How does it all go down? If you order a MINI do you have to pay anything when you order, or do you wait until it arrives? Also, is it easier to order a car or just buy one from the lot.

 

*whew* where to start.

OK...first off, you can go to MINIUSA online and build your dream MINI. Then you take the build sheet (specs) into your local dealership and they'll place the order for you. Dealers usually ask for deposits at the time of order; I've seen the range of deposits anywhere from $500 - $1500 depending on the dealer.

As for which is easier - ordering or off the lot. That's a loaded question.

~ If you order your MINI, you get precisely what you want. And you get the opportunity to track your MINI and build a "Baby Book" from conception (when you get a Production Number), through the manufacturing process, to the ship, to tracking the ship across the ocean, to the VDC (Vehicle Distribution Center), to the dealership, to the very moment you first lay eyes on YOUR MINI.

Some people call this process sadistic. It can take anywhere from 6 - 12 weeks (sometimes less, sometimes more). It depends on your dealership's allotment and how many other enthusiasts are ordering along with you. You won't sleep between the time you order and the time of delivery. You will drive your friends and family insane. You might create a thread on NAM and need an entire contigent of fellow MINI maniacs to support you through the process. You might need to seek professional psychological help. And you might require prescription medication, a straight jacket, or worst case - a relatively short stay in a psychiatric facility.

~ Off the lot. If you are an instant gratification type, and you can find your dream MINI on the lot. BOOOYAH! You've hit the MINI jackpot. You get to go in, test drive it, drool all over it, negotiate (yeah, right), sign all the anxillary paperwork, and drive your new baby home the same day. You could be motoring within a few hours of walking onto the lot. This however comes with some of it's own risks. Unlike ordering - you don't get the preparation time to build up your facial muscles. Since you'll be grinning ear to ear when you drive it off the lot, and you've had no practice to-date in, presumably, a boring, humdrum, no-excitement added, vehicle of some sort - it is quite likely that you'll experience permanent facial paralysis of the smiling sort. It's not a bad thing...but friends and family will express some concern. On top of that, there won't have been time while you experienced sleep depreviation...thus, your first night of motoring might be cut short due to extreme fatigue. The ordering process gives you plenty of time to build up your sleepless stamina.

So, ya....FIND YOUR DREAM MINI...whether you have to order it, or find it on a lot. Once you do, your life will never ever be the same again!

 

My MA that I am talking to keeps insisting that ordering the MINI is a painless process... maybe I'm cynical, but it truly is hard to believe that you just walk in with what you want in mind, build it at the dealership, plunk down a deposit, and play the waiting game. I'm more than fine with no haggle pricing (so long as it's MSRP or lower... mark ups are retarded). In fact, I wish that all US dealerships would go no haggle like they do in the outside world.

Good luck! I'm hoping to get mine ordered on Friday :D

 

Thanks, I appreciate your help. gjhsu, good luck on ordering your MINI, I hope to order one later this fall.

 

i went to miniusa.com and built the one i wanted and then called my MA on the phone and talked to him about it and ordered it over the phone. it took about 10 minutes to do. the ordering process is painless but the wait is hard though.

 

I couldn't agree more! Since ordering Scoop I've averaged 3-4 hours of sleep a night! Yikes! Luckily I'm on summer vacation.

In So Cal, I put down a 1K refundable deposit.

Hint: Double, no . . . TRIPLE check the order production form your MA gives you to be sure everything you want is on there. My order went in without the Chrome Exterior, and now the dealership is trying to figure out what to do since my baby will be born this Friday and it's too late to factory install it.

I'm thinking a great interim activity is to watch the Italian Job over and over. . .vicarious MINI fix!!!!!

 

Don't stop and triple-checking what the dealer ordered. Keep checking the MINI website and, although it is notoriously behind reality and inaccurate, call if it differs from what you ordered. While mine had several "wrong" things listed just because, well because that just how MINI does things, a couple were actually wrong.

 

I agree 100%. Check & make sure they got your order right. I didn't & my reward for thinking my MA would take care of all the details was a second 6 week wait. I ended up reordering my car when the original one came in wrong.

 

So true.. so true!

Oh yeah...Tigs, that has got to be the best encapsulated explanation of the MINI order/purchase experience that I have ever read. Bar none!

 

Call me crazy, but I think the wait is part of the experience I wouldn't have done it any other way!

 

Crazy!

 

Maybe not crazy, but a bit demented.

Having waited twice for my MINI I'd say the experience sucked. Worth the wait, but the waiting sucked.

 

Good things come to those who wait, and all that...

If I'd had to wait TWICE I might not feel that way...but I did wait a full 2 months!

 

I guess if I'd known up front I was going to wait 12 weeks that would've been one thing. To go to the dealer, pay your money go to the car to drive home & then discover that the car wasn't ordered correctly really gutted me. That second six weeks was hell.:impatient :impatient :impatient My wife almost killed me.

 

Ordering and buying will are all fun! If you can find your 'dream' MINI on the lot, then why not? If not you can always order!!!

 

Yeah, custom spec it, that's one of the perks of MINI, almost every option is "À la carte", even the packages are available piece by piece if you want they just save you some money. You need to go throught the configurator a few time, you might order bonnet stipes on the first page only to discover they are included in the sports package you want. Read what the configurator is telling you about what is in each package. And then see what the individual parts cost. For example the Hyper sport package might seem good but if all you want is the sports suspenssion you will be paying mostly for body kit you do not want, in this case chose just the suspension as a stand alone.
Once you can build you MINI in 30 seconds from scratch, then you are ready to print out the spec sheet and show it to your MA. Expect to pay MSRP not more, this is not 2002 anymore.

Have fun!