[ResIpsaLoquitur]

I placed a 2.5% below MSRP deal for an ordered M5C in early March of this year, with a signed P+SA to lock in pricing at my dealer who I had a preexisting relationship with. My initial production was Week 26. It quickly became Week 26, then 31, then 36, then 41. Concerned that I might not receive the new car before my (then) existing pre-LCI lease expired, I started searching throughout the whole country. I did eventually find my exact build sitting at a dealership about 1000 miles away in mid-May. The dealer wanted $15K ADM. After 9 days of relentless back and forth telephone negotiations, I got them to give me the car at MSRP. Also, I did have some trade equity from my previous car. We all know that the numbers presented by dealers are a matter of perception. It may seem like they're giving you more money off the car, but they devalue your trade. Or, they over value your trade, and give you less off the price of the car. But I was able to get the MSRP deal and got the dealer to match the highest trade equity number I got from about a dozen different dealers I shopped at.

Again, not fantastic, but not bad at all for the current climate, FOR GETTING A CAR RIGHT NOW, no wait. Drove my car to them the next day, finished up paperwork, and my enclosed carrier picked up the car the next morning. I even got the dealership to split the cost with me. I flew home that afternoon and the car was delivered to me the next day.

All this to say that in this climate, you're not going to get a "great" deal — especially as compared to the 11% off MSRP I got on my pre-LCI back in 2019. However, if you're willing to open up your search geographically, and depending on your build, find something on a dealer's lot that is mostly similar to you desired build, you absolutely can still avoid some of these insane markups AND not wait 9+ months for an ordered M5 to reach your hands. These cars are uncommon/not widely available of course, but there ARE dealers around that, if you know how to negotiate hard enough, you won't be paying crazy markups.

As a side point. The dealership experience where my new car was located was in fact the worse experience I've never had acquiring a vehicle. But who cares, I'll never see them again. Their nonsense was worth getting the exact car I wanted, now, without lining the dealer's pocket without a 15K (or any!) ADM.

This is not relevant to OP now as his order has already been placed, but if you're looking for a new M5, just make peace with the fact that it might not be available as you want it at your local dealership, but is possibly available elsewhere. I should note that my build was with more common colors (BSM over black merino with black 706M wheels), so this likely won't be the case if you've ordered a more unique color combination.

Raging ADMs are the new normal, and will be for a while, but you CAN in fact acquire a new M5 for a reasonable (in this climate) deal, if you work the process hard enough.

Just my 0.02. I hope this helps others.