Yes, It is US spec. I am buying through pentagon cars sales, who sales MINI as part of the BMW/MINI military sales program. I could no find the website for MINI, but here is the BMW-military-sales website. http://www.bmw-military-sales.com/mi...usa/index.html Its a great deal, mainly because they will allow me to drive it over here for as long as I like and then ship it to the states for free. I cant wait to get it out on the Autobahn and the back roads here in the Eifel.

 

Go Colts! Got to see a pre-season game in Toronto last fall when they played Buffalo. My first NFL experience but if there is a season this year, I want to make the trek to Indy to see a game. Sorry I am a little off topic here...

 

Usually I sell my current car myself to save $1-2K over trade-in dealer prices and use proceeds for the downpayment to lower amount financed. But since MINI takes like months to build I can't be without a car all that time. Or you pay down upon delivery?

 

You pay on delivery... I have the same situation, I'm selling my car myself to net me another $1-3k over dealer trade in.

 

I got nothing off sticker but they did through in floor mats and beat carmax on my trade. Overall I am happy considering we got everything we wanted in our new Countryman S.

 

Did you work the mats into the deal when you showed up to pick it up once arrived at the dealership?

 

I did a pre-trade to lock in now what they are giving me on my trade. Here in Arizona, if you trade a vehicle for say $20,000, then the taxable amount on the new purchase is reduced by $20,000. So often times here in Arizona you still benefit by trading in versus selling private party . . . especially on a Mini Countryman since you are paying sticker price anyways.

 

That's why I'm trading in here in NJ as well. My dealer gave me a price close to what I could get selling it myself and the sales tax benefits pretty much closed the gap.

 

Yeah you should, hopefully we do have a season so we can have the super bowl, nice to see your a colts fan in toronto and sorry off topic as well

 

My local dealer here in Vancouver used an on-line tool to get me a trade-in quote for my '02 VW Eurovan weekender. Quote was incredibly low-ball...$11k...I believe the system he used did not take into account the Weekender package on the van (pop-top roof etc). That adds many thousands to the price. I have since posted a private Ad at over $12 k more than the quote and recieved two serious inquiries within hours of posting the Ad. This more than makes up for the tax differential offered on the original trade-in quote.

BTW, there is an excellent site with loads of new car buying tips to help you plan your negotiations with the dealer:

http://www.carbuyingtips.com/

And in Canada we have this place to get access to dealer hidden incentives and dealer cost info (for a small fee):
http://carcostcanada.com/1/en/defaul...337&PID=267874

Mike.

 

My dealer also gave me a ridiculously, insultingly low trade-in quote, thousands lower than Carmax! So I just sold my M3 privately for slightly less than what I could have really gotten. I think in my case they were basically saying "we don't want to buy your car."

 

Thats why I choose my dealership, and now they've sold me my second Mini. The dealership closer to me (Morristown Mini) offered me $3K less than the dealership I went with (Princeton Mini) on my trade for my R56, their loss now.

 

Placing an order this weekend. I have been looking for a while at a CM but got serious last weekend. Using USAA or Penfed (both use the same system for discounts) I am getting $1413 under MSRP, of course floormats and a really good deal for my trade.

 

I'm inching closer to the finish line. Just discovered that the car has been loaded on the Fidelio and is on the ocean now. It's scheduled to arrive in NYC on 4/6.

Woo hoo!!

 

Do you have to be a PenFed member to use that service? Did the service simply come back with the $1413 discount or did you have to do the haggling yourself once connected with the dealer via the service?

I guess the question is, how'd it all go down?

 

@Jason4424
I was looking at the companies that provide this car buying service and the same one is used by penfed, carsdirect, capital one, geico, etc. It is called Zag. the guy who started this company also started cars direct. There was an article on this some years ago on ZDNet.
So if you do not want penfed you could use one of these other sites and get the same benefits.

 

Thanks arrested_cloud!

 

Update to this. That price was a USAA or PenFed discount at Mini of South Atlanta.
I went to Global Imports in ATL and was given $1750 off MSRP just by asking for the best price - no haggle. I ordered with them and I did get a current production slot.

 

Ordered my light white countryman today! Got it for $1700 off of MSRP + floor mats. Hoping this was a good deal!! Now trying to hold myself together until I can finally pick up my new car!!!

 

Umm yeah I think that was a good deal!

 

Sweet deal indeed...well done!!

 

Sounds like a great deal!

Try to keep your sanity during the next 6-8 weeks while you obsess over it!

 

So what trick are you all using when ordering new to get anything off? My dealer claims nowhere will give anything off on the Countryman yet over and over. I know this isn't true. I have Fred PenFed with them along with Costco and SAMs Club. Would like to try and work the price down along with some assecories when t comes in to pick up. Production is scheduled tomcomplete on Mach 31st

 

Thanks everybody! @bradrulz - I went sent my CM's specs to several (4-5) local dealerships within 1.5 hours from my house. I asked each one to quote their best price via email. I finally got someone to quote 1300 off of MSRP, then I sent an email to the other dealerships saying that they'ed have to be $1700 to get my business. Only 2 were able to meet $1700. I went with the dealer that is 15min from my house. The whole process was a full-time job for about 2 weeks, but well worth it in the end!! GOOD LUCK!!

 

I got $1750 off MSRP and floormats. I also asked for 10% off a roof rack at the parts dept. I haven't bought the roof rack yet so hopefully that comes through.