Not me, unfortunately!

Anyway, a very enthusiastic MINI buyer looked at MINIs at a local dealer and the cost for the wheels is $1995 (16" R84s)! When she put together her online MINI those wheels do not cost that much. Plus ALL the MINIs have this dealer charge handwritten on an additional sticker rather than on the original manufacturer sticker. There is no explanation for the extra $1269 charged above the normal wheel cost of $726. Its peculiar since this dealer is not known for markups.

Hopefully she can get a login soon and participate in this discussion.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

_________________
Treasurer, SCMM | paul@scmm.org | Future MINI owner: [insert name here] Who the hell knows what it will look like??!!

 

>>Not me, unfortunately!

 

Lee Ann,
Aloha and welcome to NAM,
I'd be glad to try to help you. You can send me PM by clicking on my yellow colored user name to the left of this post.
The R84 wheels do not cost that much ($2000) and are standard 16" wheels for the MCS in the US. I'd need to know which MINI model you are considering and where do you live?

I am sending you PM right now. Hope to hear from you.

 

O_MINI,

I took stock and then bought aftermaket Tires and Wheels for $1150.00 or so. If you want to see what I got go to http://www.westcoastminiclub.org and the ly/b on the upper right is mine.

Earl

 

Hi there, and welcome!

I'll try and answer some of your questions for you, even though I'm not Minihune. :smile:

There are several factors involved in price and wait time for special orders. Generally speaking, waits on the East Coast are a lot shorter than in the West. I'm in Florida, and I only had to wait 6 1/2 weeks from placing my order with the dealer until delivery. I've heard of people in CA that had to wait months. You should contact a variety of dealers, and consider ordering from one with a shorter wait and having it shipped to you. MINI of the Hamptons in NY and Classic MINI in Cleveland both do this. I've also heard of a dealer in Tennessee doing this, though I don't remember which one.

The same logic applies to price. Generally speaking, mark-ups are higher out west. You'll also find a range of mark-ups from dealer to dealer. If you call around, you should be able to find one at MSRP. Here in FL, I found one dealer with MSRP and another that required $1500 of accessories be purchased.

And, by the way, that hand-written window sticker with a marked-up price sounds really shady. Which dealer is that?

A great resource here on NAM is the Dealer Rating System. There's a link to it in the column on the left under "Features." You can read posts about people's experiences with various dealers.

Good luck, and if you have any specific questions, definitely post them. And, of course, the "search" function always comes in handy! (Look to the top right.)

 

Thank you countrym!

Joining the MINI family is better and better as I "meet" more of you! I appreciate all the great information and advice. I've emailed the recommended East Coast dealers and will order from them since you've confirmed that such a short wait time is really true!!

The three dealers I've been to all mark up their car prices. Long Beach and Crevier both have handwritten window stickers (with the additional costs) next to the MSRP sticker. Irvine had the same thing but with just one item, dealer markup. I appreciate their honesty in posting what the extra cost really is!

I will definitely use the "search" feature. Thanks for pointing it out. I was set on driving a MINI home by this week that I'm too hyper to figure out how to use this website! Phew. I have re-set my sights on getting one in a couple months instead.

Again, thanks for all the great help!

Lee Ann...almost a MINI owner!

 

My pleasure!

From everything I've read, California seems like the worst place to buy a MINI. Long waits, big mark-ups. You should be really happy that you were smart enough to visit this site and find out about purchasing out of state. It will save you tons of $, and you'll get your MINI sooner.

 

Just a quick note to say that the wheel cost listed on the MINIUSA website is just that...the wheels...it doesn't include the tires and the labor to mount, balance and install them on the car. I will say that the price you quoted is still a bit high, but perhaps this will clear up some of the difference between the website price and the dealer's price.

What are you looking for and when do you need it? I might be able to help if you have some specific desires.

 

kschneider,

I bought mine at Crevier (i'm in San Diego) and yes i paid over msrp, however, got the extended warranty and good service. As the vehicle becomes more available the price goes down so we should all hope the supply never exceds the demand.

Earl

 

Any dealer that is marking up MINI's is not one worth buying from. They are basically telling you that their intention is to screw their customers over as much as they can possibly get away with. Not the sort of folks I would want to do business with.

I'd say shop around, and make good use of the Dealer Rating System on the left side of this page to let others know how this particular dealer handles their MINI customers.

I bought my MINI out of state without paying for HUGE dealer markups. I did agree with my dealer to purchase a few basic additional accessories at their normal price and that seemed fair to me. I was going to buy the rubber floor mats anyway