Hello all!

I'm Katherine from VA and I've been registered here since 03, when the MINI bug first bit me - I was still in college and, consequently, broke. Well, now I've graduated, and am planning on ordering my first MINI! I think this Saturday may be the big day, but I have a few questions - you guys seem so knowledgable about every aspect of the process.

1) When you order a MINI at the dealership, what's the process like? Do you basically just tell them what you want and they submit it, easy as pie? Is a deposit/down payment required, or can that come later? (I haven't even gotten my first paycheck yet, but I'm so anxious!)

2) How long do they generally take to come in after you've placed an order? After doing much reading about 06s vs. 07s, I think I'm going to opt for a space blue 06 with a silver roof and bonnet stripes. Any idea when 06 production will stop?

Thanks so much for your help in advance - not only will this be my first MINI purchase, it will be my first car purchase! (Mom and Dad have financed my vehicles so far, so this is a big step for me!)

- Katherine

PS > if anyone has any pictures of a space blue mini, I'd love to see! So far I think I've only seen 2 or so pics, and haven't seen one on the lot yet.

 

For me, "easy as pie" or order it. I told them what I wanted, they said "OK" and asked about a couple little extras (I bought the clear bra thing, but none of the other stuff).

My dealer wanted $1k down, but said they'd also take $500.

My Cooper (a relatively early '04) took about 3 months from order to delivery.

...and a bit of "life advice". I recently graduated college for the last time about 3 years ago and shortly thereafter bought my Mini. Don't stretch yourself too thin financially. My wife and I both make quite a bit of money (at least from the perspective of two grad students entering the real world), so our Mini didn't register as much of a blip on the balance sheet. But I work with a bunch of people that finish their undergrad, buy a car, a townhouse, etc, and end up not having much left over to save! So not to be too much of a Suze Orrman, but remember to save some money

 

Hi Katherine!

Wow, I am in almost exactly the same situation...been pining over MINI's since they came out and am finally planning on ordering one this Saturday. I've been using NAM for research all this time, trying to patiently wait for the right moment to order.

To help try to partially answer your questions, the dealer I have been working with here in NC requires a $500 deposit. They say that it's refundable unless your specced car is too out of the ordinary to sell easily should you decide not to purchase. They also said I could pay the deposit using a credit card if I wanted. However, all this can vary by dealer, so you should probably contact yours directly to find out for sure. Also, the dealer here quoted me 6-8 weeks from order to delivery. I'm guessing that it should be somewhere in the same ballpark for you since you're close by geographically. But again, I would check with the dealer to confirm.

Well, I hope this helps a little and good luck with your order!

-Deb

 

Welcome back...there is an abundance of Space Blue pics on this thread...

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ght=Space+Blue

...go and introduce yourself.

 

Hooray, thanks for all the space blue pics - I think that's definitely the color for me

Thanks for all the great advice - the MINI will be my only real financial obligation for now, I'm living at home until at least the end of the year to save up a little nest egg of sorts. This is really my one real treat to myself; I'm going to be frugal in all other areas for practicality's sake.

It sounds like I should be good to go - I have a credit card with excellent credit, and I'll be getting close to $1500 in my first check (a week from this Friday) - hopefully that'll work. I'll see what the dealer has to say. I can't wait!!

Thanks everyone - I'm so excited to be here as an almost-owner!

 

Katherine, different dealers have different methods. The first thing to do is to go to the MiniUSA website, and build your Mini. Print out the finished product when you're sure it's what you want.

Second, talk to all the dealers you would travel to to make your purchase. We went with a dealer about 65 miles from us, because with our credit, they didn't require any deposit or downpayment of any kind. The sales rep was great, and helped us with our options and such. This dealer would also sell at MSRP, no additional mark up. So take your built Mini specs, and sit down with the sales rep, show them what you want, and they will tell you what is factory, and what is added by the dealer or port. That add on stuff costs more because it's considered dealer installatiion. We wound up only adding the iPod adapter, and the armrest.

 

I customized my MINI online, it's all good to go - but the actual price isn't the price reflected when I built it? That could be bad news. :( My total price was something like $20,985 with the premium package, cold weather package, etc.; will it really cost a lot more?

 

Anything that is a dealer add on (not put on the car at the factory) will cost more because of the dealer installation costs. The price of the item remains the same, but you have to pay the dealer to install it. Examples would be the Aero kit, the iPod adaptor, the arm rest.

Your Mini sales rep will be able to tell you which options are factory or dealer.

The "Packages" such as you're getting, I'm pretty sure are factory options, and shouldn't cost any more than what the website says.

 

Oh, I see - so I guess the smaller accessories, not necessarily the options that go into building the car? Yeah, I'm going Saturday and I've already contacted the dealership, and they're incredibly nice and helpful. Thanks so much!!

PS > where does everyone get these cute "Cars" version of their MINIs made? They're adorable!

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=71003

 

Good luck, Katherine! I agree with Gromit...take the printout of your "build your own" specs from the MINIUSA.com site on Saturday. Discuss and confirm which items are dealer-installed, and get a firm price. Remember to ask about all fees and taxes and any labor costs to install accessories, to get the most accurate bottom line cost. Space Blue is beautiful!

 

Thanks!

Just one more question - how much can I expect to be able to haggle off the price? I'm not expecting much (if anything) because I'm sure MINIs are in high demand - I just want the best price possible. Any ideas?

 

I can almost guarentee that you will not get the dealer below MSRP. In the case of the Mini, demand is far outpacing supply, and it's a sellers market.