Ok I have a question. I put a deposit down a August 9th(Friday) for a mini S
at a dealer in my area. I was told the order would go in on Monday August 11 and then on august 11 I was told Sept and I recently found out it wont even go in till November and I wont get the car until January. They said if I want an S it has to be January.
Since I have my money down and I like the dealership I guess I have no choice but to wait. Its a drag to get the car in the middle of winter but do I have any other options ?
I was told that each dealership is only allowed a certain number of cars so I imagine it is the same all over. I was told that if some order comes in that falls through I can get the car earlier but I am not counting on this. It seems like a very long time to be holding my money and not sure another dealer wouldnt say the same thing. I think they have me.
What would you guys do??
Mini in waiting
Momentum

 

Guess this might be in the wrong place but would really like to know if anyone else is experiencing this wait to just put in the order????? Should I switch dealerships / I am afraid it will be the same story
Mini in waiting :???:

 

>>I was told that each dealership is only allowed a certain number of cars so I imagine it is the same all over.

No, it is NOT the same all over. I'm not 100% sure what the case is with 2003's (since that's what you'll be getting if you order now), but not every dealer sells their allocation at the same rate. You may be able to get an order placed much sooner from a dealer that has not sold as much of their order allocation. What you need to do is to call around...and likely be willing to travel if you find someone who can place your order sooner and therefore get your car sooner.

Furthermore, you may find a dealer that has preordered a car that exactly or closely meets your spec. Not all of these cars are built to customer order.

Finally, beware of the dealer that gives you the story that the car you want is so desirable that you'll have to wait nearly forever to get one. I have heard of this happening to some people who are then (amazingly enough) offered a car that they didn't want that the dealer "just happened" to have available. Of course, if this turns out to be the case, you should also beware of paying an over-MSP premium. If you shop around, and exercise patience, you can usually avoid this.

Check the dealer's story. Check the dealer rating system on this forum. Be willing to go to a less-local dealer. You may be motoring sooner than you thought.
:smile:

 

BTW, I can't offer any advice about the status of your deposit if you choose to go to another dealer. Look at what you signed when you forked over the bucks. They may have you on this.

 

>>Guess this might be in the wrong place but would really like to know if anyone else is experiencing this wait to just put in the order?


I put my deposit down in April. My order went through in August. I should have my car sometime in October. Which is better than the November estimate I recieved in April. Of course, I did forget to mention that in june they called me up and told me that I could have it by August, if I changed my colour option (BRG). I opted to wait for the 2003s. So I guess that didn't really help much, sorry.

 

I put my deposit down last Saturday to get on the waiting list to order my S.
I'm looking at around 6 months just to place the build order.
So your doing better than me. :smile:

But it's also good for me to wait. I can get my financials in order and be in perfect shape by the time I get my S.

Plus I'll get it sometime in the spring or early summer. So no winter driving.

 

>>I put my deposit down last Saturday to get on the waiting list to order my S.
>>I'm looking at around 6 months just to place the build order.
>>So your doing better than me. :smile:
>>

Just a question; you said you put down a deposit just to get on the waiting list (ie, no VID or build #)? I thought they only took $$$ when you PLACED the order. Are some dealers not taking money just to wait 4+ months to (then) finally sign the REAL purchase order?

Boy, I thought I had it bad when I had to wait 4-6 months to place my order... at least I haven't had to give them any MONEY! The other option around here (Los Angeles), was to pay $3-6K over list; then you could place your order almost immediately.

 

Yup, same here. I am putting down a deposit tomorrow for the S. Test drove on Saturday and tried to put the deposit today but never got a call back from the dealer. Its going to be 6 months to place an order. But I am hoping that the time will be cut down. Just a month ago it was almost a two year wait, so my dealer is getting higher percentages of cars. Although it will be a drag to wait, I will beable to save more money, and hopefully make it through the next round of layoffs in this never ending cycle...

 

>>Just a question; you said you put down a deposit just to get on the waiting list (ie, no VID or build #)? I thought they only took $$$ when you PLACED the order. Are some dealers not taking money just to wait 4+ months to (then) finally sign the REAL purchase order?


The dealers in my area are already sold through their allowance. So you have to wait.

 

I think the general story is you put down a deposit (generally $500 for a cooper and $1K for an S) just to get on the list - helps the dealers find serious buyers...oh and make some $$ on the interest...can't forget about that. Then, depending on the list, you'll get an order later. I put my $$ down in April and got to place my order in July and delivery is estimated for late August.

I originally had my deposit w/one dealer (local if you can call 2 hours local) but they were estimating 18mos. I called around and found a dealer 500 miles away that could put me at 80 on the list for an S. Amazingly enough, I got it sooner rather than later. I'm getting my car sooner than expected, but it will still have been 5 months by the time I get the car.

But like others have said, they do have cars pre-spec sitting on the lot - my dealer was offering to those on the list first. When I ordered, I could have bought one...but it was just missing the Sports package :smile:

 

Here's a story of wait with a happy ending-- I called the local BMW dealer TWO YEARS AGO and they said yes, they planned to be a Mini dealer. I had just read that Minis were to be made. At my suggestion, they started a list of people that wanted a Mini. When they Mini was introduced in March, I went to the dealer--the list had 700 names--my name was number one, which made me something of a celebrity. I ordered a Mini S that day, March 23. The car was built in July, but took weeks to get on the boat, and then 3 weeks at distribution center awaiting some backordered parts. Here's the best part--the car arrived at the dealer yesterday afternoon. I'm going to pick it up at 9:30 a.m. today. It is 8:14 a.m. now as I write this. Excuse me while I go take a shower. OH JOY!

Pure silver S, premium,performance, and cold weather package, Leather seats, navigation system.