No Big Deal On the Mini

For the last two weeks I’ve been going back and forth via telephone with the local Mini dealership about a red 2005 convertible my cousin Cindy wants to buy. Their asking price of $15,995 was a little bit high, and the car needs about $600 of minor cosmetic work like replacing the leather boot around the shift lever and the parking brake.

Thus far I’ve talked them down to $15,200 with everything repaired (basically $14,600 without the repairs). You would think in the midst of record snowfall that they’d be a little more flexible on the price of a convertible, especially considering it has been on the market since November. Buyers aren’t exactly lining up for this vehicle at the moment.

Last week, in between connecting flights (yes, travel has been a challenge due to weather) and the dealer going back to his managers multiple times, they decided to retract their offer from the prevous week and not sell the car for $15,200. They’re back to $16k. Wow.

I’m not sure how typical/ethical that is but we’re not caving. Cindy doesn’t need a car and though they’ve been very low pressure, I think on the back end dealers’ modus operandi still consists of the same tactics as before. I need lessons in negotiating. We’ll keep looking.

How Car Dealers Suck

This isn’t an attack on car dealers per se, but…

Automotive News published a blurb on the latest J.D. Power and Associates Sales Satisfaction Index, a survey of over 48,000 new car buyers in May and June of 2009.

What they found was that 21% of the time the reasons why prospective buyers didn’t buy from a dealer could be attributed to one or more of the following:

Dealer personnel were rude, not honest, not knowledgeable, pressed customers too hard, ignored them or wouldn’t give them a firm price.

That’s a classic list of iffy business practices. Is it any wonder?

[Source: Automotive News]