Hey Guys-

I've been looking at a New/Used Mini Clubman at a local Infinity Dealer and I finally test drove it yesterday (Now I have Mini Fever! lol) and I have a few questions that I hope you could help me with. The specs are:

2008 Mini Cooper Clubman Hot Chocolate Metallic/Silver roof/side mirrors, ect.
Almost loaded for $16,899.

Now my questions:

1. Can I get a Mini Warranty on this car? It's not a "Certified Mini" and It's not at the local Mini Dealer, it's a a Infiniti dealership.

2. Bank Loan or Dealer Loan?

3. The car comes with TWO spare snow tires? Is that right? I never had to worry about whether I had snow tires before.. I assume they are only for the front of the vehicle, as it's a FWD car.

That's it for now. If you can answer those questions for me that would be wonderful! Thanks guys!

 

Depending on miles it still may be under factory warranty. Normally unless you're purchasing from a Mini dealer, there is no factory extended wrranty available. However, most dealers can hook you up with extended warrantie but they're expensive.
Dealer loan is a bank loan but the dealer will get extra percentages profit so you're better off getting your own from your bank or credit union.
Not normal for two spare tires, especially snows. They're just sweetening the deal on the car. I never run two snows, always 4.

 

How many miles?

Are there no MINI dealers in your area? you're sure to have much better choice and you could check on the warranty. We got a 6 year 100k warranty on our new one. I'd think it should be possible to get a warrantee of some kind.

I'd check out both and go with the best rate. We actually got 0% on ours but we were lucky. Originally it was going to be .9% which is still great. Check around but depending on your credit you should be able to get something below 3%.

 

It has 48,6something, lol.

Yeah, that's what I figured about the snow tires. I'll look into getting the other two and see how much they are, or maybe make a deal with them about it.

 

I know it's not super accurate but Kelly Blue Book is a good reference point (www.kbb.com). you can put in all the options and get a sense for what you could expect to pay.

Sounds like a cool ride, btw!

 

If you get 4 tires, invest in 4 extra wheels. It' expensive and a pia to get them mounted and unmounted every winter and you'll soon waste the money doing that vs just buying snow wheels.

 

It has 48,642 miles. After looking into it Carfax shows it still has 48 months or 1,348 miles left on the basic and drivetrain warranty and 56 months or 31,348 months left on the emmisions so I guess that's my answer.



I'm in Pittsburgh and there is the Mini of Pittsburgh, but they don't have any used Mini's in my price range of 17k or under, so that's why I'm looking at this car.



Yeah, I went to LendingTree.com and they got me one at Capital One but I have to call them to get the specifics of the loan, which I will do today.. If they are open today. I also bank with PNC so I'll see what I can get from them too.

 

KBB is a fair resource but the best way is to do the research in your area for similar cars asking price. Find out how long the car has been in dealer inventory. After 90 days dealers usually are getting ready to auction or tade off a car.
If you have no trade in you can sweeten the deal by at least $1k but you have to be willing to walk out of showroom. Believe me, they can tell when you have buyers fever.

 

Yeah, I got the Carfax report on the car (the dealer provided it free on Cars.com) and they had the car since the beginning of December, the original owner apparently traded it in for a car from them so it only has one owner.

My trade-in is going to be a my old 1997 Chevy Blazer with 175k on it. The only major problem is it has an minor oil leak (it makes it to every 3k for the oil change though) and I just put 650 dollars into it fixing the wiper motor and blinker switch last week over holiday and my parents paid 1500 to get the suspension fixed back in September.. I'm (along with my parents) are done putting money into her.. We've been the only owners and there the anti-rust protection is about worn off the wheel wells and there is a big rust spot by the gas port, so I don't know how much I'll get for her. We'll see later today..

 

It has 48,642 miles on it. And I got the Carfax on the car and it says it still have a little over 1,000 miles or 3 years left on the warranty. Also, there is a Mini Dealer in Pittsburgh, but all the used ones are to expensive for my budget (under 17k).

And I checked around on the loan thing and found one with a good APR so I'm gonna mention that when I go in to see what we could do for this car.

@putttn - I'm gonna ask for no less than 1000 dollars for my 1997 Chevy Blazer (175k) and see what they say about the trade in.

 

The standard warranty is 4yr/50K so if you get this then have it thoroughly checked out real soon.

The tires are probably 'run flats' which from what I understand are no good in the snow. Check out numerous 'run flat' threads here.

Also check to see if the snow tires have the TPMS sensors. If not you will get a constant nagging tire warning on the console display.