[CrapS]

I'm looking at getting a new Cooper 'S' and was wondering what price should i be looking at paying compared to the RRP?

[Spottydog]

I ordered a MCS in March, still waiting for delivery. I've specced it with quite a few extras. I ended up paying about 5% off the RRP, with a tank of fuel, and floor mats thrown in.
Don't know if that typical or not. Would be interested to know what percentage other Aussies have negotiated off the RRP.
Cheers!

I should add that the first dealer I spoke to wouldn't discount.

[ScottyB]

My dealer wouldnt discount at all. They 'threw in' the mats, but only after I asked for them as a condition of sale.

Probably something to do with Klosters being the only MINI dealer in Newcastle...

I did however, double the trade-in value of my current car, so I feel the price in the end was a little better.

[CrapS]

Quote: Originally Posted by Spottydog

I ordered a MCS in March, still waiting for delivery. I've specced it with quite a few extras. I ended up paying about 5% off the RRP, with a tank of fuel, and floor mats thrown in.
Don't know if that typical or not. Would be interested to know what percentage other Aussies have negotiated off the RRP.
Cheers!

I should add that the first dealer I spoke to wouldn't discount.

Hi spottydog! was that on-road? If so that sounds pretty good.

[minigolf]

Haha, I guess I can't really give too much away given a few of the guys who work at the dealership I am buying from frequent this forum, but I did a little bit better than spottydog, including on roads. I think I could have maybe squeezed another $500 out of them, as they accepted my first offer ... but maybe not???

From anecdotal evidence on the sale of a new (ordered) MCS without a trade I think a "discount" of between 5-8% is achieveable without too much angst. There is another thread on this started by a guy from Adelaide (can't remember his username) around the time I placed my order, perhaps a bit before ... late Feb/early March. See if you can dig that up for a bit more info.



Not sure what extras spottydog is getting but my order is MCS/DSC/Climate/Xenons with mats and stripes thrown in. I suspect there is a fairly reasonable margin on the extras which may give the dealers a bit more "freedom".

I mentioned to one of the dealers I spoke to that I would more than likely want DSC, after I said that he said that DSC was about to become standard on the Cooper S ... seeing as no other dealer I have spoken to has supported this claim my guess is this guy was going to throw in DSC as part of his discount, if that makes sense.

ScottyB if you're trading in a car and the dealer ups their offer on your trade then that is effectively your discount. Our dealer said he could up our trade by around $3K, but then there'd be no movement on RRP. In the end by selling the GTI privately and discounting off the RRP on the MCS we are several thousand in front when compared to trading in the Golf. I should point out that we were fotunate to sell our GTI for around $1500 more than our absolute bottom line as well.

[swamos]

10% seems to be normal on stock cars. 5% on cars to order sounds good.

[new skool]

I found when i went to get mine that if you put in a order they wouldnt give anything off but if you bought on the floor stock they were able to do beter prices...Just remember that you can haggle between dealerships

[minigolf]

Quote: Originally Posted by swamos

10% seems to be normal on stock cars. 5% on cars to order sounds good.

Seems like I did alright then.

[Amigo]

Quote: Originally Posted by new skool

I found when i went to get mine that if you put in a order they wouldnt give anything off but if you bought on the floor stock they were able to do beter prices...Just remember that you can haggle between dealerships

This is so true. As I purchased a PS MCS that was already in the country, I managed to get the sunroof and MFSW for only $300 and since the dealership promised me a PS / B and a PS/PS arrived instead, I managed to have full leather seats ($1000) thrown in for free. Shopping around also got me an additional $7000 for my trade-in

[CrapS]

Quote: Originally Posted by swamos

10% seems to be normal on stock cars. 5% on cars to order sounds good.

Sorry, but i'm abit confused. So that is 5% off the RRP of $39900 (assuming no options). So thats about $38K including all the on-road costs of stamp duty and dealer fees? Thats like a $4k discount!

[swamos]

Quote: Originally Posted by CrapS

Sorry, but i'm abit confused. So that is 5% off the RRP of $39900 (assuming no options). So thats about $38K including all the on-road costs of stamp duty and dealer fees? Thats like a $4k discount!

No, 5-10% of the car cost including on roads. I.e. A base S is 44k on the road, and I have heard of them being sold locally for 40k drive away.

[play fife]

That sucks, i brought a cooper & paid $36k, if you guys are picking up a MCS for just around $40k i should of just brought a MCS insted......what a joke.

I must of paid to much for my cooper as the 5 speed cooper is $32k......oh well, cant complain now.

Daniel

Ps: By the looks of it ill be selling my cooper in 2 yrs time, does anyone from mini2 selling there MCS in 2 yrs time, if so how much & what stats ?

[Boo]

I heard it was BMW policy not to discount Minis because it is a prestige brand. Floor stock you might get something out of but orders are usually not discounted.

[Boo]

BTW Robbo, i got the Galfer track pads on and you are right... the do squeal...
but they have some good bite to them and the paddle is now much more responsive. Apparently there was some air in the rear brake lines also which wouldn't have helped

[minigolf]

Quote: Originally Posted by Boo

I heard it was BMW policy not to discount Minis because it is a prestige brand. Floor stock you might get something out of but orders are usually not discounted.

Fortunatley, or unfortunately, depending on your point of view ... that is no longer the case.

[swamos]

Quote: Originally Posted by Boo

I heard it was BMW policy not to discount Minis because it is a prestige brand. Floor stock you might get something out of but orders are usually not discounted.

ROTFLMAO

Yes, that was what they told us too. It is definately not the case anymore, and yes, your car has copped an additional 10% depreciation or whatever it is that they now routinely give off the new ones.

I thought they had plans to make MINI an exclusive prestige brand in Australia. Now I realise they desperately just want to push as much tin as they can

[Darryl]

Quote: Originally Posted by Boo

I heard it was BMW policy not to discount Minis because it is a prestige brand. Floor stock you might get something out of but orders are usually not discounted.

Thats nearly as good as the Merc salesguys line to us that he had to check that we were in his sales area else he couldn't sell us a car.

I did however get a little peeved at the Mini sales rep I was chatting to about the JCW kit when last we had the car serviced, think the comment went "I'd not waste your money on it, better of trading and buying one of the cars in the other room" whilst gesturing to the so called real BMW models. Notice that guy seems to have moved on now......

[jasemini]

don't get SWAMOS started on dealer discounting. He can get a bit postal when it comes to the subject

Just remember a salesman is only told what he knows from his sales manager who inturn is fed by a state manager who get's his disinformation from a national manager who generally swallows whatever the brand management tells him to.

Remember these rules and you'll not end up disenchanted and bitter;

All cars get discounted to a degree at some time or another.

If you want something before everybody else then you'll pay a premium for it. (watch the prices MINI Cabrios when they first come out in December, they be full list price and then again in August next year, they'll be discounting them by then I guarantee)

Consider all the other factors in the deal; Trade In, Finance, 333 package, Included Extras, Demos.

Check the new model or upgrade release dates in Wheels or Motor. You'd want a pretty hefty discount on a current model Cooper or Cooper S at the moment given that the facelift models are only a few months away and BMW/MINI doesn't use the terminology "run out" or "end of model" in their marketing run outs as such, they just add loads of extras and do great finance deals, such a the current 3 series campaign.

Remember that no matter how great or individual the car you finance (even a MINI) if you load it up with no deposit and a balloon/residual payment over 30% your running the risk of a payout shortfall at tradein or resale, especially if you only keep it for 2 years and get sick of it and want to trade up or out you'll tear money for sure.

Be mindfull of optional extras you ad, you'll never recoup them at resale. Get them because you want them and can afford them not because you think they'll increase the value of your car down the track.

Please don't think I'm being condescending or belidgerant, I've just fallen into all of the pitfalls I've mentioned above and they tend to sting a little when you've got to explain the payout shortfall to the wife, or when you see the base model with all of your top of the line model features for much less than you paid because it's now an end of model run out only 12 months after you bought it It's simply the nature of the beast, the best way to avoid it all is buy a Mercedes C class or BMW 3 Series at the start of or early into a new model release (2005 for the 3 series). They only change models every 7 years, resales are rock solid and generally speaking discounts and bonus inclusions are minimal, except with BMW end of model run outs as is currently the case with the Sports or Executive packages on offer, which are pretty impressive and in this case if you were t buy one of these you'd do okay at resale even though the model itself will be the best part of 12 years old when you sell it in 5 years, the current E46 series has a fair degree of loyalty and many buyers are not impressed with the impending 3 series with it's styling cues taken from the current 5 & 7 series. All in all there's not many other cars except perhaps Subaru that enjoy this level buyer consistency, you only have to look at the second hand 3 series on the market where an armrest is an optional extra worth mentioning!!

Happy Buying and Motoring.

[poki]

Well said jasemini. One element everyone seems to forget here is that a car is a MACHINE. It is not an investment and should not be treated as such. Use it and enjoy it for what it is.

That said, I did get a discount of $2000 on my reasonably high spec MCS when I ordered it back in September, I was not expecting it however and didn't even ask for it. At the time the dealer said it was so he would get a higher allocation. The discount was on the dealer delivery charge and I probably wouldn't have gotten that if I had a trade-in.

I wanted the car so badly that I would have bought it without any discount. It comes down to what it is worth to you, especially if you spec your own. I love the fact that my car was made just for ME and that no one else has driven it that I don't know about. I was happy to pay for that & I don't give a stuff what it is worth now 4 months and 14000kms later because I am having way too much fun.

[Boo]

Laugh away people, but this was a meeting of dealers with Mini that happened not so long ago in Vic.. Maybe they are clearing out the dead wood before the new upgraded Minis