New Mini Up Charges

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Almost Green

Member
Ok, so what I'm about to ask may make some of you laugh at me. That's ok. So it's been 25 yrs since I bought a new car and a lot of things have changed. So I'm working with a dealer in the Chicago suburbs to order a mini. Got the quote back and was somewhat shocked at the $4400 charges above the $35k msrp. Now good portion of this is state and local sales taxes which is what it is. So a couple large charges are for a "BMW Trim Protection" and a "Security Guard Etch" totally $1100 combined. Any of you that recently purchased/ordered a mini see any of these and care to explain? I assume they are from BMW, but may be from the dealer. Just trying to get a little smarter before going back to the salesman. Thanks for your feedback.
 
Portland mini charges $1000 for some trim and protection . Seattle mini charges $2000.

California dealership usually don't charge for extras.

I suggest shop around different dealerships. Most just show these price (which are fixed for all cars at that location) online as well if you look at inventory. Check price breakdown of any car available at that dealership to see what extras they are putting.

Keep in mind it might be cheaper to pay extra 1500 to dealership to ship your car to you rather than paying 4000 at local dealership.
 
Almost Green said:
I assume they are from BMW, but may be from the dealer. Just trying to get a little smarter before going back to the salesman. Thanks for your feedback.
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Don't think they are from BMW but are from the dealer. You are lucky to be in Chicago. Believe there are 4 dealers there. We got our Se last summer here in Colorado for MSRP and got them to put on bonnet stripes. Almost purchased from Chicago and was prepared to ship it out here as dealers in Chicago were selling less than MSRP and we would have come out ahead. This may have changed since last spring, but at least you have the ability to get competitive pricing from other dealers. You should be able to get by with out any dealer add ons. But with gas prices going up, who knows?
Good luck on the Mini, you will love it.
 
These are dealer options like pin stripes and spraying stain resistant coating on your upholstery.
They have nothing to do with BMW/Mini and are between you and the dealer.
Unscrupulous dealers make buying these items a requirement, ie not optional where they try and up sell them to you, instead they say we apply this package to all vehicles we sell, like it or go elsewhere.
I was lucky in that my dealer here in Dallas area did not pull this stunt but others do, for example our local Kia dealer adds horrible 80s pinstripes (painted on!), security tracking, tints, flashing rear center brake light and a couple of other items (which are worth about $300 on the open market but they call it a $1,000 value), whereas our local Land Rover dealer adds tinted front windows at $400.
A couple of years ago you could threaten to walk unless they have in, but these days with the car shortage they have you by the you know what…
Personally I think the car manufacturers should have stipulated no “required” dealer items allowed in their franchise agreements but there you go…
If you can’t find a dealer that won’t do this nonsense I suggest remembering it in future when it comes to buying accessories or getting servicing, and giving them low ratings on any questionnaire or review site…
 
TripleD said:
[QUOTE=" I assume they are from BMW, but may be from the dealer. Just trying to get a little smarter before going back to the salesman. Thanks for your feedback.
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Don't think they are from BMW but are from the dealer. You are lucky to be in Chicago. Believe there are 4 dealers there. We got our Se last summer here in Colorado for MSRP and got them to put on bonnet stripes. Almost purchased from Chicago and was prepared to ship it out here as dealers in Chicago were selling less than MSRP and we would have come out ahead. This may have changed since last spring, but at least you have the ability to get competitive pricing from other dealers. You should be able to get by with out any dealer add ons. But with gas prices going up, who knows?
Good luck on the Mini, you will love it.[/QUOTE]

This dealer is selling at msrp so that's probably the reason for add on's. Yes there are 4 dealers in Chicagoland but for me they are further away than this dealer who is 55 miles one way.
 
Make a few calls or emails to the other 3 dealers before you head in to the dealership. It may be further but it can be a bigger savings and if you let them know you're making a big trip to visit them, you'll probably only need to go in once or twice at most.


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
 
You should still ask all four dealers for an “out the door” quote. Tell them the build options you want and compare their OTD quotes. Then decide if driving a few extra miles is worth any potential savings.
 
I ordered an SE from a dealer in SoCal and they added on ceramic coating and “Edge Guard” totaling about $1200.

I had previously purchased a MINI from this same dealership and they did not have these add ons then. It’s much more of a seller’s market right now though, especially for BEVs.

I spoke with my rep and he said they’re doing it because they’re not “charging for a mark up.”

I could have dug in my heels but I was thinking about paint protection anyway…also to be honest I just wanted to get the order in without a messy argument.

After seeing dealer mark ups for $10-$20k on Mach-e/GTs earlier in the week the add ins seemed reasonable I guess! :confused:
 
Make it very clear that if they sell you a car with "mandatory" bullsnot dealer options, you will give them all "sevens, eights, and nines" on the customer satisfaction survey. They get hammered on anything less than tens, but all ones might get thrown out; slightly bad marks kill them.
 
Boston dealers last year were not puting anything on you didn't want, nor pressuring you for options. They do add a $500 "administrative" fee. Basically a MSRP markup. If you are in the market for a less popular car, or one sitting on the lot, you can usually negotiate out of these, but when car dealers can't get any to sell.... good luck.
 
ColdCase said:
Boston dealers last year were not puting anything on you didn't want, nor pressuring you for options. They do add a $500 "administrative" fee. Basically a MSRP markup. If you are in the market for a less popular car, or one sitting on the lot, you can usually negotiate out of these, but when car dealers can't get any to sell.... good luck.
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The dealer I'm talking with has a whole lot full of ICE Mini's, so they have cars to sell. My theory is on orders they don't have to do anything other than deliver the car upon arrival. No marketing, no constant cleaning, and dealing with a bunch of tire kickers. It's already money in the bank.
 
I think it will vary by dealer or even by salesman/manager.
My local dealer has no Mini’s, didn’t when I ordered and took delivery, has several dozen cars pre-sold that haven’t arrived yet and still didn’t charge us any extra.
That said he was a senior sales guy close to retirement and their top seller so maybe we were just lucky to get him…
That said they got taken over by a a larger group between the time we ordered and collected so maybe things have changed…
 
F14Scott said:
Make it very clear that if they sell you a car with "mandatory" bullsnot dealer options, you will give them all "sevens, eights, and nines" on the customer satisfaction survey. They get hammered on anything less than tens, but all ones might get thrown out; slightly bad marks kill them.
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Yeah I thought about going ham on them…but I know the sales rep and it was the finance ppl doing all the BS.

I just didn’t want to bother with the stress of arguing about it.
 
My dealer doesn’t have any markups above MSRP or “mandatory” add-ons on customer orders. Seems they do have small ADM on new cars on the lot though.

The other dealer in my state initially claimed a mandatory interior protection package but did state “they’d hate to loose a sale over it”, whatever that means. I chose to stay away because of the initial claim it was mandatory.


I should add that both have dealer document fees around $550-600. This is something all dealers I’ve purchased from in the past have.
 
One dealer in my state had a similar doc fee the other one did not. I was able to negotiate it away at the first dealer. No other businesses charge you for their paperwork besides car dealerships. What a scam. I would also walk away from any dealer that installs blinky brake lights.
 
methorian said:
My dealer doesn’t have any markups above MSRP or “mandatory” add-ons on customer orders. Seems they do have small ADM on new cars on the lot though.

The other dealer in my state initially claimed a mandatory interior protection package but did state “they’d hate to loose a sale over it”, whatever that means. I chose to stay away because of the initial claim it was mandatory.


I should add that both have dealer document fees around $550-600. This is something all dealers I’ve purchased from in the past have.
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My quote has a doc fee but it’s $85. $550 seems high.
 
My dealer did not add any additional charges on the one we ordered but if I picked up one that was on the lot they add a protective coating charge of $500.
 
I was lucky that Century Mini/BMW in Greenville, SC, did not add on any extra stuff like that. My only fee beyond Destination, Tax, and License was "dealer fee" = $399. And I was fine with that. No other add-ons forced on me.
 
I haven’t completed my purchase yet, but Schomp is no fees or markup. I hope there’s no mandatory add-ons. I bought my Jeep at Autonation and they had a mandatory charge of $600 for spraying scotch guard or whatever on the seats. It’s 90% profit to the dealer and augments the $600 doc fee common on cars in Colorado. This stuff can be negotiable for a car on the lot, but if you order you better settle it up front.
 
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