I've got a dumb question. When you guys say you paid in cash, you actually mean a check, right? Or are you actually carrying stacks and stacks of hundred dollar bills down to the dealer? I wonder if the amount of pennies it would take to buy a MINI would be in excess of the MINI's load capacity?

Check, silly! Although, I guess I could have gotten a nice, hefty wad of hundreds. For example, only 270 one-hundred dollar bills for $27K! Not too bad...but it reeks of being in some sort of illicit business! lol:

And I believe that YuccaPatrol actually posted back in late 02 about how much said-load of pennies would weigh!


Clover

Received a severance package , found a new (and much better) job , ordered my MCS and put the downpayment on my CC. Paid off CC. When MINI arrived, wrote check to pay off the rest. End of severance package.

Along with a dump truck to unload them.

Bought my 03 MCS in April of 03 made payments and sold 1 1/2 years later made a profit Got my 05 last Sept......PAID IN FULL

Yeah I think that thread started because of this one

And this Thread was started in response to the numerable threads that appear every other day asking whether to lease or pay loan payments for 12 years

Great work guys and gals! I have renewed faith that many MINI drivers are in fact owning their cars rather than posting brand new cars, under 10k miles in the marketplace forum because of a "change in circumstance"...

Keep up the gloating ....after all most have sacrificed in other areas of life to be able to say that thier MINI is all their own....it's a great feeling

03 MCS paid with 3 checks on april 03, and took delivery on tuesday 13 of may. No monthly payments for me.

bought it in mar of 02. Paid it off recently...just in time for the warranty to expire.

Owned mine since september of 02....loved it all

Just a fun statistical question for me...out of all the people here who own their Mini out-right, how many of you have a bachelor's degree or higher?

What is a bachelor's degree? Like married?

Hyper please start a new thread on that one

No offense...I am very intrested in this as well ....But. . Post the link here in this thread. I dont want this thread to turn into 3 pages of people stating their acedemic credentials. Lets keep this to those who have thier car paid off

I paid cash for my MCS. The dealers don't like that as they want you to finance thru them. I also didn't buy any warranty or maint packages from them. Yet I still had to sit and listen to all the sales pitches and sign the papers stating that I did NOT want them.
You would think that paying cash would be the fastest, easiest way to buy a car...So much BS to deal with..

Okay, at first, I laughed at this...but then I thought...oh, what if he really doesn't know what a bachelor's degree is?

Paid in full 1/31/05. I only buy what I can pay for (house excepted), not what I can afford! :smile:
I'm in finance, so I understand the idea of financing assets and alternative investment, but could never bring myself to risk $ in the market while paying on a loan. Even less inclined after 2001!

My story: have drooled over MINIs since 2002, but couldn't bring myself to buy a new one (bad financial decision there!!) Found out too late they were discontinuing IB, and liked it better than HB or PH. Put in a low-ball bid on ebay, got outbid (below reserve) and then got a 'second chance' offer. Which told me they were desperate.:smile: After a few emails, I got the service record, which listed the original owner. Called him and talked about the car, and was comfortable with its lineage. Haggled with salesman #1 to the price I had bid on ebay but tried for less. Salesman #2 called Saturday morning, worked it to $600 less than that, and sent a cashier's check so they'd have the money by Jan 31 (month end.)
I sent over $20K to someone I'd never met, for an item I'd never seen (in person) All the while thinking - "Am I nuts?"
Got a free ticket (airline connection) to BWI, took a train to Richmond, VA. While on train was accosted by large drunk man who apparently believed every seat was his. Train delayed several hours. Poor guy from dealership sat at the depot the whole time.
Drove car around the block, got my negotiated full toggle rack (loose) and rear fogs activated. Signed final papers with finance guy. He wants SSN for their 'credit' files. I say "Why - you've got a cashier's check. I don't want credit." He thinks about it for a while and says, "Uh, ok." Guess they're not used to cash. Got a full tank of gas (on the dealer!) and headed for home 3K miles away. An hour later I called the salesman, "Uh, when do I get the pink slip?"
All is sunny and grand (it's February) so I eschew my planned southerly route and head toward Denver to see a friend. Torrential rains in Kansas. My warranteed wipers start disintegrating. Temp drops. It starts snowing. I fear racking up my 'new' car as I see a BMW spun out into a guardrail and bid rigs fly by, blasting me with muck. Wipers continue to disintegrate.
Wait, this is supposed be about purchasing stories. Please disregard the above.

Options, financing, extended warranties, etc. are where the dealers make their money. I was actually very impressed with the finance manager at MINI of Peabody - after I answered a string of about ten questions with nos, she cut the spiel short and just said "I'm not going to get you to pay for any of this stuff, am I?"

Hopefully, nobody will actually list their credentials...just a simple "yes/no" to my question in addition to their responses to this thread.

Two 03 MCS' and one 05 MCS...never owed a penny. Still got all three.

Oh yes, I did do that!

Here's the link to a long dead thread that might be worthy of resurrection!


I did have fun when I bought my MINI and the dealer had problems with my personal check. I had offered to send them a cashier's check but they told me that my check from a pre-approved account would be acceptable. When I got there, they did not want to honor it, requiring me to run around a strange town like a madman to acquire a cashier's check.

I paid them back by getting the check made to only cover the cost of the car without the accessories included. When they asked about the rest of the money, I started counting out hundred dollar bills. Turned out that they did not like taking several thousand dollars in cash either!

Hon, vm is in Guadalajara, Mexico (if you look at his post, you will see his location.) Maybe it is called something else down there and the juxtaposition of bachelor and marriage confused him?


Clover

I have Bachelor's Degree.

Married, I have an Associates in Arts degree (currently working on my upper division undergraduate credits, Bachelor of Science in IT), I am also a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. 15 years experience in IT. Wife has a Bachelor's degree. She is a Professional technical writter with 8 years experience.

When I say "my Ollie" I do mean MY Ollie

Paid for by the time I drove him outta the showroom (absolutely no thanks to my BA, which I had almost finished at the time)

Exactly. I instantly though in marriage. But still doesn't get what is a bachelor's degree.

Bachelor's degree is a four year college degree. BA = Bachelor's in Arts, and BS = Bachelor's in Science

Then they go on to Masters and PhD's which ad a few more years.

Hope that helps,

Nik