Hello All,

Another long time lurker, first time poster here. I apologize for the long post but I am curious to get some of your waiting list / purchasing experiences.

I put down my small deposit and was put on the waiting list for a Cooper S at Mini Peabody in Massachusetts in June 2002. At the time I was told to expect my car to be ordered in March and should expect an April delivery. Comfortable with that time frame, I have been saving my pennies and lurking at these boards in gleeful expectation.

About a month or two ago, I called the dealership to check on the process and was told that I was now looking at an April order with a May delivery. I took the delay in stride, happy to be getting it at the start of the summer and hoping that each day MINI was fixing the niggling problems that my MINI-owning friends are experiencing.

Today I figured it was time to check in again. A salesman looked up my name and told me that I was on track for a June order and a July delivery!

I know that Peabody has a stellar reputation, but I am not sure what to do now. Peabody has never contacted me to let me know that their time frame was slipping. I always hear nothing and then call in to get bad news. It is seriously trashing my "Mini Experience" to be waiting so long with the knowledge (gained from these forums) that most of the MINIs that I see on the road were ordered after mine! I am not, however, willing to pay over MSRP or "bribing" my way higher on the list (as is common practice when buying an early M3 or M5 from a BMW dealership).

Has anyone else had the same experience?

thanks

B

 

Lucidb: Here's the scam(possibly) I was told by a dealer in Vegas that what some dealers do is order your mini, and when it comes in they will sell it to the first person ready to buy it at a higher price. then tell you whatever. If you have ordered a Mini an haven't received a production number by the next day or two, something is wrong. I was being lead on by Longbeach Mini the same way. I found a pretty new dealership Brian Harris Mini. No mark-up, no waiting list. Ask for Lindsey. I received my production number in 2hrs on 18 March, with a delivery dated of 18 May. Lindsey is very customer oriented and will give you her personal e-mail. I've been keeping track on MiniUSA.com in the owners lounge. If you have a production# you can enter the lounge.
OH! Welcome to MCO.

 

I waited for 50 weeks from time of getting on the list to taking delivery. The wait is agonizing. It's a personal preference wether or not you're willing to wait. As far as timeframes at the dealership slipping, I've heard that it is because the number of MCS's they get alloted goes down. If you're unhappy with Peabody, check around to other dealerships. Don't most of them have a toll-free 800 number? Should be easy to see if there's a wait list that is shorter somewhere else. Who knows, maybe you dream MCS is sitting on a showroom floor somewhere.

 

I placed my order three weeks ago with Northwest Mini and was told that the wait is out 14 months. I did not receive a production number and may not until the second quarter of next year according to the dealer. Some of the stories I have read here give me the *******. I can handle the wait if thats the way it is, but not if I don't have to. I like the folks at NW MINI and feel that they are being straight with me, so I will continue to talk with them in the hopes that my number comes up sooner rather than later. At this point I'm not ready to go out of state, but I am not ruling it out either.

Cline

 

The dealers are all over the map, but are all in business to make money. If you call around and are willing to travel a bit, you'll have many more options. I brought my car home 2000 miles, and have no reservations about using my local dealer even though I didn't wait for them to meet my terms (MSRP and I got to order the car to my specs for immediate production).

I'd play the field if I were you. Why not go down to NY to get a car? At least you should be prepared to realistically threaten to do that, to keep any dealer from having all the cards. Get any financing issues out of the way, and don't let one dealer dictate how you buy your next car.

Good luck!

 

I had a car on order with this dealership in November 2002... Great salespeople in my experiences, and I hear that their service department is top-notch as well. I was told that the wait was going to be at least 10 months when I put my deposit down.

Circumstances intervened with my current car and I got my deposit back with no fuss. When I got the money back later, I'd done a bit more research and found that not everyplace had such a long wait for the S. Further, many only asked for a $500 deposit and didn't want 10% of the price of the car (nonrefundable) when the car was actually scheduled for production. Since I was still debating whether or not I wanted to lease the car, putting $3,000+ down at the beginning seemed like it would defeat the purpose of leasing.

I finally decided to place a deposit with Westchester MINI (NY)... my car is now at the VDC after a wait of approximately 5 months. Car is going to be purchased at MSRP, just as with MINI of Peabody.

I've got nothing against Peabody, they're a great bunch of guys and they totally sold me on the car, but the wait and the request for the extra 10% wasn't something that I could swallow right then.

Good luck and hope you get your dream car soon!

 

Why not go to Mini of the Hamptons, don't they ahve MINI's in stock?

 

thats a ridiculous amount of time to wait! i feel really bad for you.... if you had gone to a mini dealer in long island you would have gotten it in 6-8 weeks and would only have been charged msrp! if you can i would switch dealers now! they give you the production number right away! i suggest hassel mini of freeport. they're pretty good compared to the other dealers ive been to. its really worth the 4 hour drive... all dealers on long island currently have coopers in stock so you can call and check what they have.

 

Sounds like a scam to me. Take the 3 hour drive to Albany and order your Mini at Keeler Mini. I ordered mine mid July 2002 and picked her up September 9 2002. Not sure how long the wait is now but, I'm willing to bet you could have yours by summer. Also when I oredered mine I got a production number right away and followed the process on MiniUSA.com Good Luck :smile:

 

Whatever you do, lucidb, don't go to Herb Chambers in Boston. I'm surprised to hear of your problem with the Peabody dealership! I can understand one setback occurring when the S allotments to dealerships were cut, but to be bumped back again seems odd. If you post a question in the New England forum, plenty of Peabody customers (who might not read this thread) might be able to let you know when they ordered their S and when they received it. Might give you some ammo to go back to the dealer and complain.

Another question - did you order any unusual options, like Harmon Kardon stereo or factory alarm? Maybe that might have something to do with the situation.

Good luck,
Chris

_________________
2003 Cooper, Borla exhaust, Moss intake, Magnecor plug wires - Brookline, MA

 

Even if you did order options, it shouldn't have made any difference in the time it takes for you to get your car. Once the dealership places your order and you're scheduled your car for production, it's about 3 months until you're driving it. I've been on a wait list at Long Beach MINI in California for about 5 months and they're telling me it's going to be another 7 before I'll get my car. Sorry. I'm not going to wait that long and go through what you're going through. I also ordered mine through Brian Harris MINI in Louisiana. Placed my order, had confirmation with a week, was able to track production and shipping online and it looks like my MINI will arrive several weeks EARLIER than promised. No add ons, no price gouging, no year wait. And I ordered it with most of the options including the Harmon Kardon stereo. I also get the fun of a road trip in a new car. You might want to consider switching dealerships with that kind of track record.

 

I would definitely look into ordering somewhere else if that is the case. My car was delayed one month and I wasn't notified by my dealership (MINI of Nashville). I know you have to be frustrated now. My wait was only three months - I put the money down in November and drove off the lot in February. You have much more patience than I could ever hope for. However, it is worth the wait. I wish you the best of luck!!

:smile:

 

To see my entire timeline goto : MCS Time Line - Cincinnati MINI at the bottom.

About 6 1/2 months. WORTH IT!!!

 

Basically, you can trade road trip for waiting. I ordered mine 12/26/02, picked it up 2/27/03, then drove 2000 miles in two and a half days.

Doing the drive was better than waiting.

 

That's hardcore, Minae! I took delivery of my MCS and drove the underwhelming 10 miles back to my place only to get out of the car, wonder what the hell I was doing, and jump back in for another drive!

Your way sure works out great for knocking down that agonizing break-in period
I had to wait a month after totalling my previous car to take delivery of a "leftover" MCS that was about to be built (another would-be owner had their deposit fall through, lucky me!) , and i would have gladly ordered from somewhere else to avoid that wait.

-Troy

 

If you are impatient, and willing to deal with the dealer adding extras, talk to Herb Chambers. Call up, ask when they are getting their next shipment in. You may need to talk to a sales rep on the floor to get this answer. Show up the day after. They might have MCS's available.

This is how I got mine - it was a cancelled order. But at the time, they also had 2 other unallocated S's on that order. They were both sold in less than 2 days.

But with that said, I got mine in a total turn around of 5 days. And it was almost exactly what I wanted. (Thank you whoever order a BRG w/ black MCS w/ all 3 packages from HC and "forgot" to call them to cancel!)

-jerrod

 

I was going to order my MCS through Brian Harris Mini. But as luck would have it someone backed out of a recently delivered MCS with the exact specifications I was going to order. Gave them my credit card number for a deposit on a Thursday and picked up the car on Saturday. Sold to me at MSRP. I recommend Brian Harris without reservation. Great folks to work with........ :smile: