I'm going this afternoon to look at a 2002 Mini Cooper that I'm thinking of buying. It is on the lot at my local Mini dealer.

Here is the configuration:

I've seen a few of the delivery checklists.

Aside from those things, can you think of anything specific I should take a look for on a used car?

I know I need to check the coolant tank to see if it is leaking.

Thanks for your help!

 

Besides checking the obvious things (that everything works, all liquids and oils, etc.), get the dealer to lift the car and take a look underneath for signs of any kind of damage. With 7K kms it should be dirty but not overly dirty.

When you test drive it don´t just drive it slow around the corner, drive it harder, push the engine and test the brakes, drive it over rough roads to check for rattles.

Be specially careful checking the "usual" Mini problems (transmission, antifreeze cooling tank, etc.)

Have fun testing it!

 

I did the test drive.

I'm very irritated with the dealer. I don't know if I can see my way to clear to buy it or other Mini.

This is a long story, but the bottom line is that this dealer has been giving me the run around for a month. I've been very patient. I've set up appointments with him.

In fact, I made an appointment with the guy to see the car today. Took off from work to do this. 2nd time I'd been over to see it. (First time was a bust because they couldn't find the keys-- told me to come back next week.)

I was ready to sit down and negotiate a deal after the test drive. The dealer salesperson said that he had another customer waiting.

Instead, I stood around waiting (again) 45 minutes while he helped someone else.

To heck with this.... if I can't get the salesperson's attention when I'm standing there ready to pay cash for a car, then I have to seriously question whether these guys will take care of service items.

The longer I stood there, the more I thought about how much of a run-around they have given me.

I finally just interrupted the sales guy and told me that I had to go, but he should call me tomorrow.

I'm thinking that it is too late. I'm going to buy something else.

 

Make sure you post your experience in the "dealer rating system" section of this site.

Sorry to hear of your crappy experience. Good luck elsewhere! There really are good dealers out there.

 

The service department and the sales department are usually separate, so you might get killer service from them, and not even have to deal with the sales peopel anymore. (I had that issue with my vw) If you truly like the car, get it. you will have so much fun driving it, you'll forget about those flakes who blew you off.

Craig

 

Well, it's been 24 hours since I went for the test drive.

Not even so much as a phone call back from the Mini dealer.

This experience coupled with the potential mechanical problems are just too much.

I'd made my decision to buy the Mini prior to this, so I'm back to square one in terms of buying a car. There is no other Mini dealer

Don't know what I'll consider now.