Hi
Everyone,

Not sure if this is the right location for this post. I live near Baltimore and are fortunate that there are a few Mini dealers to choose from. I want to order a new s or JCW vert in the next few weeks using USAA.

I was wondering what sort of customer experience people have had from the dealers in the Mid Atalantic. I know Mini of B-more claims to be the second largets in the country. Not sure if that is a good thing or not - THOUGHTS?


THANKS!

Rob

 

I had no problems with MINI of Towson, where I bought my MINI in 2003.
Haven't been down since they moved west, changed their name, and got even further away from me,
but if it's the same management, they should still be ok.

 

I've not had any bad experiences with MINI of Annapolis;

I only had service done through them, I purchased my MINI secondhand from a different dealership. They seemed quite cordial and their stock wasn't too bad the last time I checked them out

-Chase

 

Check out my post in the Countryman section a little more than a month ago:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...42-post77.html

I eventually went with Mini of Annapolis after closely checking out Sterling and Passport. Mini of Baltimore never even pretended to bargain with me, though the MA I test drove with was a decent guy. By the way, I believe Mini of Baltimore bills themselves as the #2 Mini dealership in the world, not just the U.S.

 

i went to mini of baltimore the guy there was so rude i went to mini of Annapolis i got the guys name wrong he was such a *** after that. i ordered a jcw yesterday from mini of Alexandria best decision i could have made

 

Will Mini of Alexandria handle all of your Maryland DMV work? Mind if I ask how close to sticker you were able to get your order?

Oh and CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

well it was my 16th birthday present and i ordered one bc they had one there but i wanted to break it in my self i didnt know who had driven my car and its not worth a 1,000 not to have a brand new one and they don't budge on ordering one which was ok for my situation but the girl there was really nice they are very negotiable if they helped you find one but with jcw that like finding a needle in a haystack bc of color and then the price jumps from 35,000 to like 38,000. if i was going to order of buy another mini agin i would say GO TO MINI OF ALEXANDRIA i would slightly suggest u go there too lol

 

First, I want to say that Mini of Baltimore recently gave me a discount that the DC-area dealers would not meet. As I live in No. Va, I would prefer to purchase my new car (a Clubman S, which I'll pick up this week) as locally as possible. I think establishing a relationship has some value. So, it has to make sense economically and personally to leave town to acquire a car.

Second, purchasing a car in Maryland turns out to have other advantages. First the State of Maryland caps the allowable dealer prep charges. This turns out to be a real saving of about $500 for me. In addition, since I live in Vriginia, I don't pay sales or taxes in Maryland. Virginia sales tax is 3%. I realize that there is a vehicle personal property tax in Virginia, but that's just the fact. It's not part of the purchase, just part of living in this state, which I won't change. So economically, it turns out for at least some Virginians to make sense to purchase a car in Maryland.

Beyond this, the dealer has been straight up on everything and has kept me posted and been responsive to my requests and inquiries from the moment I called to ask about price until today.

I don't think badmouthing individual dealers is very useful. Every individual has a different experience. Some salespeople (or motoring advisers as MINI calls them) are great, some are not. Sounds like life.

Happy Motoring!

 

[QUOTE=AllWhite;3307692]First, I want to say that Mini of Baltimore recently gave me a discount that the DC-area dealers would not meet. As I live in No. Va, I would prefer to purchase my new car (a Clubman S, which I'll pick up this week) as locally as possible. I think establishing a relationship has some value. So, it has to make sense economically and personally to leave town to acquire a car.


im not badmouthing anyone im telling my experience with them. imop go to Alexandria but go were ever u want to go. its ur choice it ur mini.

 

I've had pretty good experiences with MINI of Annapolis (especially after Tate sold the franchise), but I find it disappointing that not one of their salespeople owns or drives a MINI. They believe in them enough to sell them, but when it comes to spending their own money, they choose something else.

 

I purchased my 2007 Mini Cooper S from Mini of Towson. I negotiated online and they were able to give me the best offer out of the dealerships in the MD/VA area so I went with them. But that's really only a small part of the experience. The big part comes when you want to find a good dealership where you can return for good service and be respected as a valued customer.

I've had no problems working with the folks at Mini of Towson until they closed in 2010 and moved to a new location, now the Mini of Baltimore County. I've dealt with a couple service advisors there and they were nice and attentive to my needs. However, the service manager at Mini of Baltimore is incompetent and uncooperative. My last visit was my first time meeting him and I had several issues with my car. I drove 50 miles there and he sent me back empty handed, because they could not fix my problem until they could order a part for replacement and he could not give me a loaner for several days to wait for the order to arrive. He promised to call when they received the part and never did. I had to call to follow up myself. He said they needed to do additional tests before they could replace the part and urged me to bring my car in at their convenience when they had a tech available to look at my car (M-F 8a-5p). I told him I do not have a flexible work schedule to drive 50 miles to have them do a few tests on my car during the work week. He insisted they could not service my car nor provide a loaner during the weekend, when I am available. At the end, I have to make special adjustments to my own schedule and try to find a time during the week to take my car in for service.

Personally, I think buying is just the first step. Finding a dealership with a good service department is very important. It is difficult to find a retail shop that can do all the Mini services so you have to return to the dealer to get work done. You want to make sure you have a place to return where you'll be dealing with a knowledgeable staff that treat you right and with respect. And Mini of Baltimore County is not that kind of place.

 

I purchased my 2011 MINI in May from Towson, but I literally live across the street from the one in Alexandria (I happened to be visiting my parents who live closer to the Towson dealer and decided to check them out with my mum. Needless to say I left with a car). I thought the people at Towson were friendly and willing to pretty much do anything to sell me a car. They only wanted to budge $250 off MSRP on a ~$24,000 base model, but they did throw in the $1575 option incentive. It was kind of amusing, I wasn't happy with my financing after a few days and called to tell them I was thinking of refinancing, and they were MORE than willing to call the bank and "negotiate" a lower APR (i.e. $$$ for them), which ended up being lower than their 2.9/60 incentive APR. They also gave me $2000 over what I owed on my trade in (KBB), but of course trade-ins are always hard to really factor in to the overall "deal." It's a numbers game.

Anyway, I've taken my MINI to Alexandria twice now for a couple of noises (hatch rattle and sunroof) and they actually provided me a loaner when I left it there for a day for them to look at. No fuss, I didn't even have to ask. And everyone there is very nice. I've never been to the one in Annapolis, but their stock is limited compared to the other two (just in case you happen to want to buy off the lot instead of ordering).

Just my $0.02!

 

I would recommend Mini of Alexandria so far. I bought my MINI a little over a year ago and have had it in a few times for maintenance and small issues. The main thing that impressed me was their order to delivery time. Ray Adams was my MA and he told me he could get me the car in 4 weeks or less. i ordered it and it went into production 3 days later. It was sitting on their lot less than a month later. So if you want to order it, but also can't stand the wait, order from MINI of Alexandria.

 

I recently ripped the left corner of my rear bumper skin on a stop sign post that was 3 inches from the curb line.
I checked on price and availability at MINI of Baltimore County last week and they had one at $285.
When I went to pick it up less than a week later they told me over the phone it had gone up to $357.
After complaining and showing up there an hour later, it had gone down to $325.
They said the price increase for the part took effect on November 1, the day after my original 10/31/2001 call to check on it.
Hey, if you have a part already in stock that you know someone wants, that's a good time to raise the price 30%, right?
That's price gouging in my book.

They also checked with their factory approved body shop about the cost of painting it last week, and MINI of BC gave all the
details to Mini of Baltimore Collision Center and then got back to me with a price of $312, and I was told this was a firm
"out the door" no surprises quote, not an estimate.
When I got to the body shop, the price was (surprise!!) $460. They said they had no idea where the $312 quote came from,
although it had apparently come from themselves the week before.

It appears that MINI of Baltimore County or Mini of Baltimore Collision Center or both are engaging in bait-and-switch tactics.
I asked MINI of Baltimore County to find an explanation for the discrepancy in the paint shop quote they gave me and let me know,
but so far they haven't delivered on that.

Apparently I could have ordered a pre-painted part from MINI through them for about $100 cheaper, but last week MINI of BC
told me it would have been more expensive and possibly not quite the same color as 61,000 mile old BRG paint.
If they didn't raise the prices so much, they would have been right about it being more expensive.

If I had known about the actual prices, I would have ordered the part from Classic MINI in Ohio
(20% discount, no sales tax, but some shipping cost), and used my local body and paint shop,
and that would have saved me about $300.

 

I ended up @ MINI of Alexandria because 2 Maryland dealers wouldn't budge on pricing of the car I wanted. I originally was going to order a custom car but found a car out of state and had it shipped in. Was a very good experience there.

 

Update: Picked up the bumper cover today. The paint job looks good and they took $37 off the estimate,
so the paint job markup from the original quote is only 35% instead of 50%.
There was no mention of warranty on the invoice, so I called and asked when I got home.
They said they would stand behind the paint, but they offer absolutely no warranty.
If it peels, fades, blisters, etc. in a couple months, I'm at the mercy of their good word,
and unfortunately I've already had a run-in with their good word.
I do worry about stuff like this as I had a new fender on my previous car blister and rust
in just a couple years and was S.O.L then. The original fender on the other side was still
in great shape when I sold the car at 21 years old.

Total cost with tax was $345 for bumper cover + $423 for painting = $768.
Original quote with tax was $302 + $312 = $614.

Could have done it for under $500 if I stayed in York, ordered one from Classic MINI and used a trusted local body/paint shop.

I'm not counting the center lower spoiler and left fender black plastic trim pieces or the gas money, which adds up to about $100,
as they were sold at an honest price.