I live in Austin. I know of a fantastic dealership in the Dallas area - 4 hours away. There is a new dealership scheduled to open in January in San Antonio - 1.5 hours away. Should I wait for the closer dealership to open so I can have my service work done at the same dealership where I buy my Mini? Or does it matter?

 

Buy now. Service at whichever seems to have a better service department
when the time comes. I get oil changes done locally and anything major
would go to the dealer. I change my oil more frequently than the 10,000
mile recommendation. if you search the forums you'll find different views
on that topic. But, I'd buy it now. Why wait? Welcome to MCOL...

 

It better not matter! I live in So. Calif. and just took delivery of an new '03 MCS I purchased telephonically in Long Island New York and had trucked here. Seriously, I hear dealers make more money from service business than sales, so they should be delighted to get your business. Enjoy!

 

I say go with whoever is the best dealer, and, if possible, isn't marking up there cars. We got lucky and bought from a dealer less than 8 miles from our house, a great dealer, and no mark up. We did look into Cincinnatti (2 hours plus mark-up) and Chicago (almost 4 hours), before the dealer locally opened up last July.

 

>>I live in Austin. I know of a fantastic dealership in the Dallas area - 4 hours away. There is a new dealership scheduled to open in January in San Antonio - 1.5 hours away. Should I wait for the closer dealership to open so I can have my service work done at the same dealership where I buy my Mini? Or does it matter?

It does not matter. But, which dealer you buy your car from does. I have been reading comments about Texas dealers on other Forums and it seems that a lot of price gouging is going on. The one exception seems to be the San Antonio dealership has stated that they will be selling at MSRP. For that reason, plus being closer, would cause me to wait. But then I have been waiting for over a year since I first said I wanted a Cooper.

 

Drove 400 miles to the dealer I got my MCS from.

 

Ed - What a wonderful Christmas Gift! Your MINI!! How exciting! I heard the same thing about the San Antonio dealer selling at MSRP and I know for sure John Roberts in Dallas sells at MSRP if you will ok delivery after March 03. Well, My lease on my Honda Accord is up in June so the closer I get to that the better trade in I'll have! Have you heard when the San Antonio dealer will open? I've heard January 03 and Spring 03.

 

To get to my MINI dealer I drive to the end of my block, make a left turn and drive about two miles and then make another left turn and my dealer is three blocks down from there. And who said that Powerball lottery winner who won $316 million was lucky!

 

You may want to try Moritz in Arlington. I ordered at MSRP on 11/22. My MINI was built on 12/20 and is waiting transport on the FAUST, hopefully today.

 

Make sure you check dealers everywhere. One person on this board bought his MINI in Hawaii and had it shipped to SoCal, another person said they flew to the city where he bought his MINI and the dealer sent somebody to the airport to pick him up. Shop around and find the best deal, then once you have it, get it serviced at the dealership with the best service.

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Member #47 2002 Dark Silver Mini S white roof and mirrors with Premium and Sport pkgs. He has come and his name is MINI ME (Check my GRILL!!! Grrr Baby)-->MINI ME

 

I bought my MCS in Tampa Bay and I now live in Atlanta. I have my Cooper serviced at the local dealership here in Atlanta. Does not matter where you bought the car (get a good deal if possible) you can have it serviced at any Mini dealership in the US.

Kesh

 

>> Well, My lease on my Honda Accord is up in June so the closer I get to that the better trade in I'll have! Have you heard when the San Antonio dealer will open? I've heard January 03 and Spring 03.

Austin:
If your lease is up in June and you want a MCS you need to order NOW after shopping every dealer you can talk to. The wait for a MCS is 6 months to a year! As of the middle of Dec the San Antonio dealer was still saying a January opening but Feb is probably more realistic.
Yea, my MINI arrived for Christmas but I haven't seen it yet. I will pick it up on Jan 3rd and then have a 550 mile drive home. My closest dealer is 100+ miles away but they are selling "loaded" models at MSRP + dealer add-on and will not take a customer speced order. They also dishonored the waiting list that I was on back in March and addopted a "first come first serve" policy. That is the reason for my comments about selecting a dealer and not worry about distance! I don't even want to take my MINI to the closest dealer for service!

 

I Ordered an MCS through Moritz on 11/22, it was built on 12/20 and is now awaiting transport, so the wait will be only about two months.

 

Okie - I've heard the time frame is about 3 months on getting MCS ! Which means I'll want to order it in Feb or March. I believe they ship directly into Galveston ! I am going to San Antonio on 1-7 and I plan to stop by the dealer and ask them when they will open and if there is a wait list, etc... if I find they have a mark up or it doesn't sound like they know what they are doing, I'm heading to the DFW area and order from there.

 

Austin - Moritz will sell at MSRP and doesn't force you to buy accessories like Baron in Kansas City does. My time frame from order date to delivery should be no more then 2 to 2 1/2 months. It was built less then one month after I placed the order. The only guessing is how long it will take enroute etc.