So, our 2019 is turning 3 years old next months so I wanted to avail myself to the last complementary service. We have a whopping 4700 miles on the car. LOL I was hoping they had a Mini SE that I could test drive since I have never driven an electric. No such luck.

I was surprised to see the dealership looking like a ghost town. Only 1 new Mini on the sales floor (Countryman) and virtually no sales staff present. Talked to my service manager and asked why there was so much trouble getting new cars. He said they are still experiencing supply chain issues and the latest one is the wiring harness used by Mini is made in Ukraine. He said Mini/BMW is in the process is moving that manufacturing elsewhere. I asked if they still getting new cars delivered? He said yes, but there is a minimum 6 month delay. People that order a car have to wait at least that long to take delivery.

We won't be looking to trade for at least a year or two and hoping our next Mini is the 2024 SE that will be made in China. Hoping that since manufacture is coming out of the far east, we won't see the manufacturing parts shortages we see now. However, wondering if the shipping backlog in SF and Long Beach is resolved by then.

He had plenty of used cars on the lot.

 

Yea, I had to order mine last August, very few new Mini's anywhere! It took 4 months to come in. I looked at the site to order one and a lot of options that I have are not even listed on the site. Real shame.

 

My dealer told me to order at least 6 months in advance of desired delivery and he told me that he would treat me "fairly" but not to expect an aggressive deal like the ones I've enjoyed in the past. He also said that not all options are available due to supply chain issues. So I called MINI Financial (BMW Financial, actually), and bought my car 5 months prior to lease end. It's got less than 11,000 miles on it and one more free service due in the fall, and another year and a half of original factory warranty.

I, too, look forward to seeing what is on offer in a year or two and will decide then.

 

My MINI dealer went poof end of 2021 :(

 

That's my concern too. Asked the Svc Rep about the dealership viability and he said it's fine.. The Mini dealership is part of a "Sonic" group that includes Mercedes and BMW (where I happened to my my M240i). All are still open. So nice to have a Mini dealership in my area rather than hundreds of miles away.. Hard to believe everything has turned to $#!t in the last two years. Although not as bad as the shortages in the old USSR, something I'd have never imagined happening to the USA. The land of "Plenty". Grocery shopping and seeing stuff out of stock and portents of things getting worse. WTF happened?

No political inference here, but how could things have changed so drastically in two years? Globalization? Corporate greed? Political mismanagement? Coming from a pre-teen 1950"s childhood and teen aged 1960's, I see how far we have fallen. The old adage seems to be true that empires die from within..........

 

Weird times indeed. I often think that, as is the case with most tipping points, it happens slowly... and then all of a sudden.

Still lovin' my MINI and hoping for the best.

 

It is political, started in 2016.

 

Thank Joe Biden - I'm happy with my 2015 Signature. 43K mi. Blazing Red Metallic, almost optioned-out, perf. parted, lowered, JCW brakes, & hot-tuned by Renn Haus of Sarasota. 300fwhp, 247 @ ground. water/methanol injected. what little I drive, I'll Croak with it & that's o.k. with me. AH HA HA HA !

 

I got a text from the Tempe dealership I bought my 2020 JCW Clubman from asking if I was interested in selling mine to them.

 

That really tells the whole story about where we are right now. Wow!

 

I get those all the time from my BMW dealership. So When I was bringing the car (2017 M240i, Estoril blue w/ black Dakopta, fully optioned w/ 8K miles) in for it's yearly service I thought I'd shop the car through their used car department. I had gone online and check KBB, Edmunds and Carmax. Carmax sent me back a $35,500 offer based on my car's condition and mileage. Kbb and Edmunds had my car even high than that. So I figured the dealership I bought from would be somewhere in the middle (and I would seriously consider selling the car). I came in to the dealership 1 hour before my scheduled service to give them time to look the car over and get a price. Naturally, they said my car was showroom new looking and in perfect shape. They used terms like "we could just park this on our lot with doing a thing to it". "Don't worry about your service visit, with the price we are going to offer, you won't be doing the service". "You are going to be really happy with the price we are going to offer". Well, it was 5 minutes before my service and I said I'm going to go to my appointment. The Used car manager said, "we just heard back from corporate, we can off you $30K" I said never mind, I'm keeping the car. I also told them that Carmax offered me $35,500 without seeing the car in person. As I was walking out the door the used car managed had the audacity to say, I can give you $32,500.

So, just because they need cars to sell, doesn't mean they will be anywhere near fair in what they will pay for yours.

 

Tangent: local Subaru dealership has sent me two of those "we want to buy your car we can't keep them on the lot" things -- for my MY1995 vehicle (which I love, they can't have it).

Not gonna bother asking what they'll offer (other than to take it, lol)

 

The first spring of COVID BMW and MINI didn't want to take lease returns and Financial Services was offering great deals with discounts from residual for people to buy out their leases. Lease extensions were also being offered.

Then used car prices shot up, dealer inventories of new and used went down, supply chain issues arose, and suddenly MINI/BMW said you can't trade your leased vehicle in to anyone but a MINI/BMW dealer and the discounted buy out offers vaporized.

USA-RET tells the story of how he was lowballed by a BMW dealer and manipulated with the "don't bother to get the service" and all the rest.

Do these dealers think we won't remember how we've been treated?

 

MINIs come through Port Hueneme, as do most cars.
Theres re no backlogs there, as Hueneme doesnt handle major container ships.

 

Amen to that. I won't be buying my next car from them anytime soon.

 

You guys are making me glad that I have bought both of my (used) MINIs from not-the-MINI-dealer. Not an approach for everyone, I know, and not available for a brand new MINI, but I'm sure you get my meaning.

 

It's beyond weird times. Way, way beyond. My ordered and long awaited 2021 Iconic F56 S, 6 speed arrived minus HK, so I walked. The 2022 model year had more than a few calendar pages missing. Ordering a 2023 Iconic F56 S, 6 speed is kaput for who knows how long (one dealer told me for the rest of the model year). And, my local dealer, with nary a car on his lot, told me to "bag" ordering a 2023 altogether, and wait a year for the new 2024 models. Plus, incentives and loyalty programs, not to mention "deals" of any kind, have gone the way of the dinosaur. So much fun.

 

Not being my first choice for an EV, but I wonder how this "lack of vehicles" and "ordering shortage" affect domestic cars like the Bolt? BMW had a few new cars on their lot (one was a $145K 8 series) and Mini had 1 Countryman on the sales floor. Have not looked at domestic dealership like Chevy or Ford to see their new inventory. I'm holding out for the 2024 Mini SE from China (scheduled for release in Mid-2023), but the way things are going don't know if they will be available either.