You won't know for sure unless you ask. The worst thing that will happen is that they will say no.

 

ahendy - in my opinion, this is an easy decision. Do not buy this used car with it's dubious history and no discount from original MSRP. Order one and wait, you'll be glad you did in the long run.

 

Dealers are not allowed to disclose this type of information.

Besides, the deal is between the OP and the dealership. The dealership has the obligation to provide all necessary documentation to prove the service history of the car.

To me this car is a buy back. I would not touch it with a 60 foot pole.

 

How about posting the VIN number for the 'suspect' vehicle here? That'll start a shad storm.

 

Well I had a short, but very nice talk with the sales manager yesterday.

It will in fact be sold as a used car, with used car finance rates of course. That's unfortunate, but definitely not a deal-breaker. In fact it almost makes me feel better that they are actually trying to sell it as a used car, not a as a new one.

Regarding the price, he said he's going to help me out there. He's looking into it, and will get back to me today. He said there will definitely be a price break on the vehicle, he agrees that paying MSRP for a used vehicle just doesn't make any sense. We'll see what he comes back and says.

What I need to do is calculate the difference in financing between this used one, and a new ordered one, taking into consideration the discount he will give me on this car, and then decide if it really is cheaper, if it is worth it.

I'll keep you all updated!

 

This whole thing doesn't feel right. The only way I would buy that car is if they were giving a significant discount to pre-pay for my potential problems or if I could talk to the previous owner.

 

In my experience, most credit unions I've dealt with don't care whether the car is new or used. They only care about what year it is. Example: http://www.necu.org/current-rates/autos.aspx

 

If you are still moving forward I would steer clear of any price that is not significantly below invoice price. It would be very easy for the dealer to mark down from MSRP, which could still be above the invoice and not represent much of a deal to you.

It would be interesting to see if he will disclose what he paid for it on trade in and then work up/down from there.

 

Oh dear. I hope this car doesn't turn out to be a pandora box.

 

I am not sure why everyone would want to talk to a previous owner. If I buy any other used car off of a dealers lot you have Carfax and the dealers word to go by ... you only ever get to talk to a previous owner is if you buy it from them direct.

if the dealer seems to be straight up about the issue and previous owner ... well ... follow your gut and make a good deal

heck, a few people on this board already got cold feet about the Clubman and I saw a few on eBay with low mileage.

 

Well I am obviously not going to bother taking the deal unless it is significantly under MSRP. If it's only a slight price break, then I might as well bite the bullet and order one. It has to be a pretty damn good deal for me to buy this car.

So here's how the sales manager explained the story:

The owner bought it at the dealership in Sacramento, but she lives in the bay area. She drove it off the lot and on her way home, the check engine light came on. She called the dealer in Sacramento, and not wanting to drive all the way back there to get it repaired, the Sacramento dealer had it sent to MiniSF to get repaired. It was repaired there, and afterwards, not feeling entirely comfortable about the situation, the woman drove the vehicle back to Niello in Sacramento and it was taken off her hands.

The service records were looked up and it was simply a Vanos camshaft solenoid that was replaced, which is, as far as I can tell, a very minor issue that happens from time to time even with BMWs fresh out of the factory.

So the only part that I still find fishy is why the dealership would buy the car back from the original owner. But, the service records show that this is truly the only issue that this car was faced with, and the vehicle history report is clean as a whistle.

At this point, I'm going to continue moving forward with this car, and see what happens. I will hear from the sales manager today regarding what he feels is fair to charge for the vehicle. Also before the purchase, like mentioned before, I need EVERYTHING in writing, including them stating that if the car is back for service multiple times, that they will buy it back, no questions asked.

We'll see how it goes. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

 

Agreed it sounds fishy, unless this first owner has some connections. We have a poster here who had thought of trying to trade or exchange his MCCa for a MCC, but his dealership wasn't going to give him back the money he'd just paid in a trade or an exchange.

If you get all that you want in that last paragraph, specifically the "multiple" services and them buying it back, I'll be amazed. I hope you do , but I'll still be amazed.

I am more with lurch on this one, there are all sorts of reasons people suddenly decide to sell their brand new cars - often it's financial...but this would not explain this dealer's story on this first owner.

The plot thickens.

 

she might have picked up something else from them instead, who knows.
also isn't there some kind of law in certain states ... like a 72 hour buyers remorse thing that can force them into certain situations?

 

Really? Buyers remorse on a car? How about a house? In all seriousness, is this true???

True about her picking up something else. OK, so I'll stop being so untrusting.

 

I do remember one of the MA's mentioning that she did take a loss on the vehicle by giving it back to the dealership. In fact he said that she wasn't completely solid financially on buying the vehicle in the first place, and so the check engine light was the icing on the cake, and she just wanted to get out of it.

I figure they probably gave her trade-in value, or something close, that she either took and walked away, or used towards a less expensive Mini. Who knows, but I'm 99% sure she did not get full-value back for the car.

As far as I know, there is no law like that in California. I remember when buying my Subaru, I had to sign something saying that I understood that there was absolutely no "cooling-off" period when buying the car. Unless things have changed, I'm pretty sure that's the deal. Of course that does not mean that a dealer cannot buy back a car at trade-in value, especially if it's a hot car that they feel like they can make money on again.

Here's my take on the situation; Their inventory was low on Clubmans when this fiasco happened, and so it was an opportunity to get one in right away, and possibly make a few bucks on it again. Now the puzzle pieces all seem to be fitting into place. As I mentioned before, this is still their only Clubman on the lot.

Interesting! The more time I spend typing/thinking about this, the more it comes together..

 

Thanks ahendy. I don't know why I ***umed she got all her money back.

I'm keepin' my fingers crossed for you. Now don't make me go back and reread the whole thread but is this Clubman exactly what you'd order if you were going to?

 

It's not 100% what I would order, but it's pretty darn close. The only thing that is different is that it's dark silver, instead of the BRG that I was possibly going to order. But DS is a lovely color, and was my second choice to begin with anyway.

Otherwise, it has everything else I wanted. Chrome line int/ext, punch carbon leather interior, premium, sport, convenience, cold weather, automatic tranny, etc etc. It's a wonderfully loaded vehicle.

I've been trying to decide if I could stomach the extra $2,000 for the built-in NAV, and this helps me make that decision. I already have a Garmin nuvi 360, so it does seem excessive anyway. But it's just so cool

 

Well, good for you! I have read a lot of great things about the built in NAV...but couldn't afford that extra on my BRG/BLK MCCa...the only extras that I can think of that I have are xenons, exterior chrome, cold weather package, auto, piano black and the factory installed bluetooth/iPod connection, invisishield - and that was enough $$ for me. I have the fake leather aka leatherette seats and eventually hope to get the new improved roof rack.

Dark Silver is very nice. There are only a few colors that I really wouldn't want if an available MCCa had been available. Where I live the only available ones were launch versions...though there was one very nice BRG/BlK manual, but it was overloaded for my price range and did not have xenons.

This whole MINI phenomenon is so interesting. I think it would be quite a worth while study, from a marketing/business point of view.

 

Well, here's what you've all been waiting for. A copy of the service records was faxed to me today. Doesn't look like anything serious, but what is this side member (engine mount) corroded thing? Looks like it was noticed right when the car came in.



Otherwise everything looks solid. Still waiting on a price negotiation.

 

Pop the VIN into Google and see what comes up.

 

Nothin, it just brought me to a link to look it up on CARFAX, which I already did.

 

If Carfax is all that came up, then nothing fishy happened to the Clubman, like an accident.

 

Carfax is not that fast at updating their db ... but I really don't think anyhting is wrong with this car. The dealer seems to be realy forthcoming with info ... they just want to get rid of a launch edition ... but for what price? ... you already getting the Cold Weather package as a freebie with the launch editions ... so if you get another 1-2K off you should be cool I think?!?

 

Agreed, that doesn't sound too unreasonable. 1-2k off plus floor mats!

Is there any reason I should avoid a launch edition? Any funky issues with the launch ones? Or is it just as fantastic any other clubbie?

 

None that I can't think of. I think the launch editions were Dec '07 builds. Check the placard on the driver's side doorjamb for the build date.

Also with the launch edition you get the Cold package for free.