I'm getting mixed reactions to my choice of the MINI Select program. Have any of you used it and what was your experience with it?

My understanding is as follows:
You have ur sale price + TTL. You give a downpayment and pay 'lease-like' (aka. low) payments for a set time (I'm paying $215/month for 2 years) and then at the end a simple interest percentage is added to it and you can either pay a balloon payment for the balance, finance the remaining about, or trade it in on a new one. There are no mileage restrictions.

I was wondering about pre-payment penalties too... If I can, I'd like to make extra payments on it, but I forgot to ask if I can do that. I'll call my dealerman prolly later today or tomorrow but I wanted to post here first in case I come up w/ more questions...

give me knowledge!!!

Thanks

 

nobody? did I do a dumb thing? lol....

 

If you did what fits your budget then you can be confident you didn't do a "dumb thing".

 

Sound like a pretty decent deal as there are no mileage restrictions. Most schemes of this type carry mileage restrictions to guarentee the final value.

 

Hi mommashine! I also did the MINI Select financing. There are no pre-payment penalties which was one of my stipulations. I have always paid more than the payment plus Im paid on commission and make a large payment every 3 months. If you have any other questions let me know!

 

I too chose this program.

I normally do not keep a car more than two or three years so I thought this was a way to get lower payments and not tie up my money.

My payments end in September/October. Sometime between now and then I will need to decide if I want to keep the car or give it back to them. The pay off will probably be less than the market value, so I could probably pay it off and sell it for more than the payoff.

I was not aware of any interest charge as the end of the term of the agreement. I have read the papers several times and not seen this. There is a fee of approximately $300 (as far as I can remember) they they state they will charge if I decide to turn the car in. If I pay for it by refinancing or just paying it off, there are no fees.

 

no interest? seriously? how can that be? am i paying on interest w/ my $215/month for the 2 years or does that go straight to the price of the car? can someone give me a walkthrough? i'm dumb with math...

 

ok just talked w/ my finanacial dude over at MINI... he clarified that there is interest after the term... morris u may wanna call'em and ask or sumfin... lemme know what they say...

*come on Tuesday*

 

I just checked my contract labeled "MINI Financial Services Motor Vehicle Retail Installment Contract -- Illinois."

Section 3 lists credit disclosures including annual percentage rate of the loan, total finance charge, amount financed, total of payments, and total sale price (purchase amount plus finance charges).

Section 4 lists number of payments, amount of payments, balloon payment amount, and payment due dates including the due date of the balloon payment.

According to the paragraph under section 4 and in section 12 (balloon payment options) on the back, if I give the car back I have to pay a $350 "disposition fee" plus $0.20 a mile for any mileage over 10,000 miles per year. that's it. Since I don't have excess mileage, if I give the car back to MINI, I have to give them $350.

If I decide to keep the car, I have to pay the balloon payment, either by refinancing with MINI, another financial institute, or give them the cash.

Financing a car like this means you are only financing the expected depreciation. For the amount financed they will charge interest for the duration for the loan, just like any other car loan.

At the end of the term, you have the option to buy the car for the stated residual value, just like in a lease.

Are you referring to the refinancing option as having to pay interest? That's the only thing I see.

This option is very similar to a lease except that the car is titled in the owner's name and you don't have to get the additional insured endorsement on your car insurance.

My contract was signed on 9/25/04. Maybe they've changed the procedure since then.

 

well this whole discussion is bc my genius (literally, he's got papers to prove it) husband says that there's no way that I'm not accruing interest for the 2 years that I'm paying the $215 a month... I'm trying to tell him that the amount I'm paying goes straight to the 'principle' and that interest will not be calculated until the 2 years are up and I decide to finance. He thinks we are going to have to pay back interest...

 

For my contract, the monthly payment I'm making includes interest on the unpaid balance, including the balloon payment.

As I said, maybe they have changed the program in the two and a half years since I signed my agreement.

Have you taken a look a the loan papers you signed? They should tell you if you are making payments on the principal or if they include interest. I would almost bet they do include interest.

 

haven't signed one yet... i've done everything by fax and my car is still not w/ me yet... i'll be signing all of that when i get to the dealership... ah well... doesn't really matter i guess... i'm still getting a mini....

 

Obviously the down payment itself makes a big difference here as well ... so I'm curious what MINI select buyers been required to put down?

 

Im not sure what the requirement is but I put down a pretty substantial amount.

 

well all said and done... we tried to put down 10 but they wouldn't let us... said the amount remaining had to be higher than something... dont' remember the terminology...

also said that the downpayment only affects your monthly payments.. not your balloon payment... however if you wanted to pay extra payments TO your balloon payment while paying your regular monthlies you can, you just have to call them and tell them why you are sending them extra monies... you could also just throw any extra you pick up throughout your term into an interest earning facility and then close it and pay off when you are done with your term....

they said that for every extra thousand you put down up to the limit amount makes your bill like 20 bux cheaper...