I have friends in Seattle who are getting "the bum's rush" on MINI Cooper S ETAs.

(a) what have you experienced as far as ETA goes in Seattle?

(b) who are the good dealers?

Thanks

(ps: yes, I am from Australia.)

Moved into the Pacific Northwest forum, to get the proper attention.

There are only two dealers in the area: one in Tacoma, the other a bit farther in Portland OR.

Originally posted by AprilWhine
Moved into the Pacific Northwest forum, to get the proper attention.

There are only two dealers in the area: one in Tacoma, the other a bit farther in Portland OR.

Thanks. I did a quickie search on "seattle" before posting...

Thanks for trying! I couldn't tell you where Perth is located in Australia either. ;)

Maybe I should add some of the major cities to the forum titles?

Well - there's really only one that's remotely in the Seattle area. The wait is real long because the dealer allocation sucks big time (you'd have thought that when they were setting up the dealerships they's have realized that the Pacific NW is one of the trendier parts of the country and there are other parts that let's just say aren't quite so MINI inclined :rolleyes: ) Anyway - the current wait for a MINI Cooper S is probably 8 to 12 months at Northwestmini (see NorthWestMini.com). They are/were marking up cars about $600 because they can. Dunno if they still are. I got mine on order long enough ago that I paid MSRP. Personally I think if you end up on a waiting list this long you shouldn't have to pay a penny over list. Of course on any given Sunday you can probably walk in there and buy a car - just as long as you're willing to buy the only one they have for sale. Other than that - they're nice folks and easy to work with (so far).

Dave

Tough luck trying to pick one up from Seattle that's brand new. I was in the dealership this last week regarding a new mini cooper S. The waiting list has bumped up actually to 15 mo rather than 12. So have fun trying. You'll need to put down a 500 deposit. And what Dave said is true they have marked up the pricey by roughly $600. I myself have a buddy over in FL that took care of me. I found the exact MCS that I wanted for around 25600 excluding tax and license and transport fee. I work at a dealership so I have my hookups here and there so..... transporting the MCS wouldnt' cost me as much as it should.

Now I just have to figure out how everything is going first cause I still have to sell my 99 323i BMW before I pick up the MCS. :) Hope this helps.

Great dealer, long wait. why the interest, comming to the land of many trees, and big rain drops?

I was at both Northwest Mini (Seattle) and Rasmussen Mini (Portland) about two weeks ago. The wait for a MCS at NWMini was 21 months (deposit is $500). And, they were marking up the cars $600. At Rasmussen Mini, the wait is 8-10 months providing they're telling the truth (deposit is $1K). I put my name on the list at Rasmussen...it's going to be a long winter.

The lack of MINI Dealers in the NW region Sucks bigtime!

Has anyone called MINI/BMW to complain? Do they know?

It's obvious that a lack of resellers is causing price gouging, and loss of sales.

I ordered a MC from NWMini a couple of days ago. I was told 6-8 month wait on an MC and 12 months for an MCS. I found out after ordering that my wait would definitely be on the long end of 8 months. My markup was $395 over MSRP...the salesman said that's what they have always charged...though who knows if he was telling the truth or not.

Hey - don't sweat the mark-up. It wasn't charged for a few months after they opened. Then it was $595. In Ca they're getting as much as $4500 over msrp. NWMINI seems to be a pretty good outfit. I've been well treated there and they're very receptive to dealing with annoying little problems.

Dave

ps - check in with them from time to time. If you're flexible you'd be surprised what they might come up with in terms of buying off the lot.

This thread is a little old but I'm going to post something anyway. I was in Carrera BMW in Bend yesterday and spoke to them about Mini dealerships. Apparently BMW only wanted 1 in Oregon and 1 in Washington. According to him they have no idea if they'll get a shot at having another dealership in Oregon anytime soon. He also *****ed about BMW/Mini not allowing BMW dealerships to do warranty work, and how if they do get a dealership they will have to hire Mini specific sales people and what not. Kind of an odd setup. He also said that Rasmussen has 6-8 weeks wait time on routine work like oil changes!

I'm heading to Portland this weekend to put down my deposit money and then twiddle my thumbs until sometime next spring/summer waiting for a car. Having to drive 3 hours to get service is a bummer.
Gideon

I placed an order August 1st with Northwest Mini on a cooper. My initial impression was positive. That changed after several months on the waiting list. They never called or e-mailed me to give me an update.

I started calling about once a month to see where I was on the list. They made me feel like I was bothering them by calling. They tod me I would have a December build to start with. That stayed the same until this month. I called November 18th and was told my build date was now February. I would probably be able to pick up my cooper in March. I was very disappointed. I started calling around to other dealers

I found dealership in Utah, Murray Mini, that still had a few December build slots left. They sell @MSRP and require $2000 deposit. I called Northwest mini and they suddenly were begging to keep my business. I gave them 24 hours to come up with something.

The next day when I called they offered to drop the $500 over MSRP they charge but couldn't offer me anything on an earlier build date. I cancelled my order and got a full refund on my $500 deposit.

I plan on flying down from Alaska to pick up my cooper anyways and then driving to California to visit family. Then drive to Seattle drop the car at barge terminal for shipping to Alaska. Then I fly home. It's actually 50 miles closer from Utah to California. :) :)

Well I looked at NW MINIs website and was put off when I clicked to accessories and cooper S and the picture turned out to be a Cooper, not an S.

Not impressed so far, but I guess that will be what I have to deal with. We move to Seattle pretty soon and just ordered our second MCS. The order was placed in Europe for stateside pick up and that must be the place. It will be good to scout them out when we pick up the new MCS because the other one will be close to it's first service by then.

Rumor has it (from a NWMini sales person) that there will be a dealership in Seattle quite soon.

Personally - although NWMini hasn't been perfect they've been responsive to concerns and I have no complaints.

Dave

Well, I've done like AKmini. NW mini was very nice ot me - Tomio was my advisor and he was quite likeable. I was on their waitlist from Jan of this year - wait of about 12 months - for an S. I am now on the wait list for Murry UT, and should have an S in late July. I feel a bit bad about canceling at NW, because I liked them, but 6 months faster is worth 800 miles.

Hello everyone,

My best advice is do what I did. I called NWMini, found out the mark up and wait. Called Julie at Classicmini in Cleveland. Ordered it and 6 weeks later it was at the dealer. No markup and everything was just as promised. I took a week off and flew back and spent a great time driving home.

I also had my first service done at the Portland dealer and they were great. The wait and markup was just not to my liking.

Good luck!

Exposed and "The car"

Does anyone know about the service at NWMini? I bought mine through Mini of Murray in UT, and I am nearing my nearing my first reg service. So far I have had a few dealings with the parts folks which has been fine, but service does not seem as good. I have emailed them a few times to find out about some upgrades, but I never hear back from them. Not a good sign. At some point I will need to get the oil down, but I am not looking foreward to taking a day off of work just get it changed.

Camminich
Sorry, no answer for your question, but did I see you parked just north of Pike Place Market last week? Saw a Mini with the Mini or Murray plate holder - but don't remember if it was DS/BK. Let us know how the service goes. I'm still abotu 4 months from my trip to Murray.

I have had my MCS serviced at NW Mini...they changed out a bad H/K speaker in the passenger door and addressed a sunroof rattle. All of it was done while I waited and they seemed to have done a good job...and they washed my car!

No, it wasn't me. I have seen a blue Mini with Murray license plate frames too. I think they do a lot of out of state deals, and I can see why, no hassle, fuss, and they are even nice.

Well I sheduled my appt today for my rear fog light install. Right off the bat they tried to tell me it was a 1 hour labor charge. I asked her to check to make sure, since I had been told (and read) that it is only a 30 min. Sure enough it is only a 30 min. So I hope the rest of the process is smooth. Won't know for sure till the 4-16. I can not get down there any time earlier.

I put my down my desposit with NW MINI in mid-October 2003 and received the email with my production number on a few days ago. Since I'd had very lackluster email response from my motoring advisor the few times I'd emailed, I was a bit concerned about the order being right. After logging into the Owner's Lounge to double-check things, I discovered the options listed were wrong--a package I didn't want was listed and many things I did want were left off. :rolleyes:

Thankfully, a call to the sales manager got all my options quickly corrected and my advisor switched. I'm hoping to have a much more positive experience from here on out. :)

Great to hear you got your production #, sorry to hear they had already screwed up the order. Hopefully the rest will be smooth sailing.

After to talking to a number of other people that have had experience with NWMini I have come to the conclusion that they are probably a good dealer if you are prepaired to keep them on their toes. Meaning don't always accept the first answer they give you. If you don't like it, or if you have heard (or read) something different, call them on it. I think the dealer is afraid of us Mini owners massing against them, so they will usually fold.