Whats' the deal with MINI Northwest?
 

OK, so now I live in New Jersey, about 30 miles south of MINI of Princeton. My daughter Lives across the street from MINI of Towson in Maryland. I have visited both dealers and driven MINIs there. I found both to be very accomodating. Both said 8 weeks for an order. In January or February of 2008, I plan to order an MCS coupe in preparation for retiring and moving back to my home state of Washington. A couple years later I plan to order the new version of the convertible. I'm excited about becoming a MINI owner and living in WA again.

Then I'm reading on this forum that at least two Washingtonians have ordered from MINI of the Hamptons because the Washington dealer quotes delivery times of 6 months and has an ADM of $500-600!

Then I had a personal experience last week while vacationing in WA. I was up and down I-5 for several days so decided to stop in at MINI Northwest to look around and get the answers to a couple of questions I had. It was about 2:30 pm on a Thursday. I was there about 20 minutes. I sat in several of the cars inside and out of the showroom. I walked all around at looked at the various displays. There were several people inside and outside.

No one, not a single person said a word to me in that 20 minutes. I know I could have gone up to someone and asked my questions, but after a while it became a test. Finally I left without talking to anyone. I did notice an ADM of $600 on the MCS in the showroom.

So, what's up with this dealer? Do they want to sell cars? I'm a little concerned.

Yeah, the delivery time is brutal. I had heard about the long delay from the forums too, so I've decided to place my order six months earlier than I planned.

I went in a couple Saturdays ago for a test drive and was told six to eight months. :( It's going to be next to impossible to wait that whole time knowing the car is on order, but my wife and I had planned on saving some extra for a good down payment and didn't plan on ordering for the next six months anyway. So instead, I'm placing the order now.

From what I understand, they don't have many production slots allotted to them- I don't know if that's based on their sales or if they just don't commit to them or what. I didn't ask why when I was there. I wouldn't expect a straight answer, honestly.

They were reasonably friendly to me before I had told them I was committed to a purchase; I was greeted at the door, asked if I had any questions, offered a drink. The MA I spoke with knew his stuff well enough, answered all of my questions and was straight forward and friendly.

I have to admit that the Mini is the first car that I've considered new, so my only past experience is with used car dealers at a significantly lower price- perhaps my scale of 'good service' is a bit skewed? :)

I like the fact that they don't descend on you when you go in there. However, I sent them an email and left a phone mesage over 2 weeks ago and no response. I am not impressed.

We (www.psmini.org) have had discussions about NW MINI both good and bad.

My experience with NW MINI has been good, even when my name ended up missing from the list. I was originally told 18 months, but I went in expecting that. And it worked out well, since it meant that my wife and I could get our finances in order. Took delivery after about 12 months. Yeah, it was a wait, but I knew that going in.

The dealership has been supportive of the PS MINI club, too. Every time I've needed to talk to them, I've come away feeling that all my questions were answered. Never felt like I had been snubbed in any way. My MA will even take a brief moment when showing someone else a car to say hi and ask how the family is doing.

I'm sorry to hear others have not had good experiences.

If the service there is that bad, you may want to consider a drive down to Portland, OR and visit Rasmussen Mini. http://www.rasmussenmini.com/ They've treated me very well so far.

I second the Portland Mini suggestion. I ordered June 4, and my Mini is on it's maiden voyage. The dealer fee was $175, there were no markups on individual items, and the waiting period was much shorter. I had tried to negotiate with NWMINI, but they said no.

I also had no phone calls returned from NW MINI, but they gave me many test drives, answered all my questions when I visited, and I pestered them half a dozen times. Hope the service dept. is good.

NW Mini
 

I visited NW Mini and I too wondered around the lot and store for 30 minutes and not a soul anywhere in the store or on the lot said squat. Do you think they qualify their customers by their deoderant?:lol:

Definitely check out Rasmussen MINI in Portland. Consistently an award winning dealer.

I love doing a search for RASMUSSEN on this board. Thanks for the props Scott!

LOL no problem Jarid.........just remember this when I need some parts !

On the lack of attention in the showroom, I think that's probably their style and the fact they are in a situation where they don't really have to sell the product that much. They have a full time receptionist at her desk, so it's just a matter of walking up and saying you want to speak to someone. I guess I don't view the fact they don't descend on you as a positive, but certainly they could have someone just come up and politely ask if you need help.

On the ADM/waiting-list question, that's just a matter of supply and demand in the local market when their allocation of cars is fixed. The CA markets are similar. If they have a long-waiting list, then this is obviously an indicator they could probably mark the product up further. I don't see a thing wrong with this - I'm always amazed that folks get worked up with markups over MSRP, yet think it's perfectly fine for consumers to offer less than MSRP. A free market cuts both ways, if if we can get huge discounts for slow-sellers, then we should be ready to pay a premium for high-demand models. Having said this, I bought my 2004 in Texas and drove it home; I'm planning on getting a 2009 the same way.

- Mark

I really like that NWMINI is not like Best Buy where I get pestered every 100ft by someone asking if I need help, like I couldn't tell them if it were so. Come to think of it we do like very large personal spaces here in the NW. :-)

I have always found NWMINI staff to be helpful and polite whenever I have spoken to them. We've bought three cars there. and fwiw I won't drive Sea to PDX to save $450 but I have friends that will.

That's not that far to drive, heck, that is about how far I have to drive to get to Rasmussen anyway and they are my closest dealer. But I guess it boils down to: Its a matter of personal opinion (being how far you are willing to drive, how badly you want to save some money provided there is a price difference, and your initial feelings about the dealerships. It is possible you may like the closer dealer more anyway after visiting the one further away). :)

It very much goes along with how personalized you make your Mini, it is a personal choice that can be different for everyone.

That being said, I'm extremely happy with them (Rasmussen). Dan (my MA) has been very thoughtful and helpful. We've also had excellent service on our '05 MSCa through them.

I hope that NW Mini continues to do well because if their market ever slumps, they will need all of those prospects they ignored. There is no excuse for that type of sales technique. I used to sell corporate aircraft and we never took anyone for granted when they walked on the premises. Never know who has a pocket full of money and wants to pay cash for your product. At Baron Mini in KC, they used a soft sell-attentive approach that got our business.:thumbsup: NW should take copious notes.

I think every dealership has its share of people who are satisfied and those who aren't. Sometimes, those who aren't may have unreasonable expectations. If there seems to be a pattern to people's complaints, then it may be worth checking them out more completely.

To be honest, I would have purchased from them as I prefer to do business locally, but the additional 4-5 mo wait was a little too much for me. Plus, getting my wife to drive us down, stay a nite in downtown, great dinner, etc, and then making the 180 mi 3 hr I-5 trip into a 250+ mi backroad 5 hr trip home made it worth the trip. We'll see how service goes later. I'm hoping I get the good service many others have had.

When I was ready to buy my '05, NW MINI had a 12 month wait just to get on the order list. Then tack on an additional 3 to 4 months for the car to come in. I couldn't wait and ordered from MINI of Murray in Salt Lake City. 4 months from order to delivery and at MSRP.

NW MINI was very accomodating with test drives and answering all of my questions. My service experience there has always been positive and I've gotten a loaner even though I didn't purchase from them. :thumbsup:

I had a great experience at NW Mini.
My wait time was less than they said it was going to be... although I can't remember exactly when I ordered it, Oops...
I remember picking it up August 12th, 06, what a happy day that was! Would have been better if I wasn't hungover LOL :roll:

Same owner for NW Mini, BMW, and Mercedes two blocks down the street. Same low-key selling style in each. I think it may be a style they've all adopted. If you ask anyone a question or show more than 'browsing' interest, the staff is exceptionally helpful. My wait for my (then new) 02 of 02 MC was something like 60 minutes. I was standing with check in hand when a call came in from Idaho cancelling an order for lack of financing. A very, very intense sales pitch (and the offer of a full payoff) got me the car. I moved up the list from #284 to #13, and drove the car home that day. One of the best days of my life...

I would have to say there was some unreasonable expectation going on with your experiance as i would have to say that NWMINI has been the best buying experiance bar none of any car I've bought new or used.Ordered the car over the phone after faxing them the build specs. I know that they tried to stick me with the $600 dollar fee but I negotiated it down to $300 which is what they charge for just the regular mini not the S model. I was kept in the loop as to where my order was and to all the paperwork and possible finaincing that was available to me before the car arrived. The most impressive part was that we had gone down to sign the order paperwork the weekend after I called and to let the wife test drive one as she hadn't yet and decided to have the windows tinted and the wheel arches painted the same color as the body to match the areo package. At 5:30 the night before we were to pick up the car on saturday I got a call from Aaron at mini that it wasn't done and that it was locked up at the body shop with the arches off the car and not painted. They had had the car since tuesday. to make a long story short . The store manager called me directly to offer me the use of one of their Demo cars if it wasn't ready and that he was waiting for a call from the owner of the dealership. All I know is that I get a call at 10:00 the next morning and the car is at the dealer getting detailed fo pick up. They even covered the $500 dollar charge for the painting of the wheel arches. I don't care what anyone says about nwmini they have my business from now on even if I don't buy another mini anytime soon.

Another bump for RASMUSSEN in Portland. Thats where we made our first MINI purchase back in 2006 and they have been awesome...I would definitely recommend anyone in the Pacific Northwest to take the time and drive down to visit the great people there. We have now since moved to San Antonio Texas and just took delivery of our second MINI from the MINI Center here and that too has been a great experience.

NW MINI has been great!
 

My MINI comes in two days! Only a ten week wait time. My husband and I walked in to browse a half hour before closing. As soon as we walked up tp the desk, someone was helping us. I told them what I wanted, no kind of upselling. Knocked a little off of Motoring accesories.

Car is here in 9 weeks. Every email I send is replied to immediately. They handled my financing great, with my own credit union. I would highly recommend them!

I live in Eastern WA and the nearest MINI dealers are NW in Tacoma and Rasmuson in Portland, OR. I did some forum research in 06 and found some negatives on NW but none on Rasmussen. I ordered my car through Rasmussen and have had nothing but positive experience with the dealership. A very professional and class act.

They are awesome! Glad to hear your experience was as great as ours! Josh W is awesome and Jarid P is just as great! Not sure who you dealt with but tell Josh hello next time your there!

Nice to see you today Mark!!!

Not everything perfect at Rasmussen
 

I think that this thread has been a little unfair to NW MINI, and according to a couple of the Rasmussen MINI threads elsewhere on this forum, not everyone has had a blissful experience at RM.

To the contrary, I've had a very good experience with NW MINI.

I also have a hard time imagining driving from Seattle to Portland just to get my wiper blades replaced for free, or to ask if someone could give my 2003 MCS a quick wash while I checked out new and used MINIs sitting on the lot - NW MINI has done both of those things for me several times. And, I also can't imagine RM giving me a car to drive back to Seattle to keep it overnight to see if I liked it. Why, just this past weekend, when I stopped by NW MINI to look at a factory JCW MCS, they asked if I wanted to leave my MCS and take the JCW home for the night. I gladly accepted the offer, and both my wife and I enjoyed driving the JCW immensely - new car purchase coming soon! I would guess that RM's local customers would have the same thing done for them by RM, but my point here is that it sure wouldn't be worth my time and expense to drive to Portland from Seattle just for those types of matters.

I am also more than a little amused at locals who buy a car 180 miles away to save a few hundred dollars (yes, I know you might be able to save more at times) and then baitch (sic) and moan that the local dealer doesn't go out of their way to offer them a loaner car when they bring their out-of-area purchase into their local dealer for service or repair, or they complain when someone who bought their car (and presumably paid more) at the local dealer appears to get a little more attention than they do. (Actually, now that I think about it, I'd be a little ticked off if you in fact did get the same attention and treatment that I did at "MY" dealer). Absent very unusual circumstances, I vote for supporting your local dealer!

The reason I went to Rasmussen was due to them being more upfront and interested in a sale. At Mini NW it took a while to get a salesman to really tell me anything around order times. When we finally got past that I asked about the car options. So he took me to the web site and used their configuration tool to help me build the car. He basically just read from the site and a couple times seemed stumped by the options. Once we did complete that step he printed it out and showed me the pricing. It was only then that he finally mentioned they had a $700 add a tag on the car. It ticked me off that they were not up front with their extra charges.

Compare that to Rasmussen. I e-mailed them to ask about ordering a car. The response came back telling me the timeframe for delivery, the $500 refundable deposit required, and that they add a $295 charge on that includes front/rear/boot mats but is partially their market adjustment. Sure, they have the same idea of add a tag, but at least they were completely up front about it.

Basically, the sales person I dealt with at Mini NW was the reason I went to Rasmussen. Nothing to do with price, just felt like a better experience with the sales staff at Rasmussen.

Now, for service. You bet I expect all the conveniences from Mini NW. Dealers make more on the service than on new sales. So it makes sense for them to make all customers happy. If they don't then I'm sure others would head to another dealership. Luckily for them they have a bit of a monopoly here. Personally, I think that is BS but thats the way it it.

So far I have had a wonderful experience at NW MINI and would recommend them based on my experience. My MA Tomio has always been very responsive to my emails along the way and having brought my MINI in for her replacement headliner gave me a chance to work with the service department. They did an incredible job on the headliner, were prompt, initiated calls to me and gave me a great loaner as well.

Kudos NW MINI. Keep up the great work and I look forward to your being just down the street from me soon!

so... im a finalist for a gov job out there (I currently live in Denver). I get nothing but VIP service from my dealer here (Schomp), so Im a bit spoiled. Service-wise, not even looking at the distance, if y'll had a gun to yr head to pick, would it be Rass or NW, and why/why not?

Also, I'd heard before this economic meltdown that Seattle metro area was in the run for a 2nd dealership (as was the Denver area.) any updates on that?

hey if get this peach job I will know NO ONE there in Seattle so I may have to pick yr. brains for important info like housing, and maybe come to a meet-up after Im halfway settled! Cheers!!:thumbsup:

Hi Sequence and welcome to the PNW forum. On a day like today you'd be a very lucky person to live here, as it is simply gorgeous out there and the snow capped mtns are glistening.

I cannot compare the two different dealers as I only have experience with one. I'm sure that you will hear good and bad for both. The only direct knowledge that I have is with NW MINI and I have been very pleased both before and after the sale.

Good luck on the job pursuit and let me know if you have any questions about the area. I think it helps to be into seasonal sports when you live here: rain in the winter means snow in the mountains and there are some incredible mtn bike trails if you're interested in the summer. Oh, and also there are some nice winding roads for our MINIs too. :thumbsup:

Edit: The MINI dealership on Lake City Way in Seattle seems to be progressing as I drive by it frequently (I'm less than a mile from there, yahoooo) and I'm seeing changes.

thanks Coopdy :thumbsup: Having a MINI makes going to a new location much easier (altho Ive worked out of Seattle on my current job, so I know the area fairly well.)

I just recently purchased a 2009 MCS from Northwest Mini and it was a very positive experience. Out of the four dealerships that I have worked with over the years (Roadshow, Mini of Dallas, and Moritz Mini), NW Mini is by far the best.

Jay was great to work with and extremely helpful. If anyone is interested in buying a Mini, I'd definitely recommend Jay at NW Mini.

Regarding the OPs complaint, every time I have gone to the dealership I was greeted as soon as I walked into the door.

Hmmmm good question I'll PM you my response

Jay helped me too very good

Wave if you see a Black MC which white roof and rotator caps

Wow! I was amazed to read from some of the 2007 posts that people were waiting for up to 18 months to get a car from Northwest MINI. Two years later and the time is down to 10 weeks (it would have been less if the Oxford factory hadn't shut down for the first two weeks of August - and if my MINI didn't have to wait at the Southampton dock for two weeks). I guess that shorter wait time is the silver lining in this dark cloud of a recession we are going through.

New MINI Owner Experience
 

Hello!

Just a couple weeks ago I purchased a preowned 2009 MINI Cooper at NW MINI and I have to say that it was a pleasant experience. I would purchase another MINI at that location in a heartbeat. At no time did I feel pressured to make a decision and I even left mid-way during the process to have lunch and think about the purchase.

Basically I found the manager and the motoring advisor to both be polite and reasonable during the process. I understand that MINIs might sell themselves but not all of us can go in and submit an order for a decked out MINI. It's because of their willingness to work with me and respect they gave me that I will be going back to them first for my next MINI.

I agree with MisterClean. I have nothing but praise for Northwest MINI, and especially Mark Sandau, my MA. :thumbsup: I originally had gone to Rasmussen MINI in Portland with every intention of buying a new MINI and paying cash. They were more interested in selling me a MINI off their lot than trying to locate one that was even close to what I wanted.

After a couple frustrating days, I was ready to forget about buying a MINI. :confused: But, I decided to drive to NW MINI in Fife, Washington, to see if they might want to sell a car. As I said, I had a VERY good experience with NW MINI. :nod: They couldn't find a car close enough to what I wanted, so they ordered the MINI of my dreams, giving me the slot at the top of their allocation. As it turned out, I got the last Nightfire Red Cooper since MINI now only offers that color on the Clubman and the convertible. :cool: Sweet!

Maybe the difference is that Rasmussen sells MINI's as a sideline (they are a BMW dealer), while NW MINI only sells MINI's? Whatever, I would recommend NW MINI to anyone in a heartbeat.

This is a little late, but I bought my Mini at Northwest Mini about one year ago and had a great experience. Everyone from my MA to the guys in parts were super nice and helpful. I wasnt as pleased with the service manager when I went back to fix a problem. I got a little too much attitude for my taste. Just had my yearly oil service at Seattle Mini and the service was great!

PDX MINI has now changed hands and is now part of the Lithia Group- Beware= "Dirt Bags".

I bought by first car at Fife in Nov. 2009. MCS for the wife. I did not like the buying experience very much. Too much BMW BS attitiude. It's a car! Not an exotic or something it is a car. I bit my tongue and purchased it. Service was good except I had tire light come low pressure as I driving down 5. Pulled over and reset a few times as I check the pressure with my gauge. I pulled into Fife and they put it on the rack. Showed me a nail head in the tire. Wanted almost $400 for a replacement run crap. I thought about it and decided I could get 4 non RF for a bit more so I passed. Went to Les Schwab
to get it repaired and was just a nail head no nail stuck on the tire. No repair needed. Reset the monitor and was never a problem again. Might not have been Fife's fault as they did not pull the nail head but they could have checked before wanting $400 to replace a tire that was fine. When I decided to upgrade to 2011 JCW I called my salesman and he gave a low ball trade number over the phone. never called back to answer a free questions I had so I bought my 2011 in Seattle.

Seattle MINI- Purchase was fine but got stiffed on some promised items on delivery. Leaves a bad taste as it makes them liars. Manager and I worked it out I thought. I send an e-mail for clarification and got the blow off. No biggie as not worht the BS. Now my MINI is broken down in PDX for over a month and they will not provide any information. Seattle was going to move the car to there store to actually see why the motor failed. After a week I called on Monday to see where my MINI was. He was off and said he would call back Tuesday with an update. Sunday Morning and I have had no call!
I read more about my car on line than the dealers are willing to communicate.
Bobby Danger-I am sure a Lithia PDX Employee-Posted on line that Lithia hates me and so does my dealer Seattle MINI. I was so crushed to read that on line. How about either dealer do there jobs and pick up the phone and communicate with a customer who has bought 2 MINI's in 14 months.
I love my MINI Jack but after this the only reason I will drive the car is warn other potential customers about dealing with the MINI/BMW Dealers. Maybe it is all dealers now unless you find a good one. Not sure BMW or MINI have any. Good look people it is not pretty out there.