BMW of Fremont

We were looking specifically for cars eligible for used EV tax credit ($4,000). They had a BMW i3 for sale, contacted them via email and received a response positively confirming that the car is indeed eligible. Scheduled an appointment. As we are driving there, about 10 minutes before the appt time, get a phone call that the car is completely dead. Get there anyway to look at the car, the 12v battery appears to have died, they tried to "jump" it, but the car wouldn't move. Helped them push the car to the charger, the car wouldn't accept charge. Ok, they could've checked the car more than 10 minutes before the appt time, but I guess things happen. They needed a few days to replace the 12v battery, we'll come back next week. Before driving there again, I double-check that they replaced the battery, the car is showing no errors, and that they'll be able to provide us with the form necessary to claim used EV tax credit. Get a response that the car is all good, and no problem on the tax credit. We drive there, do a test drive, start signing the paperwork. I don't see the tax credit form, ask if it will be sent to us later. The finance guy looks confused, goes away for a few minutes, comes back and says that they can't do it at this dealership, and that I can just claim the tax credit myself. Well, that's not how it works, the IRS website is very clear that the sale has to be reported to them by the dealership within 3 days, and they must provide a copy of the report to the buyer, otherwise the car is not eligible for the credit. They claim there is some sort of issue with their IRS account (it was revoked?) and they cannot report the sale to IRS within 3 days, period. After a bit of back and forth, they agree to discount the sale price by $1,000 instead. We take the deal. After getting home and giving it some thought, we'll be returning the car within their 5-day money back guarantee because there are plenty of other used BMW i3 available from other dealers that can process the tax credit properly, and save us $4,000 instead of $1,000. I just wish the sales person was upfront and honest with us from the very beginning, and we didn't have to waste so much of our time driving back and forth. Overall a very frustrating experience, typical of a used car dealership -- just lying through their teeth to get a potential customer in the door and have them start signing paperwork, in hopes they don't notice that you lied to them from the start. Ugh. Oh, and they had a sticker on the car that showed check mark printed next to "Dealer Warranty", and something like 6-months warranty covering this and that. Which I remembered, as it's always nice to have a warranty on a used car. As we are signing paperwork, I see it says "as is". I point out that the sticker on the car said otherwise. The finance guy feigns ignorance and asks "what sticker"? The one that was previously affixed to the car, and is now on your table right there. He looks at it puzzled and says: "oh no, they printed it wrong, it shouldn't say that". Well, it was on the car when we looked at it, error or not. At that point I didn't care any more, so I decided not to push on this issue. Like I said, typical used car dealership tactics.

Great experience with BMW of Fremont. My salesperson Preston was professional and very good at going over the entire sales and delivery process. Finance was excellent at working with me and getting me the best program and lease for my needs. I would highly recommend BMW of Fremont to anyone considering a BMW vehicle.

One of the better dealerships to work with. The salesguy I worked with was able to get me not so bad APR on a used car. And he told me not to buy any of the extra add ons.