I searched and there were a few threads on this (mostly 2002), but darned if i gleened any usable info from them. And the last two gents who asked seemed to get no response at all. Thought i'd give it a try.

So, if anybody out there can klew me in... What is the difference between the MINI select and a lease? You pay taxes up front, small payments... then "balloon" payment. Any explanation of this is appreciated. Is the car anymore yours with this method? After the three years can you get out of the car if need be? (from what i read sounds like you can???) And do you end up paying a lot more than you would with traditional financing. (read: sounds good in print only). Kind of looking for opinons on this - reason being went to the dealer today, got a bad trade in # and cannot afford my car at the moment. Would ask my advisor, but he left for vaca after my appointment...

The car will be mine, but just weighing my options.....

 

Ouch! Wish i could help with explaining the options, but someone will. Best of luck, and I would try carmax or personal sale for the current ride, the numbers may be better.
Cheers!

 

i should take the lack of response from the other threads as this option not being the best idea around. But, i thought i'd toss it out.

So... anybody want to buy a VW Passat that needs new front brakes, a new radio, and needs that air bag light looked at.

 

I'm guessing it's just MINIs financing. Probably the same as any other bank, it's just through the dealer so less hassle I guess.

 

I also thought about using MINI Select financing. I like the idea of a smaller monthly payment, but didn't really like the balloon at the end of the term. I thought that option might be beneficial seeing as how I'm also paying for school right now. I haven't worked out all the finances yet, as my car has not even been built.

 

Ha Ha!
The famous 'MINI select'!

I went to my dealer yesterday for some financing information and MINI select was pushed quite heavily.

As far as I can tell with lease/Hire Purchase you pay for 100% of the car over 3 years (or 2 years) - plus interest at whatever rate they set.
With MINI Select you pay 75% of the car over 3 years - plus interest at whatever rate they set. At the end you either pay the final 25% to keep the car, use the 25% as a deposit on a new car and use the rest of the value as trade in, or sell the car and keep whatever profit you make over that initial 25%. I think.

I blogged my experience at the dealers here and a link here for more details about MINI select. It's a UK site but I'm sure you'll get the general idea. There is a link from that page to a 'calculator' to give you some numbers to crunch. It's all in £ pounds sterling, but you could use an online conversion tool to get the figures in US dollars.

As I said in my blog, I reckon MINI select exists purely for MINI to squeeze even more of your hard earned cash out of you than they did when you bought the car in the first place.

The finance guy at the dealership advised me to sell my trade-in car privately to get more money for it. I can't work out whether this was him genuinely trying to help me or whether MINI can't be bothered with the hassle of trade-ins.

Hope that's useful
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Is it hot in here or is it me?

 

Yes, I know about the "Smart buy" or what ever they want to calll it. It is the only way in Texas to "Lease" a car. You really buy it, but you finance only the depreciation and then there is a "balloon" payment or you return the car and/or trade it in on another car. I've done it one time -- and that is why I currently HAVE to give up my beautiful Honda Accord V6. I wanted the smaller payments and assumed that every 3 years from now on I'd just trade it back in to them and get another brand new car. Then the new Accords came out looking totally ugly and I don't want one. I don't want the S2000 and I don't want a Civic... so I started shopping around and found MINI. Now I will just give them the car as my last and final "balloon" payment.

I will never do the smart buy again.

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"Madeline" - MCS CR/W, Stripes, White 16" X-Lites, Xenons, Fogs, DSC, PDC, Auto AC, MFSW, Black 'ette with Contrasting Silver Dash, Full Aero Kit and Union Jack !

 

and by the way, when you do the smart buy, you can sell your car or trade it into another car, but with only finiancing the depreciation for 3 years, I have found that over the coarse of the lease I am never right side up. Right now if I were to sell my car I'd end up paying toward the lease to get out of it. I had to wait to order my MINI so it arrives in Nov, just in time for my lease to end in Dec. That way what I am asking for the car equals the balloon payment and I'm not paying anything.

 

Actually, my dealer informed me that the only difference between Mini select and Lease is the mandatory balloon payment with select. You HAVE to pay it. He said the reason for the MINI Select package is there are certain states where leasing is not really permitted. The reason it is frowned on is there have been lawsuits where the bank is liable for any damages caused by the since, technically, they are the owners. Now, I don't necessarilly know what I'm talking about, that's just what I was told.

Leasing is more open-ended. You could hand in your un-modded, low mileage MINI at the end of the 3 year term and get another one. Then again, how many of us have low-mileage, un-modded MINIs??

 

I financed my car using Select. Basically it works like a lease, but you HAVE to buy it at the end. You can spread payments out up to 48 mos and then theres the balloon payment at the end. If you put down a larger down payment to lower the monthly payments, its less like throwing it away because you actually own the car. You also have the option of re-financing the balloon payment at the end of the term. This works out if you're the type to keep a car for a long time. As far as I know, there is no trade in option. Being that you own the car, there is no mileage restrictions, which is good if you do a lot of driving.

 

Forget about a trade in on a mini, unless it's another mini. I had a bmw and they offered me about a quarter of what it was worth in trade on a cooper s.I would have ordered one that day, and left my trade,waited the 8 months and all.But I was pretty offended and decided to sell the car myself.I was even going to use mini select to keep the payments low.It took 2 months but I got what I wanted for it. The guy picked up the car at my work, so I called for a ride home.While I was waiting for my ride I went onto autotrader and found my car. An 02 cooper s dark silver/white roof, sport and premium, and lapis blue leather with 15k on it for 20k.I called and bought it right then.And my payments are $40 a month more than they would have been with mini select and I have way more options than I had planned on getting.

 

>>The finance guy at the dealership advised me to sell my trade-in car privately to get more money for it. I can't work out whether this was him genuinely trying to help me or whether MINI can't be bothered with the hassle of trade-ins.
>>


Thanx for everyone's info. Yah, my dealer told me the same thing - try to sell it privately. Only, now i've got about two and a half weeks to try to get rid of it.... yay.

After review, i don't think the program will be in my best interest. Now i need 1) a miracle 2) to wiggle my payments down a tad so they're in my price range.

Ah, if only i wasn't so taken with the H/K or the xenon's.....