Are sales advisors usually pushy a MINI dealers? Is MSRP the norm?

If ordering a car, does customer have less leverage to bargain with?

The part I hate most of buying a car is the F&I room. Where a different guy tries to sell you paint sealant and tire protection and Lojack and a lot of stuff you don't need. I could see extended warranty perhaps on a MINI.

Anyway, would like to hear about your MINI purchasing experience. Piece of cake or the worst part of the whole thing?

 

I found it about the same as any other new car buying experience. The salesman (MA) is there to maximize dealer profit and sell you something off the lot if possible. The MSRP is initially presented as sacred but if you work at it you can usually negotiate at least 5% off the top. If you don't feel you're being treated right, use your feet and find another dealer. Many Mini dealers do internet sales so you can shop around a bit without actually visiting the other dealers. As usual if you have a trade it complicates the negotiations. When in doubt, sell your old car privately.

 

So if I see something in stock, maybe not exactly what I wanted, but close enough to keep me happy, they have more room to deal versus ordering?

No trade in complication.

 

That's been my experience in the past. The dealer wants to move his inventory off the lot. If you buy today, everybody (including the MA) gets his share of the proceeds much sooner. If you order, there's more paperwork to deal with and nobody gets paid until the car is delivered in 8 weeks.

 

There are 2 dealers here locally -- Tempe MINI & Scottsdale MINI -- I have dealt with both. I prefer Tempe MINI -- I bought my new Clubman from Matt @ Tempe MINI - he was great to deal with and he saved about $3K off sticker -- I bought off the floor and I bought a manual ( when the autos were in short supply ).

I suggest checking out both dealers and seeing what they have in stock -- also check out the local mini group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/dmcaz/ lots of good info.

Good luck & hope to see you around

 

My experience:

No hassle, no fuss. I brought in the printout from the website with the car I wanted, and talked to the MA a bit about the details. (Wound up with the $500 sport suspension instead of the JCW one, for instance.) No negotiation, list price was what I paid. The F&I guy didn't push hard on upselling stuff, but I was quite definite on what I wanted (which was none of it).

If I had really tried, I probably could have worked the price down. I have read on here about people in areas with multiple MINI franchises playing them off against each other to negotiate the price downward. There are also events you can go to which will give you a certain amount off the price as well. I timed my purchase wrong, and missed all of those in my area.