I'm new to MINI work and would like to get some advice from experts.

I'm planning to get a ALL4S and trying to find out how much you guys paid over invoice. Did anyone get it below invoice price? I'm trying to negotiate with invoice price.

TIA

 

There have been a number of threads about this topic, I've listed a few below. One thing to check out, if you haven't already, is the Test Drive Take Down event if one is scheduled in your area:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...take-down.html

Otherwise, here are some threads about the pricing:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...or-2012-a.html

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ring-soon.html

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...exibility.html

 

Thanks man for the quick response. I should have searched harder...

 

I live in the New York City area where there are a number of dealers, so that creates a competitive situation. The dealer closest to me would do no better than $750 off MSRP for a fairly well loaded CMSA4, so I shopped around and was able to get more than $2000 off MSRP at a dealer about an hour away. As i recall that's about $1500 over invoice. Was able to do everything via phone and fax without ever visiting the dealer. The ship our car is on is due to arrive next week.

 

Thanks guys... Finally we bought the ALL4S today and paid $2350 less than the MSRP. We choose the bright yellow with Automatic. We really love it..

 

Glad to hear you are a newly minted & happy CM owner and you got the price you wanted.

 

I am in the Minneapolis area-
seems like only one shop...anyone on here have any experience buying from MINI in Bloomington?

 

I live in the Kansas City area and thinking about a 2013 in the next 6 months. I am petrified I wont get a good deal since there is only 1 dealer around. If I threaten to go up to Des Moines or Omaha or even St Louis to create some competition will that help or will they just assume I am bluffing? If I bought a mini from St Louis, will the Kansas City shop still do maintenance...I guess I worry that they will do less thorough service if they know went out of the way to buy elsewhere. Never bought a brand new car so new to the game and any help appreciated.

 

Before we bought ours I posted with the same question regarding getting service from a dealer other than where the car was purchased, and 100% of the responses indicated they had no trouble. We bought from a dealer a distance away from where we live because of the large discount we were able to get versus dealers closer to us. We have not yet needed to take our 2 month old CM in for service. I can say we've had no trouble at all getting warranty service for our 2011 BMW X5 from dealers other than where it was purchased.

 

I guess I worry that if during negotiations I tell them I am willing to drive a ways to get a better deal and pit them against someone else that they will "hold a grudge" and either charge more for service, not do it as well, not provide loaners etc. I guess I am being paranoid. I cant understand why any dealer would not match another dealer and keep you in their net for future mini purchases. When I read stories of some dealers not matching deals it blows my mind. They are just throwing money away on a car they can sell by clicking a few buttons. If I know what their invoice is and they stand to make a profit, even if it is less than they would like, I would think they would want to do it.

 

It never ceases to amaze me either but their attitude is, we only get so many vehicles and we need to make the most on them that we can. Their policies and minimum profit they will take is usually set by ownership. As for your first point, luckily the sales staff and service techs are different people and departments so I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Any dealer has to service the car no matter where you purchased it but don't be afraid to negociate with your local dealer. Sales people expect it and getting a good deal in the sales cubicle has zero impact on the after sale service.

If you buy the car from a different dealer than your servicing dealer you may miss out on some perks. While they will happily service the car, they don't have to put you first in line for an appointment and you may have a harder time getting a loaner vehicle. My dealer offers free car washes during service hours: just show up and five minutes later the car is clean. It's a nice perk during the winter months.

I have purchased new cars both locally and from a couple hundred miles out. From this point on I will still comparison shop for price, but I will try hard to buy locally for a couple of different reasons. One I prefer my tax dollars to stay local, and two the price difference is usually a few hundred dollars. While I would rather keep the money, a couple of hundred bucks on a 30 to 40k purchase is a drop in the bucket.

 

Thanks for the responses guys. It makes me feel better to know those of us without multiple local competing dealers can still haggle. I have to feel like I am getting a good deal to pull the trigger on a purchase like this and want to feel the mini love everyone raves about after the purchase. I dont mind missing out on car washes, as even my local dealer is nearly an hour away but reading this site I will be well armed with my wish list when I show up!

 

I don't want to sound like a downer, but not all MA's are created equal and if you really work them over on price, they may not give you as much tender loving care as you think you deserve. They just move on to the next deal and call you when the car is in.

I'm not really feeling a lot of MINI love to be honest. My MA screwed up the order and luckily I happened to be at the dealer to ask when I was going to be in production and caught the error. After that it was just a long silent wait and the delivery process was so so. They did not reflect the rebate on the paperwork, didn't have my accessories ready, and I knew more about pairing bluetooth and activating Sirius than the MA. The finance guy's opening line was: "So, tell me about your driving habits..." I did not know if I should have been looking for a couch or the closest escape route. No free swag either, just a pack of gum.

The free car wash deal is nice for the winter after driving through a snow storm, but to be honest, the dealer experience was just OK. I did not respond to the survey they sent.

 

In Ontario, at least until the end of the month, MINI is selling the ALL4 for the same price as the S, so a $1,250 I think it is, discount. You should still be able to negotiate a better price. Not bad for MINI up here.

When buying a vehicle, work out an "on-the-road" price and use that as your price. There are some interior changes coming to the 2013 Countryman models, so I am sure they want the 2012 models cleared out.

 

There's only one Mini dealership in my area, and it took me all of 5 minutes to get them to come down $1,500, and I didn't make any threats other than saying I'd have to think about it at that price and let them know. They asked what price would make me decide now, I told them and signed papers soon after.

 

I absolutely think that the "dealer talk" about allocations on CM's is utter nonsense, and that any dealer can get all the CM's they can sell. If CM's were in short supply you would not be seeing plentiful supplies of them on dealer' lots, Mini would not be offering any incentives whatsoever, and you would not be able to special order a car from Austria and take delivery on the east coast within 8 weeks. When we ordered our CM it was not at all difficult to get more than $2000 off MSRP, and the dealer still made a profit in excess of $1500. Put yourself in their shoes...a $1500 profit is better than zero. In our case the dealer knew they had no choice but to agree or lose the sale, as they knew they were competing against three other dealers closer to where we live. Granted, any dealer is going to draw the line of a minimum profit they are willing to live, and most will lie through their teeth to try to get you to pay the most they can extort from you. In a city where there is only one dealer, he/she may refuse to give more than a minimal discount knowing that most buyers will not travel to a distant city to purchase, and in the end many will pay full price for what they want if they are forced to. That dealer may sell fewer cars than he/she would by agreeing to larger discounts, and make more total profit dollars on fewer cars.