MiaMia: Not once did I claim to be an expert. You, on the other hand use a coined term in the same regards an MD uses his/hers. No one is arguing that Mini is not out to make a profit. I am however, am pointing out that your 10% figure is flawed. I agreed with you regarding the profit for dealer's. I am contending your 10% figure for BMW(or Mini).

In addition, I did not use the title of salesperson as a derogatory term. Instead, I pointed out that it does not add credence to your arguments. In fact, I did not even make mention of any "******** sales"(your own words) employed by anyone.

Do you lack the ability to stay within context or are you always boorishly attacking anything that does not pertain to anything? None of the points you brought out helped in building any sort of coherent thought. I believe we are done "discussing", well I am anyway. You seem to have trouble starting.

 

ha ha!! Motoring Advisor aka salesperson

Welcome to the thread....

That was established just a few posts ago! Good day.

:-)

 

Is it common / doable to negotiate AFTER the order was placed?

 

At this point with your run on paragraphs and my trying to keep up with your remedial thinking. I am done as well. My first and last point is and was discounts are and will be minimal.
You must of forgotten the original post.

 

MiaMia, just curious, what kind of MINI do you own?

 

Here is the bottom line based on my experience (3 MINIs and I am about to buy #4) lately, folks:

1) If you find a MINI in-stock at a dealer, not custom ordered, you stand a good chance to get one anywhere from $0 to 2000+ OFF MSRP depending on inventory level, dealer location, and chosen model.

2) If you custom ordered a MINI, your chances are NOT quite as good but it doesn't hurt to ask! Better yet, try for some freebies like floor mats or boot mat or glovebox organizer or something! Speaking with many dealers here recently, I seem to be having better luck with getting a few accessories thrown in the deal versus $$ off sticker for an ordered car.

3) Many dealers (if not all) charge processing/documentation fees and they VARY GREATLY depending on dealer! These are most certainly negotiable. Some dealers will drop these fees entirely to make a sale and some will not budge. Do your homework and don't pay more than you have to.

My MINI dealer offered to sell the JCW Clubman to me for $1,500 OFF sticker BUT that was with a crappy offer for my 2006 as a trade-in to try and make the deal work.

 

[QUOTE=MiaMia;2622665]Do you really want discounts?
Do you people not understand what that does to your resale value?
MINI builds value by not bastardising their product with discounts and cash backs and incentives and subsidized interest rates.

I want a discount, but don't want any of the rest of you to have one. And you do make some good points.

 

According to MiaMia, it's okay for dealer's to markup their prices over MSRP, but not for customers to ask for prices below MSRP. Seems like quite a double standard if you ask me.

Besides, as someone else in this thread already pointed out, it's simply supply and demand. When the demand was high, the dealerships were in a prime position to make money, and thus had markups. Now that demand is lower (for obvious reasons), the customer is in a prime position to save money by asking for below MSRP. That's just the way the relationship works!

 

No one in LA will go below $500 off MSRP :( But for a Cooper not for a Clubman...

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by zoltiz

Is it common / doable to negotiate AFTER the order was placed?

Best time to negotiate is when you can still walk out the door and say "forget it, I'll go somewhere else (even if that's another make)". If you've already placed an order, you've already committed...but it still doesn't hurt to ask. Maybe you could get some extra dealer installed options--clear bra, tinting,etc. and freebies (like a second set of floor mats, etc.) thrown in.

If you still have the option to cancel the order, then you could use that as a tactic (say that you've noticed some people seem to be getting deals so you've been contemplating maybe waiting for a few more months to get a new car, unless they can do something about the price...). If you don't ask, you won't get. You do have to be prepared to walk--or at least give the impression that you are--if you really want to get the best deal possible...

Good luck...just don't expect any sympathy from MiaMia!

 

7 months ago gas was $4+ and my local MINI dealer had NO new or used stock--nada. Now, I just filled up with premium for $1.70, and my dealer must have over 100 new dealer stock and cpos on the lot... ordered cars, however, are still msrp.

back to the OP: it might be do-able to find $250-500 off an ordered car somewhere (I paid $250 below msrp but Im a repeat customer) but if anyone claims more than a thou off msrp on an ordered car they are full of horse****. Every time I read about someone who claims this, I call them out, and guess what? Silence.

Discounts are nice, but there is no ignimony in paying msrp for a MINI.

 

Here in the uk you can get £500 of at the moment

 

I got CDN$2300 off MSRP on an ordered car in mid-Dec (being built later this month) which converted to US$2000 at that time (CDN$ has fallen a bit since then).

I'm waiting...

 

I got $1000 off msrp + mats, so I guess that' over $1000 off. It's in production now and should be here the third week of February. No trade-in, no financing, no prep fee bs. Confirmation email follows.

Hi Vince,
Based on the car that you configured and sent to our dealership (MSRP $26,550), we are willing to order the car for $25,550 tax and license. The license fee is $285.00 and the tax (based on Alameda County tax rates) is $2240.44 with a doc fee of $45. The total out the door price is $28,075.44.
This price included what we originally agreed upon, which was front and rear rubber floor mats...the rear boot mat is available through our parts department for $59.50.
There are no additional fees beyond what we have discussed......the $1000 deposit is fully refundable should something come up and you are unable to buy the car when it gets here
Thanks, Vince!
Jacque Vavroch
MINI Motoring Advisor

 

MiaMia,
I'm not sure I understand why you have so much contempt, sarcasm, and/or hostility towards the Mini enthusiast community. Do we not contribute to bringing folks to your employer's door?

Are we harmful to the brand? To your sales efforts?

Clearly the topic of discounts has touched a nerve. It was not my intent to offend anyone when starting this thread.

 

It's a great thread. Seems there are two types that would take exception: those that want everyone to pay MSRP because it's money in their pocket, and those that want everyone to pay as much as they did when demand was at a maximum.

 

 

I put my horseshit in the bank BTW. It WAS an ordered car and I got a few extras to go along with it. You sound like you've got "discount envy". You called me out...I call you misinformed.

 

$1K off on a clean sale? No trade-in involved? That's not bad.

I was offered $6K off a JCW, but that was a $43K car to start with...

 

No trade in. This the 9th or 10th car I've bought/reffered people to from this particular dealer...they take care of me. And I have a great salesman to deal with. Fully equipped Cooper S Clubbie...$29,900. And that's the truth, no horse poop.

 

With 10 referrals/purchases I can definitely believe a $1K discount - you probably made them more money than some of their salespeople

 

That is great that some are getting discounts, when I was trying to find a deal, no one stepped up and produced proof I could take and show a dealer so it was just talk and the other dealers all say "Yeah,Right show me an invoice..." I guess we are still there..It does depend where you are though.

 

A trick I used to get the dealer to give me a copy of the quote was to just ask/tell them nonchalantly "give me a printout of that so I can get the numbers etc straight in my head please"...they do, and then I have a hard copy...voila!

Once I got into serious negotiation, I did it all be email and they would email me a copy, but I never showed either dealer the other's quote; I told the dealer that I really wanted to go with what I wanted ontop of his offer so as to bring it in line with what the other dealer was going to do, they agreed and gave me a really good discount so that it never became an issue, but at least I could have shopped quotes if I had needed too...

Good luck, and enjoy the process; it's part of the fun! You have all of the power, when they think you're serrious they won't let you get away with what you offer them...as soon as they are willing to let you go (to another deal) then you know you've hit their rock-bottom.

 

I appreciate what you are saying, I already bought my car. My point was about the invoice from your MA showing your discount. When I was looking no on would produce one that I could show another dealer. I am not questioning ,merely explaining things when I was looking..