ZERO information from sales person

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Hatch

Hatch

Active Member
Hi All,

I'm reading posts here daily about frustration resulting from lack of information on where your MINI actually is in the build or shipping process.

I feel for everyone. My experience is beyond bad. I ordered February 28 and paid the deposit at the dealer. Originally ordered 2023 Signature+ in BRG. Waited for a production number and checked with sales person via email once a month. Answer always "still waiting".

May 4th - asked sales person if i could switch to Resolute, and would that reset my place in queue. He said i would "probably" keep my place, since the car had not gone into production yet (no information yet as usual). So i switched my order to a Resolute.

Just emailed him again last week. Sent him a link to the order spreadsheet. Indicated that i was worried if my order was lost, because look at all the people that ordered after me watching their cars going thru the process. Can you please check on it? Answer - "still patiently waiting" for information. He also said he had 2 other customers with SE orders that he is waiting for information about. He added "that's quite a spreadsheet!"

Holy **** man what a joke. I called 1-866-ask-mini sometime in April and the rep said they cannot provide any info if the dealer does not provide a production number. Soon i'll call his manager but i really hesitate to do that unless i can't stand it anymore. I don't need a car, so it's just that the waiting for ANY info is killing me. I'm thinking the call to the sales manager will be next month.
 
don't be stick to only one dealer, shop around and find the most helpful one. when i made my order, i put deposits at 4 dealers within 100 miles, and i'm staying with one now, the other 3 have refunded the deposit.
 
I had a similar experience. My dealer claimed they had a production slot reserved and it was just a matter of customizing it to my liking. After placing an order and getting a production number, I checked the progress daily. When things didn't happen I called the dealer who couldn't really provide any updates. Along the way I was switched from one salesperson to another multiple times. I called ask-mini, and they were much friendlier and were able to provide dates, but they just kept getting later and later. At one point my order seemed to have switched to a totally different configuration, as if my dealer had sold my slot to someone else. It was pretty awful.

After five months of bullshit I just started calling other dealers until I found one that had a car in production that wasn't claimed. This meant going with a dealer in Los Angeles, while I'm in San Francisco. I also had to pay above MSRP, and had to fly down and get it, but after all that I just wanted the car. (I had no car previously and actually needed one for me and my family.)

In the end I'm feeling lucky, the config I got is even better than the one I ordered, and I didn't miss out on any features due to supply chain deletions.

Two weeks after getting it home, the original dealer called and said "your car is here" even though I had cancelled with them. Whatever.

My only advice for you is to improve your odds by going with multiple dealers.
 
I am 100% in the exact same boat. My dealer seems to have no idea how the process works and can give me zero status in about eight weeks.

So I called every Mini dealer in North America, well I got about half way through them, about 50 or so, until I found a car in transit good enough for my money. I'm flying to Iowa tonight to pick it up in the morning !
 
I don't know how useful this is unless you're local, but our sales guy here in Plano, TX was very good. He called us weekly with updates just as promised. That said they've been taken over by a larger group now so who knows... We got our production number within 10 days (early September_) and the car arrived the last day of November, and he had originally estimated end of November so he was on the money... Of course, times have also changed but this was still during parts shortage time so I Was happy.
But you could try calling Doug at Mini of Plano (I wouldn't speak to anyone else, they didn't strike me as having his attention to service), although I don't know where you are and how you'd deal with any necessary shipping...
 
Well the sales person just emailed me that my MINI entered into the production queue today. I asked for the production number, which he provided. Entered that into mygarage.miniusa.com, which returned a VIN. The options are all correct, and the picture reflects the resolute edition that i ordered. First bit of information since ordering originally February 28, and then changing order to resolute on May 4. At least now i know the car is officially in the system.
 
sseohero said:
@endquote Which dealer in the Bay was that? I ordered from Stevens Creek and haven't heard anything ~3 weeks in.
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That's the one! Not a fan. Though I was in touch with another driver who had a good experience with them, so ymmv.

I ended up purchasing through Nick Alexander in LA.

Through all the drama I was in touch with Mini of Marin and they were quite friendly and helpful, so I'll probably go there for service and such.
 
endquote said:
That's the one! Not a fan. Though I was in touch with another driver who had a good experience with them, so ymmv.
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My experience with Stevens Creek MINI was fine. It is true that I did not get any updates from them for six weeks after ordering. In hindsight, it is likely they had not placed the order due to lack of allocation. But I did end up getting my MINI within four months, and more importantly, they helped expedite delivery on Dec 31 so I could qualify for the federal tax credit this year. So I do not have any complaints.
 
Alf_W said:
My experience with Stevens Creek MINI was fine. It is true that I did not get any updates from them for six weeks after ordering. In hindsight, it is likely they had not placed the order due to lack of allocation. But I did end up getting my MINI within four months, and more importantly, they helped expedite delivery on Dec 31 so I could qualify for the federal tax credit this year. So I do not have any complaints.
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That is reassuring, but the quote I got from my salesperson was 6~8 months, presumably because they don't have any allocations left. I'm calling around SoCal and dealers down south seem to quote 4 months, saying allocation shouldn't be an issue. I'll just have to wait and see
 
sseohero said:
That is reassuring, but the quote I got from my salesperson was 6~8 months, presumably because they don't have any allocations left. I'm calling around SoCal and dealers down south seem to quote 4 months, saying allocation shouldn't be an issue. I'll just have to wait and see
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My experience with SC Mini was also fine. If you are not picky on color like I am, you might to be able to get one earlier from a cancelled order. I had three to pick from in February! Although my heart still skips a beat when I see a BRG with white top, I have come to love my silver metallic Evie.
 
Ketos said:
My experience with SC Mini was also fine. If you are not picky on color like I am, you might to be able to get one earlier from a cancelled order. I had three to pick from in February! Although my heart still skips a beat when I see a BRG with white top, I have come to love my silver metallic Evie.
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Out of curiosity, did you have to pay any markup for that cancelled one? I passed on a couple offers from them in hopes that I'll get a completed build from them.
 
I'm in PA. Dealer is Otto's MINI in West Chester. I had no information at all from February 28 ordering to June 27 when the car went into the production queue. I think they also have very few allocations compared to others. In my case it worked out. It gave me the opportunity to switch to a resolute edition on May 4. Salesperson is saying he is hopeful i'll have mine by the end of August. Now i have mygarage.miniusa.com to get my information.

I wasn't aware of asking about available allocations when i ordered. A dealer certainly won't volunteer the fact that they don't have any allocations for awhile. They'll just say they will order and have no information after that. Even if you ask about allocations, you might not get a truthful answer. But i think when you get a production number, you know that the dealer just took one of their available allocations. I believe my dealer either did not have any allocations from February to June, or they prioritized someone else that ordered after me for some reason.

Maybe another way of asking about allocations is "How soon would i get a production number?" If they say "when you order" that would mean they have allocations. If they say "I don't know", that's probably not a good sign.
 
Even if they do offer information about “allocations,” it’s often meaningless. I was told in March that if I booked before the end of March, I was going to be in their “April allocation” but my car was still built at the end of May and sat at the port for at least a month (if it isn’t still there).
 
SameGuy said:
Even if they do offer information about “allocations,” it’s often meaningless. I was told in March that if I booked before the end of March, I was going to be in their “April allocation” but my car was still built at the end of May and sat at the port for at least a month (if it isn’t still there).
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That's how it works, the dealers get an allocation to place orders in, then the orders flow to the factory and suppliers for purchasing for the future production. Sitting at the port is a different story, but just in time manufacturing drives the rest of it.
 
inferno10 said:
Out of curiosity, did you have to pay any markup for that cancelled one? I passed on a couple offers from them in hopes that I'll get a completed build from them.
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Not sure if Stevens Creek marks up, but I called Santa Monica and they have a $10k markup on cars on the lot that were not picked up, Bob Smith Mini has a $5k markup.
 
inferno10 said:
Out of curiosity, did you have to pay any markup for that cancelled one? I passed on a couple offers from them in hopes that I'll get a completed build from them.
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There was no mark up on my purchase. I was shock because a week earlier I was offer the only Signature SE in NorCal in Sac for $3K over invoice. I was told that their dealer network didn't do markups. I don't know if they have changed policies since.
 
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