OK, San Diego owners, as I was driving back from Long Beach MINI Saturday - where I had some minor service done, I went by the Brecht MINI dealership just for a look-see, and hey, there was a "Brecht MINI" sign on the building, a silver S out front, and I took a chance to see if there would be a few Brecht folk about. Yessiree.

I talked to John, who informed me the opening day for them is Friday, June 28th. They have been thru the wringer just getting their dealership open, lost all their allocation up to this point, and generally have been scrambling to make headway. The physical plant is a nice, new, large showroom, plenty of parking and they plan on service bays at that site in the near future. Right now the service will be done at the BMW bays up the road, but they are pretty much ready to go. The new show-room floor was being polished when I got there, and every one was bustling about. DMV walk-thru and approval is very near.

John was sorry they hadn't been able to open on time, but evidently BMW demanded larger floor space than Brecht had originally been led to believe. They had to find a new lot, near the Autopark section of Escondido, for whatever price, as soon as possible. For those of you who don't know Southern California, a commercial spot like that must have cost a pretty penny. Then they started from scratch, and since there was no place to put 'em, ALL their MINI's went to other So Cal Dealers. That's possibly why some of us have lucked out on available cars.

I was wondering how Brecht, normally a pretty savvy outfit, missed the boat. They may have missed the sailing, but they're on the pilot boat catching up.

Now the bad news, of sorts. Brecht is going to sell MINIs as they come in, with possible dealer add-ons, and almost assuredly a mark-up. No list sales for now. When the 2003 models become available, they will start looking at some sort of list, and will only then begin taking orders like all the rest. Good luck getting anything B4 next summer, I say, but hey you never know.

I took a coupla pics, and I'll stick 'em on the Member's page. First look at Brecht's first cars.

BCNU,
Rob in Dago

 

Rob,
I have been on Brecht's list since the beginning. I have been holding out buying until they got their op up and running. Do you know, are they charging a premium like Crevier (my other choice)? Gee... I should have signed on at Long beach at the very beginning.

Robyn

 

Robyn -

Sorry, but I don't know their pricing policy yet, but I was told by John, the Brecht guy, that they would not be selling the MINIs that are sold off the showroom floor at MSRP. They WON"T be using the list yet, either, he said. That being said, you may find a good deal on a MINI at Brecht anyway. They are behind the curve for making a profit on the MINI dealership, they've lost all the sales up to this point, and just to stay viable they may be in no position to rule out anything. I just saw a Cooper S at Long Beach, for $22,000 or so, very basic with a coupla dealer add-ons. So if you hang around the dealers, keep calling them, sounding pitiful, ( hey, that's what I did! ) they might scare somethin' up. I know some list folks have obtained build numbers fairly quickly from some dealers, especially if you throw some cash at 'em.
There aren't many dealers like Irvine or Long Beach, so good luck, and I really mean it. I want the MINI to succeed, and everyone who gets one helps the brand. Call the LA dealers right away, and Brecht when they open or better yet, drive out to the dealers, have a pre-approved loan and get lucky! Watch the Meetings Furom, if you're down in San Diego. W'ell be meeting again sometime soon.

BCNU,
Rob in Dago

 

 

Mini-g

I'm on all :evil: . I guess that optimist in me kept hoping they weren't as awful as they seemed when you dropped in to say hi. Oh well. Maybe when everyone owns a mini we'll all just get along

See ya soon im my mini!
tmgrobyn (tmg=the mini girl)

 

Hey tmg...
Being a mini girl myself I want you to know I'm here for you. If anything comes up I'm here in san diego and can help out if you need it. If only just to tell you that before the summer is out you will have a MIni, I just know it. Be persistant!!
We'll be waiting to rally with you when the day comes that your Mini has arrived!!
See you on the road.

 

Over Bretch´s San Diego they are kind and knowledge people, I suffer of a crash rear glass in my Mini, they get it in two days, What else I can said ??

A lot of accs on hand

 

Okay guys, I just talked to John over at Brecht. They are now open and trying to keep it quiet until they get more in... then they'll send an email to everybody on their list. They currently have 3 coopers on the lot and are selling at 10% over MSRP. Just thought I'd let y'all know.
:smile:

 

I was at Brecht this weekend and in addition to the 10% charge over MSRP they are also
adding $3500 of default options like Perma-plate-lojack and the like. Every car gets the $3500 in options and the 10%
markup.

They had a base S without any packages(no Premium,Cold Weather, or Sport) listed for $27000. I would have at least expected one package. I found the sales person rude when asking if they had a market adjustment he exclaimed we've seen S's at dealer auctions for $32k. This was even before questioning him on the gouging.

I'm going to either Long Beach or Irvine for my next Mini. I payed MSRP at Irvine and had to purchase the $1500 in extras which I was able to stomach. No way at Brecht!

 

>>I was at Brecht this weekend and in addition to the 10% charge over MSRP they are also
>>adding $3500 of default options like Perma-plate-lojack and the like. Every car gets the $3500 in options and the 10%
>>markup.
>>
>>They had a base S without any packages(no Premium,Cold Weather, or Sport) listed for $27000. I would have at least expected one package. I found the sales person rude when asking if they had a market adjustment he exclaimed we've seen S's at dealer auctions for $32k. This was even before questioning him on the gouging.
>>
>>I'm going to either Long Beach or Irvine for my next Mini. I payed MSRP at Irvine and had to purchase the $1500 in extras which I was able to stomach. No way at Brecht!
>>
>>

I agree with you! Snobbery! snobbery! BMW has to figure out that we're buying minis not bimmers! I'm headed
to Long Beach to see Matt!

 

So very sad that Brecht has to play the game this way. I am so looking forward to my first visit to the lot. Since I already have my Mini, I will not hesitate to tell them where they can get off concerning the horrible price gouging practices they seem to have. Where are they getting off with a straight on cash/mark-up anyways?
I though BMW frowned upon that? If they are really snobby, I will not have any qualms buying my Mini stuff from Irvine BMW. I will most certianly tell them that too. A drive to Irvine is a great Mini Motoring experience.
More next week.
Motor On!!

 

Stopped by Brecht MINI 7/13 while I was picking up a new A-pillar cover, ( more on that later - their parts folks are efficient & helpful ), just to see wot's up. They are now taking deposits for MINIs, $1,000.00, and they tell you right off the "market adjustment" is 10% on Coopers and 15% on S's, with various "required" dealer add-ons.

What a crock. EVERY MINI is a guaranteed sale, so there's no need for all this extra profit other than pure greed. BMW better get their dealers on the right track. Maybe it's too tempting to stick it to the customer, but let's face it, the MINI is still the LOW end car at BMW.

Most Dealers don't care to understand the market they could have, just the market with the lowest pockets. They seem to want the Yuppified free-spender that really just wants a novelty car....for a while. BMW may be building a future customer base for up-market Bimmers, but they could easily be building a long-term MINI customer base.

$17-18 G's is a fantastic deal for what you get in a MINI, just think how many MINIs BMW would be selling in the States if they had more control over the dealer behaviour. VW, Toyota & Honda all learned how you can be marginalized very quickly in the US unless you put some effort into basic customer relations. And I don't mean at the regular BMW level, I mean even more basic. Don't get greedy, it's as simple as that. They have a superior product that would easily sell itself....except the greedy guys out there are gonna eff it up, I'm very much afraid.

BCNU,
Rob in Dago