Will be picking up my MCa soon and have a couple of questions for fellow motorers.

What are the additional options/accessories that the dealer will try to sell you and are they worth the money? Specifically:
1) Are the extended warranties worthwhile to have (i.e. do you expect things to start going wrong after 36K miles/3 years)? From reading about some of the warranty works people have done it'd probably be a good insurance? Can this be added later on?
2) Clear bra. From reading the forums, sounds like a lot of folks get it and swear by it. How much does it costs if installed (I'm in SF bay area):
A) by dealer
B) outside vendor (would you recommend an installer)
C) I have silver bonnet stripes on, would it need to be removed or just lay on top?
3) Any other things I should plan to spend.

Many thanks for your time

 

At the last minute I did the $350 tire replacement plan that will cover replacement of a tire for flats or other damage. Since the run-flats cant be patched for a flat and have to be replaced it made sense to me. I had not heard about that one until delivery. They had 4-5 other optional warranty stuff that I did not get. I cant honestly remember exactly what they were though but none of they seemed worth the money at the time.

 

What are the additional options/accessories that the dealer will try to sell you and are they worth the money?

No. Read here about extended warranties ... http://www.carnutgarage.com/warranty/Warranty_3.html
Its just insurance and you know who wins that.

Clear bra. From reading the forums, sounds like a lot of folks get it and swear by it. How much does it costs if installed

Some like it, others don't. Personal choice, Prices range because its the installation that costs, not the parts. Better to have the dealer do it. Quality aftermarket is about $1200 when I looked into to (although in CA probably more!)
Any other things I should plan to spend.

Mods and Bling. After all, its a MINI and you need to Youify yor car!

Have FUN!

 

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My dealer never tried to push any thing on me, probably because he can tell I'm a cheap bastard from what I had ordered (basic MC with sport seats).

 

Not true. See http://www.mini2.com/forum/faq.php?f...q_faq_puncture

 

In my case, I did the clear bra myself, and just layed the film over the strips, it didn't take long for me to realize that's a bad idea. No matter how hard I pressed I couldn't get the air out of the small gap between the edge of strips and the clear bra film, because of the air pocket, dust will eventually find a way into it and makes it look really ugly.

I did find a fix by using a sharp knife to cut through the gap and peel a portion of clear bra away from strips, now looks much better to me.
Next time if ever I'd probably put clear bra underneath bonnet strips, if possible.

Somebody mentioned that his installer actually pre cut the clear bra film around the strips so he didn't have to think about this at all. Sounds like a good idea.

If you like biking, I recommend getting the factory roof racks, and then put on either factory or thule bike racks. Order them from classic mini to get 20% discount and avoid CA tax.

 

Thanks, well, crap.

 

My dealer tried to see me all of the extras. The service manager guy tried to sell me the clear bra thing for $995 and "Diamondshield" windshield protector for $850 (supposedly if the windshield breaks they replace for free and coat the new one).

Then the finance lady tried to sell me all of the extra warranty stuff. They wanted $1828 for a 7 year/100K miles warranty that is transferrable. They also quoted me all sorts of numbers for the tire thing and some other sort of warranty, but since I knew I wasn't going to buy any of that stuff I wasn't really paying much attention.

I decided that all of things are a waste of money for me. That $2000 I save on not buying the warranty could fix a lot of stuff. I tend to only drive 5000 miles or so a year and the car is garage kept otherwise. Plus I take good care of my cars maintenance wise. I think if I drove my car every day as a commuter or drove on lots of gravelly roads these "protection" products might make some sense. But that's another almost $2000 that I prefer to save. IF something ever goes wrong that money would fix most problems. Since I was paying cash they couldn't sell me these things by telling me it's just a few dollars more each month.

They didn't high pressure me on these things. I think they could tell by my lack of interest that I wasn't going to bite on any of this stuff.

 

I have always wondered if it would be considered terribly rude to just preface the meeting with the finance manager with a brief statement such as "I don't plan on adding anything like LoJack, alarms, paint protector, clear bra, or an extended warranty at this time, thanks." Instead of having to sit politely through all of that crap without rolling your eyes.

I mean, my last MINI purchase was thankfully, mostly free of all of that mumbo jumbo, but since I'll be doing all of this again in May, I pondered making a statement like that.

 

I think that would be perfectly fine. Since they still need you to give them 5's on the survey (which seems so terribly important to them) I'm sure they would still be quite friendly.

 

It's certainly no ruder than them trying to push it on you.

There is a real shortage of honesty and candor in our modern society. I'm always impressed when people are forthright with me, providing it's done politely. IMO, your dealer should be similarly impressed. Hey, you're saving their time too, they should be grateful!

 

Get yourself a hat and a couple of shirts. Seriously.

....Les