You can go to the DMV's Site and see exactly how taxing on vehicles is handled. Basically, California is NOT going to let anyone circumvent paying California sales tax by being crafty or cute [e.g., by purchasing a vehicle out-of-state.] The State closed that loophole ages ago.

And as to fees, there are no "hidden" fees. Car dealers are not allowed to "hide" fees and charges. California law has made sure of that, after years of abuse by dealers.

Better term might be "unexpected" fees in the event ones does not know about all the fees and charges that might be added on to the sales price.

The only thing you need to do is find out ahead of time which fees and charges are additional dealer profit centers and to negotiate for those to be taken off the final sales price.

Remember, the dealer's goal in any sale is to profit in as many areas as possible, from the sales price fees / add-ons to selling worthless extended service plans, lousy financing and over-priced junk, such as "rust proofing, paint sealants, and detailing."

Most dealers look to make about $2,000 to $5,000 EXTRA on a new car sale, especially if there is low profit on the sales price of the car.

 

Can concurr, I asked East Bay this same question and no dealer prep nonsense, just MSRP, Tax, Doc fee, title & lic.

 

My MINI purchase will be my first NEW car purchase, about how much overall do the fee's end up being? I've heard it add's about 12% to the MSRP. Is that true?

 

tax is what, 8.75%, title and lic is around $3-400 or so i think, doc fee is $55, so it should be under 12%, probably more like 10%

 

Sales tax is the killer. Especiallly if the city where your residence is located tacks on an additional percentage for local taxes.

Figure on $28,000 it might be about $2400 just on taxes.

 

Yep, and I live in the county with the highest tax rate around, Alameda at a beautiful 8.75%. Thank you BART for bringing the higher tax. The car I have priced out is just around 25k, a little over. So, I'd be looking at around prolly 27.5-27.8 out the door with no dealer markups then?

 

If you are ready to buy and have a good relationship with an MA, call and ask. Tell them you are getting your financing so you need the bottom line.

But that sounds about right.

Bonus Tip: You will see elsewhere that I am no fan of extended service plans [some erroneously call them extended warranty plans], disability insurance and other nonsense "F & I" [finance and insurance] people try to sell you [that's the person you see after the salesman.] Don't fall for their bullsheet and DON'T buy any of that add-on crap.

Don't be hostile or rude to the salespeople and staff [they are just trying to make a sale, aka as much commission as possible], but be strong and resist their dark side tactics. Buy the car, get good financing and get the hell out of there.

 

And have you been following Sacramento, they want to add an additional 1% to the sales tax, but only temporarily [yeah right.]

What the hell, let's raise the sales tax on your MINI to 12% and get it over with.

 

The sales tax collected is based on your residence, regardless of where you buy your car. If you buy in Alameda county (8.75%), but live in Napa county (7.75%), you will only pay 7.75% and vice versa. If the dealership charges you more or less than your residence's tax rate, you will get a refund or bill from the DMV.

Cheers,
Chris

 

That's right, it's what I meant. The one person was buying a MINI at East Bay, which is in Alameda County, and where he lived, I assume.

Yes, the State goes by residence, hence one cannot buy an out-of-state car, import it and attempt to avoid the tax.

I fixed my post to reflect I meant residence. Thanks.

 

Bought my 03 Mini from the Portland Mini Dealer - Rasmussen... no markup. Paid sales tax and reg fees when I drove the car back to the Bay Area just passing the fifth year of ownership and expect to have to smog the car for the first time since registring the car in Sept of 03.

The best part is by time you get back from portland you've effectively broken in the car, and you can fly into portland from SFO or OAK and take the free portland shuttle right to the doorstep of the dealership in Portland.

It was actually the best buying experience I've in shopping for a new car.

-OKeeton

 

As mentioned before, DMV has the best information on total taxes and fees one will pay on a vehicle purchase.

Here is a great new service they provide, a cost calculator!

https://mv.dmv.ca.gov/FeeCalculatorW...VehicleForm.do


And for out-of-state purchases:

https://mv.dmv.ca.gov/FeeCalculatorW...esidentForm.do

Note, as the other member said, there is a box that asks for your county of residence.

 

I like MINI of concord...I bought mine from them in July, no markup and then I had to go back yesterday cuz long story, but i messed up my front right side reflector and they fixed it without charging for labor. I got an oil change cuz my husband insisted i get one and they washed my car. Their customer service is excellent, as is their sales department

 

few dealers in the bay area have shown real interest in selling a vehicle to me. i took my business elsewhere. maybe things have changed now that things have slowed down, who knows.

 

I wrote elsewhere of my experience with East Bay sales people and why I ordered through Concord instead. Well, since I heard such great things about East Bay's parts and service, I decided to check them out since they have a slight discount on parts and a 15% discount on installation if you buy parts through them. I e-mailed them a question about the driving lights 10 days ago. After 4 days with no reply, I e-mailed them again. 7 more days later and still no reply. Do they care about their customers at all?

 

hmm, that does not sound good. concord is way out of the way for me unfortunately. i guess i've yet to find out if my experience turns out to be that way.

 

Is that the dealer with the Mini on the roof so it can be spotted from the highway? I was in SF for two weeks last month and used that as a point of interest to re-orient myself when lost!

PS: think gas prices in TX or FL are bad, come to SF everyone! You ain't seen nothing yet!! Worse, a cousin is being transferred to Hawaii! Gas prices there are heart-stopping!

 

Well, I had a great experience with MINI of Mountain View. Everything was easy, no pressure to add anything by the finance guy. Signed my lease contract this past Saturday. Today got a call from them that the leasre rates were changed by MINI and he could not enter the info into the computer. How would I like monthly payments of $20 less per month. Ran right down and signed a new contract. now that is service. Of course have not dealt with the service department yet so can't comment on that except that the car was waiting in the premier part of the showroom floor for me in beautiful fully detailed excellence. MA went over everything with me for about an hour including programming my fob to be the way I wanted it. Offered to setup the second fob but I declined as it will let me learn the system better if I do it myself. Manager was very accomodating on my trade in. I am very pleased with how things went. Best experience buying a car I have ever had and I am 50 and bought quite a few cars in my life, foreign and domestic.

 

I had a great experience at East Bay Mini...
Unfortunately, I can't say the same about SF Mini.... stay away from there

 

I bought my car from East bay mini, and I have had good experience with them. My gf is getting another 1 4 months after I bought mine then at that time they have a 2 mark up for new customer but they waived my gf's mark up for returning customer (I cant give them a + for this because if they dont, I probably wont come back either)

but before I went to east bay mini, I first approach Concord mini cause I work close to them.... but their sales not only gave out false information (telling me that mini select is not a finance option in CA) and when I asked them for a specific option that I want (stick shift, laser blue or red) they arent trying to be helpful by looking at the future in coming car.... they just tried to sell what they have in the lot. Even Mountain View mini would look at their in coming car (even though they were like they dont care if you buy a car from them)

but I have to say BMW/Mini concord service dept is really good.... I'd recommend them to anyone

 

I just bought from East Bay MINI and had a great experience. I bought an MCS off the lot and the whole deal took 2.5 hours. Even the haggling was civil and fair. I recommend them highly. Paul Fox was the MA.

 

I believe MSRP pricing (or even below MSRP) will be the norm in the Bay Area for the rest of 2008 (given the double whammies of bad economy and tough consumer credit). I've been shopping recently and I've been able to get most of the Bay Area dealers to quote me MSRP (given a little more time, I am sure all would have gone to MSRP). FYI, they all started with a markup.

Also, production slots seem to be open within 3-6 weeks of purchase, so that means they're essentially out of backlog orders. So definitely push back on the markup, at the very least.

 

Went in yesterday at Mini of Mt View for the first yearly oil change. Haven't been there since buying the car so was expecting the worst after reading the current reviews of the place. Jennifer and my old MA weren't there anymore. Used the online appt scheduler on Sat to schedule my appt on Wed with a new MA, Chris Chao(yesterday). Got there on time, but had a bit of a hard time finding parking as it looked very busy both at the Mini and BMW service areas. Overall, can't complain any. Everything went smooth. Got there at 11 and left about 1 so it took 2 hours for an oil change, topping off the fluids, new front and rear wipers, brake inspection, tire pressure check, and complementary car wash. Was asked if I wanted to have the exhaust tips changed per the TSB but I declined as I'm gonna get the stage 1 kit eventually anyways so there was no point. They even replaced the little plastic chromed plated ring around my key fob which fell off a few months ago. So, at least, for generally once a year service, I haven't seen anything to complain about with Mini of Mt View.

 

Last time I was in there was early this year. Before the strike. It's good to hear they treated you well. Did they do anything else? I haven't been back for my 1 year service. I can handle everything you mentioned. If I lived closer I would go in but new wiper blades aren't worth it to me. I change my own oil and do my own brake/fluid inspections, etc.

About the parking issue. Jennifer once told me to just pull right up in front of the doors or anywhere in between the rows of cars (ie, blocking the way) if there are no spaces available.

 

Off the top of my head, that was pretty much everything that they did although they didn't do the tire rotations like Toyota used to do when I took my Rav4 in for service. Yeah, Chris told me just to go ahead and park where you said although I'm not sure I'd like it if I just left the car there with potential customers walking around it thinking its a dealer lot car.