Wanted to say thank you to all those members that answered my questions regarding options and putting some fears to rest about the Mini's previous QC issues.

I'm in the process of detailing our trade (2014 Santa Fe w/ 7K miles) before going to the dealership to see about ordering our new Mini.

Here are a couple of questions I'll pose to the membership now that I'm past deciding on which model and options to buy.

1. Since we are near mid April and the 2016's will be available, should I wait to order a 2016 or buy a 2015 now?

2. This one piggy backs on question 1. Our local dealer has their cars marked with "true-car" pricing (which is (in their eyes) one dollar over MSRP), which infuriates me. I asked if they discount and was told "no", we have the cars listed with fair prices. BS!

Knowing this going in, I have a long uphill battle ahead of me trying to get a fair deal and if we are going for a 2015, it will be for a car that will be year old when the 2016 shortly become available for order. It would certainly be more appealing if they would deeply discount a 2015 if I order order one, but I count that possibility about 0% chance.

3. Just curious if any of the membership is willing to share any discounts off MSRP they received when ordering their cars? (as there is nothing on the dealer's lot that we want). It has to be a special order.

Our car will be have a MSRP of $33,810 and based upon my rasearch should have between $2000-$2200 markup , not counting the 2.5-3% dealer hold back from the manufacturer.

I'm not looking for a great deal, just something fair where the is some meat left on the bone for both me and the dealer.

Thanks

 

Curious how you liked the SantaFe. Although too big for my needs (hello, I drive a MINI!), it's a very nice-looking SUV.

 

MINI rarely discounts beyond token buyer's loyalty rebates and such. They simply sell without having to. I think you cannot realistically expect to negotiate much with them, the way you can with most other volume brands, with 100s of identical models on the lot.

 

I got $500 off MSRP on mine when I ordered a year ago, with no other dealers nearby. If you can find one on the lot you will have more bargaining power. If you have more than one dealer within an acceptable distance of you work the two dealers on price. 2016's probably won't be out til late fall. Assuming your retired military and USAA member see what they can do for you, some dealers will work a USAA discount.

 

I can't remember the exact discount but I went thru the USAA auto buying website and got a nicely discounted price on all the options, etc that I wanted. The dealership I ultimately purchased from wasn't affiliated with USAA, but when I said here's what I'm willing to pay or I'm going elsewhere they took the deal at that price. Then topped it off with a very nice finance deal to boot. As retired military I strongly recommend you give USAA a look see as you have nothing to loose and everything to gain.

 

Yes retired Army and I do qualify for $1K off with USAA. Now the question is will the Mini dealer let me use all $1K or only $250 off. I'm guessing they will either give you the full "boat" or nothing, not piecemeal.

To be honest, I'm willing to pay near retail for the Mini if they give me full Clean wholesale for my Santa Fe (it is practically new - even smells new). That will probably be the rub as car dealer generally want to steal the trade in. Wholesale clean on my Santa fe is $19,610 w/ out the dealer installed remote start, wheel locks, splash guards, cargo tray liner and the $500 tow package. Totaled a bit of $1K in add-ons beyond the $19,610 wholesale price.. Again, I expect them to offer me $16K for mine. and sell it for $22K.

Actually not adverse to traveling hundreds of miles for a fair deal. I know on the Corvette forum, there are forum sponsors dealerships that off near invoice pricing and will arrange courtesy delivery to local dealerships (or you can drive/ fly and drive the new Corvette home. Fortunately GM offers discounts amounting to $200 over invoice for suppliers, Mil members, credit Union members, etc. which is how I bought mine.

This is our second one and we really like them. Great value with exceptional bumper to bumper warranty (not that we have had to use it). Only reason we are trading is I sold my bass boat and no longer need a tow vehicle. Seems like Hyundai adds a bit extra to their vehicles to make them a real value when compared to others.

Minis are cool and should more than meet our hauling needs.

 

Entirely up to you. The later you wait to order, the longer you wait to drive your new MINI

My experience is, my local dealer (NoVA area) initially said they wouldn't make a deal on a custom-ordered car but would negotiate on a car on the lot. They said they'd honor the TrueCar price (in my case, USAA's price and they use TrueCar). Meanwhile, a dealer on the west coast would sell at a nice discount ($500 over invoice) but I'd have to take delivery there, and drive it home. So you have plenty of options. I'm sure folks on here can make email introductions on your behalf at other dealers.

There are different offers from the dealer and/or MINI USA at any time. What was available to me and others might not be available for you. I'd look at MINI USA and see what the offers are. By the time you take delivery, those may change.

Hope this helps!

 

I bought my '08 and '12 MINIs off the lot, and while I got a little discount, I had to settle with cars that had options that I didn't want and missed out on some that I wanted.
I ordered my '15S and am much happier with the car ( not just because it's the new model). It may not cost more to order the car if you benefit from picking your own choice of options. Just a thought.

 

See responses above

 

Where are you USA-RET?

I was prepared to go a few thousand miles to get the deal I wanted! I would have gone 6 hours south to Minneapolis if it was an option.

 

Great info guys, thanks

I'm. just north of Naples Florida and we have a Mini dealer in Ft. Myers (about 20 miles North). Also one about 30 miles away (but owned by the same people (so unlikely one will give deals while the other will not).

I do understand the dealers proclivity to sell cars on his lot first since he's paying a rental to have them there. Each one he sells is lowering his out of pocket expenses to run the dealership.

On the other hand, when ordering, the dealer only has the time invested to place the order and prep the car on delivery, so they has virtually zero out of pocket expense except for his 15 minutes to place an order and the car prep is included in the price of the auto from BMW.

It almost seems like they would rather not make a smaller profit on something that costs them nothing (other than the paperwork to order) and hope to score MSRP on a car that a walk in will buy (and not optioned they way they want).

Cray......

 

I purchased my last MINI (2012 R57) custom ordered and was able to get a fairly good discount through the Costco Auto Program however they only offer that at certain dealerships with certain year/models so it all depends on what they are trying to move at that time as motivation. I ordered my 2015 JCW a couple of weeks ago so I expected little to no wiggle room on the price but I'll do good on the trade-in!

 

If you're willing to wait until the 16 models arrive, the 15s will start to get discounted. The problem is that your selection will be limited to what is on the lot. Typically, this means highly optioned cars in the less popular colors. Of course, that might suit you perfectly. I was looking at a couple of the local dealers websites recently and saw that there are a number of nice 2014s that have been discounted up to $4000.

 

I doubt any discounting will be going on with JCW's regardless of whether they are 2015 vs 2016. They sell pretty well on their own so just my 2 cents. ��

 

If you try hard enough and take your time you can find a dealer that will give you a good deal. I had first started out with 1000.00 off msrp then to 1250.00 then to 1500.00 I wanted 2000.00 and I finally got it the 2000.00 off the msrp. just take will power and guts and shopping around.....

 

Agreed, It's just one of those things in life I hate to do, but feel compelled to so I can sleep at night.

I rarely buy anything off the dealers lot. The exception is the Hyundai Santa Fe (which has been our DD for he last two times). We usually find the base model has everything we would want in a vehicle and can generally find a silver one somewhere.

Others cars that are based out as stripped and you have to add a dozen or more items to it so it's optioned to our liking are always ordered. Mini falls into the latter category.

If I'm going to buy a car that retails for $33-35K, I sure do not want to settle for options I don't want or eliminate those that I do.

I do have USAA, so that will be helpful, but alas, our Mini dealer doesn't honor Costco car buying (which is great -bought or 2014 Santa Fe using it)

Next week there is a sale event at Mini that or sales-lady told us about. We will go and see what deal can be struck. Betting since we are ordering, the event will not be open to us, since we were told a special order car can take 12 weeks from build to dealership floor. So, sadly, a "take delivery by June 30th" isn't going to help us much.

I really look forward to owning one of these car. So once I get a price on the car we want and a trade offer, I'll either order or start my search for another dealer shopping the price.

I'll post my results after initial engagement.

As mentioned, all I want is a fair deal. I do realize the dealership is in business to make money, I just don't want to be the only one financing his daughter's 4 year college tuition.

 

12 weeks?! To Florida?! I don't think so... Maybe about 8 weeks TOPS, depending on how long the dealer takes to PDC it.

Both my MINIs took about 8-9 weeks and I'm in the west, which typically takes about 2 weeks longer because the ship coming from the UK has to go through the Panama canal and up the Pacific coast to CA.

That being said, I'm sure they're trying to cover themselves, because if the car for whatever reason doesn't get there by June 30th, your SOL for the deal. From what I've heard, MINI will not extend that at all, no exceptions. It's a risk, sure, but a calculated one.

 

My dealer in Concord, CA, just had a Sales Event during the month of April 2015 offering $1000 off the MSRP if delivery is completed by June 30, 2015. Hopefully, I'll take possession by June 30th. You're right, it's a calculated risk!

 

Same for me at my dealership, I'm pretty sure that was nationwide. They gave me fair warning and said I'd need to order by this past Monday to actually take delivery of the car by June 30th or no deal on the $1,000 off. I'm also a USAA member so was able to add that deal onto the other discount for a total of $1,500 off the MSRP. If you're a USAA member be sure to print the voucher complete with dealer instructions which explicitly states 'This incentive is additive to all other incentives' so you do have a leg to stand on when the dealer starts to tell you they won't add the two together. Good luck!