Hi please forgive me if this is a cheeky question, but I just wanted to know what people do about this.

I normally buy my cars outright:rolleyes:and I now dont know if it is wise to do so, I lost a ton on my last car, so now I would like to know if finance or the mini select or drive would be a better bet. I am just loathe to drop nearly £15-17k on a car in the current climate.

Does anyone have any ideas?

My name is Londonsidewalk, because I was going to get one, the used prices are around £14k plus, so I figured for the extra it would be worth getting a new convert instead.

A little bit of cash and a little bit of finance! :D

Thanks for the reply 85nixmin.

An option for me is the deposit and then monthly payments I think thats the drive.

There are so many choices, the select, the drive, the maintence one, its just confusing.

A little bit of cash and a little bit of finance! :D

Same here. Good Luck. Oh and our R57 starts build on Monday, woohoo!

MINI Drive is primarily for business users as its effectively a lease/rental. You never own the vehicle, you're tied in to a set time period and mileage. You pay your monthly payments, and at the end of the term the car is collected.

MINI Select is the more popular choice for finance. You own the car, you pay a deposit plus your monthly payments, then at the end of the term there is an optional final payment. At this point, you can pay the final payment and keep the car, or you can sell the car and pay off the final payment, or you can trade the car in. Providing its trade in value is more than the final payment, you are in finance equity, and the extra cash can be used as the deposit on your next vehicle ;)

MINI Purchase is the straightforward traditional finance. Set payments, and at the end of the deal, you own the vehicle.

Thanks for the explanation mini cabrio, I think I need to read some more on this and then decide the best way of doing this.

Basically with the Select program, it ties you in to the vehicle for three years, then at the end of the three years it nearly always works out that the best thing to do is chop it in and order another MINI (you can see why they do it ;)) - if you're happy with that, go for it.

Otherwise go for the Purchase scheme, you pay your payments, and when they're done, the car is yours :)

One tip though, never accept the dealers first finance offer, they can always improve on it ;)

£2000 deposit, then rest on MINI select. Wrangled the best deal I could. There was a little known of deal on at the time which lowered the APR too. I also picked the lowest mileage per year as I will never hand my MINI back which brought down my monthly payments too. Bought my Park Lane for £17,000 2 years ago almost, pay £250 a month. 1 more year of finance and then have to pay off the final payment. Will refinance this though I think on the cheapest loan I can get. Don't want to get rid, I love my MINI! Final payment will be around £7000 I'm hoping my MINI will be worth that next year but will keep it anyway unless I have twins or triplets between now and then. Thats the only reason I can see to get rid!

I pay for mine in kind:D

Once a month I pay a visit to my dealer principle and I have to be obliging;););)

If I miss a payment I have to send a pint of blood to him and visit him twice the following month:(

Thanks for the comments all, I am just spending time learning and working out the best deal, I was thinking about getting the apr lowered, so will think on with that one. I am going to the open day at Park Lane to take a look around the new cabrio.

Thanks for the comments all, I am just spending time learning and working out the best deal, I was thinking about getting the apr lowered, so will think on with that one. I am going to the open day at Park Lane to take a look around the new cabrio.
Serious bit of advice, make sure you have searched online to see what other companies are offering on full finance, or pcp deals in terms of APR, as a dealer can be bargained down on this. But don't be tempted to try and increase the final agreed value of the car if you go pcp, as this can come back to bite you in the future if the used value of MINI's drop;)

Thanks Rakey!! I will do so! I am just thinking hard about this because I lost a lot of money on the Z4 I had so am trying not to repeat the same mistake. I would rather keep as much of my cash as possible.

If you have the cash you might as well bite the bullet and spend it! There is no point having it in the bank and getting virtually no interest. Roll on the R57!

Thanks Chrisbla003, but there is no way I am going to give them all of the cash up front for the car, I am going to give them a deposit and then choose a scheme. I would rather have the cash earning me even 2% than giving Mini the cash. Been there done that with BMW.