Does anyone have experience with Mini Northwest in Washington? The two salesmen I've seen don't even seem like they want to sell a car, both have lowballed my trade in by several thousand (and I brought in ammo- edmonds trade in pricing and recent manheim auto actions for the same car), and they still won't budge or even tell me why the offer is so low. My car was even appraised as above average condition, they just feed me a line that the wholesaler will only pay that much and there's nothing they can do, even though the wholesaler will be selling it on manheim for 2 grand higher.

They don't want to drop the $595 dealer prep charge either. Does this dealership just sell so many cars that they can brush off the customers who are too smart to be taken for a ride? Or did I just get the wrong salesmen?

Any help is appreciated, atm I'm considering buying from an out of state dealership, maybe other states don't have such a high mini demand?

 

That's a whole industry unto itself. Think about it. They buy your used car below value then turn around and sell it at retail. Your best bet is sell it privately.

 

wats a dealer prep charge? i thought it was always msrp

 

I had the exact same experience...dealer offered me $100...yes, $100...for my car (with brand new tires that cost me $800). KBB says $1500 trade-in value. It was pretty insulting, and I also got the impression that he didn't care if he sold a car. This was at Princeton MINI (NJ).

After a lot of heated conversation, I hooked up with another salesman and decided to try to sell my car privately. Placed my order, now I'm waiting for it. To the new salesman's credit, he threw in a couple freebies...nothing over the top, but nice anyway.

In conclusion, no, I don't think MINI really cares about selling cars, and yes, I think it's ridiculous how low they offer for trade-ins. Unfortunately, you can only get a MINI from them, so if you really want one, you will unfortunately have to deal with it.

I also have never heard of a dealer prep charge though...

 

I'm not sure if that's what it's called but at this dealership they tag $595 onto every Cooper S, so that's MSRP + 595.

 

I paid significantly less than the asking price on my '07 S, and got mats/armrest/auto dim mirror thrown in with the deal. Therefore, I know it can be done, and it's not likely a MINI-wide thing. There are a lot of stories on here of regional dealers conspiring to fix prices. Don't know how true that is, but it seems you aren't the first to get the "Take it or leave it" attitude :(

 

We have bought 5 MINIs. Every time, the dealer did not want a trade in. They do not sell used cars, so they can't offer you more than they can wholesale it for. It doesn't really matter what the wholesaler sells it for, that money does not go to the MINI dealer.

Selling your car instead of trading it is the only way to go.

 

+1 They wholesale all the trades.Thats when they actually accept one and only S's.

Private sale's the best way.Ebay or Craigslist.

 

This is not always true. While it is true that you will always get more from a private party, not all MINI dealers work this way. The local dealer here is a part of a larger BMW/MINI/Merc/Land Rover/Panoz/Chrysler (i know, wtf?) dealer, and they love the trades. Consequently, ymmv.

 

Same thing here Imolamini,

Took my '04 F250 FX4 with all options in so Mini of the Woodlands could take a "look see". KBB says mid $20K's. Sales said they wouldn't offer more than $18K and wouldn't budge. Sold it privately for $22K.

WON'T be going back there...

Good Luck!!

 

Sell your car privately. No question. Just get it detailed properly first - say $100-150. Then take LOTS of quality pictures in good light. And put up an ad on cars.com, Craiglist, etc.

Oh - and when you pull that trigger on your new MC/MCS - you can bargain really hard. Tthey are not flying off the lot these days. You can very likely get 500-1000 off msrp, plus a lot of extras. You can even buy from a remote dealer and have it delivered to your door, or go pick it up. Don't let them push you around - they need your business.

 

I recently bought a mini from nw mini and my experience was outstanding. My salesguy was Aaron. FWIW buying a Mini is not like buying another car. I sold cars for 8 years. You take one out for a testdrive either love it or don't. The salesman doesn't have to be pushy. In my case I went home and lived on NAM for 4 mos finally settled on my build called and ordered. pretty simple really It takes 2-3 mos from the time you place you order till your car arrives.And with the current conditions with the economy gas etc they probably were just covering themselves. Like the above post mentioned you'll do better selling your trade yourself good luck

 

I agree with the other posters, sell your car privately your would be much better off. On the doc fee, you can ask them to get rid off it. Since we are stuck with only one dealer in NW area, they may not go lower than MSRP, but you should be able to get out of paying the additional fees. If you don't mind driving to Portland, Rasmussen is pretty decent and Dan Clarke is a nice guy!

-Jetta

 

The prep charge is essentially the dealer mark-up. The first time I saw that on the order form, I cancelled my order. Three months later, I gave in and accepted the fact there's nothing I can do about it. Now, with only 600 miles on the car, I don't even think about that $595 I paid, I just drive and smile.

Personally I like the whole transaction with NW Mini where I have very little in-person interaction; all the communication was done thru emails--no face to face, no phone calls (yes, I'm a weirdo).

 

I've never offered a trade-in.

Ever.

Picked my MINI up in January. After I got my new ride I detailed the sh*t out my '94 Nissan Sentra. Cleaned the interior of the engine compartment. Vacuumed everything. Wiped down interior surfaces of trunk compartment. Cleaned door sills, pillars, found a buck and half in change under the rear seat while cleaning around there, and all in preparation to put up on Craigslist.

The significant other looks and says: "That's pretty nice. I should drive that instead of the Explorer to save on gas."

We have three cars.

 

Had a decent trade in onmy R53 here in Miami. Lost maybe $1000 - $1500 trading it in at the dealer instead of selling it privately. I just didn't want the hassle. The R53 was already way over 50,000 miles and they weren't going to put it on their used lot so it was going elseware to be sold.

Considering it all, they still did me right. Over the 4 years I owned my R53 I lost less than $1500 a year in value after trade-in. You don't see that with just any car.

They did drop the cost of the new R56 $300 and gave me a few extras. I did end up going Hog Wild on the options. Who can resist?......

Love my new MINI as much as I loved my old one.

 

Oh, and I did pay the extra $595 dealer fee. At least they didn't mark-up the MSRP like at some West coast dealers $2K-$3K.

Still smiling every time I take a curve.

 

When I bought my '06, the used car guy took one look at my car from 50 feet away and said "I'm not going to be able to offer you what you want for this car" (a pristine 7-year old Nissan Altima). He did make a very low offer, which I was able to use as a BATNA (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement) when I negotiated a price w/ CarMax and with a private buyer.

The dealership was nice enough to offer to handle the transaction if I could find a private buyer (which I eventually did). They handled it like a trade-in... They bought the car from me as a trade, saving me several hundred dollars in tax on my new MCS. They then sold it to the buyer for the amt that we negotiated privately, so he got the car and knew that the transaction was complete and above board (and he didn't have to go to the DMV to register).

When you trade in your car at a more standard car dealer (Ford, for example), they may give you a better trade-in on your old car, but it's basically the same as cutting you a discount on the new car. On MINIs, they generally have no incentive to cut the margin on the new car because of the high demand, so they have little incentive to take a hit on the profit on the deal unless they have an in-house used car sales lot and they think that they can make the $ back on the sale of your old car there.

 

Dealers nationwide basically buy trade-in's low, sell high on the very best of what they get, or just wholesale them off. They're running a business; it's how they make some more $$. Trading your car in is the easy and convenient way to off your old ride, but the ease and convenience always costs you money. Spend a few hundred having your car detailed top to bottom, or spend a day or two doing it yourself. Then sell the car yourself and walk into the dealer with a larger cash down. Again, car dealers are not charities. They are in the business of making MONEY. This is the wisdom of my people.

 

beyond about $50-$70, it's pure dealer profit. $595 is a HUGE prep charge, a pure ripoff. I would walk.

 

RUN! don't walk.

 

ImolaMini, not all dealers are like what you're describing. Bought my MCS in the Chicago area and they were very fair with me. My trade in value was right in line with what KBB said it would be. Granted I traded in a Toyota Tacoma (4 door); they may be lowballing you if it's a car or a truck that isn't selling well due to gas mileage or bad reliability ratings.

 

Another option is to do what I did and check autotrader, craig'slist, etc. for a "slighty used" Mini.

I snagged my 07MCS last month at a local Atlanta Acura dealership. It was mint condition, loaded with 1,300 miles. The dealership had the original sticker laminated and sitting on the dash...they took $4400 less than sticker for the car. $4400 for 1,300 miles sounded like a deal to me! I drove it home two hours later.

I've since looked around and I do see 07/08 Mini's up for sale with really low mileage on occasion.

Good luck!

 

I recently ordered my MINI from MINI Northwest. The $595 is a "regional price adjustment", not dealer prep. I didn't pay it.

I first sent emails to MINI USA and to MINI Northwest saying I don't want to deal with slimy car salesmen and second stickers and asking if I could buy a MINI from my BMW dealer. (BMW Bellevue guys are salaried and they sell their cars at MSRP. Buying Mrs. ()()=='s BMW is the only time I've come out of buying a new car that I didn't feel like I needed to take a shower to get the stench off.)

The sales Manager "Mike" emailed me back and said he'd sell me a car at MSRP. Over the next couple weeks, we worked through when he had a build slot open and I went down when I did specifically to get the early build slot. I told him via email it was great dealing with him as a consultant rather than an adversary.

I went in and asked for Mike and got an MA named Mike. Mike the sales guy sort of faked it when I said who I was and ready for my test drives. We configured the car and he started going through the price. He added the $595 and I just quietly said "No." He said, "Do you know where the nearest other dealer is?" I just said "I don't care, we had a deal." He took the $595 off. Then he went to speak with his manager. Mike the sales manager came out laughing and said "I'M Mike!"

We all got a laugh out of it and they sold me the car at MSRP + about $40 for "dock fees" or something. I didn't care about $40 and don't know if they would have dropped that.

It may have helped during the email phase that I really would have bought another make of car (or no new car at all if I couldn't avoid the dealing with a subhuman worthless low-moral mouth-breathing car salesman. Let me know if you are uncertain how I feel about car salesmen, cockroaches, and grave-robbers). It definitely helped at the time of the sale to have the price pre-negotiated. And I never tried to get them to lower their price, because that was also part of the deal. Frankly it wouldn't matter to me if they raised MSRP by $595. I just won't put up with all the slimy car salesman BS. I don't think you should have to either.

 

agranger:

Which dealership handled your private sale transaction? That was real customer service! -- Vim