This Saturday I'm going to St. Louis Mini to test drive an MCS. I already know that I'm going to buy one, but they are charging $500 over MSRP. They claim that they have the largest allocation in the midwest and that my wait time will be shorter with them than any other dealer in the midwest. Since they're about a 2 1/2 hour drive away from me, I know getting to the dealer for service will be a hassle, so I'd be willing to buy from a dealer further away. Can anyone comment on what the dealers in Memphis, Nashville, or Chicago are charging and what their allocation levels are (wait time after ordering)? I guess I'm willing to pay the $500 markup in St. Louis since wherever I buy, required dealer service would be there. From experience I know that warranty service can be performed by any authorized dealer, but they generally seem to give preferential treatment to their own customers. What do you guys think? Thanks, Joel

 

Not sure how big their allocation is, but Cincinnati Mini doesn't mark up and Amy has been great to work with so far.

 

I don't know how far you are away, but Mini of Nashville does not mark up. If interested call John Monk (615-620-6464) He was very helpful to me.

 

My first MINI was bought from MINI of St Louis & they have been charging $500 (dealer prep) since the very beginning. They included cloth floor mats. Having said that my Cabrio is ordered thru Roadshow in Memphis. They charge $250 dealer prep. MINI of St Louis is also charging an additional $1500 over MSRP for Cabrios. The 250 mile trip to Memphis is worth the $1750 I saved. And to be honest with you, I've never been given any preferential treatment for service at MINI of St Louis. The BMW's get that And I plan to get my Cabrio serviced in St Louis also. I ordered my Cabrio on July 28th-it is currently on the ship sailing into Charleston. I expect it by the beginning of October. So it was about a 2 month wait. Hope this helps:smile:

Lois

 

RM, Baron (KC) and Jackie Cooper (OKC) do not charge one penny over MSRP, and waits are relatively short (10-12 weeks.) Use this fact to negotiate out the mark-ups; it can be done. Jimbo

 

Dreyer/Rienbold in Indianapolis charge MSRP. I've been satisfied with their service. They seem to get there orders in a reasonable amount of time.

 

If you are 2.5 hours from St. Louis, you are probably not too much further from some of the other dealerships listed by the others. I got my '04 MC from Cincinnati for MSRP with no misc. dealer add on charges. It was very straitforward dealing with them, and for whatever reason my car went into production much sooner than anticipated, and I had it just 6 weeks after I ordered it. If I were you, I MIGHT pay up to $500 extra if I actually lived in St. Louis (just figuring the time, hassle, etc. of getting a car elsewhere being worth $500, maybe), but since you don't live in St. Louis I would shop around a bit more.

 

Under no circumstances should you pay over MSRP. As long as buyers rationalize paying over MSRP, dealers will continue demanding this ransom. It's much better for the general Mini community for buyers to do a little homework and spend the extra money on air fare and fuel to fly over and drive back from an MSRP dealer.

Most likely, you'll spend far less than $500 for your fly/drive adventure and you'll have a lot of fun doing it. Plus you'll have an interesting conversation topic for years to come! :smile:

 

I would recommend Classic Auto Campus (Mini of Cincinatti). They really treat the customer well. There are no dealermarkups of any kind (and they throw in the floor mats with it). They charge MSRP and if you purchase dealer installed parts (i.e. aero kit, wheels, satellite radio.....) they give you 20% off the cost of the parts as well. I would recommend Julie, and they have the very short wait times.

 

I live in the Los Angeles area and they still charge $3000 over sticker for MCS's. I ended up buying mine out of Boston, special order and paid sticker. It took 2 months, but I have exactly the car I want. Although I did pay $1000.00 for shipping.

 

Thanks for the replies so far. I bought a new Corvette in 2000, basically online from a dealer in Florida and arranged for pickup at the National Corvette Museum. Its across the highway from the Corvette plant in Bowling Green, Ky. My wife and I flew in and drove the car home. Those of you that have done this with your Mini's are right when you say the road trip can be a lot of fun. I just hadn't convinced myself that the hassle was worth avoiding a $500 markup. But I do tend to agree with 911fan about not paying anything over MSRP. I've owned a lot of cars over the years, and it seems like I'm always looking to buy the one that's so 'in demand' that there's very little to no negotiation on the price. But i've never paid more than MSRP before, and the thought of doing that isn't sitting with me very well. Maybe I'll just take a test drive in St. Louis and then check with some of the other fairly close dealers. I was under the impression that Baron, in K.C. was charging a markup over list.

 

MAG in Columbus did not mark up my MCS and they were pretty good to deal with.

 

I'm leaving tomorrow to go with my daughter by train and ferry to pick up my MC/S at MOTH. We have been looking forward to this "adventure" since I ordered the car at the end of June. I'm meeting her in D.C. and then its on to New Haven, CT where my Mom lives. Then by ferry to Port Jefferson, then by train to Southampton. The nearest dealer is 2 hours away and wanted $1000 extra in "documentation fees" amd "dealer Prep." I'll enjoy the trip, and use the leftover money for accessories.

 

I bought mine at Dreyer and Reinbold in Indianapolis. I paid MSRP and had a great experience. I didn't order mine so I can't tell what the wait is but they said 12 weeks.

What are you looking for?

I was up there the other day to see the convertibles and they had a nice amount of very nice MINIs in stock.

 

It will be a lot easier for you if you catch a taxi from port Jeff to Ronkonkama, to get the train to Southhampton, thats because the port Jeff train station is the last stop on that line, so if you take that train you will travel all the way to Hicksville LI to make the South Hampton connection, that will be about a 2.5 hour detour to South Hampton

 

You're not that far from Chicago...I bought mine at Patrick MINI in Schaumburg, IL, absolutely no markup and a two-month wait. Talk to Chuck Amenta, he was my MA and is a good guy. :smile:

I should mention that I live 3 hours away in Northeastern Wisconsin...yes, there is a closer dealer, but they treated me right at Patrick.

 

If St Louis is charging a markup then they just started, because last spring I considered ordering my car thru them and there was no markup. But then these were 2004 models. Jimbo

 

Last I heard there was no mark-up at Knauz Mini in Chicago area either.

I didn't pay a mark-up on my '04.

 

I pick mine up this afternoon from Dreyer-Reinbold in Indianapolis for MSRP. They require a $500 deposit...but it is exactly that. It took less than 2 months to arrive!

 

You car has the same birthday as me!

And our MINIs came from the same place!

Who was your MA?

If you see a cr/cr MCS around town.... that's me!

 

Are you sure the $250 charge at Roadshow is called dealer prep? Realistically, dealer prep is always included in the MSRP. It would be diffficult to sell a car, (and probably illegal), exactly as it came of the transport. Roadshow does charge a $249 "documentation fee" however.

 

Sorry if my terminology was wrong! I just know they charge an extra $250 or whatever over MSRP. And exactly what is a documentation fee? What it is they do to warrant this fee,resmini?

Lois

 

I think they are selling at MSRP right now.

 

Well, I emailed the dealerships in KC, Memphis, and Nashville. After 2 days, I've gotten no reply from KC or Memphis. Dealers shouldn't use web sites if they're not going to reply to email inquiries about purchasing. Nashville sells for MSRP, but they charge a $300 'processing fee' and throw in a set of mats. They also charge $5700 for the JCW kit (installed). That amounts to $500 less than St. Louis. They also claim 8 - 10 weeks wait time after ordering. I'm still on for an MCS test drive in St. Louis on Saturday, but unless St. Louis Mini is willing to deal a little bit I guess I'll check with the two Chicago dealers. I might even check with Julie at Classic Mini, although that would be a much longer drive home with the new car. Does anybody know what Classic charges for the JCW installed? It's never easy, is it? By the way, I just sold a 1969 435hp Corvette convertible for $29,000, so I can pretty much do an even trade of one toy for another.:smile:

 

I purchased an '05 MINI S at Crown MINI of Richmond, VA on Sept. 2nd. The only additional charge was a "Dealer prep" charge of $660, over and above the destination charge of $550. This $660 charge is affectionately termed "rip-off". However, demand allows dealers to do this, and it's legal. Such practices by dealers also tend to make MINI USA look rather greedy, and it's horrible for customer relations. I've heard of add-on charges in the range of $3,000-$5,000 extra. That's unacceptable.

If your dealer quotes excessive add-on charges, walk out of the showroom and go to an honest dealer who doesn't charge big add-ons. It's well worth the effort to drive to another dealership, and of course, any MINI dealer can service your car.

Another area where they nail us is with dealer-installed options. For example, driving lights. MINI USA lists driving lights as a $450 option (I think that's right), dealer installed. Crown charged me $680, which is totally excessive for ANY driving light. I complained and they threw in a gauge package free of charge! BTW, MINI USA's price on the gauge package is $250, Crown charges $380! Thank goodness Crown only charges $6,000 plus tax for the JCW kit install, at least for the '04 kit.

Don't pay big dealer add-on charges, take your dollars elsewhere!