Hey everyone!
Just wondering about dealers in the SoCal area that people have had good or bad problems. I have no problem with driving for price or service. Let me hear what you have to say.
Thanks

 

The only Socal dealer to stay away from is Long Beach Mini - they will rip you off on a new car purchase.

 

Hmm. I heard so much good thing about Long Beach mini.
One of handful MSRP dealership and etc.

llcoyote, can you go into more detailed reason why Long Beach mini is bad?

thanks

 

whaa??? Long Beach mini is one of the only dealers in soCal that doesn't charge any 'fees'... I've found them very helpful, and have heard lots of good things.. what probs did you have??

 

Scroll through the Southern California forum. There are some dealer related threads.

 

I don't live in California. However, I located the exact Mini S that I wanted to buy at Long Beach Mini. We negotiated an MSRP price. However, the MA insisted their legal departement staed the vehicle has to be registered in California. Over the past 2 years, I have bought 3 new cars in California. All I had to do was to pay my own stae sales tax and register in my state. Moreover, I had my own attorney discuss the state regulations with Long Beach Mini without any change. Before it was over, the MA got real nasty.

 

I checked out three dealers. Bob Smith MINI is Calabasas who are up front and honest and will not negotiate in any meaningful way on their $3000 additional dealer markup - I appreciated this but for obvious reasons went elsewhere. I also went to Universal MINI in North Hollywood who supposedly do not charge an additional dealer markup, but have mandatory add-ons (eg maintenance plan extensions, dealer prep fees, alarm system); while this may have been somewhat negotiable I do not feel comfortable with this practice.

I heard good things about Long Beach MINI, but since South Bay MINI was a little closer I went there first. There is no additional dealer markup, and, while the wait time is perhaps a month longer than Bob Smith, I was quite happy to save $3000 and wait a little longer for my order. I work with an MA named Chris Yuseco and could not be happy with the service and communication I have had with Chris. Fully recommend South Bay.

 

You can buy your car in CA, but you can not take delivery/drive it on california roads. There are 2 options. A one way driving ticket which all dealerships refuse to do, the other is to truck it out of state. I have bought cars in cali, and register them in another state. Even after paying for shipping, I save money.

 

Our first two MINIs came from Irvine MINI - the sales folk are nice but they just got a new sales manager who came from Crevier MINI and they threw in the dreaded dealer markup. Because Irvine MINI service department is atrocious, we no longer risk taking our MINI there.

I have just ordered a JCW from Crevier. We started going to Crevier for MINI service and they are a lot better than Irvine (but they still have some issues - all MINI dealerships do). We decided to go with Crevier because of what they offer for MINI service - they offer car loaners for whenever your MINI is in the shop. A lot of the other MINI dealerships don't include a loaner or you have to book well in advance.

Crevier is the #1 MINI dealership in SoCal in terms of sales volume. Since they're numero uno, they didn't tack on a dealer markup on me - I'm paying sticker. Crevier is also closer to me.

I have heard good things about South Bay - they charge MSRP too. Plus, they are close to the Fireball Racking Studio - you can get your MINI fireballed!!

Good luck! Check out NAM's Southern California Forum and also SoCal MINI Maniacs (www.scmm.org) for more info on dealerships.

 

I have purchased two MINIs from Long Beach MINI and they've been the best car-buying experiences ever! I've been driving for more than 38 years, so I've had a lot of car-buying experience.

I've also recommended LB to many, many prospective MINI buyers over the past 4 years. They have always sold MINIs at MSRP and are upfront about the whole process. Their MINI Service department, after being rather weak in the beginning, has really gotten its act together, so I can also recommend LB MINI's Service department, too.

 

I just picked our MINI up from Universal about a month ago and didn't have to add anything extra to it that i didn't want. But then again i also told my MA that I have been in commission sales for 20 years 15 of it was in car stereo sales and install so anything I wanted to add to the car I could do for about 20% of what they were trying to charge. He barely even tried after telling him that.