Let me get this right...

You want to beat the heck of the sales guy to pay the lowest amount you can... Ok, I can see that.

But then you also expect them to bend over backwards for the next 4 years for service and warranty work? Even worse, you buy at a different dealership and expect them to have a good attatude and be friendly to mods?

Good luck with that... Is it really worth the $500 you saved to have no friends at the dealer? You can still work a deal that's fair to both.

 

"Beat the heck out of the sales guy" ??

Erm, I take it your a dealer? I hate to be the one to say this, but buying a car is a business deal—not a friendship.

This is a business transaction and both parties want the best deal. But like it or not, it's the dealers themselves that have created a system that forces customers to haggle.

Dealers play games with prices—so customers are forced to play the game. Personally I've been given the run-around by dealers before so I do not enter a dealership thinking "Bob the dealer is my friend and is looking out for me!"



I think everyone would be much happier if they did things like Saturn did (still does?). Sell the car at a firm, no haggle price. Having a haggle-based system only creates distrust right from the get-go.

 

I have friends at Mini of Warwick in RI. That's where I'll most likely be buying my new car from. New Country Mini (the dealership I dislike) is a lot closer to me. They are the ones I'll be getting the voucher from...but unless they cut me a hell of a deal, ("beat the hell of the sales guy" as you say LoL)...I'll be buying from Mini of Warwick. I'm not making enemies anywhere...NCM has already treated me like **** so I'm wary of them. I'm only using NCM for the $750 Moto-tober voucher because I can use that at any Mini dealership....not just theirs.

Other than that...I'll be pleasant.

I'm not ordering a car today, but in the next 2 weeks. I sold one of my cars last week, and I'm receiving the rest of the payment tomorrow. So I have to cash the check, then wait for it to clear, before I order my next Mini.

 

Look, I'm just saying, there are guys that will go 500 miles out of thier way to save an extra $250, then expect the dealer closer to home to good will warranty, or ignore mods that might well have caused the problem.

It's not like a MINI has $10K of profit built in like a 7 series BMW.... It's really a small margin, all things considered. and no I;m not a dealer, or a salesman.

 

The margins aren't that small, they're higher than average - it all depends on how much they go below MSRP and with dealer incentives and all sorts of other hidden methods of profit from the manufacturer, they can make a tidy sum on a single sale, even when dropping below MSRP.

And that's a problem they created for themselves - most people know that the dealers are typically not paying the listed invoice price - it's even lower.

But I do expect a dealer to honor the warranty if I purchase somewhere else. They still get paid for their work - it's not like they do it for free.

It's part of the entire process of being a dealer.

For ex., I bought my cars in NY before moving to VT. Should I expect a VT dealer to give me poor or shabby service - just because I didn't buy from them?

 

danigurri

I'm the guy that went 500 miles to buy a car, twice, I also get my Mini's serviced at Inskip. In fact I almost flew to Loveland Colorado to buy a JCW they had on the lot. Beautiful car.
I can emphatically tell you that the service from Geoff and Jaymes has always been exceptional. I have had no issues at all bringing my Mini's to Inskip. They also know how I approach car buying, and know that I bought them from another dealer.
I don't know that playing NCM against Inskip is really going to yield a whole lot, especially ordering a vehicle. You've surrendered a lot of leverage as soon as you want to order a car.
A car sitting on the lot is costing the dealer money, a car on order doesn't. Bottom line; You'll never save more on a car than a dealer makes. It won't happen. (FIL was General Sales/Service Manager for the BMW Dealership in Hamden CT. Believe me that he had lots of stories about how much $$$ they made off of customers that thought they got "great deals")
Playing one car dealer against another is also a little out of date. You're literally playing them all, the entire US, against each other. That's your position.
This being the era of the internet, a car can be shipped from anywhere in the country to your driveway with a temp plate, it's easy.

I seriously looked at new cars sitting on the lots in Dallas, Phoenix, Seattle and San Francisco this past June. I just lucked out finding one in Pittsburgh, so I drove.
A car dealer has exactly one chance to sell me a car. They also have to convince me that it isn't worth my time to shop dealers. I never go back to a dealer a 2nd time. It's kind of mercenary, but it's worked for me.

Good luck.

 

My Mini I built on MINIUSA.com came out to be $30,089. I went to NCM for the Motor-tober event (during the Nor'easter that destroyed New England, lmao.) I told NCM about my experience there a couple weeks ago. The manager came out, and he was kind of douchey, especially when I said Inskip fixed it for me for free. BUT, he said he had no problem giving me my car for $28,000, so that's over $2000 off MSRP. So I'd pay $28,000 for the car (that includes destination), $399 paper fee (how does it call $400 to file some paperwork? ugh!), registration, and taxes (6.25%). Total price should be $30,280ish, unless they hide some other fee in there. So I'd be getting the car out-the-door price for a little over original MSRP. Does that sound good?

 

Well, for starters, you might not want to call a guy you're about to buy a car from a douche.

He might check MINI forums and put 2+2 together. But yeah, that sounds pretty good otherwise.

Keep us posted—be seeing you.

 

Whatever...I'm about to give him business and a fat check. lol. I said he was giving me a good deal. If this deal goes through with no strings attached, I suppose I'll have to :gasp: compliment the dealership. lol. I'm very wary of dealerships.

 

hehe - I hear ya, I am very wary too and this guy's prolly everything you say, wouldn't surprise me.

That's why I say it's a business transaction, plain and simple. If you can get a fair deal, good on you, because you can sure bet the dealer is not losing a penny.

Good luck.

 

Exactly. I'm not there to make friends. I'm there to get a car I want as cheap as possible. That's it. lol. The dealer isn't losing $, because he just wouldn't make the deal period.