As you drive around you see Chrysler, Ford, GM and yes even the mighty juggernaut Toyota lots stuffed with unsold cars, trucks, SUVs etc. MINI…selling everything they can manufacture and at my dealer (hopefully with Me’lo in hand next week) not one new MINI of any type… in fact was speaking to the general manager of the dealership (MINI of Sterling, Virginia) and he said ALL their 2008 allotment is presold and any new orders are for MY2009 cars and would not be delivered until October/November. That my fellow MINI drivers is a golden egg…
Michael

 

Would that make prospective MINI buyers fish? .... you know, the ones in the barrel that get shot!

Sure glad I got my R56 when I did! It was hard enough to wait 3 weeks. Imagine having to wait 5 or 6 months, or longer.

 

And it only took gasoline going over $4 per gallon to knock some mpg sense into the heads of SUV and Hummer drivers. Who'd a thunk it?

CROC 411

 

I went to Mini of Peabody in MA. 2 days ago. There was NONE left on the lot. Only 5 pre-owned Mini's, 7 old Minis' own by mechanics, 3 clubman and 2 in the showroom. They are selling like hot cakes.
It's kinda cool right now cuz not too many Minin on the road (at least where I live) yet. Imagine a year or 2 from now. Mini's and SmartforTwo will be all over.
ps. if you have noticed in your neighborhood, lots of SUV's with For Sale signs in the driveways :-). I still have my 2000 Tundra, but it's only for Winter driving.

 

WOW...well I am happy that my wife and I picked up our MINI's when we did.

I got an incredible deal on my 07 MCS auto (found a left over so I jumped on it) Funny thing is even after walking around the 07 was the one I liked the most as far as the color/options so that makes it even better.

 

Just called around the NJ dealerships, and they are completely sold out of new inventory. Earliest you can get a Clubman is October/November, by special ordering. They don't even have cars to test-drive .

 

Wow, it looks like I really lucked out.
I am so glad I bought last month!

Now, if I could only get some of that luck with my stocks.....

 

WOW. Glad I got mine when I did!

 

I was reading some article in the paper some fktard executive or ivory tower thinker type made a comment like
yeah, these manufacturers of small cars just got lucky.

Yeah just lucky I guess to make something other than
gas guzzling beheomoofs.

 

The dealer here in Cincinnati(Cincinnati Mini) had over 35 -40 cars a little less than a month ago, and now they only have 11 cars as of yesterday, maybe even less today. They sell a few off the lot everyday. They sold 70 Minis in the month of May. The most they had sold since 2002 when the 1st generation came out. The lots Minis are going out the door everyday, not included the ordered ones that come in. Interesting though , I have not seen many of them on the road around here with temporary tags.

 

+1. Yeah, who in their right mind would have thought to manufacture a quality car that gets good mileage and is fun to drive, instead of Hummers, ginormous SUVs, pickup trucks, muscle cars when gas was under $2/gallon? Oh wait... Honda, Toyota, ........... and MINI !

 

I tell people all the time how lucky my timing was. I sold my F-150 Supercrew last August. There would be little chance of selling it now, especially for what I got for it.

 

Same good timing here. About six weeks ago when I ventured onto my local dealer's lot they had about a dozen cars. I really liked the one I ended up buying and there was at least one other contender in the mix. When I went in a couple weeks ago to pick up my ordered goodies there was one demo Clubman and NOTHING else. My salesman said all they can do is order cars now, everything incoming is sold now too. Allegedly they are allotted and selling over 100 cars a month.

 

the other thing is that when you order, they are giving GREAT trade in value on your pre-owned MINI.

I ordered two weeks ago, and got over 90% of the original MSRP of my '06 with 20,000 miles as a trade in!

 

You definately did well on the timing.
Our friends I think it was about 1.5 years ago
bought this monster truck. I'm sorry I
don't remember the number I think the F250, diesel.
I don't know monster trucks that well. It had
hand roll up windows and no CD player. It was
$35k new.

They don't have a farm. They just like to sit up
high and have a powerful vehicle. So mostly it is
a one person commuter.

They moved to MI not too long ago. They went a couple
of weeks ago to trade in, only one place would even agree
to take it, and at $8000.

 

Here in Memphis, I had to order because they only had three new MINI's on the lot... Cooper base auto, cooper s manual, & a clubman... and when i asked about buying the one i test drove... they said they weren't selling it because they needed those to test drive... LOL. Worked for me b/c now this will be the first car I've gotten that's built exactly like I want - with no "extras" I don't need or want but still paid for. :-)

 

Just checked Ferman Mini in Palm Harbor, north of Tampa.....looks like they still have plenty of inventory. Check their new inventory listing.

 

Not a good indicator - ALL inventory shows on the online inventory - even cars built to order and already sold.

 

I'm so glad my MINI contagion kicked in while I was in Europe. I SHOULD NEVER have sold my '04!!!!! (Excuse me while I kick myself some more.)

+1 on the big trucks - I still have my 2001 F150 supercrew, though. I originally planned to trade it in when I moved back to the US from Europe (I could have gotten a really really good deal on a new one), but the hubby talked me out of it. SO...now we use it periodically, but I fear for the depreciation! As long as I'm as nit-picky about it's maintenance as I am the MINI, I think I'll be OK. sigh....

Anyway - short story. Hubby has a BMW and I've got the MINI; closest dealership is in Richmond, VA. So, we both drove up to the dealership to drop off the BMW and while he was handling that, I just HAPPENED to stroll around the MINI lot before he could stop me. ( ) A dealer (MA they're called?) came out - and I mentally prepared to beat him off since I knew I shouldn't be buying ANOTHER one. Suprise surprise! He came out not to talk me INTO buying one, but to try and buy MINE from ME!?! THey had less than five available MINIs on the lot, and wanted pre-owned ones. Wow. Anyway, no dice. YOu can't give me enough money to give up my precious. (Yes, ok, insert Gollum voice.... )

 

They certainly timed the Clubman release right. There is a dealer markup of $2,500 on them at MINI of Mountain View. Their service dept. has been on strike for about two months now. I guess the dealer doesn't need the revenue from repairs.

 

Sadly I have to sell Benny. I hope he finds a great new owner that treats him good as me. $115,000 OBO over 100k

 

Hehehe.. It really wouldn't surprise me if someone could turn around and resell their new MINI for a profit.

 

I would never consider driving one off the lot, even when you have to wait for an order, you can get exactly what you want with a customer order. That's what we've done 4 times now.

 

thats my mindset, although I'm not a mini owner yet. I want to get exactly what I want. I'm not in that much of a hurry, if anything the longer wait will allow me to save up some more cash and in the meantime.

 

I can't add anything new to what's already been said. But just for the record, the same is true up here at New Country MINI in Hartford, CT. No new cars on the lot, except those being prepped for their new owners. All new ones due in are bought, and the only thing you can do is to order one.

Which does make me wonder why some people still wonder if anybody is selling their MINI's below MSRP. Why would they? They may be great people, but they're still running a business.

_