Well damn, I just signed up here today and already you guys just saved me $750.00!

Drinks on me!

My local dealer does not have a date for the Not Normal sales event, but the next state over has an event set for tonight (30-40min drive). RSVP sent. I'll head over after work and wait to get my certificate before I head back to my local dealer to place an order for my "2013 IcB MCS to be named later"

 

I'll buy YOU a drink if you sign me up so I don't have to wait any longer!!! My car is supposed to be at the dealer Tuesday, then the sale is the following Saturday, so best case is picking it up the Tuesday after that. All this waiting is enough to drive a person crazy.

 

I talked to my MA today about this and he said the only way to get this discount is to take delivery on the day of the event.

 

Funny, my MA said I had to wait until after the event. Wish I could get it since I'll already be there tomorrow.

 

Do you ever get the impression these guys just make up the rules as they to along? Given the conflicting answers different folks are getting, I think the salesmen -- ahem, I mean "motoring advisors" -- are no better informed than we are!

Here is the fine print from the email I got from MINI for their $750 discount this summer. The new one is likely similar, but look for an email from MINIusa after the event for the current terms.



And the not-fine print:

 

You guys who already have your voucher, what was the actual signup process at the MINI dealer? When I went to the NOT NORMAL event, there was a high table with a person sitting behind it. The table had a banner or sign with the NOT NORMAL logo on it. She asked me questions and filled out a "survey" sheet. The word SURVEY was at the top of the sheet. The questions were basically my contact information and what was I looking for in a MINI. There was no mention of a voucher.
I briefly spoke to the Sales Manager and he gave me the impression that these "surveys' will get sent back to MINIUSA and I should receive an email soon.

Was there anything more to "sign up"? I saw on one of the other threads that the buyer had to get logged on to the MA's computer to do something. What about you guys?
My MA was too busy helping another customer and no one indicated there was anything else to do. I'm concerned that the "survey" had nothing to do with the voucher and I've basically been screwed.

 

Find a better informed MA, because this person is wrong. I went to one MINI dealer, and he told me that it only applied to cars on the lot. Then he said it was for $1500, not $750. Neither one of which turned out to be true. I sent him an email about it, to clarify, and he was wrong on both points. Yours is too.
Read the several threads on NAM about it, and then set him straight if you have to, or ask for the General Manager to get the straight story. That's irritating.

Good luck!

 

To clarify, I went to one dealership before their scheduled event. The MA said that the discount was for $1500, but it only applied to cars on the lot, not cars that were going to be ordered. I knew that he was wrong, but wrote him an email and asked him to clarify, because if that dealership was matching the $750 or something, it would be worth knowing. But when he replied, he had to admit that he was not informed. And while it's okay for people to be learning as they go along, I want a MA who knows the ropes and who also knows how to work to get me a good deal. Not someone who knew nothing about it, just a few days before the event!
Reminded me of when we went shopping for my son's Jeep. The salesman knew NOTHING about Jeeps, couldn't answer my son's questions about the size of the axle, etc. Okay, that's pretty technical... but then when my son asked to look under the hood... the salesman spent a minute or two looking for the hood release inside of the Jeep. You should have seen my son's face. This guy WORKED at a Jeep dealership! We left and didn't go back.

Jeeps don't have hood releases inside the vehicle. They have big latches on the hood itself. It is iconic to Jeep. We found a salesman who knew Jeeps, drove one, and could answer our questions... and gave us a far better deal.

 

To be fair, his job isn't to get you a good deal. It's to sell you a car, for as much as you will pay while still feeling good enough that you will become a regular customer of the service dept. But he isn't compensated based on post-sale things like that. His job depends upon selling cars.

Anyway, I hope everyone waiting on a new car gets the credit. Remember, it applies on top of whatever price you negotiate with the dealer, so don't let them try to make it part of the deal.

 

You're sure right about that, but with so many dealerships in our area, he'd better be competitive too. And he'd better be able to 'talk MINI', at least to some extent. We have six dealerships within an hour's drive.

Good luck everyone!

 

Yep got the voucher and purchased a blue CM a few days ago.

And that was only because I was getting my 3 week old MCSC fixed, and my wife tried out the CM.

Two coopers in four weeks. lol at my self.

Also on the $750 deal, I was told you have to take position by 1 Jan 2013. So you could buy one on the lot, or order one, and HOPE it comes in before the first.

 

You can use the incentive the day of the event even though you don't have the email confirmation. Your incentive is also good until 1-2-13. This will give you time to order if need be. The amount is $750.00.

 

I attended the "Not Normal" sales event today. I arrived towards the end when things were starting to drag a bit. They were packing up the climbing wall, the punch had just enough fizz left to let you know it was once bubbly and there was a distinct lack of cars to peruse but as an unexpected little pleasure I did receive a nice gift bag with a MINI mug, key chain and miniature MINI. Cool.

They did have a few cars to kick the tires on. I went for a quick test drive in an MCS with the all weather tires. I suppose I've been stuck in minivan hell for way too long, but I have to say that thing felt like they strapped a rocket to my *** and then blew it up. Wow. Fast. I want this car, I need this car. I tried to play it cool, like you always do with a sales guy, but my girlish giggles probably gave me away. Here, take my money!

Also I saw a couple of MINI's with the "Ice blue" color that looks a cool steely gray on the website but is more of a baby powder blue in real life. So I'll have to rethink that choice. All in all a productive visit so now I'll sit back and wait for the certificate to arrive via email.

 

Went to mine today as well. It was packed. They had catered food, including sausage and peppers, hot dogs, etc. - was actually pretty good. Seemed a little disorganized but once I saw my MA, I jumped in line to register. A nice young woman at the front desk entered my info into her computer and then completed part of the survey form. Then, as was quoted before, "There was also a small table with a Not Normal sign and a pretty girl taking "survey" information." Had to wait in a line of several people before I could sit down and answer a bunch of questions I could have answered on my own. They were very very straightforward questions, like how did you hear about this event? What kind of car do you Drive now? Are you serious about buying a car? The survey was completed on triplicate carbon copy paper – white, yellow, pink. My MA told me that I would receive a code in a few days, probably Tuesday, via email. He said once I received the code he would be able to apply the discount but not before then. He then told me he has 13 cars scheduled for delivery this week, so that I might be pushed back with my delivery date. So really did seem to be busy with sales. Turned out my car wasn't on the lot anyway yet.

 

I went to my dealers event. They had celery, jello, popcorn and chex mix. Oh and Halloween candy. No lines, just filled out a slip with name, address and email. Sat with MA and planned a date to hopefully pick up. Then headed out to lunch. I was in and out in 10minutes. Easy $750, especially since I had already negotiated a price I was happy with.

 

Hour and a half drive each way to get $750.00, two t-shirts, a rubber duckie, two Red Bulls, two keychains, two bagels, a pork BBQ sandwich, chicken wings and orange juice. Free magic act, a puppy and an adult bulldog, lots of great-looking lady employees, 20% discount in the MINI shop and also saw my future retirement present to myself - black JCW roadster with red trim. Awesome day.

 

The deal is done.

I ordered "Dover" my 2013 LiB MCS today. My MA was happy to accept the certificate from the event*, so that plus the $500 I was able to negotiate off the MSRP will pay most of the sales tax on the car. I had no issues at all with attending the sales event at dealer 'A' and ordering the car from dealer 'B'

Now comes the waiting. I hate waiting.



* Technically I don't have the certificate yet since I just went to the event yesterday but they promised (in writing) to accept it.

 

Okay my event was lame!

 

We showed up at our dealer right after breakfast, since we had things to do. Nothing was put out yet as far as food, so we just filled out the little paper, talked to the MA for a few minutes, established a timeline for ordering, and left. The MA said that he had 21 appointments today. They had something like 32 order allotments that they could use, so he looked it up and he had an allotment for what we want... a Justa Coupe. We want to take delivery in the second half of December, so we will be ordering on Friday.

 

Has anybody who attended a Not Normal event in Maryland on the 6th received their voucher email yet? I'm asking because I haven't and I just want to see if I'm not alone.

 

Yikes that's a long time. Hoping mine takes only a couple days. I'll let you know if I get it. Dealer told me I couldn't take delivery til it comes. For such a progressive company, it's shocking how antiquated some things are. You'd think they'd be there with iPads registering everyone and producing codes. But they're still using flash!

 

At the one I attended it was strictly pen and paper. I wonder how long I'll have to wait....

 

That's the way it was for me. It was my understanding that they actually snail-mailed the handwritten forms to MINIUSA, wherever that is. Last Monday (the 8th) was also a Federal holiday so no mail. Assuming MINIUSA is on the west coast, it might have taken all week to get there and someone had to read them and enter them in to their systems. What an unbelievably archaic process. Who knows whether they read the handwritten forms correctly.
My MA has said not to worry, but I do.

 

Uh-oh. My dealership had us sign in on IPads. Just my luck the internet went down or something. My MA did tell me I'm all set. We shall see.

 

At MTTS, the staff were using Ipads for scanning our badges, etc, and registration. It seems like it would have been much more useful to have that set up, rather than pen and paper.

Makes you wonder.