That's my stance, for sure.

Refuse to talk via email, where I can control the pace of the conversation and have everything in writing? Then why should I trust anything you'll say on the phone or that you're not planning to rely on your ability to talk circles and confuse me?

Refuse to negotiate the price of an ordered car? In your pursuit of $3K worth of profit, you've just earned $0. Congratulations. You could have had $1,500 without trouble.

 

I got $1500 off my new Coupe order this past weekend. Definitely room to negotiate and also special incentives at the moment too.

 

if you guys think it's bad dealing with what you have, try being a woman and buying a car. it's quite the frustrating experience. they treat me like i'm an idiot. when i ask about performance or characteristics of the engine or transmission, they smile and point to a cup holder or mirror. i've walked out of many dealerships because of this treatment. i even had one salesman at jeep a few years back that flat out refused to speak to me about buying a car, and would only address my husband. even if i asked the question, he would answer to him. after him doing this a few times my husband said to the guy "i'm not the one buying this car, she is, so speak to her" and the guy basically walked away.

i am very glad to say though that when i walked into mini to get this car, i experienced none of that. my ma was awesome and never once tried to pull one on me or acted condescending because of my sex. i went in alone and got a great deal. this alone will help keep me loyal to mini, or at least to my ma.

 

Believe me when I say this, if I was a sales person, women would be my specialty:-). I love working with women more than men. Plus especially when the woman is cute, it makes it even more fun. I've had experience with sales and women were much easier to work with. So all in all, I'd definitely had helped you if it was me as your sales guy!

 

Well, I have a great relationship with my MA but every time we discuss ordering a new MINI (Roadster) or upgrade my Clubman and he said only MSRP as they do not have any room.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and ideas because they keep making me believe MINI do not have discount.

 

Dozuk have you considered calling dealers out of the area? As many have noted, a drive for a good deal is not uncommon.

 

Absolutely! Thanks.

 

I've just joined NAM as I have just ordered my new MCS, so allow me to share my purchasing story. Also, I'm excited that there is such an awesome MINI community like this one!

I live in West Texas and am about 300+ miles from my closest dealership. The way I went about getting the best deal was this. I group emailed the sales manager at every dealership in Texas that I was willing to drive to which wound up being about 7 dealerships. I was upfront in my purchase strategy and made it clear that I WILL be buying a car during the MINI Spring Cleaning event that was taking place that weekend (this was a Monday). I told them I would accept offers all week and on Thursday I would group email everyone again with my lowest offer and one more chance to earn my business. Whomever had the lowest offer would be the dealer that I bought from. All but one dealer (El Paso) responded to me. Initial offers were only in the $300-500 off MSRP range. One dealership opted not to make an offer until Thursday in order to beat everyone else. Another dealership told me that they were not going to get in a bid war with other dealerships and basically ended negotiations after I refused to immediately accept their verbal offer with no out the door pricing or worksheet to back it up. The salesman actually got noticably upset on the phone. It was comical that they were getting upset by the fact that they couldn't pressure me into making a decision and basically shot themselves in the foot and ruined any chances of doing business with me. The GM even called me the next day with an out the door price, to which I told him that he lost my business when the MA was disrespectful. To make a long story short (sorry this is so long ), I ended up with a made to order MCS that had an MSRP of $31,350 and agreed to an out the door price of $28,500. The sales manager threw in the dealer accessories for free which came to $933. I feel like a got a great deal this way and encourage others to do the same. Now I am stuck in the waiting game and wishing time would hurry up. Hope this helps.

 

My associate here at work is struggling with her dealer review. Hated the MA, loved the dealership.

 

That's how we ended up buying a gently used one. I was told over the phone that the mini buying experience was different than my prior buying experiences with other brands. When you spec a car out, the msrp is what your pay. When she followed up later she said that she was disappointed that i had bought because she could have made me a deal. Still, very professional in the whole process.

 

Send them an email, with a link to this thread....

 

The Mini that I mentioned earlier, was not ordered by me. but was on order by the dealer - almost the same thing. I had to wait about 6 weeks. As I said, when I politely told them "No thank you" (they knew I had my checkbook with me, and was ready to buy the car), the price dropped by $1,000 immediately, and the price of my trade when up by $1,000. You should never, ever have to buy a car at MSRP.

 

I had a great experience at Hendrick in Charlotte, NC. I live in Raleigh (about 3 hours away) and we had the entire deal worked out over the phone before I left town. They had all the financing lined up and everything. I made it clear that I wasn't going to drive 3 hours to check out a car if there was no chance at making a deal. The whole process only took about 2 hours max once I arrived. The last car I bought was an all day process. That being said, they still didn't want to come off of the price any. They gave me a little more on my trade to bring the value up to pay-off, but wouldn't budge on the price of the Mini. At the end of the day I got the deal I wanted, the monthly payment and term I wanted, plus free all weather mats, key chains, and stubby antenna so all was well.

 

Another nice tool was TrueCar.com. A colleague told me about it... I walked in with a good idea what others have paid and a negotiation price point in mind.

 

Thank you for sharing your experience and so glad that you got a great deal. So wonderful to learn from all the NAM members to gain confidence and knowledge.

 

I like Phynix' approach especially if you are located a long way from any dealer.

But if you are going to visit in person...

Here is what I employed recently.

We can try 50 specific negotiating tactics but at the end of the day only one matters... We MUST be willing to walk away! HOWEVER, and this is critical, the dealer must know that you are READY, WILLING, AND ABLE to buy. Leave out any one and they will not get off their **** to move on price. Here's how they see it- if they move on price and it "isnt time yet", then they gave up profit AND made the next dealers job easy. If they move on priice and it IS time ie: you will buy it if... then their job is done. That's what they want.

How do you show them you are ready, willing and able? Tell them the first two and show them the last. Get to the finance guy if you have to and encourage him to pull credit or show him your check book or a bank statement or go to hte dealer preapproved at your bank. What ever it takes. Sure the salesperson should be responsive to all of the above but we have seen they are often not for a variety of reasons. Now you are talking the finance guys language. He is also generally in management so he has his eye on the big picture. We do need to appreciate that they see a lot of crap in the course of the day. People who either cant buy, aren't willing to buy or aren't ready to buy. Lot's of tire kickers as they say. Upside down deals etc. Show them that they are not wasting their time.

Sure if you or I were in their shoes, we'd take our chances and give the customer benefit of the doubt but the reality is that they do not.

Walk away! and the only recourse the dealer now has is... drum roll... to lower the price. The longer you play reluctant buyer the better the price gets but you have to show them that you are qualified to buy.

Happy shopping.

 

Completely agree with JD, you MUST be willing to walk away from the deal if you go in person to the dealership. I did that the last vehicle I bought and even made it down the road some, and then the dealer called back with exactly what I wanted to hear - lowered the price of the vehicle to what i was willing to pay AND lower interest rate magically. I told them I'd think about it but since I was already on the road to another dealer and call them back. That's when they threw in some accessories for free and free oil changes. This was also at the end of the month when they were trying to meet sales quotas and just needed the numbers, not necessarily profit from that particular sale.

 

I bought my first new 2010 MCS convertible in a December with a $5000 rebate. Took delivery Christmas eve. BMW and Mini both have rebates, they just don't publicize them.

 

$5000 rebate ??????????????

 

I would have just hung up and found a new dealer, they're working for you not the other way around that's crazy!