marketman,
That is not always correct. I notice you are in Melbourne, Florida.
In Australia we have a Broker company called
http://www.betterdeal.com.au that deals in "Reverse bidding" with BMW dealerships. They do not buy the car from dealers. You pay $150. All they do is negotiate on your behalf and because they have greater buying power at fleet, not showroom floor prices, they are able to better negotiate a better deal for you. Once a starting price is established, BMW dealers then counter bid against each other over an 8 hour period but instead of the price increasing it gradually decreases. You can even view or have your email show ongoing live proceedings of the auction as they occur. Once bidding has ended it is up to you if you want to proceed - no pressure but you will lose your $150 if a sale does not eventuate. Your details kept pivate till now, are then given to the winning dealer and you will then establish contact with the BMW dealer to fill out all the relevant purchase paperwork. Betterdeal is just a vehicle to to introduce you to the winning dealer at a better price than you could ever negotiate on your own. The rest is then up to you !
For anyone interested, do a search in this OZ Forum as I believe
moose81 has used Betterdeal with great success here. Saved close to $6000 from retail I believe.
Ahh Here it is :
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...ght=Betterdeal
Oh and if anyone is thinking, the answer is no, I'm not an affiliate or in any way associated with Betterdeal.