fall for this one for an average Joe.

Like I said in my previous post, if one can afford an EMI of Rs.24,700/- per month, then its definitely a good scheme. At the end of the 7 years term, you end up paying only about Rs.31L, which is only an additional of 3L to the OTR price, which makes this actually better than most of the car loans.

[throttleking]

I personally never get attracted to such offers. 15999 is not more than 13.5 lacs in 7 years, and hence means huge down-payment.

[sam003]

I guess Audi too came up with some scheme for Q5, roughly 24K EMI. But personally I feel really tempting to such offers, but ya maint cost really heart for such Premium cars.

[arup.misra]

A Question to ponder about.

Would any guy buying a eight figure car be really bothered about the mileage the car returned or if the petrol prices have gone up by a rupee?

In most cases the answer would be "no". Hence if I'm interested in buying a beamer or the three pointed start or heck any uber luxurious car I would buy it if I want it. But it would not be because of an "affordable EMI" offer.

Some more thoughts - Do you decide not to buy an Armani suit just because you don't have a good laundry nearby to dry-clean it? Subjective isn't it.

[akash_m]

Very good, who so ever is inpired by this ad may kindly go ahead and buy the X1. Please dont come weeping to this forum in any of these conditions afterwards:

1. If the first service itself rips your pants off
2. If the annual premium of the insurance gives you goose flesh
3. If you suffer a cardiac arrest because a bajaj pulsar banged you from behind on a red light!

The mere cost of repair for point 3 could fetch you Hyundai Eon with AC and power steering!!



Moral: The ad and the scheme is for the one who was otherwise also planning to buy the X1 only, bacause it was always within his/ her affordibility.

[Mad Max]

Not sure about here, but I remember BMW USA used to have a bumper-to-bumper warranty for 5 years or so (or was it 4 years?) And if you typically look at these premium segment dealers, they'll try their best to be "premium" by reducing your recurring cost burden (probably by building in your service cost etc into your overall cost) which by word-of-mouth can make or break these brands. If a BMW owner went up to an Audi guy and said "what? you pay 10k for each service, I have free service till 5 years" the Audi guy is going to curse Audi. Even if BMW has built in that cost.

Also, from a maintenance interval perspective, aren't they at much higher intervals? I remember the 92 330 that we monkey-wrenched had a 10k Miles interval for servicing or something like that. So, I am guessing in a typical Indian situation, you'd take the BMW once a year for an oil change. And lets say the dealer throws in 4 free service coupons (even if BMW is that cheap in the first place), that would take care of things in the first 3-4 years. And I am pretty sure they won't ask you extra for "under-chassis coating" or "mud flaps" or "engine tuning".

Yes, a 100Rs is a 100Rs and yes, it can depreciate while you continue to earn more money. But purely from a car perspective, I am kinda sure that BMW is not going to dime-change you for every little thing they do. And if that's their India strategy, people here are gonna keep asking the same question:

"Kitna dethi hai?"

[vinit.merchant]

Originally Posted by Mad Max

And if that's their India strategy, people here are gonna keep asking the same question:

"Kitna dethi hai?"

There are chances of the question changing to
"Kitna leti hai?" !

Note From Team-BHP Support Team: Team BHP does not encourage members to post one-liners that add little/no value to the thread. Such posts will be considered as spam and will be deleted. Please refrain from posting one-liners in the future. Thank you for your anticipated cooperation.

[shankar.balan]

Why not buy it if you really like it and if you can afford it? There is nothing wrong in taking advantage of a decent finance offer provided you can manage the downpayment, the EMI and of course, afford to look after the vehicle the way it is supposed to be looked after! After all, ZNMD no?

[myavu]

Now they are offering 5 Series (520d) with EMI of 29,999 per month

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by arup.misra

A Question to ponder about.

Would any guy buying a eight figure car be really bothered about the mileage the car returned or if the petrol prices have gone up by a rupee?

In most cases the answer would be "no". Hence if I'm interested in buying a beamer or the three pointed start or heck any uber luxurious car I would buy it if I want it. But it would not be because of an "affordable EMI" offer.

Well 8 figure car may be not. But a 7 figure car is different. Thats the reason why you see almost all cars upwards of 15L to be sold majorly in diesel only. The thing is you can have all the money you want but would still want to save or lets say undercut on unnecessary expense.

Same goes for the EMI option. What it does is that it puts the X1 in your mind as a car that you have wanted for so long and can finally afford it. It will ensure that you atleast give it a thought, call the dealer and may be even take a TD. The badge value will do the rest and some of these will eventually put there money on one. I have always believed marketing goes a long way in changing people's perception. And these adds offering 40-50L cars for just 20-30k /month do help in generating a lot of interest.

[elantracrdi05]

Did check up on the 15,999 offer and enquired about the why's. X1 has a new variant called the 'Innovative' edition. This one is almost fully loaded EXCEPT for (1) leather seats and (2) the leather sports steering wheel. The absense of just these two features is fine considering that the Exclusive costs ex-showroom of Rs. 31.9 lacs and this one is for Rs. 28.5 lacs. Both the base and exclusive variants are currently offered at a discount of 2-2.5 lacs.

The offer in question is for the X1-Base variants which otherwise also have a Rs. 2 lac discount. The finance scheme does warrant a Rs. 10 lac upfront (which if you ask me is a lot since it means approx. Rs. 16 lacs after insurance, registration and the 'must have' BSI 5 year service package).

Additionally, BMW has its own finance arm so they can offer negotiated interest rates as well (11% as compared to the 12-12.5% prevailing with banks).

With respect to the bullet payments, I am ok with the idea since I am confident of earning more than 11% on my money and would rather go for financing than block a lot of liquid money on a car.

[anoop.mathew]

Originally Posted by Rameshdude

Yes, I did check about the scheme. Basically, for 11 months you pay Rs 15,999/- and the 12th month,you pay 1,20,000/ ! This is a 7 yrs emi scheme.

This is after paying a deposit of 16 lakhs!

[Animesh]

Very sensible thoughts here on this thread. But, some are way off when we are actually discussing the advantages and disadvantages of buying a depreciating asset.

The whole question to start with was if the scheme being offered by BMW or some other scheme does hold good.

So we just need to do mathematics (done already by some of you and I did a bit myself) and see if buying the car by going for
1. a Full Downpayment
2. Take some bank loan which is pretty close to the return that you would earn on a FD
3. Take this scheme

All the pros and cons of these questions have been answered correctly.

Things like whooping cost of Insurance and maintenance have nothing to do with the Means of Finance but with the actual product itself. So, that becomes totally offtrack while the thread looks to get clarification on something very basic.

Just my thoughts on buying a very expensive car.
One does that because one can.

For going from Point A to Point B there are multiple multiple options.

I personally don't own a car because
i. I don't have enough Moolah to buy one that I like
ii. Waiting for Renault to launch Duster

If I had lot of money to buy a very good car, it would totally mean that my Investments in Equity, Fixed Income, Real Estate, Other Alternate Assets is in sync with the dream car. So, buying a depreciating asset is totally one's own prerogative. Unless ofcourse one rather starts to question WHY THIS PARTICULAR CAR AND WHY NOT SOME OTHER ONE BECAUSE IT HAS THIS AND THAT.

[car.lover]

It's been interesting to follow this thread and the diverse thought processes ranging from the pros and cons of a premium car/brand to advantages of buying cash down over EMIs to real estate investments!!

Personally, my take is a two step approach

One as GTO says, go with your eyes open and understanding the fact that you are going in for a 28L car. (and that too a depreciating asset).

Two - knowing the above, and planning your cash flow you can manage the payments - go for it!! There will be many nay sayers or advisers (we seem to have too many of them in India) who would criticise, say things like invest in Gold / stocks / real estate / FDs instead or talk of poverty / roads / traffic in the country, etc.

With due respect to all of them - its your life and ZNMD, so if you really want to, and this EMI scheme enables you to then GO FOR IT!!