BMW accidentally sells for $1


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The dealership, Stadium Cars in Christchurch, frequently offers cars on online auction sites with a one New Zealand dollar reserve ? about 81 cents in U.S. currency ? allowing the vehicles to sell at any price the market demands. In this case, however, that $1 figure was entered into the wrong field, allowing any buyer with a single dollar the opportunity to instantly purchase the car.

Before the dealership could realize its mistake, that's exactly what happened ? a buyer identified only as "bignz" wound up getting the deal of his or her life: a 1994 BMW 320i.

According to the dealership, the $1 sale was most definitely an unintended mistake ? after all, the car in question was worth the equivalent of $2,400. Still, they're going to honor the sale, because, according to dealership manager Mike Nokes, "we are firm believers in the auction process and for it to be fair to buyers and sellers alike."

Before you start booking a flight to New Zealand to grab your own one-dollar car at auction, know that the dealership is going to be much more careful in the future. "[The BMW is] hopefully the only car we sell for $1," says Nokes.

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Considering that it costs a lot more for traditional advertising I really don't think the dealership is going to lose out here.

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Considering that it costs a lot more for traditional advertising I really don't think the dealership is going to lose out here.

That's exactly what I was thinking.

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Publicity stunt? Taking the hit of a $2000 car for advertising that has reached around the world? I'd have never heard of that dealer if it wasn't for that little accident!

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Publicity stunt? Taking the hit of a $2000 car for advertising that has reached around the world? I'd have never heard of that dealer if it wasn't for that little accident!

You woulldnt hae bought anything from the, anyway so...

As for padding with taxes. Well he still have to pay the normal taxes and fees that goes with buying a car, they're not part of the price anyway.

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I wouldn't care if it was a marketing ploy, provided that the auction was legit and some lucky person actually got to buy the car. If it is some con where it was all a set up then that is completely lame.

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Glad they honored the deal. If a dealership makes this kind of mistake then they should avoid this in the future.

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If they hadnt honoured the deal could the guy have taken them to court through some false advertisement bullcrap??

I had a videogame equivelent of this situation, $0.01 instead of $40 a few years ago, NFS underground oh yeah :shiftyninja:

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Response to now-edited post rendered moot by edit.

Was that directed towards me? Cuz i edited because the first line of the post sounded like I hadnt read the OP.

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