Hello,

I am having a difficulty in deciding to which Chicagoland Dealer should I buy my next 07 MINI. All the 3: Knauz, Patrick & Bill Jacob are in the same distance to my place. All seems good folks.

Any buying (especially on financing issues) experience which you can share will be very helpful me.


Thank you very much in advance.

ejkd

 

Call up Dan @ Knauz; went the extra mile and then some for me. I'm very pleased with their SALES experiance.

 

I would goto Patrick, if I couldnt get the deal done there, I'd goto Knauz, then that other place down south.

 

I appreciate if you can elaborate more of why should I go to Patrick first.

Thank you,

ejkd

 

Personally, I really liked Dan (Knauz), but I also like that they are very upfront with their pricing for accessories and installation charge. In fact it is written on a document, so at least they are not free-wheeling. However, when I went to see Chuck (Patrick), he had no sucjh pricing list. When I showed him Dan's list, his jaw dropped. He shuffled around with the service department to confirm the cost and labor was accurate because some of their installation fees were double. In the end, Chuck beat his price on the car and added some extras. Nothing agaisnt Dan, but Chuck also had the exact '06 MCS that I wanted. Given they had the exact same MCS, I would have definitely closed with Dan. In summary, Knauz is upfront and honest (not that Patrick insn't) and Patrick was more willing to play ball.

Hope this helps.

 

I bought an '07 MCS cabrio from Maria at Patrick... I'm from Peoria, so I have to travel to get to any of the three Chicago area dealers. St. Louis is a similar distance... Patrick was very flexible, had the car I wanted and has been very supportive thus far (delivery was ~1 month ago). Highly recommended!

Regards,
Mark Gibson

 

I bought my MINI from Jen at Patrick and it was a really great experience. I visited multiple times over about a year and talked to her everytime. I was very impressed that she remembered me each time despite the length of time between each visit.

 

my 1st mini visit was in patrick. only 5 miles away from me. i ordered my 07 from maria last dec. when i checked my order last feb. it was filthy inside and out and was outside with snowstorm going on that week. i rejected it and they gave my $500 back. i went to bill jacobs next even though its 34 miles away coz dustin offered me $1200 off my 06 MC royal grey premium/cold package im driving now. i already have my credit union financing and 30% down ready so i dunno about their financing. BEWARE: bill jacobs has the worst after sales service in the whole wide world. search my threads about my horror story on bill jacobs - the worst mini dealer in the whole wide world!!! i suggest u try knauz mini i have not stepped on their lot but.. maybe they can help u better than the other 2.

update for ejkd: yes mainly. but overall after sales service as a whole coz after i emailed their website 3x of my complaints. no1 has sent a reply. not even an apology. even my MA who was very helpful in the buying process. they will treat u like crap the second u hand the check.

 

Thanks "coopermaniac" for sharing.

Do you mean you have huge issue on Bill Jacobs MINI Service Department?

Thank you.

 

I live 3 miles from Patrick MINI but ended up buying from Knauz because they had everything available on their lot for test driving. Cooper, S, Convertible, manual, automatic, ...

I've used the Service Departments at both Knauz and Patrick and would have to give the edge to Patrick for service.

 

I'm heading back to Patrick Thursday for install of some Dinan stuff... I can't say enough good about them! They've been great; offered a loaner (in spite of the fact I'm was originally headed back to Peoria with it), and have been very helpful with some other 'updates' they're doing for me... There's no doubt that Blake (one of the SA's) is busy; but when we connect, he never makes me feel rushed.

Cheers,
Mark Gibson

p.s. Coopermaniac - I sympathize with you over your bad experience at Jacobs, but have you ever connected with them to try and make things right? I know that I have a quick temper myself, but I always get better results if I slow down a moment and take a breath (before pulling out the big guns!) It sounds like an awful lot of your problem (dirty car, crap on the carpet under the mats, etc.), might have merely been poor clean-up work on the part of one of their car porters... shame on them for allowing a car in that condition to go out the door! But it sounds like your hard feelings for Jacobs might be impairing your enjoyment of your new car… just a thought.

 

I'd recommend Patrick or Bill Jacobs, I called up Knauz and they took their time getting back to me when I let them know I was looking to buy that day. Didn't feel like they really wanted my business, Both Patrick and Bill Jacobs were great. If youre going to Patrick talk to Maria, she was incredibly helpful, unfortunately in the end Bill Jacobs had the car we wanted so we ended up buying from them, Dustin did a great job working with us and made us proud owners.