Okay, so I finally got my price sheet yesterday. My MA has been telling me, "I can't get that until the car is in stock", which I thought strange - but I've only ever purchased 2 cars from a dealer, and only one of those was new and all of them were already on the lot so I allowed this.

Of course, this means I wouldn't normally have the time to fact-check any of this stuff, but I have at least until Monday because their prep guys go home at 2pm on Saturdays.


So the first thing I notice is that the $750 not-so-normal rebate is taken off of the sales price, and is not listed anywhere (but is applied correctly). The rebate line says $0. Fancy accounting?

Next, there's a $295 "additions total", but I did not add any dealer installed accessories, so I don't know what this is all about. It's added to the pre-tax vehicle value.

There's a $125 documentation fee and a $75.67 "VIT Tax" (which is the dealer's inventory tax that is allowed to be charged by dealers by the state, but not required).

And there are other taxes and fees and things that are either mandated or are at least reasonable.

 

The "additions total" sounds suspicious.

We were not charged for any extras and the tank is also full and there was no charge for that. MINI is now offering the .09% financing on 2013 models, though some are excluded, not sure which ones. We had financing with Penfed at 1.46% but went with the MINI financing instead. I was too good to resist.

We were releaved that the whole experience was a positive one. We didn't purchase ny extended warrenties yet. We might do so in the future, not sure yet. What are your thoughts on that?

 

Google to see if your state has a mandated document fee and how much it is. $125 is a lot, but that's based on the fee in my state. VIT sounds strange, a tax they can charge but don't have to? Never heard of an optional tax. Who gets the money, the dealer or the government? Obviously they're going to need to clarify that additions total.

 

The tax itself isn't optional - it's the ad valorem tax in Texas, which is the Inventory Tax paid by the dealers. Dealers are allowed to charge the tax to their buyers, though (is negotiable)

Here's my best understanding from the little reading I've done:

This system was put in place in 1994 to prevent inventory tricks dealers were playing to avoid taxes. Instead, they are taxed on vehicle sales. Because dealers could no longer avoid the taxes like in the previous system, dealers were granted the ability to charge the tax to the consumer, provided that the customer is informed of this, and that the charge is not misrepresented as a government tax (which it's not). As such, adding it as an additional fee to the statement is technically at the discretion of the dealer.

As they are getting MSRP from me (minus the Not-Normal rebate...which they are presumably getting from MINI USA), I do not feel inclined to also pay their taxes for them.

 

I agree, let them pay their own taxes, unless they want to pay your sales tax . Do they have sales tax in Texas?

 

Yes to sales tax. No to income tax.

 

What's the sales tax? State tax here is so high, it's no wonder everyone is fleeing to Texas.

 

For vehicles, sales tax is 6.25%, and state fees ran just under $100 total.


I got everything taken off that I wanted taken off. They didn't know how to take the VIT tax off (so they said), so they took that amount off of the purchase price because I gave them a list of accessories I wanted, but wouldn't purchase if I had to pay it. And I wouldn't have. Technically that arrangement saved me $5 versus not paying the tax and paying the higher sales price

The $295 was "IBEX Paint Protectant", and I managed to stop them from applying putting that in time. They didn't put up a fight at all, and were rather agreeable. I was expecting more hassle, because I'm cynical that way. I did end up paying a little more on some of the accessories I specified, but they also matched or beat the MINI USA price on a good number of them, too.


All in all, it worked out pretty well. I paid less than they wanted me to, and they still made a very nice profit. Thanks everyone for all the input!

 

And in my biased opinion ended up with the most beautiful Mini ever! What accessories did you get?

 

Simple Wind Deflector (no pouches)
Chrome Hood Scoop w/ heat shield
Union Jack Mirror Caps and valve stem caps
Rubber Rear Floor Mats (I have kids) and Boot Mat
Mud Flaps
Magnetic Stone Guards

...I think that was it.

 

I'm excited to see the mirror caps. I love them, but was trying to imagine them on Audrey and couldn't. How much did they charge you for the wind deflector? My dealer wanted $450. Compared to the Jeep there's not to much wind in the cabin so I passed for now. Are you loving Paddington? How about the family?

 

I got the wind deflector for $392. Originally they were trying to charge $411, and the parts guy was convinced that this was the $530 one. He was confused. The MINI Configurator has 3 different places to specify a wind deflector

Only passenger I've had so far is my mother-in-law, who I drove to the airport this morning. She seemed to like it, and commented that it wasn't anything like she expected.