When it comes to the price, which is better? getting a car that is on the lot or building the mini on the website and have it ordered? And by price, I mean do they jack the price up when you go to the dealer try to buy their cars instock form the website. Because I've seen some nice one's on their inventory list that i WOULD buy but i heard that because mini's are in "high demand" that they end up overpricing it by two-thousand dollars.

And I'm not the negotiator type, arguing and just being an A**hole to people to get what I want. So if I see a mini on a mini dealerships website hat says $23,450.00, will the agent jack it up to $25 or 26k and then charge me a few thousand for tax and titles and such?

thanks
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EDIT: This is from one of MY posts near the end of the thread and i would like some responses for it.

I have built a few that came to around 24-29k. Now this is the BIG question--Realisticly whats the longevity of a mini. I would LOVE to keep the car forever but I know I cant, but would it last me around maybe 10 years without having to fix it every other month. I think I would probably put 12k miles on it a year. So could I put over a 100k miles on total. (like my sister's car, she bought a brand new honda civic coupe in 2004 and as of today she has put almost 30k miles on her car and she never had s single problem, NOT one time has she had to fix something. so if the mini CAN be like that, i will be extremely happy and go al out when purchasing one)

Also I read that people have bent their rims form bad roads so would it be a bad idea to get those JCW 18'" rims because I dont want them breaking easy and they would go throuhg cold winters and the sea salt air (i live in long beach on Longisland. just incase anyone wanted to know what kind of place i drive around) and they are almost 3 thousand dollars so that would be a BIG difference.


So if I could keep it for that long without having to fix it constantly I would spend the 27k on it, but if not I would probably get a dealer car of the lot.

 

MSRP is usually what the price is and ordering it is half the fun and anxiety of waiting! There are dealers that have a markup on them and if they do...find another MINI dealer. You should never pay more than MSRP.

 

Which is better depends on your own options and willingness to wait.

Negotiate your best price, be prepared to walk out.

Shop around with different dealers.

Ordering your MINI of choice is usually what most people do but you might wait 3 to 7 months depending on demand. Since there are many options it's usually a big compromise to buy something already in stock unless you have standard needs and tastes.

Part of what makes MINI unique is that it's quite customizable, seems a shame not to take advantage of that.

Some dealerships do add interior and exterior add on packages to every MINI sold. Some order packed MINIs to have in stock and then sell at MSRP but with options that aren't always needed.

Some of us have only one dealership to work with.

 

I would imagine you could build the exact one online to see what the MSRP is. That way, you would have a pretty good argument if the price is indeed higher than the MSRP.

If you are planning on keeping this car for a long time though, it might make sense to build the exact one that you want since there are so many options.

Also, I would be reluctant to buy a car from the lot in case it has been used for test drives. When I got the chance to take one out, you better believe I found out just how hard those things can be pushed.

 

It depends on where you live on how they will handle the price on the lot. If you are in a big city with several dealerships they should sell it at MSRP and maybe throw in some extra's. If they don't there are several MINI dealers that will sell at MSRP and deliver for a flat $500 dollars.

 

dont get a lot car.!!!! they usualy use those as DEMOS ,

 

I bought a new MCS off the lot in July 07. The price was MSRP as they all are. I had priced one at the Mini site with the same options and it came out about the same. The closest dealer to me is 100 miles away so comparison shopping would be a little difficult. One nice thing about ordering one is you get exactly what you want. The only thing that mine is missing is cruise control. For some reason none of the Mini's on my dealers lot had cruise. When I get a replacement for my Mini, I will order it. I don't mind the waiting when I already have one.

 

We got our MINI off the lot. We are not very patient so we were excited when we found a "lot" MINI that was remarkably similar in price and style to one we designed on the MINIUSA website. With very little negotiating the dealer took off any increase over MSRP and even added a couple freebees.

 

That definitely depends on the particular dealer's policy. The dealer I purchased from (Otto's) uses a specific set of "demo cars" for test drives and the rest of their stock remains pretty much untouched. In checking around all had ~5 miles or less on the odometer.

Answering the OP's question, as has been stated above, your ability to get a price below, at or above MSRP is very area specific (and not always related strictly to how many MINI dealers are in your area). I have 4 MINI dealers within an 100 mile radius of me and was able to get an ordered MINI for $300 off MSRP (plus the standard floor mats thrown in and a $35 gift certificate to the boutique; $55 document fee). I purchased my second MINI off the lot and got it for $750 off (plus the above items and free bonnet stripes with installation). I mention the document fee because a lot of dealers use that as a means to assess a markup without blatantly labeling it as such.

I'm also not one to negotiate much. The (arguably conservative) deals I received were simply by asking my MA (via email, mind you ) what incentives he could give me to purchase from him and not another dealer. Another thing is the day I went in to order my first MINI, the manager of the dealer came out and offered me $1000 off an MCS they had on the floor without my even asking about it. Especially if a car has been in their inventory for a while (not sure if this one was or not) even the most rigid dealers tend to offer some degree of flexibility.

Should note that all three of these MINIs (one just mentioned and the two I purchased) were $30,000+. I'd guess that on less 'loaded' MINIs, discounts may be harder to come by.

Best of luck

 

You can order any manufactured car, it's nothing new. The main reason I ordered my car was to save money. I pick and choose the options I wanted. If I had bought my car off the lot, the car would have been in the low 30ks . I got what I exactly wanted and at a better price. I just have to wait a little bit longer.

 

As far as lot cars being used as demos...my dealer was really pushing for me to buy one I test drove. It was actually pretty obnoxious...

 

As stated, it isn't so much that the price will be jacked up, but the cars may not have options you want, and have others you don't want or need, thus increasing the price. They had ALMOST the car I ordered, only no premium pack, had the convenience pack and cold weather with leather seats. Would have cost me more than I wanted and wouldn't have been what I wanted. I'd say 6-8 weeks on an R56 is an average wait, depending on dealer allocations. If you can handle the wait, I think it is worth it. Some aren't patient enough! heheh

 

As far as lot cars being demos, maybe some are, I don't know. I bought mine off the lot and they delivered it to me. It had 120 miles on it when it arrived and the dealer is about 110 miles from me, so it had 10 miles on it on the lot. It was inspected in Feb. 07 and I bought it in July 07, so it had been there several months. Maybe I could have negotiated a better deal

 

Well, I've just been shopping

I approached four dealers around the NJ area about a 2008 MCS. The build price would be about $26k.

I called each one and explained that my 'target' price was $500 under MSRP. Most dealers said no-deal on a custom build. However, one did work to that number. If you play this, you really have to be able to offer some money down as a deposit there and then (even by phone on a credit card). The downside is that the dealer had slightly higher doc fees than the other dealers - so my overall gain isn't $500 off MSRP. But hey, looking round here it seems like I should be grateful for anything off MSRP! I don't think that I'll be getting any freebies thrown in - but might get a discount from parts.

So, money off a 2008 build order can be done

Of course, there may be better deals on a lot car that has sat for a while or has unloved options.

Cheers,

John.

 

Argh! Fun?? Waiting?? lol I'm in constant agony!

You masochist!

 

Build it online, print it out, walk onto the lot and there you go. The dealer I went with uses set cars as demos... My car had a whopping 3 miles on it as I drove it off the lot...

 

I really didn't want to order/wait. The nearest dealer had 2 that were very similar to what I wanted (minus one option), so I bought it there. Whole thing took one afternoon, I paid list. The car had 2 miles on it. I left with a brand new Mini, bluetooth all hooked up, ready to go. The most important things to me were ext/int colors, wheels, upgraded stereo, bluetooth, and garage door opener. And while I was doing the deal someone called in wanted to buy my car and while the MA was showing me the controls a lady picking hers up wanted to change to my color combo made me feel even better.

 

For me, it was a no brainer to custom order...

Technically, they're only charging MSRP on the lot... and will even knock a touch more off than they will for a custom order.

Assuming I could have found exactly the combination I wanted (as opposed to having to say buy an entire package just to add one feature from it) and assuming I wanted worse fuel economy and the car to drive for me (60 cars on the lot, 1 manual), it still would have been significantly more expensive.

Why? Their real chance to make a profit comes from the dealer installed accessories and every last one of the lot cars came with the same two grand plus package. By the time you're forced to buy Lo Jack, Permaplate, the mats, the $795 extended maintenance contract (though I'm guessing they can delete that one), you're paying massively over MSRP. As everything's already installed, you can't tell them you're not interested and won't pay for it like you can when they try bumping it on to a custom order. You either suck it up and pay for things you likely don't want and know they've already paid themselves a large commission on installing or you don't get a car.

For what it's worth, the bargaining was pretty painless for me:

Walked in to each dealership and said, "I'm looking for the best price on a custom order. I have the exact spec here. Dealership X can do it for $500 under MSRP, no add ons. Can you beat that? If so, I'll put the deposit down right now." OK, so X hadn't offered that but research told me that's what they could have if they tried.

At the first dealership, the guy on the floor agreed only to be told no by the guy in the back because they had too many on the lot and were trying to force the sales. At the second, they had their heads too far up their asses on the clubman launch and told me they'd email me back when it suited them. At the third, they agreed. Took under two minutes (plus paperwork time). The car should get in to port tomorrow and be ready for pickup 7-10 days later.

 

Well I have built a few, the most costly one was a regular cooper (not the S)chili red witt all the rooster red interior and the red E-brake and red steering wheel and red shift ****, Automatic transmission, the regular bodykit, black roof, black bonnet stripes, center arm rest, interior surface fluid silver, alarm system, front fog lamps, and 18" JCW r105 black rims.

That all comes to 26,867.00 But I just dont know if i should put it in the sports package and get the dynamic stability control and sport suspension, but I dont know if that worth it when my car will be a automatic and not a manual transmission. Do you need the sport suspension to lower your car like I have seen on some pictures of cars here? And I read that people have bent there rims form bad roads so would it be a bad idea to get those JCW rims (i live on Longisland) and they are almost 3 thousand dollars so that would be a BIG difference.

and I have built a few other ones that came to around 23-25k. Now this is the BIG question--Realisticly whats the longevity of a mini. I would LOVE to keep the car forever but I know I cant, but would it last me around maybe 10 years without having to fix it every other month. I think I would probably put 12k miles on it a year. So could I put over a 100k miles on total. (like my sister's car, she bought a brand new honda civic coupe in 2004 and as of today she has put almost 30k miles on her car and she never had s single problem, NOT one time has she had to fix something. so if the mini CAN be like that, i will be extremely happy and go al out when purchasing one)

So if I could keep it for that long without having to fix it constantly I would spend the 27k on it, but if not I would probably get a dealer car of the lot.

 

I just went through the same situation. Our local dealer was not having any incentives and sold all models for MSRP. After test driving a few, decided to have one built. That way you get exactly what you want for your dollars and you get a virgin MINI, if you can stand the anticipation. Good Luck!!

 

my R56 i had the dealer "locate" and came with NAV (i dislike) and was not equipped with HID lamps. but it 'did' have the LSD and DSC which seemed fine at the time.

one year later, i ordered the car i wanted.

i say spare yourself potential irritation and get the exact car you want.

 

You have to do your research and know exactly what you want before going into the dealer. And by that I mean you have to think about what options are important to you and that you must have to fully enjoy your car only a daily basis, especially for the "big" items that can't be [easily] retrofitted (such as auto vs. manual, car color, LSD, xenons, interior color, cloth vs leather seats, etc). From there you can visit your local dealerships (or call up dealerships in other states or if lucky your local dealership may search for a car for you) and see what cars are available that contain all or at least most of your 'deal-breaker' options. Go and check the cars out in person and test drive them and compare and visit numerous dealerships if possible.

If you exhaust all your options for cars that are already sitting on a lot and are able to custom order the benefit is that you get to order your mini with what you want - no more and no less.

I ended up with a car off the lot that came with a $1k accessory incentive because it was an '07 and they wanted to get rid of them. It was in a color I had initially completely disregarded but seeing on in the showroom with stripes somehow made a huge difference. More importantly though, it matched my basic necessary criteria and most of the options and also my price range. I had called up and visited 5 other MINI dealers by that point to contrast and compare other cars in my price range and by that point this car made the most sense on an economic and 'emotional' level. I also had just been in a car accident which totaled my previous car (which I planned on having for years and years) and did not have the luxury of waiting for my custom mini to arrive. It also goes to show you never know what will happen so while staying within your budget and not driving yourself crazy, get the car that will make you the happiest on a daily basis. I'm sure you'll come to love your car as much as I love my little "lot car".

 

completely agree!

did not realize at the time that an HID retrofit at OEM quality is almost $2000.

 

I agree that there is a degree of risk in buying off the lot if the car was a demo cuz some of our fellow owners don't seem to respect that the car has not completed break-in yet.....among other things.

I bought off the lot both times. And both times I saw the car come off the truck. Ask to see the dealer's inbound inventory of 'unclaimed' cars. Now, your dealer may not have such a list. If he's selling all his quotas, he has longer waits for you, cuz that's what the dealers are selling you many times. A future build quota. But if he gets more allocation than he's selling, he may have cars inbound that he spec'd out and they may not be stripped. I've seen dealers with really decked out cars destined for their showroom - or an upcoming auto-show.

They typically don't offer this unless you ask. My first one was on the truck waiting to be unloaded when I went in the show room. I asked if any on the truck were available and they said yes, a couple. Second time I saw the printout of the shipment loading in Jax the following Monday....arrived on Tuesday.....

This is also a time potentially to strike a slightly better deal if your dealer is one who adds to MSRP for crud like paint treatment and extra dealer prep....this car hasn't made it to his inventory yet so just say "don't" ...

 

I think some dealerships are just 'skeezier' than others when it comes to loading up their cars with all sorts of options that not all buyers will want but then be forced to pay for. Though I thought the Permaplate and extended maintenance are things that you decide on after picking your car and when sitting down with the finance person. I would personally avoid dealerships that only had excessively optioned cars, whether it be factory or dealer options. Not everyone is looking to spend $30-35k+ on a car.

A wise dealership will smartly option out their cars and (I guess it also depends on what they have available when you go in) offer a range of price points for all buyers. That was my experience anyway. I really wanted to do business with a certain dealership but they only seemed to have cars $30k and up that were already on the lot AND being delivered in the near future. Of course I was told I could just custom order but that wasn't a viable option for me so I took my business elsewhere.