On thing I didn't see is your credit rating. Do you have good credit? We did a deal that is only available to people with over 700 fico scores. I basically view it as a lease but it has unlimited mileage, you do not have to run 'full tilt' insurance that is normally required of a lease and at the end of 3 years I have a balloon payment to pay the car off (residual, if you will). If I choose to double up payments, the balloon payment is reduced by how much more I throw at it. From my research, the car will be worth more than the balloon because they hold their value so well. The stipulation I had with the purchase of this car is the payment could not be more than what the gas bill is in our Suburban, and it worked out the payment is about $100 less.

 

760 or so. You deal sounds interesting. I usually only put on 10,000 miles per year--so with my lease I asked for 15,000 miles per year as a "just in case" scenario. I believe the incremental cost for miles was 6.6 cents per mile--so I figured that I'd load up now. If I want to transfer the lease it will make it much more attractive---or if I decide to use it for road trips then I have some security.

 

I think with the MINI Select program you have all the inner workings of a lease but the big difference is that the car is titled to your name, not the bank's or leasing institution. This means that you are not required to carry the maximum insurance coverage limits (100,300,300) but you can set your own as if you had purchased the car outright.

The catch with MINI select is that is not available in all states and the interest factor might be higher than a standard lease contract.

In my experience of financing with MINI Financial Services is that they require a minimum of 25,50,50 insurance limit coverages and also your policy deductible can not be more than $500 for both collision and comprehensive.

My FICO score is well above 780 but I am not sure what are the credit score requirements to qualify with them.

It is always helpful to order copies of your credit report from the 3 major bureaus to see in what shape your credit is in:

www.equifax.com
www.transunion.com
www.experian.com

In some states the new laws allow a free yearly report from each of the 3 bureaus. But if you want to see your current FICO, you have to pay extra.

 

I personally don't like leasing and second I drive an average of 17K miles a year, so a lease doesn't work for us. The Clubman probably will not get to be driven as much as my '05 MCS but I much prefer to own a vehicle outright, keep it for 6-9 years and don't have to worry about wear/tear, mileage penalties, lease return fees, etc.

Aside from not having a car payment for several years, there is something to be said about pride of ownership and having the car "grow old" with you.

 

in regards to the mini select, it says on the site you can refinance the balloon payment. is this with traditional financing for a set number of months say 24 or 48? to bring your total overall months to 60 including the select payments or will they just straight out refinance the balloon for 60 months?

 

This is the one we went with and it is available in California. They told us we needed at least 700 on the FICO's to qualify. That was no problem for us. Wifey's was 840 and mine was a tad higher. It worked the best for us, considering I hate lease guidelines, yet I didnt want to drain my savings to purchase.

 

I don't think the Mini Select was an option. Plus, considering all the technology that goes into cars these day, I don't keep my cars longer than 3 years as I never want to be out of warranty. Every car that I tried to keep longer (ie my BMW 540) I would end up paying the "savings" in repair costs. In a perfect world, I would buy 1-2 year slightly used vehicles and hold them 2-3 years (depending on warranty). I can also write off a significant portion of a lease---so that's one of the reasons why I went the lease route with the Mini Clubman.

Anyway, its good to hear and compare. Thanks

 

On our deal too, there was only a pre-payment penalty in the first 3 months, so we aren't stuck with it the whole term, but the balloon payment will be bigger if we get rid of it early.

One thing that I thought was odd was at the time of signing, they made us sign some paperwork saying that we will not sell the car to anyone out of the country for the first several months.

There must be a demand for the Clubmans out of the country or something. Thats all I can figure out. I've never dealt with that before.

 

its not the demand for Clubmans, but cars in general are getting shipped to Europe in droves in the last few months. The weak dollar is giving super deals for people with Euros ... on top of the fact that already cars are more expensive in Europe.

I even sent a few year old Impreza over last month to Eastern Europe. Will most likely make double what I paid for it here ...

 

Yeah, I sold the Mustang 2 weeks ago to a guy that was going to ship it to Sweden. I do know that this guy was going to have to put alot of money into the car just to get it legal in Sweden. New taillights (with orange blinkers), blinker markers on the front fenders above the GT logos, new front blinker lenses and he wasn't sure if the Magnaflow exhaust system would pass their sound requirements. But why would Mini make me sign paperwork not to do it? Why would it matter to them what I do with my car?

The finance guy said something about Clubman release dates in different countries. Did anyone else have to sign this?

 

you answered your own question in some way ... isn't the Clubman a heck of a lot more in Europe than if purchased in the US? Some people might be tempted to export.

 

I am not a big lease fan either and would never lease a car. Primarily because I keep my cars for a very long time, put a lot of miles on a vehicle, and like to personalize it.
For those who like/want a lease I would point out that miniusa.com is advertising a lease on the Mini Clubman S for:
$318 month (based on an MSRP of $26,850)
36 months
15000 miles a year
$3167 due at signing (including first months payment)
$16,915 purchase option at end of lease
http://www.miniusa.com/#/financialServices-m

 

not a bad deal. cant wait till they start throwing in the MC and MCS into the lease specials!

 

There have been subsidized leases offered in the R56 MC and MCS since last year. The slow economy are forcing manufacturers to move the metal out of dealer lots and absorb losses.

 

I think leasing is very beneficial under very specific circumstances. If you can write off you lease payments as part of your annual income tax (Business expense, for example) then leasing makes sense.

But for the average guy, it just doesn't. I have folks tell me that leasing is great because they can have a new car every 3-4 years and maintain warranty. Reality is, changing cars every 3-4 years is very expensive and eats into your savings and chips away from your retirement. Purchasing an extended warranty or paying for repairs after the car's factory warranty has expired is never going to be more expensive than getting a brand new car. The math doesn't work for me.

The cheapest way to own a car is to buy it and own it for as long as you possibly can. Then you can justify better the initial cost + depreciation. And most agree that the absolute cheapest way to own a car is to buy used and hold on to it for as long as possible.

It is nice to always have a new car and a warranty. But my counter argument to that would be that is way nicer owning your car, don't worry about mileage, wear and tear penalties, personalize your car, grow old with the car and have the ability to sink that monthly payment inot savings, retirement or other investments.

I agree that there is a break even point where the repairs of an older vehicle start to amount or exceed the total amount of a monthly payment on a new car. If that is the case, then it is time to part with the vehicle.

I would also argue that the high residuals of the MINI make it a cheaper vehicle to own in the long run than a comparable car with lower resale value.

I understand everyone's life and finances are different. But personally, nothing beats the ability to put 50% or even 100% cash down for a car, driveaway and enjoy it for several years until the time comes for a new one.

 

I havent found any of these. I know Miniusa had taken down their specials for the MC MCS off their site...but I think those were 07s

 

Yes those were '07 leftovers.

I am surprised that MINIUSA is already offering subsidized leases on the Clubman. It hasn't even been 7 weeks since the car was launched!

The economy really stinks and the car industry is suffering big time. I remember when the MINI was originally introduced back in 2002. MINIUSA never offered subsidized leases in the R50 and R53 until late 2006 to clearout left over cars in anticipation of the R56.

Amazing how times have changed.

 

In the NYC area the launch edition S's from 1 1/2 months ago are mostly sitting around still ...

That is a pretty good deal on the leases however ...


The MINI has great resale value on the "books" but its sometimes not an easy sale ... since all of them are so individual, finding a matching buyer is not easy. And a lot of the cars are selling and/or are getting traded in for a lot less than you might think.

 

Here's what I can share on MINI Select. I went with that option. Great credit (800ish) + $10k down.

Interest was very reasonable (3.75-4.75%) on the leases - Select had a 50-75 basis point 'uplift' as my finance guy explained depending on the Loan to Value and term.

My 24 month Select came out at $182/mo. with a ballon that can be refinanced in any manner I choose/can secure at the end of the term... BMW finance / Credut Union / Bank or just pay cash if you're been able to squirrel away the money or hit the lottery.


I went with the Select for 3 reasons:

1. I can't do a lease because I will drive about 20k per year and the cost becomes prohibitive.
2. The lower payment is great.
3. There was no prepayment penalty. If at some point I decide to pay it off or refi before the term is up, I can do that.

I may be able to answer some other questions - but not promising anything. I do know that the Select is not available everywhere. The calculator online @ MINIUSA worked right - based on the #s I got at the dealership.

 

This makes no sense at all...

Do you know what the term "Capitalized Cost Reduction" actually means? It has nothing to do with what you said.

The Capitalized Cost is the "selling price" for the vehicle. Capitalized Cost Reduction is money that is paid up front to reduce the Cap Cost, which reduces the amount of depreciation paid over the lease term (and therefore, lowers your payment).

Let's say that you are looking at a $32k Clubman, and that you pay $32k for the car. Let's also assume a $20k residual on a 36 month lease (just to make this example a little easier). Your payment each month would be based on the depreciation ($12k divided by 36 months) plus the interest expense ($32k Gross cap cost plus $20k residual, multiplied by the money factor).

How does a Cap Cost Reduction change this? Let's assume you put $2k Cap Cost Reduction in to the lease... So your adjusted/Net Cap Cost is $30k. Your lease payment would be depreciation ($10k divided by 36 months) plus the same interest expense as before. Your $2k basically pays some of the depreciation up front instead of in the monthly payment. It does not change the residual at all.

So my point is... Cap Cost Reduction has nothing to do with inflated residuals or the loss that the leasing company takes... in fact, all it does is pre-pay some of the depreciation that you would otherwise pay over the lease term. It doesn't change any of the other lease terms (rate, residual)

 

Everyone that says a lease is a bad idea should think twice about a Select.

A Select is very similar to a lease, and might be worse in some situations (thought I agree for some people it can be better).

A few points on a MINI Select:

1. there is no walk away option... you must pay the balloon value at the end of the term, either in full or by refinancing.

2. there is no guarantee that the value of the car at the time of the balloon payment will come close to the balloon value, just like there is no guarantee that your car will be worth the residual on a lease.

3. MINI Financial uses the same percentages for the balloon value that they use for their lease residual values... so basically, if they are too high on the leases then they are too high on the balloons too...

---> put 1, 2, and 3 together and you can see where there is a benefit to the lease, where you can walk away at the end if you do not want to keep the car and you have no risk or cost unless you go over your allowable mileage. If the residual is too high you can just walk away, and if it is really low you can still buy the car. With the Select, you are stuck even if the balloon value is too high.

4. you pay interest on the total amount financed (including your balloon value), so if you refinance the balloon at the end you are effectively paying interest on this amount twice... not a smart move from a financial perspective.

---> run the numbers on a traditional 72 month finance and compare to the Select... it will probably be a little more per month, but if you look at an amortization schedule you are much better off and pay much less interest expense this way.

---> compare your down payment plus monthly payments plus the balloon payment to what you would pay on a lease, and it's really not much different.

 

I've just applied for financing on our '08 MC OB/W due to arrive April 11th at the Dealer. I've checked out other threads that mentioned Pentagon Federal Credit Union they have a 4.99% rate for 72mo. add GAP Insurance for $299, I think that is an excellent rate our Credit Union was going to charge us 5.88% on the same loan.
I wouldn't ever do a Lease (any Lease) I've had to CALM my Husband after he made the mistake of Leasing a Honda before we met.
If anyone is interested you can check out the other threads regarding them or check out www.penfed.org

 

Yes, this is definately the way to go... shop around for a good 72 month rate, the payment will be a little more but you will be in much better shape than a balloon. Also, if you plan to keep the car, it makes more sense to go for a 72 month loan vs. a lease and purchase at the end.

 

6 years paying for a car note seems to me like an eternity. But i can understand why this option would work better vs. MINI Select.

I went with the put down 50% cash and finance the other half for 3 years max. In 3 years or less, no car note. My '05 was financed this way and paid it off in 27 months. In the Clubman we are paying close to $470 per month. On my '05 S my monthly note used to be $511. A little high, but well worth getting over the financing stage sooner.

 

By way of background, I'm brand new here. I've been lurking around for a bit, and just ordered my Clubman S on Sunday, and just got my production number today.

Paid my deposit with my Amex (so I could accumulate more Starwood points), and plan on putting another $1,500 on Amex, and paying another $1,500 so in cash, with the balance to be financed.

My wife and I have a very good fico scores, and our credit union is offering a 5.75% interest rate. The sales guy said when the car comes in that MINI financing is 6%+ but might be able to beat or match our rate.

QUESTION: Has anyone ever had MINI financing beat or match the rate that you can get from your bank? If they can only match it, has anyone ever had MINI throw in extras in order to get you to sign with them as opposed to the bank (for example, in buying my Nissan Altima, Nissan matched the rate and gave me an extended warranty, that I would not otherwise have paid for)?

Thanks.