[Sejanus]

I just wanted to pass this along to anyone in Northern California who might be interested. I got an e-mail from MINI of Concord sent last night that says that they are now taking a limited number of custom orders for Coopers and for prespecced Cooper S'to be available for July '02 delivery. All orders must be made in person. (They open at 10am this morning). So if anyone wants to get a MINI a bit earlier than seems possible elsewhere this is your opportunity. Be aware though that they are charging $2000 over MSRP, which is why I'm sticking with my Sept/Oct. delivery from East Bay MINI.

[eingy]

Hi, I'm new to the boards and in the Bay Area too. I've been to the MINI of Concord dealership, so I thought I'd share this email from the sales rep:

Quote:

Hello,

We have some 'pre-speced' cooper s's that will be here in July that you can put your name on (we cannot make changes to these vehicles) If you would like to spec out your own cooper s you can probably do that around July 02'. As to the dealer premium it will be $2,450.00 on any cooper s. Please feel free to come on down and see what is coming in July.

See you soon.

Scott Simpson
MINI of Concord

From reading the posts here, I've decided to go to East Bay MINI this weekend and put down a deposit there.

BTW, getting a test drive at Concord is a no-hassle process, and the people are nice enough -- not pushy, and they let you take the car out without the sales rep!! If it weren't for the mark-up, I wouldn't mind dealing with these people.

[Sejanus]

Quote:

Originally posted by eingy
If it weren't for the mark-up, I wouldn't mind dealing with these people.

I agree, in my contacts with them they have been quite pleasant and helpful, they just want too much money. I guess it must be working for them, although with at least two dealers and possibly a third (don't know about Mountain View) charging substantially less I don't understand how they're pulling it off.

[eingy]

Sejanus,

I just went by the Easy Bay MINI to put down my deposit. I thought the VIN etching was only $250, but the sticker on the cars there quoted $289, which is also what Jarid Perry quoted me. In addition, he said that all the MINIs will be required to have a 6-disc CD changer installed! He claimed that they are going to have to install it for every MINI they sell Granted, it's an option I rather like, but that's another what, $595? It's not one I'd choose. There is indeed no "addition markup" or "market adjustment", and he was very upfront with me about it, but still... It had seemed like they were a non-gouging dealership, from what I had read and heard previously. So is something fishy going on?

He told me that he'll call me in July to pin down my exact specs, and that delivery will happen in August or September. I ended up putting the deposit down anyway, but I intend on taking it back if I feel like I am being treated unfairly.

What exactly did he quote for you? For me, it's now MSRP + VIN etching + CD changer.

[Sejanus]

Quote:

Originally posted by eingy
Sejanus,

I just went by the Easy Bay MINI to put down my deposit. I thought the VIN etching was only $250, but the sticker on the cars there quoted $289, which is also what Jarid Perry quoted me. In addition, he said that all the MINIs will be required to have a 6-disc CD changer installed! He claimed that they are going to have to install it for every MINI they sell Granted, it's an option I rather like, but that's another what, $595? It's not one I'd choose. There is indeed no "addition markup" or "market adjustment", and he was very upfront with me about it, but still... It had seemed like they were a non-gouging dealership, from what I had read and heard previously. So is something fishy going on?

He told me that he'll call me in July to pin down my exact specs, and that delivery will happen in August or September. I ended up putting the deposit down anyway, but I intend on taking it back if I feel like I am being treated unfairly.

What exactly did he quote for you? For me, it's now MSRP + VIN etching + CD changer.

The $289 for the VIN etching sounds about right, but I wasn't told anything about a CD changer. Admittedly, its better than paying for paint protection, but I'm not going to be pleased if they're changing the terms on me. It certainly isn't listed anywhere on my order sheet. I will be calling them to find out. Also I'm curious as to how your delivery can be Aug/Sept when mine was Sept/Oct and I've been on their list for a few weeks. Of course, this may be very good news meaning the cars are coming in a bit earlier than expected.

[eingy]

I'd be interested in finding out what Jarid says to you, per the CD player. I hope even if I'm getting screwed, that you won't be, since you had already talked to him before.

I was thinking exactly what you said, when he quoted Aug/Sept for my delivery. You ordered a MINI Cooper, not an S, right? I can't get it to make any sense. He even said that if I'm really lucky, I might get be able to get it for July, but that I shouldn't count on it?! I thought "No way" but kind of smiled and nodded. Maybe more people up on the list accepted the pre-specced cars then expected? That's all I can figure.

Well, I hope your talk with Jarid goes well.

Oh, one more thing is that I looked at my order sheet, and I asked him, "Well, there seems to be nothing on this sheet that guarantees that the price won't change by the time of delivery," at which point Jarid grabbed the sheet, wrote on the price line "MSRP+VIN+CD" then signed it, which I was glad about, since I was worried that they were going to randomly change policies. Of course, he didn't write down the prices of the VIN and CD, so maybe they are going to screw with me after all. Ugh, hate this paranoia. Why can't they sell cars like Saturn sells cars?

[eingy]

Check out this thread (Jarid responds to it):

http://forums.roadfly.com/mini/coope...=375170&page=1

"i also was told that the cd changer is mandatory, that all of their cars were coming with them. apparently this was an add on implemented after wednesday of last week. (in addition to the 289 window etching)."

UGH!

[eastbaymini]

Hello,

We are indeed putting CD changers for 699 in the cars and VIN etch for 289. The dates I quote for delivery change a lil every day. Some of the people on our list have taken pre spec cars and so at this time we are looking at an August/September delivery. I hope you all dont feel that I am "gouging" customers. The VIN etch helps us all out. I am getting a Cooper in about four weeks and am looking forward to a lil help on my insurance. As for the CD changer, I have had alot of interest in putting these into customer cars. This is why we decided to put them in all cars. Any questions feel free to reply.

Jarid Perry
East Bay MINI

[eingy]

Thanks for clearing up the matter. I hope I didn't imply that you WERE gouging; I just wanted to find out if looking as naive as I do (in my mid-twenties, I look like a teen ), someone was trying to take advantage of me, since I thought I had done a lot of research, and taken by surprise by the CD changer, as I had already known about the VIN etching. And having had no experience with you before, I just wanted to verify that the I was not wrong about being recommended going to East Bay MINI. (Many people had indeed recommended this place as the dealer you want to stay with "for life" as said on another board.)

I'm glad that the mystery of the earlier delivery dates has been cleared up; that was merely a pleasant surprise for me that I couldn't figure out on my own.

Anyway, thanks for being above board and commenting here.

And let me add that while I was nonplussed by the mysteries discussed above, I had a very pleasant experience with dealing with you at the dealership. Thanks!

[Sejanus]

Quote:

Originally posted by eastbaymini
Hello,

We are indeed putting CD changers for 699 in the cars and VIN etch for 289. The dates I quote for delivery change a lil every day. Some of the people on our list have taken pre spec cars and so at this time we are looking at an August/September delivery. I hope you all dont feel that I am "gouging" customers. The VIN etch helps us all out. I am getting a Cooper in about four weeks and am looking forward to a lil help on my insurance. As for the CD changer, I have had alot of interest in putting these into customer cars. This is why we decided to put them in all cars. Any questions feel free to reply.

Jarid Perry
East Bay MINI

Jarid, I was going to phone you about this on Monday, but since you are reading these (which I appreciate) and I'd probably report what you said here anyway let me just ask you via MINI2. When I put my $1000 deposit down on 3/26 I specifically asked if there were any mandatory dealer extras. You told me the only one was the VIN etching. I custom specced a Cooper CVT and there is no mention of a CD changer on the preference order form. Am I now to understand that I will have to include a CD changer as part of my order since it will automatically be installed in the car I ordered?

[avandrew]

They have no dealer mark up, and excellent service.
SACRAMENTO, CA

[Sejanus]

Quote:

Originally posted by avandrew
They have no dealer mark up, and excellent service.
SACRAMENTO, CA

Hmmm, take a look at the Niello MINI thread in the feedback forum. They have a $995 "protection package" that was only $699 a week ago. Have you purchased a MINI from Niello? If so we'd love to hear how it went.

[phattbam]

It's acceptable for the vin etching but for the mandatory cd changer, that's not right. what if we arent looking to ever add a cd changer wouldn't this just be an add on that we never wanted?? the stereo that mini offers includes a single cd deck, which is perfectly fine with most customers. some may even upgrade to the HK stereo, but the cd changer should still be an option..
just my thoughts....

[Daddu]

The only way I would accept this CD changer is if they threw it in for free, Or took that much off of the price of the car. I SHOULD NOT be FORCED to pay for smonthing I don't want/didn't order. This, dealer scamming, is the reason I'm waiting awhile to order untill the new car frenzy cools off.

[Sejanus]

Quote:

Originally posted by phattbam
It's acceptable for the vin etching but for the mandatory cd changer, that's not right. what if we arent looking to ever add a cd changer wouldn't this just be an add on that we never wanted?? the stereo that mini offers includes a single cd deck, which is perfectly fine with most customers. some may even upgrade to the HK stereo, but the cd changer should still be an option..
just my thoughts....

I'm inclined to agree with you. Heck, my Mustang had its original AM radio in it until only 8 months ago and I was fine with that. When it died I replaced it with an AM/FM, but even so it spends most of its time on NPR or KNBR (Giants Baseball). A CD changer is nice, but given my listening habits not something I really want to spend $700 on. I guess we'll see. I'm still waiting to hear from Jarid (I assume with the dealership being so busy he doesn't surf by here all that often). I'll call East Bay soon if I don't hear anything.

[Sejanus]

I came across this comment on another thread regarding Mountain View MINI which I thought was quite interesting,

"According to the saleman, they had only recently decided to start charging $1000 above MSRP a few days ago because Mini of Concord had apparently called them up and asked them why they weren't selling above MSRP like everyone else."

Gee, how nice of the folks at Concord to be thinking about the welfare of other dealers. When I first talked to them they showed what I thought was a bit of undue concern as to whether I might be on another dealers' contact list. Apparently, they really don't like the idea of comparison shopping. Of course, if I were charging the markup they are I wouldn't be fond of it either. I guess it's alright for dealers to take advantage of market forces, but not for customers to fully explore an open market. I'm not sure what the legal definition is, but if the above quote is accurate isn't Concord MINI trying to engage in price fixing?

[eingy]

Good news for those in the SF Bay Area! Check out this thread: http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthrea...8787#post58787

Jarid of East Bay MINI posted that the CD changer requirement is off. He's got me as a loyal customer and walking, talking advertisement now! I'll recommend him unreservedly to anyone for his honesty and for going the extra mile to answer customer complaints, instead of just insisting it is better than other dealerships in the area (which he could have done legitimately).

Thanks again, Jarid!

[want_my_s]

well, so far east bay mini is the only decent dealer in bay area (i got shocked when i visit mountain view mini, i should have post a picture of their price list!). i've put my deposit down for a "s" there.

although i found couple other dealers can deliver faster (in march '03) and without any addons (easy bay mini still insist on the VIN), adding the plane tickets and shipping cost still don't make sense. except that i will need to wait till end of 2003 ;-(

[olddad]

There seems to be a consensus on VIN etching whereby the "good" dealer charges $300 but the "bad" dealer charges $500. Following a post I saw here but can no longer find, I did a quick websearch. The kits to do 6 windows (won't be enough on my '59 mini) cost $25 to $30. My local glass shop charges $45 for the same. Hey, a gouge is a gouge I'm calling Mini of Murray this morning and take the plunge. I want only leather, air, computer and allweathers on an S in Monte paint, so I'll just wait 'till I get what I want and can afford.

[BruceK]

Quote:

Originally posted by olddad
...on an S in Monte paint ....

Monte paint = red with a white roof?