Honesty, Integrity, and Truth in Advertising

You may have seen some local automotive ads recently in the Wichita Eagle that may not be entirely true.

It seems that a local BMW dealership claims that ALL of their BMWs come with luxury leather…

While the BMW website says the STANDARD package is something called “leatherette” (does “leatherette” come from “cowettes”?).  Quite the different story, eh?…

The 3 Series The 5 Series The X3 Crossover

In fact, luxury leather is a nearly $1500 option.

Now, either this dealer doesn’t know his product very well (could this be why our Acura Franchise outsells BMW locally by a HUGE margin?) or do they just think no one will care knows any better… you decide for yourself…

And for the last time—–“FREE MAINTENANCE” is not free when the price of the vehicle is inflated to cover the expense!  When a BMW Sales Rep tells you about “free maintenance”, ask yourself the following:

1. Does the Service Department at your local BMW get reimbursed by BMW for the service? Where do you think these funds come from?
2. When BMW started the “free maintenance” program, did the entire lineup of vehicles have a nice price increase?
3. If “free maintenance” is so great, why do the Edmunds.com “True Cost to Own” ratings favor Acura, Lexus, and Mercedes-Benz over a 5 year ownership cycle?
4. If the BMW costs more because of the built-in cost of “free maintenance”, does it make even LESS sense to FINANCE the BMW and pay interest on the included price of “free maintenance”?

It’s kind of like “free health care”, someone has to pay…

When you can’t win with the truth, you may try a half-truth.  With tactics like these, one can only presume this is a desperate attempt to be relevant in the Wichita Luxury Market…