Comments on: The Geography of Buying a MINI

By: Dayla

Dayla — Wed, 20 Oct 2004 08:33:58 +0000

I made the decision to purchase and am now chasing down dealers as far away as Nashville – I live in Seattle – trying to find a new MINI S that will be shipped in 4-6 months instead of the 15 months for all of the West Coast dealers. No wonder dealers are selling at MSRP it will cost an additional $1000 to either pick it up or have it shipped to my location.

By: Dillon

Dillon — Mon, 09 Aug 2004 09:19:59 +0000

In GA,it seems that the dividing line is Atlanta. Golbal Imports MINI tends to get people who want MINIs from the Northern part of the city and state;and Hank Arron MINI tends to get people who want MINIs from the Southern part of the city and state. Golbal usually has the best selection and best price;however,one has to deal with the,”…great,you can't afford a BMW therefore you're second class” attitude from most of the Sales and Service Staff. The direct oppositive is usually true with Hank Arron.

By: Travis

Travis — Sun, 08 Aug 2004 22:13:43 +0000

Service wouldn't be such a big issue if you could take your MINI to a BMW dealer for the routine stuff like oil changes and the like. I also face a 3 1/2 drive to Kansas City for service.

By: Pebbles

Pebbles — Sun, 08 Aug 2004 22:02:54 +0000

We need help here in Texas. With only 5 dealerships, there are many MINI owners who face a 2-3 hour drive just to see the service dept.

By: John

John — Sun, 08 Aug 2004 19:17:38 +0000

Here in the Northwest, we have two dealers – one in Portland, OR, one in the Seattle-Tacoma, WA area. One has up to a year wait list and there isn't een taking orders right now. The demand in the NW is high. I bought from a Chicago area dealer and am having the car shipped out here.

By: Sunil

Sunil — Sun, 08 Aug 2004 18:47:16 +0000

Even in a place like Washington, DC, the lack of dealers becomes an issue. We live in Alexandria, VA, and our nearest dealer is in Sterling, VA (about 1 1/4 hours away). Our local BMW dealer (only a mile away) has been rumored to have lost their bid for a MINI dealership.

We're almost ready to get one, but the long drive for service is one stumbling block we have to get over.

By: Dustin

Dustin — Sun, 07 Sep 2003 06:56:55 +0000

There are zero dealers in Vermont, zero in New Hampshire... we live in Central VT and are purchasing ours from Peabody of Boston!... the servicing is going to be a huge pain!

ps... our dark silver/black MCS was built a day and a half ago!

By: Gabe

Gabe — Tue, 19 Aug 2003 23:18:52 +0000

Chicago's not too far behind with three around the city and another just 45-50 miles away in Milwaukee. It's pretty easy for people in the area to shop at all four.

By: Frank

Frank — Tue, 19 Aug 2003 23:14:59 +0000

South Florida is the biggest MINI market in the nation after California. We have 4 MINI dealerships in a 60 mile radius (2 of them in Miami and 1 in Ft Lauderdale) and yet another one coming up soon (Vista MINI in Pompano Beach).

Buying or getting a MINI service in this area is a non issue. In Miami alone I see at least 20 to 30 MINIs every day...it has become a very common car here.

Also Florida has a total of 7 MINI dealers as follows:

Miami = 2 Ft Lauderdale = 1 Pompano Beach = 1 (Coming soon) West Palm Beach = 1 Orlando = 1 Tampa = 1 Jacksonville = 1

By: Lee Langston

Lee Langston — Tue, 19 Aug 2003 21:19:18 +0000

I would sure like to know how they decided to place dealerships. Here in NC, there is only one dealership, Flow in Winston Salem. W-S is very close to Greensboro and between them, they are the 3rd largest metro area in NC. Both Raleigh and Charlotte are much larger. Did the dealers here in Raleigh and in Charlotte just decide they did not want to go to the trouble of having the seperate showroom?