Hi guys.

So I'll start this by saying I custom-ordered my MINI. As such, I didn't have as much negotiating room as some. I Asked that the sales guy throw in the plate fees ($250 in MI) and some travel mugs. I got that and he quoted me a down payment and monthly lease TOTAL payment (includes all taxes, etc).

Then I got a call the next day. "Oh gee, sorry, we forgot to include the destination charge." So the dealer ate that. $795. Fine by me.

Then I picked up the car, signed the papers, and drove out.

A WEEK LATER, I get a call. "Oh gee, sorry, we quoted the residual for the WRONG CAR config. The real residual is $900 lower, and that was supposed to be in your payment." So the dealer ate that, too. $25/mo I don't have to pay. Fine by me, too.

But honestly, how do these guys make any money? I ended up getting a car $2000 under MSRP without even trying. I'm sure there's still some room over invoice for my MCS hardtop, but yeesh.

Fortunately, all of the errors went in my favor. So I can't really COMPLAIN, but my goodness.

 

Someone won't be a car salesman for too much longer.

 

I could be wrong here, but I think the key is 'lease'. They'll make it up when they get the mini back..

 

Yeah I'm sure they will. Unless I buy it.

At this rate, the residual is so low that it might be worth it to buy it and flip the car.

 

I hadn't thought of it that way, most people lease because they want to get another new vehicle at the end of the lease. Considering the 'discounts' you got, would be a good idea to hang on to it..

 

That caught out our dealer. When we were ordering the latest one, our MA was deep in conference with one of the sales managers. MINI had changed the quoted MSRP to not include the destination fee, and no one had noticed for a week. So they had a week's worth of deals which weren't quite as expected. I don't know what they did about it.

In another thread someone said the invoice was 7% below MSRP, so they have around $2000 to play with.

 

Consider it your lucky day.

 

Oh, I do. I pretty much got my car for invoice. By my calculations, they made AT MOST $350 over invoice on the sale, plus the money factor on the lease.

 

Mine was a similar experience. We were the only buyer that came in on the fourth. They had a base model that for whatever reason they felt wasn't going to sell so they gave it to us 600 over list with the sport stripes installed (didn't come with them). The dealer has been awesome to us. Which is a huge change over the other vehicle makes that company owns.