Hi everyone,

I decided that July is going to be the month that I put to my research and jealousy (of the Mini drivers I see, of course) to rest and place an order for my own R56. I made a trip down to Mini of Irvine this afternoon to introduce myself and get an idea of who I might work with.

I asked the sales person a few questons about what R56's they have in stock, and maybe plant the seed for another test drive , and was told that they're out. He added that one came in today but was sold shortly after. Then he hit me with it, because they can't keep R56's on their lot, they're now selling the cars they keep in stock with a $2,000 - $2,500 mark-up! (Just because they can't keep them on their lot? Isn't that a good time to be a sales manager? No? Oh, thanks for letting me know. I thought it was just greed. ) If it's not on the lot, ordered cars have a $500 mark-up. I thanked him for his time and left.

On my way home I thought I should share my experience to help out, and to vent a little, any soon-to-be R56 owners and give them an idea of what to expect at the dealer.

That being said, was anyone recently told that their R56 is going to be above MSRP? If so, what is the mark-up and the name of the dealer?

Hopefully, this isn't a trend and I won't feel like I took a sand paper condom in the when I hand over my check.

Craig


One more thing. Yes, I understand the dealer is there to make a profit and this is a perfect example of supply vs. demand but this thread is intended to inform a consumer of what they might expect when working with certain dealerships

 

The Long Beach dealership I visited a few weeks ago was very nice. They also cant keep that many cars on the lot but ordering one from them doesnt include any markup and you just pay MSRP which is nice. You might want to check them out.

 

i thought all the SoCal dealers were MSRP now... I think Long Beach, South Bay and Monrovia are all MSRP. My coworker bought off the lot in LB MSRP and I know that Monrovia is MSRP.

 

Irvine MINI, or should i say, Irvine BMW with half a MINI on the lot.....GRR.

I actually was so demoralized by the Irvine MINI dealer and my test drive there that I almost bought a Honda Element. Those guys were morons. He told me that the car I wanted was so IMPOSSIBLE to find that it wasn't even worth trying to find it and I might as well get a different kind of car. (I did have to go to 9 different dealers for my car but it was worth it) It was almost like they didn't want me to buy the car even they they work in car SALES.

Last August, I also ended up at Long Beach MINI at $350 below MSRP, although there was certainly a bit more room for negotiating if i knew what i was doing. With gas prices where they are, it might be much more difficult.

Good luck and see you on the road!

 

Brecht had almost zero minis on the lot this weekend. I got my Cooper S for sticker from them in April 2007.

 

Yeah, my experience was similar. I never checked Irvine since I had read so many bad things about them. Check SCMM.org and you'll realize your experience was not a rare experience. Brecht Mini in Escondido quoted me similar to Irvine (or at least told me that I had to buy CilaJet and LoJack for $1699). Long Beach offered me the best deal, $MSRP plus $200 in credit for Mini goodies.

In the end, I bought from Crevier for $700 over MSRP for LoJack. They had the only car close to what I wanted, and I searched a lot. Sadly, the car was wrecked by a driver pulling it out of the warehouse they had it stored in (or that's the story I was given). They placed a production order for me as a worst case scenario while they hunted for another car they could get sooner. Because of the high number of production slots Crevier gets, my car was in production about 4 days later and once that happened, I decided my only desire was to get my perfect Mini, not something just close.

$700 seems like a rip off, but that's about what LoJack costs retail and you get up to a 33% discount in Cali for having LoJack, depending on where you live so I justified the extra cost. Not my best negotiating work, but what can you do.

 

I've heard the same thing about LB Mini and, so far, that's where I'm planning on getting mine. It's reassuring to see there's still hope.

 

Oh yeah one other important thing!!! find your car online at miniusa.com, call the dealer, buy the car. it saves lots in gas.

 

I purchased my 2008 MCS DS/B from LB Mini on my birthday, May 31.
Straight MSRP and wonderful people. New orders are taking 6-8 weeks.
A can't speak about others but these folks are great. Talk to Tony Lage and you're in good hands.
Keep Motoring......

 

Hello all,

I guess it goes to show you how unpredictable the buying experience can be.

My plan was to purchase a a new MCS at Crevier since its very close to the office (always plan ahead for service). They were very, very firm on not backing off the mandatory $5K markup....yes, $5K. Needless to say, the deal was broken.

Later that week I bought a Laser w/black MCS at Irvine for MSRP. No hassle, no pain.

 

5K!! WOW looks like I ordered right on time.

 

I ordered my MCS at Monrovia for MSRP no problem.

 

philipe kahn at southbay bmw. He used to work for irvine bmw/mini. he did a wise thing by moving to southbay bmw. My experiences (in negotiations) with both crevier and irvine have been poor.

 

+1 on South Bay. I ordered my car last month with no problems.

 

(my post got lost in the mail)

Hopefully you can scoot down the road and get one for
MSRP and free floormats.

Although the above I find not unusual. My honda was marked
up $4000, or 40% over MSRP. I spent all frustrating day on
getting back down to MRSP. No radio, no floormats.

I go to upgrade to the 1991 model and see they have marked it
up $5000 "dealer availability charge" which was about 45%.
I just drove away and never bought another honda.

So that's.....$35k for entry level MCS and $25k for MC (yes?,
added 40% to the base) if MINI were a HONDA!!!!!!!!!!!

WELCOME TO THE NEW WORLD ORDER

 

Just go to South Bay MINI and be done with it!

Most likely you'll come away with a , and a new MINI, or a MINI ordered at least.

 

I would not buy any car from any dealer with a markup. This seems to be systemic in southern CA. You guys should just put the mark up dealers out of business and refuse to do business with them.

 

+1 for South Bay. got mine for $500 under SRP. I shopped around ALL dealers in Socal and South Bay was by FAR the best.

 

Just got off the phone with Long Beach Mini... $1,000 mark-up on custom builds and was told I might have to place my order before July 15th to get the last of the '08s or else I'd have to wait for Mini to send out their '09s in a few months. Sound's like the sales person equivalent of, "You know, I like you. I have four people who are willing to pay over sticker today, cash, for this very car but I'll sell it to you for slightly over MSRP".

Long Beach was at the top of my list too... Now they're down there with the likes of Crevier and Irvine.

South Bay and Monrovia, NO MARK-UP on custom builds!

 

if you head into Monrovia, and happen to speak with Roger, tell him john said to ask about his vacation to alaska.

 

I went to Bob Smith in Calabasas a few weeks ago and they are marking up their cars. I also went to Alexander Mini and I didn't see the mark up stickers on their cars like I did at Bob Smith.

I didn't ask Alexander Mini if they were marking up, but if you look at their inventory, they have ALOT of Minis on the lot (compared to other dealers here) that I'm sure they'd like to sell.

You can also go to an auto broker to do all the work for you, that way, you can just go to the dealer for the test drive.

 

Frankly speaking, I dont like any of OC dealers. Even Toyota and Honda dealers in Irvine are crooks. Crevier was ok when I ordered my E46 M3 back in the days, but salesman was a total A@@.

Southbay actually advertizes selling their MINI at MSRP... a good starting point. For me, it doesnt matter where I get my car, as long as I am treated with respect for giving them a business.

On another note, Crevier does give out a Mini/BMW loaner car if you buy your car from them.. not a Toyota Camry or Corolla like other BMW dealers... unless you know your Advisor very well... sometimes i got a Z4 manual or even a 535 as a loaner. Just gotta get to know and get hook ups from your advisor.

 

I have found that the best time to buy is late december or january when dealership traffic is slow. I bought my M Roadster on a cold, winter day in January....saved a lot of money! Summer is peak sales time and not a great time for haggling on cars, IMHO.

 

Here's my experience: My wife and I visited Nick Alexander Mini three weeks ago. Their motto is "Nick Can't Say 'No'." They have the largest selection of Minis in stock in the U.S. None of the ones we looked at had a markup sticker, BUT when I talked with the salesman he said all of them are marked up $3,000. After some discussion he said the amount of markup was "negotiable". I said, "OK, is there a way I can buy one of these without markup?" He said, "No".

After Nick said No, we went to Long Beach Mini where, after some negotiation, we bought the MCS off the showroom floor for $250 below MSRP that night. We were lucky: LB Mini only had two MCS's to choose from and one of them was a blue auto with Premium Package, which is what we were looking for.

So it looks like some dealers are being greedy, and some are not. Shop around and try to bargain. Keep in mind one way to avoid the markup and get what you want is to order it, but this will take a few months.

Edit: Stopped by Long Beach Mini on my way home to ask a question about the passenger air bag light. I looked around the lot and now all the new Mini's have a $1,500 markup sticker on them! Three weeks ago there was no markup. The salesman said they sold 80 Minis last month so they decided they could bump up the price. He said the other dealers are doing the same thing. Moral of the story- If you're on the fence about a Mini and you found one at or below MSRP, now would be a good time to buy. Price of oil ain't getting any cheaper.

 

I ordered my 2008 R56 S last February at Irvine MINI for MSRP no problem at all (actually every thing was smooth). Oh actually I had a little problem with PENFED's check with finance manager but it was no big deal.