For the benefit of others who are searching for a Mini to buy, here’s what happened to me.

First, I was in a bit of a hurry, although I obviously didn’t always let that on to the sales people. My 280Z is on a consignment lot for sale, so it’s unavailable, and my beater Probe just lauched in alternator hell...so I needed wheels. I had no financing issues so that wasn’t a factor (4.5% thru credit union).

I was looking for a Just-a-Cooper, although a stripped down S might have worked too. The only thing I had to have was a manual, and cruise control a close second.

The first thing you’ll see is that there aren’t many manuals around, and many have lots of stuff you don’t want. So if you have to get a car, you’re gonna have to compromise on equipment. And wander afield.

I first went to Concord Mini. They’re nearest me, and they do AAA fleet pricing. Unfortunately, the BRG I noticed on their website I was interested had sold days before. It appeared that many dealerships don’t update their web pages, so phone. They didn’t have much in stock (another sales guy elsewhere said they had discounted many of their earlier sales and so had run low in inventory...hm). So we never got down to pricing, but he seemed sincere in that since it was AAA their would be some discount (but the way the program works there is a list of vehicles and the price over invoice, so probably it wouldn’t help with a made-to-order mini). Nice folks; returned calls promptly. A big plus is that they list prices on the cars on the website, but the listed equipment is often inaccurate (common problem to all these dealers).

Next I tried East Bay Mini, via email. Got a prompt response with an offer on a car, but then they stopped responding for a day or two. They didn’t have prices listed, so that made it real hard to focus in on a car. So I moved on.

Mountain View didn’t seem to have much of a selection either, but they do list their prices. But not enough selection to get me down there, and they didn’t immediately respond either.

Didn’t try SF.

Then I went to Niello Minis site (Sacramento). Kind of far away for me, but I initially thought (incorrectly) it could maybe save me a fraction of a point on sales tax. They list prices, and BAM! I actually got through. Some of the cars listed had real photos (taken on the lot of the actual, not a generic car). They also listed the added on options, which is real helpful. The price was MSRP. So I talked to Crystal Ewing-Dahl, who because of their sale knocked some $$ off (not much) and reserved the car for me for a day so I could come out and see it (more of a big deal than you think...while I was buying it the next in line folks called trying to get it; sorry if that was you They sent someone out to pick me up at the train from Oakland (fun ride; it’s National Trains Day today!!). The sale went very pleasantly, although the BMW finance guy had about a million warranties etc. he wanted to sell me). She seemed to understand that I was coming from a long way, and didn’t hesitate to deal with me over the phone or by email (none of this “well come on down for a test drive and we’ll talk about it” crap). Even got floor mats

So I’d definitely recommend Ms. Ewing-Dahl and Niello. They’ve got quite a few cars there, and are very enthused about ‘em; quite a contrast to their BMW side (one sales person referred to it as the “dark side”). I think others have recommended others sales people; they all seemed nice and were very helpful without being pushy (hey, I’m a lawyer so I KNOW pushy negotiation).

Overall, I doubt you’re gonna get much below MSRP on these cars. Edmunds and other sites confirms that, and so does my experience. The best way to buy is take your time and order the car; I paid probably $2000 more for options I didn’t want too much (but now that I’ve got ‘em I like ‘em).

So happy hunting!

Rob