I'm trying to do my research so I know what I'm getting into financially. I know how much the car should cost, but what about the other miscellaneous fees and taxes?

Can anybody tell me what they've paid in NJ as far as fees and taxes on their MINI?

 

I just bought mine yesterday at Prestige in Mahwah. FYI if you buy from them tomorrow, Jan 1st, they are offering a $500 pre paid AmEx gift card. If you call them, ask for Bob. He is a great guy. Or tell your Sales MA Prestige is giving those cards and to at least give you $500 extra off.

Mini is famous for not negotiating on the price of cars. So if this is your first experience with a Mini Dealer, dont be surprised if they stand firm with nothing off. Or only want to offer $500 off. But its a special car and a special community (almost cult like lol). Dealers will have fun things to do throughout the year--in NJ its Hunter Mtn runs, drive in movie nights, rally's, sometimes just meeting up for dinner or a run through NYC. Honestly, the best time to buy was before today as they all are almost willing to offer great discounts before year end. Also, each Mini dealer has their own feature they add on the cars--some put rear fog lights, some give floor mats (thats right, most dont give you floor mats and mini logo ones are pricey), others put bonnet stripes or custom painted pin stripes, or lojack systems. The bottom line is, do your homework if you are going to take a car from dealer stock as to what they added on to the car that you may not want. I always have pin stripes removed--most mini's dont come with them, but the dealer in Florida put them on everything and charged for them. And also, if you are taking from dealer stock, contact Sales Mgrs throughout the local area and tell them this is what you are looking for, the packages, etc and see what they are willing to do. You might get a better deal or you might not. Dont settle on features or color unless you are willing to because later on you will kick yourself in the butt.

Here is what I paid:

7% Sales Tax. Take the price of the car minus the total they offer (regardless of your payoff) for your trade. This is your adjusted price and your taxable sales tax amount. For Ex: 23,500 price of car -13,000 trade= 10,500 x 7%= $735 in sales tax

Title and Registration fee $299
Mini Dealer processing/doc fees $239
NJ Tire fee $7.50

That is all I paid.

 

It seems that these cars pretty much sell for MSRP. There are a few factory-demo '09 MCS at Morristown that might suit me, and the rumor is that they have a bit more wiggle room in price.

I don't have a trade-in, or at least it seems to be worth so little that I'm hesitant to do so. I've got a few payments left on it, so I'd probably just break even...

I just did the math for the sales tax and my jaw dropped - the tax and fees push me up past $30k...ouch. That used '09 is starting to look way better...

 

Please ask questions...such as; JCW items to put on the car (Stage 1 tuning kit), better rims, is the warranty on Certified Next Cars a certain mileage...etc, etc.

Make sure some of your options are on the car if you take this route...
Xenon lights, Heated Seats, Sunroof, etc, etc.

 

I bought my 2006 in mid 2007. It was a demo. Got 4k off orginal MSRP. I called every dealer in the state of Florida to get that deal. So calling around will help. Tell them hey this dealer is willing to give me x amount for the car...can you do better. You should be able to find a good deal esp on a demo 09. they need to get rid of them at this point. I'm going by Prestige tomorrow and will ask Bob if they have demo's and let you know.

Look at edmunds or kbb to see what your trade is worth. Even if you break even, remember, whatever they offer you on the trade comes off the price of the car for tax purposes. I ended up saving $910 in taxes by trading mine in. In the long run its about $20 per month lower payments on average.

And look at this way, if you dont trade it, you still have a few car payments and insurance rates in NJ to pay on that car. If traded, that might make up a lot of cash right there to buy your mini.

And I will say, before your jaw drops again, check out insurance rates on an S before you do it. I'm a 38 female with a perfect driving record and my insurance on a non S in Passaic county is $140 per month. I almost fainted! The S was ridiculously high which is why I'm not going with an S until I move out of NJ.

 

If you don't mind me asking exactly what color, price range and or options were you looking for... I can ask my MA, Lenny at Prestige whats available there and what deal he could get you. We have bought five minis from him and sent 2 other people to him to get a "Ferry Family" deal. He does his best to get a good deal on the trade in also. Just let me know and I'll ask him for you.

 

We wound up buying a demo '09, picked it up yesterday, actually! See thread here. The fees were a few dollars more than posted in this thread. The insurance is $112/mo - more than my '01 Grand Am, but still not really that bad. I have Geico and I'm 31/M.

Thanks, but I beat you to it
We went to Morristown MINI and worked with Dave, who was great and gave us a really good deal. See the link above to the other thread for more details...