“I’ve worked at this dealership for 15 years,” Ed greets viewers, “And I’m thinking I’ve probably spent $300,000 in cars that I’ve purchased.” Sure sounds like a lot, right? Well, the fun part comes next: the client advisor at BMW of Minnetonka gets to look at the “real” number. Ed’s is $505,670. He frowns at the figure, then exclaims, “Oh my God, no wonder I’m so broke!”

The joke continues as other BMW dealership staff guess their “magic” number

Alicia has 13 years on the job. She thinks she’s spent maybe $400,000 on luxury cars. It’s more like $716,000. “Yikes!”

Matt’s is the most heart-stopping. With 15 years of tenure, he guesses $300,000. Try $1,338,000. He slaps his forehead in disbelief.

Chris is a new client advisor at the BMW dealership. 8 months in, he thinks he’s $100,000 deep. But it’s more like $188,000. “Ouch.”

Alex has 18 years on staff. He guesses $500,000-600,000. His real number says $977,000.

Wait: Is this the truth, or just a big joke?

There’s a lot of speculation in the comments about where the reel’s figures came from.

Some suggest that whoever did the math added up the retail value of the staff’s BMW purchases.

Others say these are the car loan amounts they’ve signed for, but that they just trade them out and move to another model far before the terms end.

Yet some others say these are just leases, not what the staffers actually paid themselves.

Sort of strangely, the dealership’s social media person doesn’t reveal the method to the madness until the day after the reel went live.

“How is this possible?” someone commented. “They love BMW’s!” the account responded. 

Hmm. Another comment, though, got the answer: “MSRP value!”

So, in other words, this is how much the BMWs they’ve purchased were worth on day one, combined. It’s not what these folks actually paid, or probably will ever pay, for their rides.

So who’s really laughing, here?

Look, if everyone on staff really spent that money on brand-new luxury BMWs without sweating their other bills or struggling to save and invest for retirement, etc., then fine. Good for them!

But to the rest of us, including a lot of commenters, this might be received as a dealership trying to further “normalize” huge car debt. Well, actually, that’s exactly what a viewer thought:

“Car dealerships work so hard to normalize vehicle debt… when I worked at a dealership they constantly tried to sell to employees… some of my colleagues would be rolling negative debt over and over… ended up paying $900/month for a Corolla.”

“Don’t be duped by expensive cars, they will keep you broke. Put that money in a Roth IRA!!!!”

“Dealerships trying desperately to normalize ridiculous car payments and prices makes me gag.”

“This is embarrassing, for all of them.”

Honestly, I sort of have to agree. Not the best look for a sales team, in my opinion. At best, the post is a bit misleading, since the numbers aren’t what the BMW staffers actually spent after all. Although, by the looks of it, we might assume the real, real numbers might shock some folks, too.

I’ve seen other reels where dealership staff say “Hi” to the camera and then explain what car they drive and their monthly payment. I have to say that some of the answers are the exact opposite of what the personal wealth influencers preach.

Ideally, the complete monthly cost of owning a car (payment, insurance, maintenance, fuel) shouldn’t exceed 15% of your total take-home income.

So listen, if you hear that a BMW salesperson has an $1,100 car payment, that doesn’t make it right.