We're finally ready to pull the trigger on a new CooperWorks Coupe for my wife. We've got 3 dealers each about 30 miles away, so I will be looking for the best possible deal. We went over to Sterling yesterday and they were only willing to knock off 1% off the MSRP despite having 5 as of yet unclaimed JCW coupe production slots within the next 30 days. (Demand is certainly down from when I bought mine). The economy is clearly impacting all marques.

Has anyone witnessed any significant discounting (e.g. 3-6%)?

 

No. Markup on MINI's is roughly 8%, current REGIONAL demand may be down but remember they had a stellar year in 2008 as a whole. I just got mine at MSRP despite being a repeat customer but they were willing to give me about $500 retail worth of dress-up parts and discounted the port installed body kit over $600 from their regular price. Only time will tell but I think BMW/MINI will try very hard to maintain their MSRP "value." They can't force dealers to keep it but can certainly punish them with allotment changes if they they start discounting too heavily. It's a slippery slope once a manufacturer starts giving incentives, etc. Pretty soon it's just expected....for an example go check on the current BMW situation over at Bimmerfest's Ask a Dealer forum.

 

Those discounts you received amount to almost 3% of the total vehicle price. I'd be happy with that. Given the $40k I'd be dropping on the car, $1100-$1200 off doesn't seem unreasonable, specially since they are sitting on unclaimed production slots they'll have to inventory on their lot.

 

I was happy with an extra $500 on trade in when I got my 09 MCS. Most dealerships are hard to get a price tag under MSRP at all. If they went down $500, see if you can talk them down to $1000 off. If they do that, then I'd take it and be happy.

 

YES, I was quoted almost 10% off of a JCW Coupe, msrp was $33 and some change and was offered the vehicle at $30 and some change

 

Please PM me with the dealer name.

 

I'm just not getting that. You can easily build and check invoice versus MSRP at Edmunds.com and what you're saying is basically that the dealer is offering the car at/below/or near invoice. I don't know why any dealer in the US would need to do that unless they've got some really weirdly optioned car on the lot that was ordered then refused. And note to Ihoboy....I'm not positive on this but I don't think MINI forces dealers to order all of their allotment. As far as I know JCW slots are earned based on various sales goals but I don't think dealers have to build all the ones they're allotted. So far the only ones I've seen on my dealer's lot were ones that were customer orders that fell through.

 

Another possible route to take is to email your desired build to a number of dealers w/in vague driving distance, pit them against eachother, and then take the best quote in to your dealer and see if they'll match it.

 

I'm in that process now. As I mentioned, the first dealer offered a 1% discount. I will be talking with the other 2 dealers in the area this weekend.

According to the Consumer Reports New Car Buying Service, all of the MINI dealer invoice prices are exactly 10% below MSRP for both the base vehicles as well as the factory options. They do not specify pricing for the dealer or port installed accessories. The MINI dealers are offered no other incentives or kickbacks. From an incremental analysis, the dealer would be better off accepting a $2000 profit (5%) rather than not utilizing an available allotment. That is the same profit they now get on the base Coopers. I could see them taking a hard line if they were otherwise able to sell their entire allotment.

 

+1

There's not enough profit at MSRP to give 3k off even on a 33k car. You'd be below invoice. I'd like to see a scan of the purchase order and VIN.

 

According to Edmunds.com, the difference between MSRP and Invoice for a JCW Clubman with not a single option is $3,080.

The difference between MSRP and Invoice for a JCW Hardtop is $2,855.

The more factory options you add the more profit on the car as each option has a markup associated with it. For instance, looks like the Nav system has a $200 markup and Premium Package has $125 extra tagged on it.

I think MINI and Porsche are very smart in this regard as they allow you to 'you-ification' your car with many options and accessories, but they make plenty of money at the same time as it allows them to markup everything individually.

 

This all coincides with the Consumer Reports pricing report. The dealers get exactly 10% off of base vehicle and factory options. Therefore, a vehicle configured at $40k costs a dealer $36k. I don't thinks it's unreasonable to expect themto take $38K for a car that is allotted them that they won't otherwise sell. That earns them the same as the $2k they would ordinarily make on a $20k Cooper.

 

A 33k car costs the dealer exactly $29,700. If the car is sitting on their lot, they are paying interest on the inventory cost, and they are short on cash, they might well be willing to unload a vehicle for a mere $300 markup. I certainly would not expect them to go anywhere near that far on an order.

 

This discussion also does not take into account dealer hold backs that get paid later.

However, I agree with the posters who said to shop it around then take your best written offer to the dealer you want to do business with and see if you can strike a deal, if they're even close then I'd do business with them.

Buying cars at $100 over invoice is part of why we have $100+/hr shop rates and very expensive parts. The dealer has to cover their overhead somehow, and $100 over is not going to do it, even if they sold 500 cars a month!

 

Also don't forget that the invoice price of the car is what it cvost the dealership to get it - there are added costs on top of that.

Dealer holdback? Don't think MINI has those.

 

Consumer Reports has confirmed that MINI dealers get no holdbacks or incentives.

 

While Edmunds is a great source for information, they are not the end all be all of the car research realm. I have emails from the dealer showing proof of what I have posted, and I'll post the email as soon as I pay a deposit to hold the car I choose. The cars in question are not "weirdly optioned". Could it be possible that the market in the area where I live is just not that good for Mini right now? On another note, this is the cash price that was quoted to me prior to introducing a trade in. They are making a profit somewhere, perhaps not as much as last summer, but they're still making money somewhere. This dealer went months with a empty lot, now they are literally hiding Mini's in a giant warehouse behind the dealership.

 

the more highly optioned a dealer stock JCW is, the more likely there will be some kind of discount to move it off the lot. But on an ordered car, I refuse to beleive that any dealer, even in more dealer-thick regions of the country, would take more than a nickle ($500) off msrp.

and I believe that MINI has never offered any kind of monetary incentives on their cars, and have led the american automotive sales industry in this since being introduced in 2002. as one poster said, it's a slippery downward slope once this starts happening, and I dont see it, even in this economy.

 

It's done .

$845 off the msrp (total vehicle, options & acces.) on an order at Tate. Best I could do.

 

Mini of the Woodlands, in the Houston area has a new JCW Clubman on the lot. Sticker is 36K+, and they are offering it on special for $32K. If I had the cash right now, i would ****** it up.

 

Jackie Cooper has 3 JCW on the lot.
1 all black
1 all white
1 chocolate clubman
They will deal bring $ and tell them I sent you. See Chris or Tracy

 

Sounds like a great deal. As I expected, if they have it sitting on the lot, they will deal. However, since we keep our cars for about twenty years each before we're ready to retire them, we want the new car to be built precisely to our specs. The deal I got on an order is the best I've seen so far.

 

Sorry to nit-pick, but the invoice on a $33,000 car would be $29,847... there is no 10% mark up on the $650 destination, plus there is a $82 "training services fee" that every dealer pays to MINI USA on their invoice.

 

I spoke with M of Sterling a few days ago and they offered me $500 OFF MSRP plus rubber mats for a custom-ordered JCW Clubman.

I will probably call them back and take the spot unless I find something else

 

Thanks for bringing up the training fee Sarafil. The folks over at Bimmerfest are very familiar with it but it's the first time I've ever heard it mentioned here. Any MACO on MINI's?