Below you will find an email that was sent to CMMC Board Members, we are all too old to take it. Hope some of you can. If you call or do it we would enjoy a full report.

We have a unique research study taking place this week.
First we are looking for males 20-29 yrs old who live in Chicago and who
own and drive a Mini Cooper to participate in a 30 minute interview Friday
evening, July 27th. For this interview you would be paid $100.00 and the
interview would take place in downtown Chicago.
For the second part of the study you would need to be available for a 6-8
hour interview on Aug 2nd or 3rd with nine clients. They may or may not
chose you for this portion of the interview, but just in case – you would
have to be willing and available. They would take turns driving around
and talking with you in your Mini Cooper. For this part of the study you
would be paid $400.00.
If you are interested or know someone else who is interested – please
contact us ASAP. Call 708-386-5086 and ask for study #398 for more
information. If you prefer us to call you – please forward us your phone
contact information.
PLEASE NOTE: You will be required to fax your vehicle registration in
and also bring it in person to the interview.

I just called, found them nice and open.

Here is the website for the company doing the survey.

http://www.focuscope.com/aboutCompany.htm

 

cerefull here boys. Don't drive like miniacs, they could just be seeing the "risk" factor of insureing 20-29 males who choose MINI's. Enjoy your ride but don't go crazy heh. Of course that's just my paranoa talking. It's most likely just a "would you buy ths car" test. Still if i lived there I'd sure let someone pay me to drive my baby.

 

Arrrg - I wish it was 20-34

 

we're all 20-29 at heart...

 

Call me crazy but something smells fishy about this. Why would you have to bring your vehicle registration with you? It sounds like the pre-interview is to find out what car you have. They figure 20 - 29 year olds probably have the most "supped up" cars. They chose the best and ask you to drive it to the second interview so you can take clients around in your car. At this next interview is where the nine clients steel the car from you and all you are left with it the $100 from the first interview. Heck, they may give you a bad check so that you are stuck with nothing.

 

Not to be a party pooper (sorry, I'm German, it's in my genes ) but something smells fishy...
I don't fit into the age range (and don't live near Chicago) but is the 'institute' that conducts these interviews legitimate ?
I can see that some kind of proof might be needed but why bringing the registration with you when they already have a copy ?

Again, not to be Mr. Negativity (I know, too late), just be careful out there guys !

Update:
Seems I'm not alone in thinking that something is off.
Plus, I live at the CT shoreline, I know the smell of fish

 

I don't qualify myself (no, I'm telling by how much )... but I would caution anyone who decides to participate as well. I couldn't tell the origin of the emailer when I received the same email, so I echo the concerns posted previously.

 

well then lets find out what's behind the story!

I'm calling and asking...I've done interviews before but nothing like this where they want something other than your time.

* update*
Simply told to me, the client(s) wants a fax and hard copy of the registration to prove you own the vehicle. I asked if proof of insurance would cover ownership and they responded no in a very standoffish way.

If I was doing this, I would be very cautious.

 

Like with all things in this day and age, "Buyer-Shopper Beware" Before I faxed them anything I would black out my address and VIN number. I would also NOT go alone.

 

Heck, if you have the time, why not call the local cops and see if they want to run a little sting and put these ****** out of business?

 

No one here knows if this is good or bad. Just be carefull!!

 

I just called, found them nice and open.

Here is the website for the company doing the survey.

http://www.focuscope.com/aboutCompany.htm

 

Yeah, agree with many who says this one smells fishy.

If they say it has ANYthing to do with insurance, run in the other direction. We insurance companies do NOT compute rates by using interviews or riding with drivers, trust me.

 

While they were nice and open, the response from the client was not. Of course they're going to appear nice, they're being paid to do so.

 

If they were planning something like 'taking' the cars, it would probably be easier to do it from the same age group of females. Women, for the most part would proably not put themselves into a situation where they were alone with strangers though, so who knows.
If it were my guess it would either be about insurance, and mods done to cars. Are they 'surveying' other kinds of commonly modded cars, or just MINIs?
Or, more-than-likely it might be to get opinions about advertising to hit that age group of male drivers. The car has been touted 'cute', and I bet if you were to take an actual real-life survey (not just NAMily) you would find that there are more female drivers of MINIs than male. If you read about the advertising, they were aiming to not have the car fall into the same rut that the new VW Beetles have, ie, mainly females drivers.
That age group of males are more likely to mod their cars. They are more likely to make the car as "non" cutesy as possible, and perhaps they want that input to make the car appear more appealing to men in general? Who knows...I would be suspicious though...

 

Did you go to the website, get the contact info and call that number to verify that they are in fact the ones doing the survery. I did a quick look and didn't see anything about "driving around" surverys. They could be using a real company in a fraudulant way. We can have our identities stolen so it's possible that people can do the same by claiming a legitimate site as their own.

 

i look like im in my 20's... does that count? im 40 if you round up...

 

I agree with blacking out the address and VIN on the fax. I would also only produce a copy and not the actual registration at the interview. If they still insist on the actual registration ask if a notorized copy would work. If not then there may be something going on that you do not want to be a part of.

If you do bring your registration also bring copies. Never let the original out of your hands. If they say they need it to make a copy then hand them one of yours.

I also suggest going with more than one person. Perhaps work together with other owners to show up at the same time and bring a friend.

I hope this is on the level and some of the younger owners actually make some easy money motoring.

 

A quick call to the Chicago mayors office of consumer affairs or the local chamber of commerce should produce a wealth of information including none at all (which is in itself valuable information) If there have been complaints, you'll know it. I would insist on cash only if I were doing it, and the suggestion to bring a friend is a good one. It does have that slight aroma of fish. My wife has been in advertising for a quarter century and yes, focus groups are a fact of life in the advertising world, but this drive around for 9 hours is definitely a first.

 

I'm glad that I'm not alone in the assumption that something just doesn't ring true...
Take a look at the financial part... $400 for that 2nd interview and 'driving around' ?

There is a company in NYC that rents your cars from you to be used in photo and videoshoots and they only pay $300 per day. But they have a known good reputation.

I'm fairing well with 2 advices my late dad gave me:
- Nothing is for free
- If it sounds to good to be true, it most likely isn't.

Would hate to see you guys waking up south of the border with missing kidneys and missing Coopers...

 

 

Well, if anyone decides to do that and during your 4 hour drive they ask you to make stops so they can drop off a couple of "packages", be afraid. Be very afraid.

 

Enough already!

Free Speech is winning, but very little of todays free speech is based on any facts.

Google the name, phone number and you will find no red flags.

I checked with the Chicago Mayors office, no red flags.

Chicago Area Chamber, no red flags.

If you read the 1st posting, theres nothing about insurance companies.

Unless your in the biz, why question so harshly what they are trying to do?

What would you think if you were one of the clients trying to learn something about our community, because you wanted to offer ALL of us some cool mod or service, only to read this thread?

Please, can we all just relax, stop jumping to conclusions and wait to see if anyone does it and then see what someone thats "been there done that" says about the survey.

If the neg posts keep popping up, I may ask NAM to remove this thread.

This became a bad 3rd grade game of telephone.

Can we all just take a deep breath and drive around the block once before posting?

 

Jeez there are alot of Haters on here today. This could be Mini trying to get some information about it's younger owners, YOU DON"T KNOW. If you don't feel comfortable then don't do it. For the rest of the younger guys 500 bucks to talk about your mini seems like a pretty sweet deal, since you do it all day on here anyway. Wish I was in the age bracket.

 

So are you saying it is not a scheme to still your identity and car, raise your insurance rates and have you deliver drugs all at the same time?