[TigaFF]

I'm on the verge of ordering an MCS and live in the Washington DC area. Tate Mini is the closest dealer and will provide service since my family and I spend a good deal of time in Annapolis during the summer. However, the wait list is longer at Tate Mini (6 months when I last checked) and I really enjoyed the staff at the Checkered Flag. In particular Colleen was very straight forward, which I appeciate.
Any experience with either dealership? Thanks for any help. I have been lurking for the last 6 months trying to decide whether to buy or not. This is a great list.
Cheers

[CurtP]

I bought my MCS from Checkered Flag MINI several months ago, and they were great. My salesman (Jeremy Ridgeway) went out of his way to make sure I got the car I wanted and that I was happy. When I noticed some problems with the Lapis Blue leather on the driver's seat, and Checkered Flag BMW was no help, Jeremy stepped in again and got things taken care of for me. I will definately go back when it's time for me to buy another MINI.

If you decide to go to Checkered Flag, ask for Jeremy and tell him I sent you
Checkered Flag MINI of Virginia Beach: (757) 490-1111 (ask for MINI Sales).

[AprilWhine]

I bought from CF also, and Colleen was my advisor. She's knowledgable and helpful, isn't she?

One thing to add, check the CF website, they have three MCS in stock. If one of those is close enough to your specs, you may have no wait at all!

[Tom F.]

I' been giving Tate a 4 on a 5 scale. I'd go back, but attention to detail is not perfect, neither in sales nor service. Search to find various posts. They are fine, just not close to perfect.

Next week I'm going back to pick up touch up paint, and I will see what they say about my lapis leather seats. That will be much more of a test.

[AprilWhine]

And just to give you more choices, I hear that Sterling MINI is outstanding. The manager, Crystal, sponsored a MINI run recently and gave out booty whether we bought from them or not.

[TigaFF]

Thank you CurtP and AprilWhine. I ordered from the Checkered Flag today. I visited Sterling MINI a couple of weeks ago and was put off by the MCS in the show room with $3500 of invisible dealer enhancements. Also the sales person was less than pleasant. They may in fact be OK but my first impression was negative.
Jeff

[AprilWhine]

It's hard to get over a bad first impression.

See you on a MINI run soon!

[CubeFarmGopher]

I originally posted this over on Roadfly, and someone mentioned that I should post it over here also. For information, the rep I have dealt with is Matt Cole. I have never spoken with John, the sales manager, outside of when I first walked into the dealer and he directed me to Matt.

The Story:
When I put in the contract on the car with Tate Mini last April, everything was fine, but then, there was nothing really difficult about it. I knew what I wanted and it was just a matter of them writing it down and taking my check.

Since the build process has started, I've realized that I am not just one step ahead of them in knowing the status of my car, but I'm a whole freakin' lap. When it was unloaded from the Haul Triton, I called my rep and told him that according to AskMini it was scheduled to be there on the 4th of January, and I was going out of town that weekend, so I'd really appreciate it if there was anything he could do. He said to me: "I'll try and see what I can do to get it here for you by then". After it sat at the port for a couple of days, and became evident it wouldn't make it on the 4th, I asked him if there is anything he can do to get it by the 10th for my wife's birthday, again he said: "I'll see what I can do." When talking to him today, he told me that it hasn't left the VPC yet, when I know that it was released to transport yesterday, and made it onto a truck this morning (courtesy of AskMini). At last, he admits to me that the only information they have on my car is what is printed out every morning, and they don't have any contacts or communication with anyone else.

Last week, my wife and I go into the dealer to have her car appraised and start some of the financial paperwork in preparation for the Mini arriving last weekend. That is when the wheels really started to come off the cart.

First of all, the rep takes her car up to the BMW showroom to have one of their guys appraise it. When the appraiser comes back, he walks up to the rep, right in front of us, and says they need to step outside to talk. When the rep comes back, he tells us that they can't give us an answer until the next day b/c the used car sales manager would be the one to determine the price. Now, why could the appraiser not say that to us, or tell him in front of us. Why did it have to be some big production with him coming to get the rep and them walking outside?

So, we fill out the credit apps and all the paperwork, and give it to the rep who gives it to the sales manager who says he can't give us any results until the next day (understandable since it was around 7pm), which happens to be the sales rep's day off. So we should find out the following day, Friday.

Friday comes and the rep calls me to tell me that they'll give me 1/2 of my buyout figure, and then can't tell me whether or not they'll give me the financing until I decide what I'm going to do with my car. I know for a fact that all they do is run the app and get the Beacon score then tell me that they can or can't do it, regardless of the final numbers. During this, I've already had financing lined up from my Credit Union, and I'm just waiting on the final numbers to have them cut me a check, if needed.

Finally, yesterday I talked to the rep and told him that I wanted to have the contract written such that they pay the remaining lease payments and turn the car back over, and I'll write them a check covering the payments, so that it all goes under one sale contract. I get the call, from my rep, this morning that all they're willing to do, trade-in wise, is give me the value that they appraised the car at and nothing else (so much for service). He, then asks me if I've gotten an interest rate from another lender that they need to match, and when I ask him what rate they'll give me, he says that they haven't run my app yet (*6 DAYS LATER*), so he doesn't know.

This whole experience, that started out rather pleasantly, has just become a wholly frustrating joke. One of the key aspects of customer service is satisfying the customer through 100% of the process. The group over at Tate may be able to get 90% there without any problems, but they have serious issues with that last 10%.

If you've read this far, I appreciate your patience and thank you for letting me rant.

CFG
'03 MCS BRG/B PP/SP/CWP/Nav

[Tom F.]

This is a good post, but could a moderator please move it to

Tate Mini Feedback

http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthrea...&threadid=7073

[CubeFarmGopher]

I went ahead and posted it over on the Tate Forum thread.

[Tom F.]

Great- as threads age they tend to get harder to find.

[deirdre]

.