I made the mistake of going through the dealer. I ended up with a pretty high 7.99% interest rate after a $10k down payment for my 2007 Cooper S (configed at about $24k).

 

That sucks. Can you find better rate and refinance? As an example, my credit union is offering 6% for 3 years.

 

My MA told me today that they will not accept these (or the same thing from E-loan) and that "no dealer in town will take them". I believe this to be a total fabrication because a year ago, they Chrysler dealer was willing to take one (it happened to be Capital One). He said E*loan is an "unknown bank". At the moment, E*loan is .40% lower rate.
Has anyone else been told this???

 

My Mini finance lady told me they do not take ELoan checks because some authorization code isn't filled out until after they take the check from you... however, she also mentioned Capital One IS accepted because it is cashable immedately. Of course, my memory is horribly fuzzy, but that's the gist of it.

I also had a problem with my personal check because it didn't have my name and address on it (it was a new account).

Best is to check with your dealer before you come in.

 

I don't know if this is useful to anyone, but there was an "Either/Or" contract option when I bought my car. My credit union had some tricky rules about giving them the purchase order and MSRP sticker before getting my loan check.

Either/Or meant that I had 5 or so business days to pay Mini. If I ended up not paying them, a contract to get the loan from Mini would take into affect (with a rate that is agreed on when I sign).

 

i was wondering where does everyone get these animated versions of their mini to go with their profile?

 

I was wondering why leasing doesn't seem to be a good idea. I seems to me that paying 1/2 the car's interest is better than full. There is always the option to buy the car back after 3 years (or when lease ends). In which you can choose to keep or sell.

 

Leasing is good (we are leasing our MINI) but there are certain restrictions that many people don't like, especially with cars like MINIs that people like to personalize. You are limited on mileage (you can get as many miles as you need when you sign the lease, but you are limited to that amount after and have to pay $0.20 per mile if you go over); you have to take good care of the car and watch out for dents, scratches, etc; and, you are limited in modifications, since anything you do has to be easily reversible at lease end or else they will charge you heavily.

Also, leasing with the intention of buying at the end usually only works on cars that have heavily subsidized leases programs (cheap rates). With the rates on the MINI, it would definitely cost you more if you leased and bought at the end vs. just buying up front with a longer term loan.

 

My dealership in SC would not accept the Capital One check either. The issue was that Capital One requires a list of information after the check is used and sometimes people don't follow through with the info, causing the check to be not honored.

I ended up going with the MINI Select because of course when my car came in, interest rates were at the highest they have been this year. So, overall it worked out to be the best deal and even with the balloon payment payoff, it was only $20 more in finance charges than purchasing the car.

 

Went thru the dealer myself. Just too lazy to go calling other financial institutions to see what they have to offer. Credit score is in the mid 800's anyways so MINI finances my loan at 5.9%.

 

I was able to get 5.5 through Navy federal with like a 738 credit score.

 

I just got 6.0% through Costco/Capital One, which was .1% less than the website shows.

 

My dealer had no problems with my Capital One. 6.25% in July... Only $1000 down (my initial deposit to place the order).

 

Was just told MINI of Sterling won't accept E-Loan check. Good thing I already had another source of financing lined up. But it's rather annoying because I had some hassle with E-Loan to get them the documentation they wanted.