I recieved the buyer's order by email today on the Mini I am considering and notice that it has 312 miles on it. No, I have not test driven it yet. Should I pay list price for a car with that many miles on it?

 

I have no idea what you're talking about re. "buyer's order", but 312 miles is not normal delivery mileage. This still doesn't mean though that your car was a dealer's demo. It could have just been "rigorously" tested at the factory or delivery center. It could have been traded from another dealer's stock and driven (vs. trucked) from the original dealer to your dealer's lot. I've had that happen before on other cars I've bought. Either way, the dealer owes you a full explanation of the mileage on the car and if there was any problem at the delivery center that required putting all that mileage on the car, then they need to disclose that too. The key is that you ask...then they have to tell.

BTW, different states have different thresholds as to how many miles constitutes "used". In my state, a dealer demo can be sold as new regardless of mileage so long as it was never privately registered. But that's not true in all states.

 

Correct, when I bought my car in CA, it was a demo car with 4800 miles on it. And it didn't qualify as used since it was never privately registered.

 

Thanks for the quick response. I do plan on asking.


Another question...did most of you pay sticker for your Mini's, or will the dealers haggle?

 

Sticker's the rule....except in SoCA, where a considerable premium over sticker seems to be the rule . MINI dealers don't "haggle", and very very few buyers have seen any sort of discount from list. Some have had "free" floormats and such thrown in...

 

As an FYI, I payed $200 less than sticker. $1 off for each mile that was showing on the odometer!

 

That's a lot of miles. I had 13 miles on mine at delivery. And I paid MSRP.

 

My demo had 1200 miles - again not considered used and no haggling of price - only discount was .249 / mile or $299. It also had a 4" scratch i had to wait for them to repair and basically I took it OR there were 5 other people wanting it...you know the deal - Hot car have one over the barrel!

 

Mine was a demo/display too. I got about $1.2K knocked off because it
had many dealer options on it so the dealer had a little room to play.

Regardless, my mcs is running flawlessly. :smile:

 

after I drove 400 miles to pick mine up, I noticed it had 413 miles on it! A $500 discount was already pre-arranged so I took it anyway but not real happy since someone probably drove the crap out of it for the 413 miles. Who knows though.

 

I would never buy a demo mini. I would be affraid that someone test drove it like i did. I expect a great deal off of the sticker to get a mini that $300-500 is BS. I'd expect at least $1000 off. I'd want to pay dealer cost. But honestly for $1000 I would buy a new one.

 

I think this is really model specific... if you want a Cooper-S right now, you should probably go for it. However, if it is a Cooper many dealers will have one or two Coopers available.

 

Well, on the other hand, a demo has all the problems fixed and known to
run properly..otherwise a demo will not be a good representative of wat
people are buying. I think I would hit myself in the head if I
waited over 3months to buy a car and take a chance on it possibly being
a lemon.

As long as I have warranty and the car is running properly in great shape,
I could care less whether new or a demo/display. Most "new" cars on
dealer lots are test driven to a degree anyway.

 

So should we break in a mini or not? I did not test drive the mini in a break in mannor. I drove it kinda gentle at first and the MA told me not to "grannyshift" So I took it to red line. I would suppect that most drive it this way.

If that is so then why do we give the car a breakin period?

 

The MINI owner's manual recommends not driving your new MINI faster than 90 mph, nor to rev over 4500 rpm, for the first 1200 miles. But many, many people have driven their MINIs the way they always will from the moment they take delivery.

I abided by MINI's guidelines, however those I know who didn't, have not had a single problem with their MINIs. As for bhailey's MINI having 312 miles on it, I would consider that MINI a demo, and expect a discount based on the high mileage.

Clo/Wanda

 

That's a used car in my book. And if it's been serving demo duty, you can assume it's been abused, as well.

I'd wait for a brand new car with obvious delivery miles. Even that car might have been abused at the port or elsewhere but that's the minimal risk every new owner faces.

If you really want this particular car, I think $1000 off is not unreasonable. And definitely don't fall for the "OK, we'll throw in free maintenance for three years" line!

 

My MC had less than 10 miles on it when I test drove it.When I got back to the dealer it had 50 miles on it,as I told them that I wanted to test drive it on the Highway and in the city.I'm pretty sure that the 10 miles were from the factory,as I had read that is about how much they test it at the factory.
The dealer told me they had not completly finnished the dealer prep,there was still the protective film on the MINI logo,on the steering wheel, and the car
was dirty.But it was just what I wanted,so the next day I picked it up and it was mine.

 

I did find out it was a demo. They have suggested that they will make some adjustment, put no committment yet. I am waffling on the cooper vs. the s though. They have a S on the lot for $31k that has about every conceivable add-on!

Premium Package3-Spoke Steering WheelAnthracite TrimAux Input JackBody Color TopBoot BoxBoot Rubber MatCold Air Intake6 Disc CD ChangerCold Weather PackageHarmon KardonR90 WheelsRogue Short-throw ShifterRain Sensing Wipers/Auto Dim MirrorsCooper S Rubber MatsSport PackageSatellite RadioWindow TintValve Stem CapsMiniMania ExhaustRear Fog Lights

 

Has any dealer actually tried that?

 

I would hope that even Mini dealers wouldn't stoop that low! :smile: