These are Mini dealers in the Los Angeles/Orange County area and I'd like to know if there is an overall "winner" in customer satisfaction amongst them. Those who bought from any of these, please feel free to comment on your experience. Anything goes, no holds barred--- tell it like it is and maybe one stands out from within the flaming depths of "Car Lot Hell"

1) Bob Smith (Calabasas)
2) Mini of Universal City
3) Assael Mini (Monrovia)
4) Nick Alexander (downtown L.A.)
5) South Bay Mini (Torrance)
6) Long Beach Mini
7) Crevier (Santa Ana)
8) Irvine Mini

 

Gets popcorn

 

You will get more responses if you post at the Southern California forum. I have contacted 4 of the dealerships in LA when I ordered my Mini back in June.

Assael: Nice sales people, willing to sell at MSRP, I didn't purchase from them because I see some bad reviews here on their service department a few years ago.

Crevier: Worst car dealership experience ever. Will not sell at MSRP and even after pointed out other dealerships would. I was told to take my business else where since they have no problem selling their Mini at their price (2k over MSRP).

Long Beach: Will sell at MSRP, free car washes, nice sales people. I would have bought from them if I didn't buy from Southbay.

South Bay: Similar to Long Beach, but is a dealership listed with NAM. Great purchase experience and will do so again.

 

Thanks for the details on the others.

I would never even consider Crevier... I remember a long thread over on e46fanatics where they were attempting to justify a $50K markup on the M6.

 

Bob SMith is charging 3,000 Mark up on all minis...

DOnt know if any other stealerships are doing the same?

 

Irvine Mini:

Denied my claim for cracked and warp rotors because I have aftermarket wheels - that are 10lbs/corner lighter than stock - I have no idea how lighter wheels cause the rotors to crack, nor had MiniUSA who reversed the decisions after a couple of long phone conversations.

They also denied my claims for (deep breath)

Window motor/regulators (twice) - apparently the permanent fix is to hit the door card.
Clunk from FRONT suspension (they objected to the REAR sway-bar)
Front bearing - (after market wheels)
Steering wheel emblem peeling - never figured out why
headlight washer system - 'The headlights had sticky residue, they had obviously been taped up for track use' and this had cause the mechanism to jam.
Remote locking failure - they said that the key had been operated incorrectly.
Window alignment / wind noise issues - figured out how to do it myself.
Pretty much everything that I ever had wrong was operator error or not covered due to the mods.


My wife has a 325i that they refused to replace the broken iPod adapter because she has an XM roadie in her car. Read all about it here

Most of the visits became stand-up rows, but I needed to deal with them just to get a number of things fixed and I was determined that they would do it. During one especially aggravated session with the technicians, the service manager called the cops and tried to get me arrested.

Crevier are slightly better, my wife had a reasonable experience with them when she broke her 325, they at least treated her OK, except no courtesy car if you did not buy it there and they are terrible in terms of communication.

 

Service- Universal is 1
Customer Service-Long Beach is 1

Just my opinion

 

south bay MINI [/thread]

 

Irvine MINI -
Sales: This was the most trouble-free time purchasing a car I have had. My wife purchased her R56 MCa 1 week later from the same MA.

Service: Sucks! Have had previous BMW's in for service and they are incompetent. The MINI techs even "fried" my wife's MC ECU and bodt module for the radio due to "tripping" over the OBDII connection. They even went on to say that her MINI was the first '07 they had worked on. All this for a software recall and one other recall at the time. They even washed the car after being told by both of us 3 times NOT to and then denied that it was washed while there were pools of water in the gas door and dripps on the bumpers (and clean wheels). We will never go back to Irvine, period.

Crevier -
Service: Have not had anything to truly complain about other than feeling like cattle when dropping off or picking up on the BMW side. Since they are a high volume service center I can't really complain too much I guess.

Sales: Have not purchased from the mark-up king in S OC. They did not want to give close to what other dealers wanted to give for our trade-ins but that is the farthest I have dealt with sales.

South Bay -
Sales: Can't stand them. Would not work a deal on a used BMW I was looking at. Had no issues with the price it was at but the trade-in price. Sales manager was like a mule.

Long Beach -
Sales: Not dealt with.

Service: Good service. Parts department needs a little help though.

 

Had a good buying experience w/ Alexander, good pricing, easy going, good allocation (assumed as car was in production about a week after order).

Need the car for service experience.

Visited South Bay and a postitive experience, they just didn't follow up on my internet pricing request when I questioned the cost of the JCW tuning kit. Don't know if email was lost or what.

 

Another for Long Beach, super easy order/purchase.

I've only been in for the 10k service, and it was very smooth. If you make an appointment you can get a loaner 325 or mini.

Not sure on their stance as far as mods are concerned, they used to be a Dinan dealer but not any more.