Hi all-

Considering going to the local dealer to talk about trading in my '11 Countryman for a '13 Cabrio. They are currently offering .9% for 60-72 months, which is great. Mini has the reputation of not negotiating (much) off of sticker. One of my good friends who is an Finance Manager for a local Ford dealer gave me the following advice:

"Yeah but you are getting screwed out of a couple grand in dealer cash. Ford at least tells you that you are giving up rebates. Imports screw you by luring you with the rate while not telling you about the thousands of dealer cash you never got to negotiate . If you don't take the bait, you can negotiate a better deal...

If you take the rate (the .9%) and pay invoice they get a couple grand in dealer cash. It you give up the rate, you can buy for 2k below invoice..

They are killing you at invoice and .9. If they won't negotiate the price ask for $2k more for the trade."


How does this sound to you? Last time I went to this dealer to buy the Countryman, they refused to negotiate on price of the car, were acting like they couldn't get me bought (with a 730 beacon score), and were low-balling me hard on my trade. I went to the next closest dealer (2 hours away) and made up the difference on the trade but they wouldn't budge off the sticker price.

Thoughts? Has ANYONE here paid at or below invoice for their Mini??

 

Your friend doesn't have any experience with MINIs. I have 7 years of experience and I can tell you whether you are getting 0.9 percent of 5.9 percent, you're still going to pay the same price for a MINI.

MINI doesn't have to negotiate much off their price because, unlike Fords, if they don't sell the MINI to you, they'll sell it to someone else. Especially true on ordered MINIs. Ones on the lot, you may have better luck negotiating a price.

In recent years MINI has been known to give anywhere from a few hundred to a couple thousand off MSRP. Back in the earlier years of the MINI, they weren't moving an inch off the price and the wait for a factory ordered MINI was about twice as long as it is now. So things aren't so bad now, huh ?

 

Have to agree with CR&PW&JB. I've never heard of a MINI dealer giving a higher discount if you skipped the low-interest financing (I don't believe the dealer has any financial incentive or cost whether you take the financing or not).

IMO, "invoice " has been a load of c*** for a number of years, as it never reflected what the dealer pays for a car with corporate holdbacks, dealer cash, regional advertising fees, dealer-shared rebates, etc.

I just ordered a 2014 Roadster S at $500 under MSRP, and they gave my $500 more for my trade. I thought this was a fair deal on the car I wanted. If I had purchased one of the two 2013 Roadsters on the lot (wrong color and option packages), they were offering almost $3000 under MSRP, because the cars have been on their lot for 5-6 months, and the 2014s are now coming in. And the price of convertibles also starts to drop along with the temps here in the midwest.

You can likely get a reasonable discount off MSRP on a 2013 convertible on their lot, and the trade in value of your car is always negotiable based on condition, etc. Good luck.

 

Ditto. I received $500 off my '14 Roadster S order and MINI of Sterling is offering up to $1,500 off equivalent '13 models. I'm sure much depends on the particular market and location of your MINI dealership.

 

We negotiated the price when we ordered. It was only when we picked him up that we worried about how to pay, we went with the 0.9%. It would have been the same price for cash. I think the dealer gets a kickback for writing a loan, so they've incentives to go that way.

 

As I noted before, I received $500 off my '14 Roadster S on the date of order. I since discovered a $1,000 USAA-funded incentive for the purchase of a '14 Roadster. Just yesterday, USAA offered me 1.75% financing and issued the certification letter to MINI to process the described rebate. Per their website, MINI will not finance a new vehicle through MINI Financial Services if you accept the USAA incentive. Given the fact that MINI Financial is offering 1.9% financing on '14 models, I'll take USAA's 1.75% and the extra $1,000. Nice finishing touch to the $500 discount already received.

Good luck with your MINI. I sincerely hope you negotiated a tremendous price. Drive careful and have fun on the road!