Hi,

I think I'll be placing a custom order on Monday. What is the norm for deposits when placing a custom order? Is it refundable? Not that I am planning on backing out or anything, but it doesn't hurt to ask...

I've never custom-ordered a car before. It kinda seems like it will be unsatisfying to have to leave empty-handed. Most of you know that feeling, by the sounds of it.

Also, I may trade a car in. How will that work if it's not being traded for 6-8 weeks? Do they give you a price now, based on 6-8 weeks later?

Thanks for any help,
Will

 

I can't speak to the ordering process, but you will not got a figure for your trade until you actually take delivery.

Most trade quotes come with a time/mileage limit...usually 7 days/500 miles.

 

It can vary from dealer to dealer, but $1,000 refundable deposit is typical. In California there is a law making it fully refundable, IIRC. Things may vary in other states.

I didn't have that experience. However, waiting can be difficult for some. One user developed a School of Whine for those waiting. It started with him adding a comment, about his difficulty waiting, at the end of every post he made.

Don't know, but you will get more for your car if you sell it privately.

 

I got my dealership to commit to a trade value before I placed the order. No way was I going to allow them to tell me what they think it is worth today, and then low ball me when it comes to finalize the deal. I didn't get a great value, but it was fair given the timetable of the order (4-6 weeks). I wanted them to take the risk, especially since I was paying MSRP for the car. As it is, my trade was 7 years old and had 45k miles. Its not like its going to come in with several thousand more miles. Even with an expected 4-6 weeks on the order, I doubt I'll put another 500 miles on it.

It didn't come to it, but you might want to think about how to protect yourself on your trade value over the order period if they aren't going to lock you in. If you can negotiate the value today, you set up a way to use KKB or some other source for comparison to let that be an independent value of your car's depreciation over the order period.

Good luck - the trade was the least fun part of my new-mini-to-be purchase.

Jon W.

 

Because the mini is a high-demand vehicle (and getting higher) you're not going to get a good shake with the trade-in. Generally speaking they're going to try to hose you on the trade-in value of your car unless it is a comparably high-demand vehicle. If it's a gas-guzzling truck you may as well forget it...

I looked at trading in my 05 Passat wagon on my custom order but my MA estimated the range that it would fetch and it was way below what a private sale would yield.

Take heart tho - I slapped it on Craigslist just to test the waters and had 3 offers within 3 weeks of putting it on there. Just put it up there w/a reasonable price and see if you get any action - you don't have to trade it in even if it has been part of your calculations...

 

yeah, expect to get real low-ball offers from MINI dealers on trades ... no matter what type. they just don't want to deal with them it seems. all of them get wholesaled.

as far as deposit, $500-$1000 is the norm ... some dealers charge by % .. about 10% of the configured vehicles' msrp.

 

We put $500 down to order ours. Sold our other car privately right before the Clubman came in.

 

Thanks everyone for the info. I was leaning toward not trading my car in anyway, so I'm not worried about the expected lowball offer. I'll probably just save myself the hassle at the dealer and skip it.

I also got a PM from a local guy giving me the heads up on the deposit situation here.

Thanks again,
Will

 

Our deposit was $1000, non refundable once production starts. They did give us a trade in price now that they'd honor when the MCS is ready (60-90 days), but the trade offer was so low that there's no chance of us taking it.

 

Sell the car privately & do an in & out through the dealer. This allows You to get the tax benifit of trading & a much higher price.

 

what does this mean?

 

Basically, you sell the car to the dealer at the agreed upon price with the third party, and then they retail it to him at that same price. The point of this is that the funds you are given by the dealer reduce the total cost of the car, thereby reducing your tax liability on the purchase. If you just walk in with money in hand, you will pay full tax...

 

I dont know anything about trade-in's, but my deposit in VA was $1000 non-refundable. My MINI took a little more than 4 weeks to get to me. Delivery about a month ago.

Good luck.

 

$1000 deposit is pretty normal,some dealers are claiming non refundable but it wouldn't be too hard to force them to refund. I have traded in a mini
on a mini before and gotten pretty good deals.I'm always prepared to drive
old mini trade in home with the new one and sell it privately. I'm about
2 weeks away from getting new Clubman delivered & I'll let you know the outcome.

 

Facts for me: $500 refundable deposit, traded in '06 MC CVT given a solid trade in price over two months ago w/out any limits on mileage (I drive a lot), taking delivery tomorrow. Can't imagine not getting an agreed upon trade in price ahead of time. The time before this the only prerequisite was that I keep it just under 50k miles.

 

in albuquerque $ 2000 deposit but fully refundable at any time prior to taking delivery. they say the market is always there for them to sell it. when i bought my cr s clubman last week they had a fully optioned cb/b s that was just built and on its way that was a cancelled . i would have taken it but didn't wan't nav or the option that included the bluetooth, etc. 2 yrs ago i had ordered an mcs coupe and cancelled as it was being built as a very low milage coupe became available with the same options at a great price.---they returned every cent with no questions asked