MINI abuse!

My newly ordered liquid yellow convertible Cooper with leather and chromed to the nines was struck from behind during the drive from the Service department to the Showroom earlier this week. I hadn't even had a chance to see it! It was ordered the end of April and finally would have been ready for pickup today had a horrid minivan not struck it from behind with enough force to total the front end of the minivan and cause serious knee injuries to the car jockey. Now I gotta wait until October for another one! I curse all minivans - they should be banned from existence!

Jo

Reply to
Jimini
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"Jimini" wrote in news:Xv%Be.133052$9A2.42965@edtnps89:

It's probably the driver -- minivans usually have poor to fair visibility, but wait until you encounter an Avalanche or H1 (or the local equivalent) backing up into you... they just can't see out the back that isn't as tall as they are or a few carlengths away. I shudder to think how many children and pets have suffered because of it.

Reply to
dw in Palatine

Just curious, but did you go to see the wrecked Mini? If so did you check the VIN number to see if it was the one you ordered? The reason I'm asking is because it's not unheard of for a dealer to have a friend or relative who stopped in the dealership and said they'd really like to have a Mini, but could he get them one sooner than 10 months? The dealer then looks at his inventory and sees the exact color and option package that the relative wants, and it's due in the next day, so he gives that one to the relative, and tells the customer that it was wrecked, and he's going to have to re-order it. Bytelling the customer this story, the customer is upset, but figures that it was an accident, so there was nothing that could be done, so he waits for another 10 months. If he told the customer that he sold it to a relative instead, the customer would never come back to the dealer, and would tell all his friends not to go there. The other possibility is that the relative did order a car, and it was his car that was wrecked, not yours, so the dealer looked at his incoming inventory to find an exact match, and the one he found was yours, so he told you yours was wrecked and the relative got yours. When the car is a limited model with a high demand, this happens a lot more than you think. Of course, none of this may be the case and it might have really been yours that was wrecked, but if it was me, I'd want to be positive.

-- Miniman

Reply to
Miniman

Sheesh! I thought I was going to see only the good in people but now you've got me thinking. Am I too naive? Now I've got a bug to call them so I can actually visit the wreck. When the Sales Manager called me, he sounded very nervous so I took that to mean he was waiting for me to explode. He continued to sound nervous even after I told him I was willing to wait for the next production run. I suppose he could have been nervous because he was telling an out and out lie. Come to think of it, the dealership did change hands the week after I ordered the car. Hmmmm...

Jo

Reply to
Jimini

On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 00:27:26 GMT, "Jimini" wrote:

I understand your sentiments. I hated to mention it, but Ithought it was something you should consider, since I work for one of the big three automakers, and even as an employee, the dealers will try to shaft us. When I go to a dealer to buy a new car, I've double checked all my information, and when I get there, the dealers always try to lie to me about various charges....like advertising. The dealers add an advertising charge to my new car, stating that they are entitled to do that by the manufacturer. Most people would just accept that and pay it. Not me....when the dealer tells me that they have the right to charge for advertising, I tell them, that they are correct, that they do have the right to charge me for it.....and I have the right to not pay it. My company had an independent survey done, and one of the questions they asked was what the customer disliked the most about the new car ownership process.. The overwhelming response was having to deal with the salespeople. The customer always felt like they were being cheated and lied to. I don't know BMW's marketing strategy for the Mini, and they may be totally honest and upfront with the customer, but having dealt with the US carmakers dealers, I'm leary about anything a dealer tells me. I will say that my buying experience with my Mini was first rate and I would highly recommend the dealer to anyone....Crown Mini of Richmond, Va., so it's a good possibility that your dealer is being totally honest with you about what happened. Something that most people don't know, and that my company makes very clear to the employees......just because you ordered a car and put a downpayment on it doesn't mean the dealer has to sell it to you. We've had employees order a new vehicle with a unique color combination and option package from the factory, and when it came in, the dealer loved it so he kept it for himself. The dealer also has the right to sell it to someone else if he's offered more money for it, which has happened to some of my co-workers. I'm hoping that I'm wrong and that the dealer was being honest with you, but either way, it's still a shame that you didn't get your Mini when you expected it. Good Luck!

-- Miniman

Reply to
Miniman

Went to the "viewing" today. Actually started out as only viewing photos of the wreck but luckily the bodyshop guy was there and invited me to see it for myself. Apparently the minivan actually lifted the back end up (a piece of the minivan's front bumper is still stuck under the MINI) and pushed it forward into another vehicle so there's also some front end damage - which I hadn't heard about. The bodyshop guy was very upfront and told us exactly what needed to be done to fix it (not that I'd consider buying it now). Roughly $8000 worth of rear-end damage (front end unknown at present). The insurance company is also being chased for the depreciation. I'm glad you made me paranoid enough to go see it for myself. At least I got to sit in it for a while. Now I've got to wait until the 2006 specs come out to order another one. My girlfriend (a fatalist) said it was obviously a lemon to begin with and that's why it was fated to be damaged before delivery :-)

Jo

Reply to
Jimini

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