Hello everyone .
i have been looking to buy a 2004 mini cooper. i have found one thats for $19,850 at a used car delaership.i kinda cought them in a lie. they told me that the car only had 5,000 miles. but when i did the carfax it list 19744 miles. well i call the dealership and they no longer will talk with me, always the sales guy is with a customer. well i went down and they asked to run my credit score. well i have a 680 score but they said that i need a cobuyer.does this sound right? well it's funny that they said that because mitsubishi motors and nissan credit both approved my loan for a $25,000 car. but the sales guy told me it's only because im a first time car buyer.. so what i need to know is i told a dealership in Bham that i wanted to buy the car. so first thing monday they are going out to buy the car for me.. how much do you think they are going to add on to the price of the car since they are having to buy it from another dealership? and how much is too much to pay for this car?
thanks a lot
Press P. .

 

with the current dealer. In their mind, you caught them on a possible mis-representation of the car. If they sell you the car (at least in California) they have some potential problems if they put the lower (non-CARFAX) mileage on the bill of sale. The line about needing a co-signer is just so much s**t that they are throwing at you in an effort get you to move on to another dealer. As you said, you got an approval (without a co-signer) at another dealer.

Personally, if it were me based on what you have mentioned, I would pass on the car. There is too much that is not known about the car at the moment to take a chance on it.

 

First, you need to agree on a price for the car from the second dealership before you have them do anything.

Second, this really is not a fantastic deal on this car unless it has a LOT of options. The phot appears to indicate that it doesn't have a sunroof, and if that is the case, this car does not have all the packages that would begin to justify the price.

As an example, here is a BRAND NEW 2006 for sale at the Memphis dealership for the same price!

http://roadshowmini.com/New-Inventor...oryId=13244031

Third, I would pass on this car all together, because I would always feel that there is something fishy going on with it and would not want to be buying someone's problem. A good MINI should be able to sell itself without a dealership doing anything deceptive or shady like advertise the wrong mileage.

Fourth, if you are in Birmingham Alabama, we'd love for you to come out to one of our club get togethers when (or even before) you get your MINI.

Shop around some more and see what you can find. A new 2006 could be purchased for about the same price and you'd be the first one to own it and would have a full 4 year 50k warranty behind it. You will really be most happy if you take a little more time to find the MINI of your dreams. My intuition has a very bad feeling about this used MINI. . .

 

 

No offense, but there is no way in hell I would buy a car from a dealer that I caught in a lie, especially with something like the mileage.... and they are avoiding your calls? They are lots of MINIs out there, and lots that are a better deal than the one they are offering you.

 

How could there be such a question on the mileage...just hit the button on the speedo? Seems weird...or a mis-understanding? Either way 20K miles isn't bad on an '04. Still....it's true, for that price you could get a new one, a scenario comes up alot.

Believe it or not, in early October '02 I saw a (used?) PS/B Cooper for sale at a Honda dealership for $28K. Crazy.

 

Jeeze, DROP that dealer and order a brand new MINI from a genuine MINI dealer. For that money you'll thank yourself for the few extra bucks you may spend but you'll have piece of MIND. And a NEW MINI.
If there's not one close by, order it over the phone or via e-mail and then fly yourself one way to that dealer and drive it home. Great way to break it in. :-)

 

Thank you everyone.
im looking at a brand new mini cooper thats in Atlanta ga, for around $21,000.
i will be sure to post on how it turns out....

 

Good luck!

 

Good choice... You will get a better interest rate on the new car (probably) than you would on the used one. With MINI resale values so high, you are frequently better off w/ the new car and you get free service for several years and a full warranty... new tires too!

 

I would report that first dealer to someone. Of course, I don't know who. They're totally misrepresenting facts about the car. Isn't that illegal? What if some other unlucky person runs into them?

 

on all of the paper work. they had 5,000 miles. even on my credit application they put down 5,000 miles. so i was lead to think it only had 5,000 miles.i never thought about to press the odo cause it was on trip miles.

 

If you choose to report them misrepresenting the car...go the your State DMV...they will handle the fraud...if there is any.

 

I totally agree with Monk Edsel. It just doesn't feel right and if I were you, I'd pass on this Mini and go looking for one without any hassles. You're the customer after all, The Dealership should be helpful...if not...move on!!

 

First, as everyone else has said, DO NOT BUY THIS CAR. If they have gone to the point of rolling the odometer back and falsifying the paperwork then there is no telling what else they are hiding. Odometer tampering is a federal offense as it used to be so common place in used car sales every where that the federal goverment stepped in to put a stop to it.

Second, you need to report them to your state Attorney General so that they will not pull this sort of crap on other people who may not catch it like you did.

You got out of this lucky and you'll be much happier with a new MINI than this used one, if nothing else just for the lower interest rate you get on new cars and the piece of mind of knowing you have a factory warranty and a real dealer to go to if you have problems.

 

To echo what has been said, $19,850 for a used MINI isn't the best of deals. I bought mine new off the lot for $20,150 before taxes/tags with the Premium and Cold Weather packages. A new one would also give you the full warranty and the free service...

And definitely report the incident to both the proper authorities and contact the Better Business Bureau. Although from the sound of this dealer, they probably the BBB probably wouldn't have much influence on them.

 

My guess is they didn't run the odometer back, but more likely some dummy glanced at the trip odometer and thought it said 5,000 miles, (or maybe it did, will the trip odometer go that high?). There are potential big penaties for tampering with the odometer. Makes no sense to run back an already low mileage to an even lower mileage and run the risk of losing your business.

Still, I'd report this, whether it was a dumb mistake or an effort to rip of a customer.

 

Don't contact your DMV, you need to contact the Attorney General for your state. They should have a Consumer Fraud Hotline. Odometer rollback is also a Federal Crime. Several used car wholesalers have gone to jail in the past for this violation. Carries a Good Fine also. Do everyone a favor and report these clowns! If they didn't actually do the rollback, let them explain where the car came from!

 

Hi Press P. you ought to come out to our monthly dinner (1st Monday of every month). We will be meeting on Sept 4th somewhere in the B'ham area. We haven't picked a restaurant yet but we should have that info posted soon.

Keep an eye out at www.bamamini.com
or
in our local NAM forum https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...splay.php?f=49