How does one organize a group buy? Probably we can't do any better but if we got 6, well it wouldn't hurt to ask... But what's the process to start a group buy?

 

Call whomever you're buying from and ask how many orders it would take to get a group discount.

 

Your best bet locally is to call Herb (parts manager) at MOS and ask for an old roadfly.org price on a group buy. I would bet he lowballs everyone.

 

what's a MOS?

 

MINI of Sterling

 

well I sent emails to CLASSIC, I'll give him a call

 

You can try Crevier too, they took over for MOS at Roadfly

See here http://forums1.roadfly.com/mini/forums/partscounter/

You can just post your question and they will answer with their cost

 

I contacted Classic and they wanted total price purchase of 399.20 + shipping. I did not see much of a discount with them. I could drive to a nearby dealership and purchase the alarm system for the same price ($399). I'll contact Morristown again about their price, and ask about further discounts and a group rate purchase. How many people should I say (3, 6, or more)? I'll also contact Lucky Dog Garage and further discuss a group price.

 

Ddi you mention NAM? There is a normal price and a NAM price.

 

oh sweet. I thought this intitiative had died out.
I was just about ready to go out and start looking on my own.

Please PM if anything happens with this.

 

I emailed Classic and Paul responded back that Classic would give us a 25% discount if we ordered 6. I emailed him back to ask about the mechanics of how we would actually buy the 6 and have not heard back, but using my early 05 Cabrio as an example:

The alarm system 65-73-0-393-977 list $399.00 yours $299.25.. Wiper switch 61-31-6-931-803 list $75.00 yours $56.25”.

These figures represent a 25% discount but Classic's normal discount is 20%, so in my case by doing the group buy I would save an additional $23.70. That's ok but the savings really come in if we group install them.

So I'm in (asuumin we can get a group install going) and I will coordinate with Classic, and contact other vendors to see if we can get a better price, but I'll need you to pm me with your name, VIN and contact info.

But someone else needs to coordinate a place and a time to do the group install somewhere between NJ and northern VA, preferably on a Saturday. Who will work on that? Just as an example, would Helix or Mini of Towsend let us use their parking lot? Michael

 

What about shipping cost?

 

Shipping is extra, but Classic's pretty good on this. When I ordered my armrest the shipping was like $12. I can see what Morristown Mini will do if there is interest and I could probably pick up, but then you would pay 7% tax...

 

Do we know what it costs to have activated? I'm seriously interested, and if a gang wanted to group install my driveway holds 6 MINIs. I'm a convertible too by the way... As if the sig didn't give it away. In fact, I'd like to replace my speakers while I've got the panels off I think...

 

I think Tate charged me $60.

 

We're talking about a group install, but who's going to install them and what will their cost be? It would have to be more than one person to install six alarm systems. I'm assuming that each alarm system will probably take at least 2 hours for each car. I'm still trying to contact LDG about installation and their cost. I think I may have been dialing the wrong number. I'll try again soon

 

Mhend, I'm thinking along the lines of we do the installs ourselves with some one like Wagnbat leading us through, of course we would give Wagnbat some compensation for his expertise. No doubt this will be the least costly option and from what Wagnbat is saying it is easy. Alternatively if Lucky Dog Garage was willing to ido a mass nstall with us "helping" or not, for let's say $100 a car, that might be an option too. But obviously in either case we need to present ourselves to a given location at a given time, for example Sat August 26 at 10:00 AM. That's the only way this will work. And while mmatarella driveway is at least 5 hours away from me, maybe that what I have to do to get this done. Michael

 

2 hours? The first car 'may' take 45 minutes to an hour. I'd expect 30 mins for the next car, and less than 20 for each car after that.

Once you figure out exactly where the stuff needs to go, and where the pre-wired stuff is, it should go rather quickly.

 

I think a group self-install would be the best option, if someone is willing to guide us through it.

All said and done we could get it done for about $400 (maybe less for hardtops??)

 

I've pm Wagnbat

 

Yup, I plan to install it myself. Sorry I'm so far! I figured a bunch might like to get together each doing their own and learn together. 2, 3, 4 heads better than one. Especially if a wise one wants to guide us.

In my case since for the convert I believe the door skins and both rear side panels come off for the motion sensors front and rear I think I'll do a minor speaker upgrade while I have it all apart.

 

I think I may decline on this one. If I had an older car, I would have no problem tinkering around on it to install something, but I just bought my car, and I do not want to screw up on something, especially with the car's electronics. We seem to have different year cars, and I'm sure the cars are wired differently in some way. I don't need to find that out when my car's panels are down. Besides, i will be out of town the last 3 weekends in August. I guess I'll find some other way.

Thanks, anyway

 

If the cars were wired differently, they would not have 1 kit and 1 instruction guide for cabrios.

 

I am interested if we can get the details settled and agreed upon. What turned me off about the alarm install initialy was the dealer install price.

 

Well Wagnbat has agreed to help. He's not an expert but he's done it before. We can do this at anytime, does not have to be in August but my September is busy...
Wagnbat is near Baltimore, anyone interested in hosting from around there. That's only a 4 hour drive for me...
Assuming we find a place and a time, could those interested PM me with contact info, VIN, year and model. TIA Michael