I've been lurking and making a couple of posts as I look into selling my 2008 4Runner to ORDER a 2011 MCS in PW. One thing I noticed as I was looking through the past posts is the varying differences in MINI buyers purchase pricing vs. MSRP. Stories ranged but I thought I would summarize here for others that are, like me, new to MINI and seriously contemplating buying their first MINI.

I've owned 11 cars in my 23 years of driving. I know that's almost a car every two years but I have "excuses" coming out my a$$. For instance: 2 cars totaled by my sisters while borrowing my cars, and 4 bad ideas (like an F150 while living in SF, a 20 year old suv that was a mechanic's nightmare, 2 cars that the manufacture bought back as lemons). So that's half of the lifetime car inventory right there. Anyway I'm going off on a tangent. The POINT is that I have considerable car buying experience for my age.

Add to that, I used to sell cars for a living back in 2000-2001. So hopefully I can shed some light on my what I've found about MINI buying on NAM and in talking to dealers in So Cal. Plus I can give you some of my worthless objective analysis for other future MCS owners. If your like me it will just give you another way to day dream about that future MINI in your driveway.



Summary from what I've read on NAM (for purchasing new R56):

1) Buyers that paid over MSRP. This is more common in earlier years (purchasing in 2007-2009). Still seems to be happen in 2010-2011, but with much less frequency. Usually the costs for over MSRP are a combination of dealer mark up and addition of commonly unwanted aftermarket accessories like scotchguard and lojack.
2) Buyers that paid MSRP. This is more common in recent years (2010-2011), and have seen quite a few posts confirming this increasing normalization in the market in the past 12 months (Mar 2010-Mar 2011).
3) Buyers that paid under MSRP. This is most common in the past 7 months (Sept 2010-Mar 2011). Some due to clearing out of excess 2010 inventory and some due to the Mar 2011 "free package" deal with 0.9%APR.Now for the purely editorial part of my evaluation. These are just my assumptions, generalities and conclusions, and by no means a MINI buyers bible and inclusive of everyone's buying experience (so pls don't hate).

• Buying from dealer inventory is going to get you better pricing vs ordering. If you want to see what discounts you can expect in your neck of the woods you can visit carsdirect.com (for zip code 92651, I found discounts off MSRP: from $600 for a 2011 manual trans MCS to $1.8k for a 2011 auto trans MCS).
• Buying in March will get you 0.9% APR for 5yr and a "free option package" or automatic transmission. (I think that's why you see such a bigger discount on the automatics above + in So Cal almost 90% off all MINIs on the lot are autos).
• Yeah gas prices are going up, but the economy still stinks, and people are still not buying as much as they did 5 years ago, so all fuel sipping car companies are selling at discounts. (right now you can get ~$2k off a new 2011 Civic EX).
• In talking to a couple of So. Cal. dealers they were both willing to go "a little" below MSPR on an ordered MCS. As I have not sold my current car yet, and won't get screwed trading it in, I have not aggressively pursued those figures.
• Just visiting MINI lots in So Cal, I seem to have noticed more cars on their lots than I did back in 2007 (I know, real scientific right). Since MINI cannot defy the economics of supply and demand, they too must lower prices to move inventory.
• Some dealers seem to be using traditional "salesmanship" and attempting to convince buyers, that MINI demand and gas prices are having the same effect on MINI pricing as they did on MINI lots back in 2003-2009...but if you look at their lots and you look at carsdirect.com pricing you will see that just isn't the case.
  • Other competitive cars with discounts right now are:
    • VW GTI for $23.3k ($1.1k off of MSRP)
    • Honda Civic Si $22k ($1k off of MSRP)
    • BMW 1 series $28.7k ($1.6k off of MSRP)
    • MazdaSpeed3 $22.9k ($1.6k off of MSRP)
    • Subaru WRX $25.9k ($300 off of MSRP)
  • As you can see from the competitive car examples above (BTW they were all base models with no options), the current price discounts on MCS are right in line with other cars in their segment...now I too would much rather own a MINI than most of those cars, but that's all personal preference, what I am attempting to show other current buyers is that MINI operates in the same economy as many of their competitors (i.e. the ability to just charge whatever they wanted for their cars is beginning to dwindle). thumbs up for us looking to buy.

I'm curious what buyers of new MCS in the past 6 months have been experiencing? Maybe if you bought a car in the past 6 months you can comment to the blue questions below:

MC or MCS:
Auto or Manual:
Custom ORDER or bought from dealer INVENTORY:

Date of Purchase:
City/State:
Dealer: (you don't have to say if you don't want to)

MSRP/Sticker: with no discounts, incentives or rebates, or tradeins
Price Paid: without TTL or tradeins or financing interest

*In hind sight what would you have done to get a better price: ex. remove some options that you now think were not worth it, haggled more, bought a different car, etc.

PS - I'm going to Long Beach MINI this week and will let you know how that goes

 

I have a dealer in NJ who is selling me a car $900 over dealer invoice.

 

You have spent considerable time putting your post together and its very well thought out but there is one thing I have a major problem with. I don't shop for cars based on discount from MSRP. I buy my cars based on how much over invoice I am paying. I just picked up a 2011 BMW X5 that was ordered. I paid $200 over invoice. I do not know what I got of MSRP. I never calculated it that way.

My 2009 JCW was purchased back in November of 2008. At that time MINIs were going for MSRP. No discounting. I got a great deal on a car that had been on the lot for 4 months but it was a loaded JCW for over 40k which is not the typical MINI.

You will do much better if you live in a market with multiple MINI dealers that are competing for your business.

 

Sahweet deal!!! Is it from their inventory or did you custom order it?

Yeah, I'm hoping that being in So. Cal. w/ 10 dealers is going to be a good thing.

As for the whole "off of MSRP" ideology, I agree this is not typical for my non-mini car shopping experiences either. It just seems that buyers on NAM usually quote it this way. That said, it is aweeesome to see that the post above shows a recent buy at $900 over invoice.

Keep the input coming, as you can see I'm being way over analytical about the purchase, but for some sick reason it makes buying a car fun?!?!

 

I see the logic in $XXX over invoice but how do you truly know what invoice is?

 

edmunds.com, kbb.com, etc.

Price out the car on those sites, they will spit out what the invoice is, as well as MSRP. That said, they cannot tell you what dealer holdback is (incentive from the manufacturer to the dealer for selling a car, example: you pay $500 over invoice for a car, dealer holdback is $500, dealer actually makes $1,000). It will give you a good baseline none the less.

I personally use the USAA car buying service, and they work off pre-negotiated pricing for vehicles. Case in point, a fully loaded MB body/CR top JCW (EVERYTHING but alarm system, back up sensors, chrome line exterior, optional sport suspension, and motoring/JCW accessories) will cost $35,600. For the level of performance, technology, 3/36 maintenance, and fuel efficiency I think that is not a wholly unreasonable price.

My car will have to be ordered, so my only concern is that the dealer does not try any funny business with that aspect vs. picking a less desirable car up off the his lot. I do not see why it should be a problem, though. It's not like the dealer will have to pay floor plan for the cost of the car sitting there? Either way, the MY2012 cars cannot get here soon enough!

 

Just ask the dealer to see the invoice sheet. Most honest dealers dont have an issue showing you it if your actually going to buy.

 

Yeah, just ask to see the invoice at the dealer. Here in CA the dealers are required to show you the invoice pricing if you ask (pretty sure that is still the case at least).

Update: in 2008 there were apparently no MINI dealers on the Costco Auto Buying program. I called Costco today and they say there are two MINI dealers in their program now. Kearny Mesa MINI and Pleasanton MINI. I'm in So Cal so I'm going to see if Kearny Mesa MINI will deal.

 

I am paying $1300 under MSRP on an MCS. Hopefully thats a fair price for all involved?

 

They have two cars on the lot that I'm having a VERY difficult time deciding on. Both are the same specs, except one is Gray and the other is BRG.

 

That sounds good to me, I paid sticker in 2007. I've seen posts recently of people getting dealers to move off the MSRP. When I bought mine some told stories of paying over MSRP, but the usual was you'd be lucky if you got some free floor mats lol.

 

[quote=sumint;3247225]Here in CA the dealers are required to show you the invoice pricing if you ask (pretty sure that is still the case at least).
[quote]


I'm not buying that statement......I can't believe there's a law that says this.......or any requirement. That's ridiculous...

Remember, there's not a huge amoungt of markup in these cars, the way to get more discount is to buy more packages, that's where the "gravy" is...

Go to Edmunds or Cars.com like a previous poster says and you can see what the markup is.

As to those who want to buy everything at $200 over invoice, that's a good part of why we have $125/hr service labor rates and sky high parts prices. They have to make a profit somewhere in order to stay in business. Y'all want them there to sell you a new car and fix it in case it breaks, and you also want all the nice perks like loaner cars and free washes - how do you expect them to pay for those?

At $200 a car even if they sold 100 cars a month they couldn't make the payments on the building, let alone the staff!

And everybody says, we'll let them make it on the next guy! Why should he pay more than you did, by your own logic?

I also never understood why a car is a "buy" at $29K and a "rip off" at $30K.....either the car is worth it and you can afford it or it's not.

 

Post of the Year folks. Someone who understands it!

Being in the car business, it always blows my mind how people think the dealer is "ripping them off," when so many times it is infact the dealer who is the one being ripped off. Everyone wants something for free...but like said above, you can either afford it or you can't.

 

[quote=MINIdave;3247484][quote=sumint;3247225]Here in CA the dealers are required to show you the invoice pricing if you ask (pretty sure that is still the case at least).
BTW - Warren Buffet can afford an airport hanger of cars and yet he rather give 85% of wealth to charity and own a Cadillac. What you buy and how much you pay for it is not a direct correlation of what you can afford.

 

This post has already gone down the drain. The OP was trying to help people out and now its a debate about the economics of the car sales industry which I loathe.

UNSUBSCRIBED.

 

Back on track...
2011 Cooper S stick shift
Msrp 26950
Price paid 25075 (*1875 below Msrp)
Nick Alexander MINi Los Angeles
*took advantage of 6yr/100k service upgrade along with free Premium Package upgrade. The dealer claimed that MInI gives them the invoice cost discount, which on premium package is 1550, so technically I got the car for about 300 below invoice. But when you consider the options I got and price paid, I got a killer deal. Only bummer is that we went with standard finance rate of 5.29%. I'm okay with that for now though.

 

UPDATE:
Just found out that if I custom order a MINI using the Costco discount, which would mean picking it up about 70 miles away. Nice, no haggling pricing.

Build Price MSRP: $28.1k
Invoice: $25.6k
Costco Price: $26.8k

 

Nice Deal from what I have seen. What color combo did you go with?

 

Did you decide? I was looking at BGR a year back, and now that I am ready it has been updated to BGRII on 2011's. I saw one in full sunlight and it seems to be lighter in color??? What is your impression?

Both are nice colors in my opinion...getting a MINI is hard with so many choices

 

I went all black, everything. I wanted to purchase BBS wheels and non-run flat tires after buying, so I got one with the basic wheels. Same goes for the suspension. I wanted NM Engineering springs ($450 installed at MINICorsa) and therefore I had no reason to upgrade to sport suspension from MINI.

The combo of 215/45/17 tires (non RF) and NM Engineering springs made the ride twice as comfortable, not to mention better handling and better looking.

It also allowed me to keep the payment low. If you go to Nick Alexander, you should ask for Chris Scotten and tell him Austin and Kim (my wife) referred you.

 

11cooperS,

Thanks for the lead in at Nick Alexander. I too was thinking about doing the aftermarket springs. Did you stay with the stock shocks? If so are the stock shocks holding up with the lower springs?

 

Stock shocks/ struts hold up perfectly. I was emailing with a guy who has had them on his car for 41k and about three years and he said they are holding up as good as the day they were installed.

I'd say the best thing you can do first is to ditch the run flats. Then springs are a close second. Aside from NM Engineering springs, I cannot comment on ride quality. However, I did extensive research and am more than confident that they are the best springs.

 

BRGII seems to be brighter than the BRG I've seen on the road. Never saw an original BRG close-up before. I would say it's a very emerald green color. My only worry is that it may be still too dark. In the shade it could be perceived as almost black. I'm still on the fence with colors. I like BRGII, Hot Chocolate, and Eclipse Gray. I will prob go with the Gray just because IMO it make the car look a little more refined.

 

Coming from a BRG II owner its a much greener color than the old shade. Even at night you can tell its green still. I always get people around town saying its gotta be the best one in town!

 

For whats it worth, here is my info...
MC or MCS: MCS
Auto or Manual: manual (will never own an auto. car)
Custom ORDER or bought from dealer INVENTORY: Custom ordered

Date of Purchase: order placed on Mar 25
City/State: Ohio
Dealer: (you don't have to say if you don't want to) Don't want to

MSRP/Sticker: $27,325
Price Paid: $26,725 w 0.9% APR

I had a dealer several 100 mi away offer $1750 off w 0.9% apr on any Mini on his lot. Unfortunately, I am pretty picky on the options I was interested in & did not find one that met majority of my options. I like to keep cars for at least 10 yrs, so getting one that had the right options was critical.