[80spitfire]

Hi. I'm new to this forum. I was wondering if any MINI buyers in Ohio have dealt with Classic MINI of Mentor Ohio? If so, how are they to deal with? They seem stuck on adding Dealer added "OPTIONS" amounting to $1,200 over MSRP. I've talked with Cincy Mini and they charge MSRP only but it's a 4 1/2 hour drive from Cleveland. I'm hoping Classic MINI will drop the dealer added rip-offs over the next few months when things quiet down. Maybe in the winter when new car sales slow down in general.
Thanks for any help you can give me.
Ken

[miniyoda]

what are the options that they add on, and can you select? The bonnet stripes are very nice, but unless you can piece together the extra $1200 with stuff you want, it won't be worth it. I would HIGHLY recommend cincy. I just picked up Baby Blue there yesterday, and can't say enough about them. believe me, the 4.5 hour drive home is worth the price you save, and the comments you get along the way home are also worth the price.


Yoda........happy happy happy

[Mike B]

We bought our MCS at Classic and ended up paying the 1200 dealer option for floor mats and the simonize protection. For us, driving to cinci (I hate that drive) was out of the question. I would think since the demand is so high that it will be quite a while for them to drop the dealer required add-ons. In regards to the service, they seem good, car ordering process was fine, they kept in touch, came in when they forecasted and have been responsive to our requests after pickup. I have not had to bring it in for service yet, so can't comment on that.

[80spitfire]

Thanks for everyone's reply regarding Classic Mini. I've recently found another angle to get out of the $1,200 markup Classic charges. Cincy says they can have the car transported to my home for $300-$350.00. This would amount to a $900-$950.00 savings if I decide to go that route. I'm thinking of waiting till next spring. Maybe Classic will drop the add ons, also, BMW will have fixed most of the MINI bugs!
Thanks again,
Ken

[miniyoda]

Quote:

Originally posted by 80spitfire
Thanks for everyone's reply regarding Classic Mini. I've recently found another angle to get out of the $1,200 markup Classic charges. Cincy says they can have the car transported to my home for $300-$350.00. This would amount to a $900-$950.00 savings if I decide to go that route. I'm thinking of waiting till next spring. Maybe Classic will drop the add ons, also, BMW will have fixed most of the MINI bugs!
Thanks again,
Ken

If you are going with the S, go ahead and put your name down now, and your number will come up probably next spring. But if you ask me, don't wait. The car is just WAY too fun to wait.

[Terrence]

I went ahead and ordered at CLASSIC MINI in mentor the
$1195 in options seemed minimal to me and at least you got something for the money . The other reason i ordered there is they are ony 15 mins from my home, and the sales people were super .

As far as the waiting the HYPE is just beginning ! wait until people start seeing the cars on the road i think that the supply and demand factor is going to be here for a while .

Thats just my 2 cents

[miniyoda]

check out the Meetings and Events forum for a pending meet for ohio/ky/indy owners.

[MiniCooperS2002]

We got our MCS from Classic. There wasn't any reason to not go there because it's a block from where we live and work. We were charged $500 for Simonize, but got the Floor Mats for free(I think?, not the best of memory). The floor mat thing may have been because they our car was sold to someone else, but they had another just like it. I think the problem may have been that they had more than one list of buyers, but I would think that's all cleared up now. Either way, we got our car, and at least we didn't have to pay $1000+(I heard from a few people it was $5000) at MAG. And as miniyoda said, check out the Meetings and Events forum. This meet is turning in to something really good! Car show, museum, some places to eat. Come join us!

[minimott]

I agree with Miniyoda - if you want an S, put your name down NOW. I have a feeling that the general public is going to want the supercharged version (once they find out what the MINI is all about) as well as some people who have been trading in Coopers for Ss.

The S is too much fun to settle for anything less. As for my two cents on dealers, I had a good experience with MAG even though I was prepared to travel to avoid markups. It's not a bad idea if you can do it.

minimott

[stryder]

I just moved (this summer) from Rochester to Cleveland and have had experience at both Towne MINI which is slightly east of Buffalo and Classic.

Towne charges $600 for floor mats and other "stuff" (profit) However I have no idea what their wait is currently like. I was also impressed with their sales staff.

I talked to Classic when I was there on wednesday. The owner aparantly was wandering around when I flat out asked the salesman why I should buy (I'm vaguely pondering getting an S) from them when I could save $600 by driving to Buffalo. The owner said "hrm.. we could do it for $600 for the package" Also they said I could have an S or a Cooper built in Septmber, so it appears their waiting list isn't very long at all.

Other advice on Classic, their service department leaves some things to be desired. They didn't know how to program DRL's (daytime running lights) on my car when I first brought it in for programming after reading here that it was an option (Early May). I then brought the car in for the "recall" and asked about the programming, they said oh yeah, now we know how to program DRLs. So they did it, then I noticed the next day it managed to unprogram the other features I had them turn on. So I went back on Wednesday to reprogram all the features I had wanted plus DRLs. They didn't bother to wash my car on Wed though, nor ask me if I wanted it washed (I could understand since it took 10 min to program they might have thought I was in a hurry, but asking would have been nice since its a 30 minute drive just to get there and it was their fault I had to return)

Another interesting trait of their service manager Wayne is he seems to have no idea what is happening that day. Two of the times I've shown up I've had appointments made a week in advance, and he'll scratch his head and ask me what I'm there for, as well as do I have an appointment. You would think my car is unique enough (and has NY license plates which they know) that he would be able to look at the 10 or 20 cars for the day and have an idea who to expect. (I've been perfectly on time for my appointments too, so he could have just looked at the schedule)

[80spitfire]

Interesting stuff on Classic MINI. I was wondering STRYDER, did you end up placing an order for a car with Classic MINI? If so what are the details?(If you don't mind) I spoke with a salesman and he said they will not have any cars until November. I told them about Cincy selling cars at MSRP and he said he had heard that but couldn't verify it. I suggested he verify it quick or risk losing sales to Cincy. Who knows with enough pressure Classic may cave on dealer add ons.
Thanks for the updates!
Ken

[stryder]

No, I didn't place an order, but they really did say September, and I spoke to both salesmen since they were wandering around. I was in a hurry and just gaterhing info because milk was getting warm in my car. Maybe they meant Sept. builds and thus October, in which case it'd be reasonable in the week since I was there they ran out of space, so everything got moved a month. Since its August, I still think that's a really small lead time, which lends support to they should stop adding so much profit. They do seem to know this profiteering is getting rarer, so if you strong-arm them and point out getting the "normal" profit is better then getting none at all I would imagine they'd be willing to bargin as they did with me, in theory at least.

I was going to place an order, but the S I would want is about $5K more then my current car, and I figure its worth waiting for things like the h/k and the rain sensing if I'm going to bother to wait at all since I'm still amazingly happy with my cooper.

Sorry I didn't reply earlier, for some reason I didn't get the typical email notification.

[minimott]

Quote:

Originally posted by 80spitfire
Interesting stuff on Classic MINI. I was wondering STRYDER, did you end up placing an order for a car with Classic MINI? If so what are the details?(If you don't mind) I spoke with a salesman and he said they will not have any cars until November. I told them about Cincy selling cars at MSRP and he said he had heard that but couldn't verify it. I suggested he verify it quick or risk losing sales to Cincy. Who knows with enough pressure Classic may cave on dealer add ons.
Thanks for the updates!
Ken

80spitfire,
Keep pressuring your salesperson on the MSRP thing. Call CIncy and have them fax to you IN WRITING that they're selling cars at MSRP. Then take it to Classic and see what they say. (It worked for me).

Good luck.

minimott

[Dan P]

FWIW< I got my S from MAG in Columbus, Ohio for sticker, no extra cost other than my crazy abuse of the option sheet. . I've been on the S list for 1.5 years, and put down a deposit around february. I was pleased with the crew, and the car came in months sooner than a I expected, much to my amusement.

Buying such a high demand car for sticker was a treat!

[miniyoda]

Quote:

Originally posted by Dan P
FWIW< I got my S from MAG in Columbus, Ohio for sticker, no extra cost other than my crazy abuse of the option sheet. . I've been on the S list for 1.5 years, and put down a deposit around february. I was pleased with the crew, and the car came in months sooner than a I expected, much to my amusement.

Buying such a high demand car for sticker was a treat!

If you haven't heard/seen already, please check out the Meets and Events forum. We are planning an Ohio (and other state) meet next month, and would like to welcome you to the group.

[mikey b]

yes the dealer added options are a drag, but i called cincinati last week and i was told there was a mark up of $1,500 on coopers and $2,000 on the cooper S not to mention that i could no longer put an order in for an S until oct, at the earliest, and delivery would be 5-6 months!! i ordered my s from Classic in mentor, they estimate three months for delivery and they were very helpful with a great sales staff very knowledgable(u would think the deesighned the car them selves). the dealer package at classic unlike the other ohio dealers(at least from what i have heard)are actually giving u something w/ the dealer mark up, i'd recomend Classic.

[miniyoda]

Quote:

Originally posted by mikey b
yes the dealer added options are a drag, but i called cincinati last week and i was told there was a mark up of $1,500 on coopers and $2,000 on the cooper S not to mention that i could no longer put an order in for an S until oct, at the earliest, and delivery would be 5-6 months!! i ordered my s from Classic in mentor, they estimate three months for delivery and they were very helpful with a great sales staff very knowledgable(u would think the deesighned the car them selves). the dealer package at classic unlike the other ohio dealers(at least from what i have heard)are actually giving u something w/ the dealer mark up, i'd recomend Classic.

could you please tell me the name of the person you talked to? Cincy Mini has NEVER charged a markup for their cars, and I was told it was their policy to never charge markups for their BMW's either.

Please tell me the person's name.

Yoda.

[80spitfire]

In regards to Classic MINI(and dealers) giving you something for the markup over MSRP let's not kid ourselves. Please see my post What You Really Get For the Money. At the very least expensive dealer installed option package ($1,200) you're getting maybe $200 worth of dealer installed stuff you don't want or need and putting $1,000 in the dealer's pocket! When people wise up and start pressuring dealers to drop the dealer installed "option" ripoff that will really be "MOTORING". Lets face it. The dealer's selling every car he has at sticker price, he's making a ton of money. Charging a markup, no matter how you phrase it, is pure greed. Just my opinion. Thanks for the comments.