With the econmies around the world pretty much headed for some serious trouble does anyone think that BMW will be not reducing prices but willing to deal on the final price.

 

have to doubt it. BMW and MINI buyers are not usually the "hey i just need a car to ger around" type. they know what they want, and will do what is necessary to make it theirs. if you can't afford a BMW or MINI, you can always go get a Hyundai or Kia for some ridiculously cheap price. BMW knows their buyers can afford what they're buying. i don't expect that to change in the near future

 

I don't see any possibility of prices coming down unless sales fall off and they have a rash of inventory they cannot get rid.

As it is, they cannot keep up with demand at this point. Sales for Sept. were only down last moth because they ran out of cars to sell. Basically a dream situation for an auto brand.

 

Seems most if not all brands are suffering in the sales department. I wouldn't expect a lot of great deals price-wise but possibly some better finance offers?

 

They can't keep them in stock. There's no reason for them to drop prices.

 

 

When I picked up my MINI on Saturday I asked my MA about how the economy was affecting them. She said sales and orders have dropped way off, they have some cars on the lot they can sell now and some used ones too. She said all the MA's are trying to get management to drop the $2500 dealer markup to MSRP but so far management is not doing it. Glad I ordered mine just before they started the markup.

 

I ordered my car from a dealership that was still under construction. At that time (early Sept), they had a large load of pre-configured 2008s coming in in mid-Sept as part of their opening package and a number of them were not yet spoken for. However, they were not offering any sort of deal on the 2008s and I opted to just order a 2009.

The dealership has now opened and when I last spoke with my MA, he told me they still (in mid-Oct) had a couple of 2008s available. The economy in MI is about as bad as anywhere in the US, and while I agree about the typical market for BMWs and MINIs, it does make me wonder if they will eventually need to do some dealing on those last few 2008s. They have their grand opening this week, and I'm sure nothing will happen before that. But if they are still around next week, who knows?

There are also 6-7 used MINIs listed for our area on AutoTrader.com now - in August there was only one. This downturn in the economy is bound to affect every aspect of our society, and even most BMW/MINI buyers need to get car loans. But I guess time will tell...

 

This cracks me up Those kind of markups will scare anyone off a lot, so they only have their greedy selves to blame for their alleged misfortunes My msrp-only dealer is doing quite well, altho more folks in $$ trouble have returned their MINIs, unable to make the payments, so their used inventory is waaaaay up over a few months ago. glad I traded my R53 in July when the dealer had zero used stock, for I would get a lot less for it now because they have 15-20 used.

 

Oh they will, if those 2008s are still on the lot come December.

 

[FONT='Times New Roman']Considering that demand for MINIs is still high, I would expect to see prices at their current level.

With it’s level of customization, customers always can pick moderately equipped ones for the factory orders.

Just IMHO.[/FONT]

 

It's not really the PRICE of a Mini, but just getting a loan from the bank to begin with. Banks are getting tight.

 

Yeah, it's really tough now. They're actually checking people's credit rating and asking for a valid social security number!!!

 

I'm lucky enough to be buying from a dealer that only charges MSRP and actually eliminates the 'delivery fee' or whatever it's called. So, as far as that compares to the experiences of others, I'm pretty happy with it.

Yep. Tightening the purse strings and raising the rates. It sucks, for sure.

Uhm...right...

 

Well, I got a call from my dealers finance guy this morning saying they had to redo the lease contract. he could not get the rates to enter into the computer. Mini just did a change of the lease rates. Darn the bad luck, my payment went down $20 per month. just got back from signing the new contract.

 

Sorry, I thought everyone knew that there's a bit of an economic situation going on right now. You see, the lending agencies were passing-out a few too many low interest, no security, no credit history loans. It resulted in some defaults on the loans thus causing a just a wee little problem for the US economy. As a result loan agencies are being more attentive to following procedures now; i.e. they are actually checking to see if borrowers have jobs and have been paying their bills.

Perhaps I was a bit too subtle.

 

BMW is not immune to a failing economy. Demand WILL fall off, I don't care how many people want a Mini. Add strangulation in the lending industry and you have an environment for dealing. Just wait 2-3 months when things really start to kick in.

 

Many banks are not lending, period. Also, folks with very good credit ratings are not getting the best rates (I've read of folks with 750+ credit scores being assigned second-tier rates). People WITH jobs who PAY their bills are being denied credit. It's not just the "deadbeats" who are being denied.

 

Yeah, I caught that. I do have access to the news media, for what that's worth. The apparently subtle point in my response was that the economic problems go much deeper than some lending banks failing to follow procedures, presuming those procedures even exist somewhere. The housing market (though others are certainly causal as well) was just an easy target of blame for a temporary period of a system trying to eat itself.

Good times, eh?

 

Then they need to have this thing called a down payment!

You walk in and put down 5-10k you will have absolutely no problem....lenders are just not allowing people to finance 90% 100% or 125% of what something is worth....They arent going to lend to someone money who will be upside down in their car. So yeah some clown with a 750 score walks in and buys a 25k car and tries to finance 24k on a car that will be worth 20k the second the wheels cross the curb, yeah they wont make that deal....they will be expected to come up with 5k+....cars go down in value, and the banks are no longer willing to be holding a 24k note when the actual asset is worth something less. That was the fundemental flaw of the whole mess. People buying crap they cant afford and idiot lenders willing to hold more debt than the asset backing it up is worth

But rest assured.....The banks now know that all around the world...the governments will take over thier bad loans, pass losses to the taxpayers and encourage people to keep living on debt. Easy credit will return soon because nobody except the taxpayers and the shareholders payed the price. Privitized success and socialized failure will mean that the banks will be back to making idiotic loans to idiot consumers real soon.....dont you worry bout that!

 

I have a 760 Score, and I am having no problems finding a loan. I got one for 4.9%. All they required was 10% down and proof of my salary. I was just curious about what people thought for being able to deal a bit with the dealer. The consensus was about what I figured but was just curious. Glad I have a steady job that I know I cant get fired from.

 

Sales must be slowing down Long Beach Mini emailed me about a great deal they had with a price reduction from 3k over MSRP to $700 and change over MSRP with mats, wheel locks, and something else. I think dealerships selling over MSRP will get hit the hardest, but they deserve it.

 

Gotta agree with that last. Mine is an MSRP dealer, so that's nice, but I wouldn't complain if they decided to drop the price a smidge...

 

This is actually the best time to get a loan... If you can afford it. Banks are clamoring to compete for "A" level borrowers.

 

neither did I, got the same 4.9 rate locked for 30 days (dealer will adjust down after 11/1 if rates fall), but then I had over 40% down (including equity from my R53 trade and cash), and a secure Federal job (unless Old Clueless John gets elected). Man that trade equity saved me a ton in sales tax!