Whoops!!! I just called the dealership I was supposed to buy my MINI from and cancelled. The $2500 mark-up just killed me. I couldn't bare to lose money that way, so I inquired with another dealership in a different state and commited to them for MSRP.

They'll be sending me a beautiful 2003 PURE SILVER/BLACK WITH LAPIS BLUE LEATHER AND ALL 3 PACKAGES, AND THE HARMON SYSTEM.

Pooky Jr. may arrive around June 13th or so. With this deal, I feel so much better.
Can't wait!

 

If you haven't already added your comments to the dealer rating system, do so. I know people who read comments made there.

 

Did you explain to the original dealer what you were doing? They may have price matched in order to save the sale. If not, at least you would give them the message that they may need to start re-thinking their pricing schedules. I think the days of the way over MSRP price are coming to an end. You're only experiencing a month wait so supply is obviously catching up to the demand.

 

GOod pooky congrats!

 

I had a great experience buying my MINI from Roadshow in Memphis as an out-of-state buyer. Glad you got a better deal and it is good to see that MINI's are becoming a bit more available than they have been.

I'd suggest that anyone thinkingof getting one gets their order in before the Italian Job comes out!

 

>>Did you explain to the original dealer what you were doing? They may have price matched in order to save the sale. <snip>

IMO, unless the original dealership can provide something of value, they don't deserve the business. As their philosophy is not to sell at a fair price (aka MSRP), but as much as they can get, they need to experience the consequence ($0).
We have four dealers in the (SF Bay) area, and only one is selling at MSRP. They are further away, but when I place my order, it will be with them (though I'll probably take it to the shop that's 30 miles closer for service), simply to reward them for their non-gouging approach.

E
IB/White wanna-be

 

I think that sales are going to skyrocket after the nation gets a good look at our car in the Italion Job

 

>>We have four dealers in the (SF Bay) area, and only one is selling at MSRP. They are further away, but when I place my order, it will be with them (though I'll probably take it to the shop that's 30 miles closer for service), simply to reward them for their non-gouging approach.>>
>>E
>>IB/White wanna-be

I'm in Sacramento and am, too, ordering from East Bay Mini for the same reason. Will get it about a month later than the Sac dealer, but at $1K cheaper.

 

Doesn't California have a law to prevent out of state car sales? I heard you can't register an auto purchased out of state until a long waiting period has passed. Just wondering, as I remember this stumping a lot of SoCal people who were trying to avoid the big markups.

 

>>IMO, unless the original dealership can provide something of value, they don't deserve the business. As their philosophy is not to sell at a fair price (aka MSRP), but as much as they can get, they need to experience the consequence ($0).<<

I totally agree. However, unless you inform them why you're not buying from them they'll never think of changing their ways. If a bunch of car buyers let the general manager of the dealership know that they just lost those sales it may institute some changes in pricing. Car selling is all about being competitive in the market. 10 cars not being sold is $200,000 the dealers not seeing (and from what I understand, over $20,000 in profit missed!). Unless the dealership is very, very successful these figures would give anyone cause for thought!

Jacking up the prices was the order of the day when there was a severe limitation on the cars available. Those days are pretty much over with. As I stated earlier in this tread, I've seen some people listing only a month wait on new builds.

 

>>Doesn't California have a law to prevent out of state car sales? I heard you can't register an auto purchased out of state until a long waiting period has passed. Just wondering, as I remember this stumping a lot of SoCal people who were trying to avoid the big markups.
__________________________________________________ _____________________________

You can register it in Cali, but you'll pay the Sales Tax on it. Or you have to leave it out of state for 90 days then there is no sales tax. If you have friends in a state that has no sales tax you can register it there using their address for the 90 days then reregister it in Cali.

 

Thanks you guys for understanding my situation...I felt real bad to cancell on this dealership close to home, but I did explain why. The sales person was nice enough and supportive in my decision though. This dealership, MINI of Concord have an awesome sales staff by the way.

Apparently, the dealerships here in my area aren't hurting in sales even with the high mark-up.

"For every deal that falls through, there are many that will take the bait."

I believe that I've made the right decision and others may think twice before loosing out on $2,000 to $6,000 just to get their MINIs faster that's all. I'll be charged the sales tax anyways if I purchased here, so that doesn't bother me.

Darsky is right about the overwhelming popularity the MINI will take on when the IJ goes to theatres all across the US. But I fear most dealerships will take advantage of this and send the mark-up cost through the roof.

:evil:

 

I live in California, and bought my MCS out of state too. The dealers in CA are pirates. I've actually sent 3 more customers to my dealer - Mini of Nashville. One's out there picking up his car now. The markups were so high here in L.A. that I even had my car trucked in, and STILL saved a couple of thousand. The really nice things was that there was no wait. The dealer had exactly what I wanted.

I also posted a, how shall I say.... less than positive review here of Mini of Universal City. I then emailed the url of the Mini of Uni. City reviews to Mini USA customer service. I got a very nice reply, saying, among other things that they want to know their dealers are charging over MSRP. Apparently the dealers are not supposed to do that.

 

Pooky, I had a similar experience at Mini of Concord. Sales staff was great, but no negotiation on the $2500 markup. I thought about Eastbay mini, but didn't want to wait the extra 6 months. I figured it would cost about $1,000.00 to take time off work, travel out of state, and bring it home so I called SF Mini and said I would only pay $1,000 above MSRP, and they said great, let's deal.

Have you tried them yet?

Andy

 

That's funny, MINI of San Francisco told me that they could only discount $500 off the dealer mark up of $3,000. :evil:

Anyways, $1,000 is better than $3,000 Andy, so I suppose you got a good deal. But I'd rather spend the 1k for shipping my MINI from an MSRP dealership that's straight forward with me. It's a real shame that the dealerships change their dealer mark up prices in certain situations or people they deal with.

 

I guess you could call Mini of SF back and ask for the same $1000 over MSRP deal and see if you get a different answer than no. Sorry to hear about your cancel but at least you had the sense to do all this before the Italian Job shows up in theaters. I have a feeling this movie is going to open some eyes to the cooper. Remember than two out of the three minis in the movie are coopers. Only the red one is a cooper S!
They all have the nice aero package, bonnet stripes, sunroofs, and 17" R90 wheelsets.