My dealer gave me a full tank, along with free car washes for the life of the car every Saturday.

 

OH THE INJUSTICE!!!!!

 

I agree with muladesigns.

The dealer is being penny-wise and pound-foolish. Just look at this thread. A good percentage of us think the dealer is an absolute fool. That's quite a (lack of) return on his investment....err, savings there.

You can't buy bad advertising like this! OTTO! HE'S THE MAN!

 

I know things change, but sometimes it's not for the better.
I've been talking to the husband, and we have the luxury of having 2 Mini dealerships within 45 minutes away from us.
Soooooooooo, he said when the time comes..... whichever gave us a full tank vs. a 3/4 or a 1/2 tank would win the business.
It's just principle.
Wow, I feel like the devil's advocate on this thread.

 

I do not think the practice should make Otto's public enemy #1, just vote with your wallets/surveys/etc.

Personally, I would address it in the part of survey that covers the delivery of the vehicle, probably would give them a very low score on that section.

Now is Otto's the type of place that will toss in free mats, etc. at delivery? Up until now, I have heard (on threads) mostly good things about Otto's.

I do think it is sad that MINI is one of the few brands that benefits (in more demand for cars) with higher gas prices, a dealer would take an opportunity to cut back on what was a standard expectation. I doubt the higher gas prices has slowed down business there... there must be other ways to cut costs that are less transparent to customers and do not generate negative PR.

 

We are picking up our Mini from Otto's within the next week. I ordered it on 5/21, and have been patiently waiting. If I do not get a full tank of gas I will flip a lid. We originally went to Mini of Towson, and their service was horrific. They wouldn't give us the time of day....so we made the trip to Otto's and gave them our bussiness.

I am selling a my current car tomorrow morning, and I just got back from topping the gas tank off! If I can do it for a $6,000 car sale, they better do it for a $25,000 car!

If everyone dealing with Otto's could email their MA an email just to verify this, I am sure they will get the message, and maybe change this poor bussiness practice!

 

Here is the sales manager's email if anyone wants to contact.

ccarey@ottosmini.com

It is openly posted on their website so I don't think there is anything wrong with posting this.

 

I think the Sales Manager may have some mail to read in the morning.

 

Sorry, where's the $80-100k profit? They have no expenses apart from filling your tank? Your expectations (demands) are out of touch with reality.

 

Of course they have overhead, you know, its not even worth my time. read my threads over.

Here, i'll even help you.
I don't know about most people, but if I were making 80-100K per month and I had an added expense of only 2418 added to my overall overhead, but it kept my clients happy and refering more clients to me, (one refferel per month = gas overhead). i would have no problem with that at all.

see, never said the gas was my only expense. i said it was ADDED!
And I'm the one out of touch


Folks, I always welcome coments to my thoughts, or way of thinking. But PLEASE read, and understand what I wrote before jumping on me.
After all the face you may save, may be your own

 

Wow, your arrogance comes through loud and clear. Read your own post again, you claimed they are making 80-100k *profit*, that's clearly not the case.

Do you really think Mini dealers need referrals at this point? They have essentially no stock and significant queues.

 

MINI Dealers as a class currently need no referrals. However individual sellers do benefit from referrals where customers have a choice. The issue here is a sellers desire to make themselves the provider of choice. I believe that it is a short term improvement to the net revenue per sale driving, and the decision is not resulting in delighted customers.

So given that there is NO price variation between dealers, and no on the lot inventory, where will you chose to spend your money?

 

+1. OWG hit the nail on the head.

It ain't always gonna be a dealer's market and people have long memories. Ask MINI of Annapolis about the lasting effects of Tate MINI in my area.

 

Great point, no difference on price/inventory, I had a bad experience w/a local MINI dealer and walked out and drove out of state and ordered at a dealer over an hour away. I think how you treat your customers makes a difference regardless of how popular the MINI is right now.

Sure it was only one unit my local dealer lost, but I have talked to quite a few prospective buyers since ordering.

Whoever said penny-wise, pound foolish earlier was right on the mark.

 

do you think that the supply/demand level for minis will be the same forever? Ottos is also a bmw dealership - do you think that:
the cost of 1/4 tank of gas is going to kill them on a 50k + bmw, or,
the cost of 1/4 tank of gas is worth all of this bad press

the lifeblood of dealerships is referrals and repeat customers.

You can argue that many people may not care, but some do, and the profit of one car per month would more than cover this.

 

[quote=greystone;2359364]Wow, your arrogance comes through loud and clear. Read your own post again, you claimed they are making 80-100k *profit*, that's clearly not the case.

Ok i'll try this again.... I clearly stated that i used a 2K profit as just a number to throw out there matching the 40-50 cars sold a month.
arrogant? no, annoyed when people say sarcastic things when not comprehending what I wrote? yes!

Do you really think Mini dealers need referrals at this point? They have essentially no stock and significant queues. [/quote

The referals or lack of do hurt both the sales person, and the dealership.
If you have a lot of unsatisfied people telling you of there experience not being satisfied at a certain dealership (which is clearly the case here)
You will then have the people going elsewere.
which in return means lower sales, which in effect hurts both dealer and salesperson!

with that said, all this discussion on this thread is people posting that they are annoyed because of spending upwards of 25K and being nickel and dimed over a full tank of gas. And if the other dealer in town provides it, they would go there. (that was the point).

 

X2 thank you

 

this topic has gotten to 3 pages in like 24 hours. you can't say that people don't have strong feelings about it...

 

Yeah and it seems that most of these people would be the type to take their ball and cry all the way home because "Joe Blo won't play with me".

Let's see if the dealers that are giving out that extra 1/4 tank of gas and getting ALL those unsatisfied customers from the lesser dealers, are willing to put their money on service and NOT in the tank.

Which would you rather have?

1) A FULL tank of gas and BAD service throughout the life of your MINI.
2) Don't care about gas give me good service.

 

why is it to much to ask for both, after all one is only filling up a tank of gas one time, which in return will start to build a positive relationship and the other bonds the relationship for life. hmmmmm. (good business 101 in my book)

 

That's my point exactly.......This thread never got past the 1/4 tank of gas issue. Why flame a dealer because he gives you less gas, for all we know his service might be outstanding and from the look of other threads on this board Otto's has a very good rating for service.

 

It's not a 1/4 tank of gas, as much as it is 'principle".
As an example, when I do body repair on someones car i detail the entire car. Ive only worked on the outside, but yet i vacuum the interior.
Do I have to? no. But again it's just the 'principle".
Would my customers come back or refer me to others if I didn't do that? probably, but by me going the "extra mile" it shows them that I "care"

 

this is not a choice between free gas or good service. on a >20k car, both should be expected.

 

+1 -- absolutely...It's the rapport you build! I often wonder what the percentages of word-of-mouth vice advertising for some of the really special categories like MINI, or real estate, etc.

Our real estate agent said he does the absolute MOST business just by word of mouth from military person to military person. BUT...he goes that extra mile to deserve the word-of-mouth reputation.

I recently got my truck serviced at a dealership (granted it wasn't the dealership I purchased it from, but I hardly even remember what STATE I purchased it anymore!). I paid almost $400 for the 40k service, and they couldn't even clean out their dirty rags out of the cab and left all kinds of track marks (dirt) on the carpet. There's no way I'm going back to those guys EVER.

The MINI dealership here in Richmond, however,...I took my MINI in for just a worried-MINI-owner oil change before the recommended time, and not only did they WASH the MINI, but they cleaned out the interior too. I wasn't expecting all that, but I sure appreciated it! Their customer service is outstanding - and better than the BMW side just across the garage! I've referred I don't know HOW many people to THEM.

It's the devil in the details!

 

MINI repeatedly wins Advertising awards, and our little cars get to help pay for the costly promotions to begin with. Are those awards a benefit of owning the car? And yet after all the good press these campaigns provide, a dealer makes a $20 decision that can ruin good will with the customer? Can't deny that.

It would rub me the wrong way. I got a full tank last time, I'd expect it again. Or maybe that's just the new way? Suddenly I'm a little less interested.


Are we going to have to opt in to a Secret Black Box campaign in the future?
ps- I got a dealer's email inviting me to the showroom that read: "Minis our flying off the shelves". But then again, typos in adverts also rub me wrong.