In the end, that is what matters. if you're happy with the price and you feel you got a good deal, then buy the car.. if for a 1 sec though you feel they are holding out, just take the test and get up and walk. no call back means, you got their best deal.. 2017all4 is correct on timing though. You never know when the company just needs 1 more car to hit their unit bonus. but from a salesman perspective, we just want to move the car.

 

well said.

But for the most part, everyone still comes in thinking the worst of the salesman. Just the rep old timers created for us. I am dealing with the old timers that I work with.. I have gotten screwed 3 times for going above and beyond for people, to realize I have to share the deal due the fact "Left VM" from another salesman was put in the notes. Customers get screwed sometimes, but so do the salesman. good luck to us all lol

 

 

Yup. And I try to remember what you just reminded us of. Going back to the very first post in this long thread, the plight of the salesperson is discussed. Smart buyers understand the salesperson is in the middle, between customer and desk. Nobody gets paid until the buyer signs on the dotted line. The system is designed to make the customer, who has all the power, feel powerless. The trick is to align the salesperson's interests with the buyer's interests. And, as I mentioned in other posts on this thread, if the salesperson helps me score a skinny deal on the car I want, he/she gets a gift card from me (or, actually, from my wife who is a nicer person than I am). Because a hard-working salesperson shouldn't get screwed just so I can save a few bucks on a car deal.

 

 

you would think prices would drop lol...

nope, lets just make a 49k JCW... everyone loves that lol

 

You post this, my manager just comes to me right now.. let's make deals lol... Mini really needs to start lowering their prices, cause they are all about to be at a loss lol

 

Good inside info, David, thanks for posting. For 2+ years MINI had refused to go below MSRP, so I bought a Jetta. Saw news recently that MINI sales are down and they are considering consolidating the dealerships and combining them with BMW. Before Dec. 30th they advertised about 4k off new 2018s and 2.5k off 2019s. Gave my wife a good trade on her 2012 Countryman and she left with a 2019 2 door S. Loves it.

 

Great to hear. We are back to basically "not offering" (you'll get it)$4,000 off.. Sales are down this month, but its January.

 

 

I think that if I was buying a new MINI I'd take a printout of those sales figures with me and hand them over when negotiations started to stall. Passenger cars are down, like BMW numbers show, but MINI is tanking worse than the New York Knicks.

 

True. Might not work, because you might get rude salesman that are upset that you're telling them they are failing lol.... One that seems to work every time, and I think everyone should start implicating in their negotiating tactics.... Tell the salesman or whoever you are dealing with that you are getting 3 quotes from 3 different places. Best deal earns my business. We just took off 6k off a new vehicle last month to make sure we were the lowest deal. Sucked, but we got it... That seems to be the best tactic I have seen so far. Try it out.

 

Way back in fall of 2016, when this thread was started, the world was a bit different. So let's update things a little.

A major development that has been recently reported is that there are MILLIONS of people who are more than 90 days behind in their car payments. That's repossession time for a lot of people.
What this tells us is that car dealers are continuing to make money selling to sub-prime customers -- people who are running close to the edge from paycheck to paycheck. There is data that suggests that almost half the households in America could not easily come up with $400 cash in an emergency without going further into debt. And many of those people are buying cars -- cars they really cannot afford.

Okay, so how does this impact car deals? First of all, if large numbers of car loans keep going bad, capital available to fund future loans will dry up or certainly get more costly, increasing costs for everyone. In the current rising interest rate environment this is already adding to the price charged to borrow money for leases or loans. Anyone buying or leasing is going to pay more if borrowed money is involved.

But, perhaps most important, is how this impacts the dynamics at car dealerships. What are the people sitting across the desk from the customer during a car deal thinking? How will the car dealership's perceptions and expectations impact how they deal with the customer? What's going on with the dealer's business model? How are they making their money? How will they approach a well-qualified customer when the real profit is in deals done with folks who have weaker credit?

To be sure, the dealer makes almost no money on an all cash invoice deal where no add-ons are purchased. Compared to a customer who is shaky on credit and thus gets the loan interest rate bumped and is so glad to qualify for a car that they gladly pay an extra grand over invoice just to get a deal done.

So, sadly, being top tier with your credit and savvy with your deal numbers may actually make it a bit more challenging to close a deal because the dealer is going to be harder pressed to figure out how to make any money off of the deal. In such instances, the customer represents a unit moved, metal off the lot, and a star on the back office white board next to the sales person's name who closed the deal. But not much else.

Without getting too far off into the weeds, let's just say, knowing all the numbers, grinding hard, keeping track of all the moving parts, knowing the rock bottom numbers to which you will say yes, and having your cash or credit in good order can still result, as always, in a better deal than most customers will ever see.

But dealers are seeing more dead beats and are gearing their business models to selling cars to people who really can't afford them. Bear this in mind and figure out how to use your good credit and well-prepared deal numbers to your advantage, never forgetting that dealers are making money off of people less prepared and less financially able than you should be when you hit the dealer to snag a new ride.... And if you're not top tier in the credit department, don't let the dealer hose you -- work hard for the best price and terms, and, if it doesn't come together on the right terms, buy a cheaper car and work hard to improve your financial condition so down the line you can drive what you want at the right price and terms.

 

In the broader scheme of things, the sub prime car loan failures are pointing to something much bigger. Imagine a financial meltdown part II. It will be the Best Financial Meltdown ever.

Probably better off saving your coins and buy something used.

 

Yup!A record number of Americans are 90 days behind on their car payments

 

another great way guys, I have seen as high as $5,500 off this month is shop us... tell the salesman your dealing with that your shopping them.. Whoever gets the best deal earns my business.. Guy just got 3k off of a JCW just so he wouldn't buy in Miami.

 

 

I'm telling you guys... anyone paying sticker price on Mini's right now, just not very good lol... we are all desperate.. lead right now is 8, I'm at 3 for the month.. 5k off a Mini is easy as hell lol.. my manager just offered 2k off an order JCW.. its bad lol

 

MINIUSA is putting an additional $1,250 cash out there for the month of March, on top of other existing offers.
And who knows what, if any, hidden manufacturer-to-dealer incentives are going on?
If you're shopping for a new MINI this month, grind hard. Let the dealer tell you "no" to the lowest offer you can pencil out. IF, that is, you are willing to sign the deal if the dealer says "yes."

In preparing an offer consider these factors:
How much will a well cared for new 2019 MINI depreciate in value over three years?
How should the expected steep initial depreciation curve help justify a low offer on a new MINI?
In addition to all known available incentives, how much more of a discount should you expect?

So, if the MSRP including the $850 shipping charge is $35,000, and there's $2,000 loyalty plus an additional $1,250, that's $3,250 (9.3% of MSRP) discount right off the top. If you ask for an additional 5% discount from MSRP on a $35,000 MINI, that's an additional $1,750 discount, for a total discount from MSRP of $5,000. I'd ask for even more if I were ready to drive a new MINI from dealer's stock off the lot today. But I'd be pretty happy to get 5 grand off of a new MINI if I loved the car and was ready to motor. But I'd ask for more.

Why? That $35,000 MINI, if the mileage stays low and the car remains in near-new condition, might be worth $20,000 at most in three years. Any money paid for initial drive off taxes and registration, and mods, is just gone and not even part of the equation, even though any of those dollars are still costs the buyer has sunk into the cost of the car.

The name of the game is to get the dealer to eat as much of that early depreciation as possible. And the argument is that part of the true value of the car when new is its likely value 2 or 3 years later. Sure, some of the diminished value is the use the owner has enjoyed over those years. How much? Start low and find out.

 

For February, MINI USA reported 2,679 vehicles sold, a decrease of 12.6 percent from the 3,065 sold in the same month a year ago.
MINI Certified Pre-Owned sold 918 vehicles, an increase 6.7 percent from February 2018.
Total MINI Pre-Owned sold 2,181 vehicles, a decrease of 2.8 percent from February 2018.

 

 

They also have a free MINI driving school for people upgrading to a JCW offer valid till the end of the month.

 

 

Yep, the forced trim levels and option packages can drive up the price really fast.

I looked at the 2 series. By the time I add the few options I want, it was almost 10K more than the JCW I ordered.

 

Emails are pouring in from MINI USA and from my dealer. Also starting to get these teasers from other brands about early lease termination opportunities. Basically the competing brand folds any remaining lease payments into a deal on one of their vehicles. Got one from Chevy and one from Honda the other day.