Hi,

First post here. I'm going to order my Clubman S this weekend from one of four local dealers who can offer me the best deal.

Even though I've built my Clubman using the Configurator, one dealer says some of the options I've chosen are "dealer installed" and thus there is an additional charge. I'm waiting to hear back from the dealer as to exactly what options he is refering to. Anyone run into this before?

Also, I'm getting the H/C with silver trim but am torn between the H/C and Tuscan leather interiors. I wanted some contrast between the exterior and interior thus am leaning toward the Tuscan, but the H/C looks good too. Any advice?

Thanks,

jjkell

 

Tell them if they plan to charge you extra to install an option, you'll take your business elsewhere.

Also, that you want two free sets of mats. One rubber, one carpet. And any other trinket you feel the urge to ask for. As long as you're willing to walk away, you'll get what you want (within reason, of course).

As far as interior, I'll let someone with either speak to that

 

From what I've been told, anything listed in "Accessories" (number 5 in the configurator I believe) is dealer installed and therefore has a labor charge associated with it. When I asked about Sport Stripes (Viper style), my MA informed me that the price would be $100 higher because of the labor to install them.

 

To which you respond "thanks, but no thanks".

These are frivolous labor charges. If they want to sell the car, they'll eat it.

 

What options did you choose that are dealer installed?

Go with the Tuscan if you want contrast. It's freakin' gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!

 

If you do not want to pay for labor, choose only the factory options. Personally I do not have a problem with the labor on dealer installed options. You just need to evaluate which ones you want. The best tool is really the build at the MINIUSA, you should get a pretty good idea where you stand with the dealer options. Have fun choosing!

 

It would be helpful if the "dealer options" were annotated on the configurator. Still waiting to hear from the dealer which options are dealer installed.

Tuscan vs. H/C interior still a toss-up but Lady G is swaying me...

I was also going to get the silver trim but now the black is looking good. I guess I better get my order in soon or I'm going to keep changing my mind!

 

Here's Tuscan/cream white color line/english oak & piano black on the doors. This is Tilda's baby!

 

We ordered the sport stripes and there is a dealer install charge of $125. We ordered the Hot Chocolate gear shifter and hand brake, install was $10 and $30, respectively. There was also a $100 install for the Hot Chocolate steering wheel, but we are going with English oak.

I think both the Tuscan and the Hot Chocolate leathers are gorgeous. I went with Hot Chocolate as I think it accents my Sparkling Silver better and having had light leather interior before, I find the dark shade a little more forgiving in wear.

 

My dealer installed options are: sport stripe, JCW Suspension, JCW strut bar.

JCW tuning is being done at the VDC.

 

LadyG, that a real nice interior combination. You're not making it any easier for me!

I did order the H/C steering wheel, emergency brake and gear lever. Maybe that's too much H/C and black would look just as good...

 

I did the same thing in Tuscan. I just prefer to have as much of that beige as I can. I just love that leather!

 

my dealer quoted the following for labor for options: (1) mud flaps $145 (2) illuminated sills $735 (3) driving lamps $550 (4) 6-Disc CD player $215, mind u this does not include the price of the item, I did break down and go for #4 but deleted the rest.
And also I asked for extras such as floor mats and/or mud flaps but even after walking out (I came back a week later) they would not budge. In the Phoenix area they are the only dealer I could locate so they have the market to themselves here.

 

They are listed in the configurator just look at the right hand column and it will show the dealer installed items at the bottom with the cost of each item. the only thing is that the labor charge is not listed in the price. they say this in the small print.

Also if you are order a shift **** or e-brake handle be aware that the shift boot and e-brake boot are not included with the price listed in the configurator. i got burned on this one and ended up paying an extra charge for the parts but the dealer through in the extra installation at no charge. BTW the shift *** is very difficult to take off as it doen not screw off but has some special clips that hold it in place.

 

Missed this when I posted the above post. be sure to inquire about the shift and e-brake boot now as they are an extra charge item. I have attached some pictures taken with my cell so that you can see the HC shift **** and boot and the e-brake handle and boot. Pictures are of poor quality but i think you can get the idea.

It made a wonderful change in the look of the interior when the shift boot was added a two weeks after the shift ****. it just make the interior complete.

 

Thanks for pointing that out Schatzy62. Clicking the "**" shows a pop-up saying that there are dealer installation charges. Based on your second comment I think I'll just stay with the standard black gearshift ****, parking brake, and steering wheel trim. A minor point really when we're spending thousands but hey, what can I say?

 

Yep, I forgot to mention that about the boots being extra. Kinda bogus if you ask me, but I was a sucker.

 

As much as I would have preferred something other than a black interior on my new Clubman, all the extra pieces required to make it "look right" to my eye, combined with the added labor charges were enough to make me steer clear altogether. Too many shades of gray, black, silver, shiny, dull, etc. already going on in there to start adding a whole different color pallette piece by piece and rack up even more $$. With all the choices MINI allows, I'd have thought you could choose a seating color and get all the matching trim included for a single price. Every time I tried to build one calling for the brown or beige color scheme, I found myself wanting to change more and more trim pieces to make it match/flow better. I hope in the future MINI will offer a gray leather as well or, at the very least, provide all the complementing pieces that work with beige/brown without charging so much extra. Just my 2 cents; hope someone's listening.

 

ThreeDogDepot,

I couldn't agree with you more, hence my decision to leave well enough alone.

 

Before I ordered my Clubman, I asked my dealer about the install charge for the driving lamps, and they quoted me $300.00. I thought $300.00 was way too much, $550 is off the charts!. That's about four hours of labor to install the lights! I think the install on the 6-disk CD is also very high, as it's basically a plug-and-play install.
My dealer did want to charge $20 to install my front carpeted mats, which would have been $130 installed! I got them instead from Classic MINI in Ohio for around $85.

 

$20 to install floor mats? Wow. Just throw them in the boot, please. Guess I got a deal when my SA "installed" them in the car for me.

I did get charged $250 ($350 total) for installing my graphics and over $100 for installing the clear sidemarkers.

Lesson learned: don't order dealer installed options when you order the car. I wasn't even quoted a price - they "weren't sure" and the one price I got went up by the time the car got there, then I had to pay it because it was already done. Thanks, jerks.

 

$20 to install mats is about as bad as my Audi dealership wanting to charge me $25 labor to install / replace a broken oil dipstick. I ripped his head off at the absurdity of the crap they were trying to pull and they graciously did it for free. I almost went to the store manager with that one. Unbelieveable.

I got my mats installed for free. Heck, the mats were free too.

The dealer prices I have been seeing are way high. Either they have a tremendous overhead, pay their techs way more than I make, or have huge profit margins built in for that kind of stuff. I got mine to comp out $200 in labor becuase of a problem I was having. I overheard the service manager mention it took them an hour to do the work. $200 per hour! Man, in the engineering field where we have a 2.5-3x multiplier with profit, that would equate to a tech making $150k per year. Don't think so. Seems like labor charges for work vary greatly by dealer. Maybe you can get a per hour labor cost (most other shops have it posted) and then negotaite the time.

Jon W.

 

Here is what I was quoted:

299 for Purchase/install of mud flaps
299 Purchase/install of tint
799 purchase/install of front clear mask (top, bottom, door edges, side mirrors
299 for sport stripes purchase/installed
$75 for locking lug nuts (you heard me $25 install fee)

don't forget the 8.8% tax here in WA

total is 1948.85 added to the cost of the car...

I'm not buying it yet so I'm shopping around.

I paid $250 for my mazda's tint

Clear bra is about right since it's a custom, and the front end if tricky.

sport stripes are about right if you want them under the clear bra... figure $125 for the price and another $150 for labor.. (2 hours price)

mud flaps are freaking stupid...ebay had the front set for $25..install instructions included.

...oh...$595 for the dealer prep fee....includes gas, detail and free floor mats...so...they fuel my 30k car, clean it too..wow..now that's some hardcore customer service.

 

I wanted mud flaps, too, till I heard what the installation cost was. I was thinking surely it can't be that difficult?

 

According to the MiniUSA builder, you can get the aero kit with the flaps, according to my MA you can't.....someone's fibbin..

looking at the ebay item it's going to involve pulling the splash guard out of the wheel well and inserting some molly clips and running the screws through outside to in and snapping them in place.


get them while they are hot:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Genui...spagenameZWDVW