I've been researching MINIs for a while. My wife made an appointment for me to go test drive one this morning.

Test drove a Blue MINI Cooper S with automatic. It was very fast, a lot more pickup than I imagined it would have imagined. The cornering was nice also.

I sat down to research how much everything would cost. They have over 100 MINIs on the lot.

It will be MSRP + 495$ (documentation fee) + tax and title. I said is the MSRP set in stone, the answer is yes. But he said he'll ask his manager. He tells me he'll throw in the floormats and 250$ credit towards accessories.

Is this a good deal? Could I get more in accessories?

I told him I wasn't really going to get a car until early next year, but thanks, I'll keep in touch.

Thanks.

 

They're pretty cool cars, eh'.

We just got ours a few weeks back, found a left over '07, but I've still kept my eye on the market a bit too make sure I didn't buy too soon. I got a good deal on mine, but it is a two year old car too.


If you can, I would wait on an '09, and see what's on the lots in the middle of winter ( If you special order, all bets are off though).
You may not see much movement on price, but I think you'll see movement on dealer financing, possibly 0%, and accessories thrown in as an incentive.

 

I asked if they would offer 0% financing. They said probably not. My equifax score is 740 the last time I checked. I offered to pay for the car in cash, no discounts were offered. My sister in law, says with cash I should be able to demand a discount.

It was an 09 that I was looking into. They threw in the floormats for free, and 250$ credit towards accessories.

How likely can I get a 0% rate?? If I could get the rate, I would buy it immediately.

 

Around here, yes, it's good.

 

I think you can bargain down that doc fee (at least ask for an explanation as to what this fee covers), especially if it doesn't include vehicle registration (in NJ it's about $200 for 4 years). $500 is pretty steep.

As for MSRP, even in this economy it would be hard to bargain, esp. considering the MINI is one of those popular fuel efficient cars that are in high demand. HOWEVER if there are 100+ MINIs in the lot I would think you can bargain down from MSRP, especially if you want one of those lot MINIs.

0% financing? Isn't financing %s determined by what the banks are offering right now? BMW Financing has some 0.9% deals, but only for their own vehicles. I haven't shopped around lately, but I would assume credit unions like PenFed still offer the best deals outside of dealer promotions.

 

Where are you located? That may help with what kind of deal you can get (although having 100 on the lot seems very unusual... don't think I've ever seen that many on any lot!). MSRP is pretty much standard though. Doc fee you can usually negotiate. Floormats and $250 for accessories seems pretty good, but hey... you could shoot for more. What's the worst that can happen? Look at what might be "dealer add-ons" that may be of no use to you and see if you can get them to reduce the charge on those. Just don't bother telling them what kind of deal you could get on something from one of the BIG 3 or anyone else for that matter. They won't care and your feelings might be hurt.

Have you considered contacting more than one dealership? Think ROADTRIP! Probably won't "save" you any money but it's lots of fun!

I don't know how you could get 0% financing on MINI. BMW does have low financing but for some odd reason doesn't transfer over to our cute little Coopers.

Our score was around 780 (I think) and we put about $15k down... best interest rate we could get was 4.95 for a 5 year from Bank of America. Of course that was in September and things in the financial world have gone a little crazy since then. (We also offered cash for a discount but it was a no go.)

Good luck and welcome to the World of MINI!

BTW- I think the MINI NEXT program might be good. They may have special financing rates on those "certified pre-owned" cars and the warranty is longer on them. Just a thought.

 

Doc Fees(processing fee) can not be changed, everyone gets charged the same amount does not matter if you buy just a cooper or a 760Li. It sucks, it is basically a profit fee.

BMW/MINI Finical is not offering 0% on anything. BMW is offering 0.9% on select BMW models, not MINI though. Don't take the BMW/MINI Finical offer if you think it is too high and ask you finance person to find something lower.

We sell most of our MINIs cash and there is no discount. Dealers get there money from banks pretty quickly and if your financing falls though for some reason then you nor the bank will ever see the title or get the registration for the car. Basically, cash is good but not as much as a bargaining point as it used to be. Discounts seem to depend on where you live and how that MINI market is doing. But if you were going to generalize I would say that MSRP and floor mats is standard anything beyond that is good. I am sure some people have done better and some worse.

Also just because there are 100+ on the lot does not mean that they are all for sale. We usually have about 25-35 on out lot sometimes upwards of 50 but only 10-15 will actually be for sale. The rest are already sold and just awaiting delivery. I am sure that with that many a good number are for sale though, and as said before if you want one of those it is your best bet at anything below MSRP.

The best bet is to buy one when you know you can afford what you want, and when you feel as though you are getting a good deal too.

 

Keep in mind that if you want/need to order a car that doing so now will get you a car early next year (due to MINI Plant shutdown for last 3 weeks of the year). Also depends on when your dealer has an open slot. I ordered mine on 10/20 and am hoping to get it before Christmas. If you meant early next year as in January then you should be ordering soon. If you mean within the first quarter then you are probably fine for a couple months.

 

I would look a used 08 or even an 07. My assumption is that is the only way you will get a deal. The demand for this car and the resale are both so high. If you have to have a 09 I would take the mats and the acc. credit. The $250 will get you a t-shirt and a light jacket from mini!!!

 

I'm located in Chapel Hill, NC. Went to Flow MINI today in winston salem.

I always like new, but a used one would be a consideration. Is the 09 the same as an 07 and 08, in terms of the engine. I know the 09 is a turbocharge (Coopper S) is it also the same for the 07?

Thanks.

 

Yes they are the same.

 

Yes, it is. I'm not into high finance, but if they seem to be giving you a pretty fair deal, just hang the money and get one. These cars are seriously addictive and is some of the best automotive money I have ever spent.....and that w/o free floormats!!!!!! The value in terms of on-going product satisfaction is off the scale, imo. It's just not that way w/ most cars in this price range.

 

hey gokartride,

I'm glad to here that the on-going product satisfaction is off the scale. One of the things I noticed most and kept telling the wife was the pickup the car had. The accelerator was very responsive. It kept going faster as I pressed harder. She said that might wear out with time. Do you guys see this? Or is it just as fast as the day you got it?

She drives a Lexus RX300 and it's definitely feeling sluggish these days. It's also 8-9 years old now.

Anyways if you guys were interested, these were the two we were interested in:

http://www.flowmini.com/VehicleDetails/1141707444
http://www.flowmini.com/VehicleDetails/1148132544

Both were automatics. Another thing that caught my eye was that it only cost 1495 to extend the maintenance thing to 6yr/100K miles!!! Is this a good deal? Seems like one to me, but I'm not sure.

 

I lived in Raleigh when I bought mine. Flow would not negotiate at all. I ended up buying the car from Hendricks in Charlotte. They took the doc fee off the price of the car (they have to charge everyone the same doc fee apparently). So, I saved 500 over Flow and only and extra 1.5 hour drive from Flow.

 

Yes. The MINI has two inspections; Inspection I (minor) about $500-700 and Inspection II (major) about $1,100-1,300. These should be covered in the extended maintenance along with oil services ($250 at a dealership) windshield wipers, any fluids, microfilter, break bads and rotors, external drive belts, entire clutch mechanism and I think some other smaller things . Some people don't know that you can stop buy the dealership to get your windshield washer fluid topped off for free along with oil and coolant when necessary. Some people live too far away to make it worth the trip for fluids.

But one trip to the dealership to replace the break pads/rotors and you have now almost paid for the extended maintenance, one more trip for one of the inspections and you are at or way over the 1495.

 

Interested in just hardtops or convertibles too? We love our convertibles (both "S"). Also, the '09 convertible will be different from the previous years and will be turbo instead of super... plus the redesign of course... that's why we made sure to get one of the last '08's (to be most like my '05)... love my rollbars and love my burble. Sports seats are fab! They help keep you hugged in while your screaming around corners! And I love Xenons... they make a world of difference at night.

Are you into manual transmissions at all? Manual "S" is awesome. Didn't know how to drive it when we got it but I'm so glad we did. I like to tell my car what to do!

I thought doc fees were always negotiable... however unlikely. I think some dealers charge more for their doc fees. Destination fee is what I thought was the fixed charge.

From the looks of the links, you've got a pretty good pick of a huge litter. Yeah, I know some or most are just waiting for their new owners but...

Make sure to do lots of reading on the forums.

In the last couple of days I've received two email offers from different dealers that I contacted in August. Downtown MINI in Orlando was offering $500 off any new in-stock MINI and $300 off any in-stock MINI but delivery had to be taken on either Black Friday or Saturday. So, there is some hope out there for working with the dealerships on in stock product. The other dealer, Prestige MINI which might be in NJ was having a "sale" too.

We "adopted" each of our cars and never went through the process of building and ordering so we made a list of must haves like, "S", manual, COLOR, xenons and went from there. Our first convertible was Chili Red and had black leatherette... we loved it. This one we have now came with leather (so we're afraid we might accidentally damage it) but since we couldn't find one that was Chili Red we went with Pepper White.

Hope you have fun. It really is a great time and it's pretty hard to not smile when you're driving! I'm betting you'll end up with more than one!

And you're really close to twisty town! No better place to have a Cooper!

Take care.

 

Good deal, mine was 42k paid in cash no negotiation what so ever

 

Also, I'd add that in this current economy, EVERY carmaker is suffering. If Flow has 100 Mini's on the lot, and you are serious when you go in to buy, you should be able to get a better deal!

 

You're interested in a Mini that's sitting on their lot or one that you'd need to order? If it's one sitting on their lot, you'd have much more to bargain with. I would demand the doc fee be removed, don't budge on that one. Tell him you don't care how it's removed(off the price or with free upgrades) but you want it gone. In addition, any vinyl graphics/accessories, etc that you'd like installed, ask for free installation(even if it's your own aftermarket ones). Heck, ask them to throw in the extended warranty for free!

Demand alot more since the economy is in a bad position right now. This allows the buyer to have more demanding power. The worst that could happen is a no. And if it's not an 09, then you should definitely NOT pay MSRP. In addition, if they try to hardball you, remind them that they NEED buyers but you don't necessarily need to purchase a Mini specifically or from them even.

 

IzzG. Wow I like that. I'm flexible on the options, I like the premium, convienence and cold packages. That pretty much left me with one of the Cooper S. Color wise, I'm flexible.

They have a big poster explaining the doc fees. I do want Bonnet stripes on the car, wondering if I could get that installed for free? They were going to give me 250$ off on accessories and they were having a sale for 25% off MINI accessories.

THe car I was looking at is an 09. The extended warranty for free would be AWESOME!!!

Has anybody been able to get a great deal like this, IzzyG?

 

Best of luck to you, I have heard of deals but it didn't work for me.. I paid MSRP and am cool with that. But I don't like to cut my posted prices either.

 

This thread just did it for me. I hate this board.

 

I bought a Clubman back in March and paid MSRP, plus a $45 fee to obtain plates and registration. $45 is the maximum allowed in NY for obtaining a registration and plates. Doc fees are negotiable, especially a $500 fee!

 

Go to MINIUSA.com, build what you want, and go in to the dealer with the build sheet and tell them you're ready to buy and let them know what you're willing to pay. If they balk, leave the build sheet and your phone number. I bet you won't wait long for a call back. Even MINI sales are way, way off recently.

 

I was out at two local dealerships this weekend. They both told me the best rate for financing directly from MINI would be around 6.9% APR. I would go through my bank of choice. try bankrate.com and see what is offered in your area at this moment on a new car loan.

As far as pricing goes, I would not pay anything over MSRP. One dealer was showing a $2,000 market adjustment on every single Mini on the lot. They did tell me however, if I did want to special order, I could get the car for MSRP. Confusing yes? They are looking to sell more cars because sales are down. In the end, I think you could even expect a discount or accessories like you said. I would push for more, it doesn't hurt to ask!