Great story from AutoNews about how Nebraska’s new MINI dealership rose out of Ford ashes. Here’s an excerpt:
>It was a bittersweet event. Mini replaced a Ford franchise that Markel sold to another dealer in 2004 with the hope of getting Mini. The Ford franchise had been part of Markel Ford-BMW; the family retains the BMW dealership.
>But Markel has no regrets: “This is going to be so much fun coming from Ford. It had gotten to the point of bitterness, and I couldn’t deal with the prospect of trying to find a way to grind out the volume numbers.
>”As a dealership, we are much better at customer service rather than being volume vendors.”
Unfortunately you have to be a member to read the rest of the story. The good news is that AutoNews (normally quite pricey) is free this entire week. You just need to register as a regular user (they won’t charge you).
[ Dealer Sheds Ford Dealer for MINI Auto News
“Every time I get into one, it just cracks me up. It takes me back to my misbegotten youth.” – Tim Markel
Looks like I have to talk to Tim about buying a car. Thanks for the article this is one I missed.
Instead of registering – go to bugmenot.com. Great site that has a bunch of id’s for use on sites that require registration.
Hooray for Nebraska finally getting a dealer! Now of course no sooner does that happen than I move to Minneapolis, but hey – we’ve got Motorwerks MINI right here in town so it’s all good. To any NE folk looking for any body work, the collision center there at Markel does really great work and their rates are very reasonable. They did me right so I wanted to shout them out. Ask for Gary.
NS in MN
<em>“As a dealership, we are much better at customer service rather than being volume vendors.”</em>
Hummph. Markel already lost a great chance to prove to me their commitment to customer service by categorically refusing to offer warranty service to a friend when he rolled in with a serious problem and 50,128 miles on the odometer. Baron in KC had no difficulty honoring the warranty, and even provided a loaner for the week it took to get a required part in.
There’s customer service, and then there’s lip service. :-7
You’re spot on about Baron in KC. Bought our 06 MCS there and that was the best auto purchasing experience ever in 37 years. Only problem is that they are 3 hours away–but worth the drive.
Same here – had such a great experience with both buying and service at Baron. But the best part is having Todd around to pimp out your MINI!