[IgorTheHunchback]

Igor saw this today

http://oneswoop.cars.msn.co.uk/index.xsp

Imported Minis have arrived

[jinjoid]

Trade Sales, a car Importer/hypermarket has quite a few new MINIs for sale.I drove past there last week (it's in Slough) and stopped to have a look, the MINIs they have all seem to be base spec but if that's what you're looking for could be a way to save a few quid and get a MINI immediately. I bought my last car (before the MINI) from them and I saved a lot.

Trade Sales Website

Jinjoid

[AntH]

Cheapest Cooper listed at Trade Sales is £11799, and £212 needs to be added to get an 'on-the-road' price - total of £12011. Quite a bit above the £11600 your MINI dealer would charge. Seems quite a premium to pay for lowered residuals (import?) & reduced warranty/back-up from main agents. Me, I'm happy that I waited, and not to worried about the future value of my car...

[AntH]

Just checked out OneSwoop. They are claiming an £845 discount on a loaded Cooper. However, they are including options included in the Chilli package to get that figure - the real saving is just £155, and a 25 week (6 month!) wait for delivery. And is their price 'on the road' (i.e. number plates, registration fee, tax?). Again, just not worth it for loss of backup/warranty/residuals. Stick to the main agents!

[neilritchie]

I disagree for a number of reasons. The car is still manufactured in the UK to full UK spec exported to choice of country then imported back into the UK. I think buyers will realise this and residuals will still be high. I bought my Cooper S fully loaded would have cost £21,000 over here but I got it for £18,600 a saving of £2,400. The service is excellent and you can buy the TLC pack from a UK dealer.

[KenL]

I thought TLC was only available on "official" UK cars, have you bought it for £100?

What did you add to the Cooper S to get to a price of £21000. That's &6500 of options - ouch!

[AntH]

Quote:

Originally posted by neilritchie
I disagree for a number of reasons. The car is still manufactured in the UK to full UK spec exported to choice of country then imported back into the UK. I think buyers will realise this and residuals will still be high. I bought my Cooper S fully loaded would have cost £21,000 over here but I got it for £18,600 a saving of £2,400. The service is excellent and you can buy the TLC pack from a UK dealer.

£2.4k is worth saving - paying a premium or only saving £150 (at best!) is not! You will lose out on a years warranty - year 3 is dealer provided. Your V5 will show personal import - people can be paranoid, hence lower residuals.

[neilritchie]

Your right with near base model Mini's. It's not worth it. i also ordered a Cooper for my girlfriend worth around £14,000 but only managed a saving of £600, so didn't bother. It's only worth it if you spec your car up to the hilt. I basically ordered every extra they had bar the aero kit which I'm fitting afterwards (only want the side skirts and rear bumper). Some extras come as stamndard on the continent such as Air Con, CD Boost, Trip computer etc.

TLC is £400 for imported Mini's so I'm still not sure as I've already got a BMP filter, new exhaust and am chipping the car. Will return to stock come service time bar the exhaust (dealer is not bothered about)and chip (hopefully won't notice).

[AntH]

Don't consider £2.5k's worth of options as 'near base spec', but I know where you are coming from! Working out the price can be tricky, as the options are all valued differently depending on model, pack (i.e. Chilli) and other options fitted. The MINI web site doesn't get it right, but the dealers do!

[jinjoid]

Originally posted by Anth

Cheapest Cooper listed at Trade Sales is £11799, and £212 needs to be added to get an 'on-the-road' price - total of £12011. Quite a bit above the £11600 your MINI dealer would charge. Seems quite a premium to pay for lowered residuals (import?) & reduced warranty/back-up from main agents. Me, I'm happy that I waited, and not to worried about the future value of my car...

Well it shows how easily I'm conned (how embarassing) Of course it costs more than from a dealer. I can't count! I saw a load of MINIs for immediate purchase and got carried away. I agree with you, I wouldn't buy an import car either, the last one I bought from there wasn't an import.

Jinjoid

[flipper]

Quote:

Originally posted by AntH


£2.4k is worth saving - paying a premium or only saving £150 (at best!) is not! You will lose out on a years warranty - year 3 is dealer provided. Your V5 will show personal import - people can be paranoid, hence lower residuals.

I have personally imported several new cars from Europe.
It is still possible to save a great deal on certain models - unfortunately the mini is not one.
The V5 does not show 'personal import' it states standard information (EEC law does not allow discrimination on reg documents.) Also when you come to sell your import privately for every one buyer that is 'paranoid' there are three who are not and you only need one of them to buy your car. The only 'people' who get 'paranoid' are the dealers who want to discourage as many of us as possible to go the personal import route. Last year there were over 40,000 personal imports from the EEC to the UK.