I am new to this wonderful site. Is it true that there is no negotiating the price including various packages? What about the dealer markup and/or the destination & handling charges? Any suggestions would be welcome.

 

You will very rarely find a dealer who will negotiate about minis. For minis, you know what you want, you see what you want to pay and you do that

As for dealer markup, it depends on the dealer. Some dealers mark up a few hundred to a thousand or two. If you post where you live, people from around the area might have recommendations for you.

Destination/handling is included in the price when you configure your new mini on miniusa.com (650$). You didn't mention if you were getting a new vehicle that the dealer already has or getting a custom mini made

 

Hi Galen,

Welcome to our world. You're going to love your car.

On negotiation, I have not heard of any successes. Whatever price the MA comes up with on the computer, or is on the sticker, that's what you're paying. Plus tax. It seems to be a case of We have it, you want it.

Many people report that they are able to talk their MA into throwing in free floor mats. Discreetly ask the parts manager if they carry those in stock. If so, consider not ordering the mats so that now or later you can ask for them. If you hunt around on the NAM site, you'll see people's stories about getting extra stuff.

Dealer markup: Some Mini dealers tack on a thousand or a couple thousand more just because they're in a fancy city or pay higher rent or just want more of your money. The nice part is that this is clearly labeled on the sticker. The general consensus on these dealers is that you should find the closest one that doesn't do this and order from them. The money you save will more than pay for the price of gas/air fare/hotel to get there. And your free service/oil change/warranty service are valid at any Mini dealership.

Make sure you check out the Detailing 101 thread, you'll see some great pictures and stories of how obsessive-compulsive you will soon be and how shiny your new toy will be.

--doug

 

Welcome!
We ordered our MINI in July and paid the price that the online configurator produced, plus about $900 in "dealer prep", plus tax and license.

Dealers used to add a couple of grand to the configured price as mark-up, so we were happy to pay MSRP.

We've had the car for two weeks and love it.
Enjoy!

PS. Our "diary" of our purchasing experience is posted Here.

 

A friend of mine's extremely rich business partner lusted after a MINI for months, finally went to the dealer to buy one. When he discovered that there was no haggling and he would have to pay sticker, he stomped out and has done nothing but bad mouth the cars ever since.

His loss...

 

As was stated by miniphatty (LOVE the name) a lot of this is entirely dependent on both your dealer and area. It seems that just about everyone who buys in CA has to pay some markup or dealer prep fee which is either over or right at the $1000 line.

On the other hand, I live on the East Coast in PA and was able to get my MINI for $300 under MSRP plus my choice of free rubber or carpeted floor mats and a $35 certificate to the MINI gift store. All of this was without any haggling whatsoever, I didn't even go into the dealership. I simply posed the question to my MA in an email (I was in Brazil visiting my parents at the time) that there are three other dealers about the same distance from my college campus that he is, so what kind of incentives could he offer me?

The day I went in to place the order (you can do it over the phone but I'd never even visited a MINI dealership before) he actually offered $1000 under MSRP, and seemed prepared to go even lower, for a MINI they had on the showroom floor. Someone custom ordered it but their financing ended up falling through; can you imagine!?! Would have been QUITE the tempting offer, but it was missing a few important options I wanted and I needed the 4-6 wait in order to get my finances together. The general consensus, and for obvious reason, seems to be that if you buy your MINI off the lot, you should be able to work out at least a small incentive. But when ordering, making a deal can be next to impossible - generally your MA will tell you the respective dealer's policy up front.

According to an MA I talked to, MINI intentionally does business on a non-haggle basis - no one gets under MSRP as this keeps competition between dealerships to a minimum. Although I've read of a couple other NAM members paying under MSRP as well (if my memory serves me correctly, one actually got $3000 off a MINI which he ORDERED) the large majority pays MSRP and are happy enough with that.

Admittedly, it is a very new concept to get used to as I was ALWAYS told that you shouldn't pay the sticker price for ANY car, like no one does that. It makes for a much less stressful buying experience however. You go in knowing exactly what you are going to pay and don't have to deal with the normal greedy car salesman shenanigans. A unique buying experience for a unique car. After all you don't buy a MINI from a car salesmen, you buy it from a Motoring Advisor.

 

walked in, check book in hand - CASH - best I got after a week of calling, Tank of Gas and Mats - I did ask for "full" mats - Time will tell if He tries leave out the back matt and Boot matt???

 

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a Duck - Its a Duck

call them a MA if they like it - they are Still just a Car salesman

 

I met a few friends for lunch and i told about the whole mini purchase experience and mentioned MA and who they are. One guy said "Ahhh like an apple genius". I went "Woah woah (/keanu) woah woah..woah..hold it right there".

No offense intended to mac users (i think macs are fabulous toys) but i like making fun of anyone who sings praises about a product (sigh the irony, now i am a mini cooper fanboi...). I was telling them about how different MAs are compared to apple geniuises and and how helpful mini owners are versus the haughty attitude of Mac users.

 

Paid MSRP at Universal City Mini. There was a little double-talk I detected here & there: "Stripes cost $375 extra but we'll throw in the floor mats" was muttered just before closing the deal. Well, stripes are included in the Sport Package already (which I purchased)---but I allowed that little blip to go by so I would say I paid $375 over MSRP in the final analysis.

 

Remember that the term "cash" doesn't carry the weight it used to.

Actually, I'd argue the opposite, that a dealer prefers a lease or finance, because it is an opportunity for them to make a little extra profit on the finance charge.

 

Agreed - they make $$$$$ on the interest you pay on a finance or lease....

 

Just to add to what other have already stated; I was going to order a MINI where the best I could do at that time was MSRP. However, there was one on the lot that really caught my eye where I was able to negotiate $500.00 below MSRP, not much but I guess that puts me above average on their MINI purchases....

 

Just sealed the deal today on my 2nd MINI with Otto's. $500 under MSRP and I'm ordering it; had I gotten one off the lot he'd have done upwards of $1000 off. AWESOME

 

Hey you did good. We bought our second from Otto's and we paid MSRP. Just got the $35 for the gift shop. Guess we were to easy on them. She did say she could give us a deal on a lot Mini but my wife wanted to build hers.

 

I paid msrp on the car but I wanted to get Ipod adapter installed.

Adapter costs $330 plus some ridiculous amount for installation (total $600)

I paid just for the part + $100- got them to waive about $200 on installation. Plus they threw in free mats and free wheel locks.

So in all I got about $400 the MSRP..

 

Actually, we ordered from our local MINI dealership last Wednesday only after working with 5 other MINI dealerships in the area (including Irvine, Crevier Tustin, South Coast, Phoenix, and Las Vegas). We took the best price thatwe got (from Crevier) and asked our local dealer to beat it by $500. We avoided LoJack and the ClearCoat (each about $1000) and the dealer markup...

By the way, the dealership with the best Internet interface by far was Kirk Larson at Crevier. Always quick to respond to e-mail. Had no problems handling .pdf attachments in e-mail. On and on...

 

After visiting three of the Mini dealers in the bay area, my opinion of MAs in general are they are better than most car sales people. There was no push to purchase, no BS hagling over trade in value/new car price. Similar to the Saturn dealers of 5 to 6 years ago when dealing with them. But I agree they are still just sales people and once the sale was completed, I felt rather forgotten.

Since you are from my home state I assume stating that Macs are toys and Mac users are haughty, I should not take those comments personal if you ask me for any tracking help on NAM.

 

I paid MSRP and got a "free" tank of gas.