a letter which BMW have not answered - Druckversion

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a letter which BMW have not answered - zorroZ - 29.08.2007

Dear friends,
I am writing this email to you out of unsatisfaction and great expectation that this might change some things in the sale process and price formation of MINI cars in Croatia.
I am very much interested to purchase a MINI, and I have taken a test drive in Rijeka, Croatia (second largest city in the country). Despite the fact that there is a BMW-MINI dealer in Rijeka, I have been waiting for this test drive for 3 months.
On the quality of service provided by sales team of BMW-MINI Rijeka, I have no complaints. Same as to the quality and driving abilities of the car: Simply the best in it's range.
After finishing the test drive, I have decided to do the configuration of my MINI with the sales person of BMW-MINI Rijeka. And this has been done manually, because this BMW dealer has no access to sytem and cannot do computer configuration. The process has taken us one and a half hours, and the final outcome was for my MINI Cooper EUR 32,918.
When I came home, I did the configuration on most of the official european BMW-MINI sites, with exactly the same configuration, and the end result was in range from EUR 25,000-27,000.
As you can see from the chart bellow, base model price has a reasonable difference that might be justified by different taxation system in Croatia, but price difference on additional equipment is at average 60% higher compared to prices in Germany.
So, my modest opinion is that the difference is not because of the taxation in Croatia, but due to high margin appetites of your croatian partner.
This is the configuration, and price difference for the same model in Germany and Croatia:

Mini Cooper
Code Base model
DE 17.800,00
HR 20.142,00
Difference 13,16%

Pepper white 850
0,00
0,00

Flame Spoke 2RH
560,00
880,00
57,14%

Leder Redwood T9E5
1.100,00
1.730,00
57,27%

Brushed Alloy 4BF
230,00
370,00
60,87%

Chilli paket 872
3.100,00
4.870,00
57,10%

Automatic getribe 205
1.540,00
2.415,00
56,82%

Multifunktion 249
250,00
256,00
2,40%

Chrome interieur 345
150,00
207,00
38,00%

Sitzheizung 494
290,00
463,00
59,66%

Klimaautomatik 534
330,00
524,00
58,79%

Radio MINI Boost 6FC
200,00
317,00
58,50%

MINI HiFi 6FD
470,00
744,00
58,30%

TOTAL EURO
26.020,00
32.918,00
26,51%

After reviewing this chart, I have asked for an explanation from your croatian partner company Tomić and Co.
Mr. Livio Raffaelli, MINI brand manager at Tomić and Co., has informed me by email that the price difference comes from additional taxation in Croatia (local term „trošarina“ applicable on imports of cars, but this is not logical if we compare base model price difference and additional equipement price difference. Not just that, I have spoken to other car importers and information received is contrary to statement by Mr. Raffaelli. Conclusion is simple, high margin of your importer Tomić and Co.
Out of my discontent, I have registered myself at care caffe forum, where I have made statements as above. I can tell you that a lot of people have replied to me having the same experience about the price formation of BMW group in Croatia. Many people have made statements that they would buy BMW group cars if the situation with price formation by your importer is not as bad as it currently is.

I can only hope that this letter might change some thing related to the situation with your distributor in Croatia, because I think it is in the interest of BMW Group and it's customers to clarify current situation.

With kind regards,

Rudi Cabrijan

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a letter which BMW have not answered - PhilipHubs - 29.08.2007

Hi Rudi,

it is very interesting to see the price differences in Croatia vs. Germany.

Have you sent your overview to someone at BMW/MINI headquarters in Munich as well??
This is an independent online forum of MINI enthusiasts and hence we don't have close ties to BMW/MINI's sales organization.

Maybe you want to see if it is an option to import an MINI to Croatia yourself instead of buying it from a local dealer.
As far as I know the Netherlands have the smallest tax rate on cars. I have no idea what the implications of an import are and whether it is less expensive than buying from a local dealer, so you have to explore this yourself.

BMW/MINI will always protect their dealers and importers in countries where they don't have BMW/MINI owned distribution. So don't expect any help from them.

Cheers to Croatia!
Philip

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a letter which BMW have not answered - abso - 29.08.2007

hey

i cant help you with your problem, but i experienced that BMW isnt answering emails. i wrote them 4 mails and all are until today unanswered.

i would go directly to your dealer and ask him in person

greetz

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a letter which BMW have not answered - zorroZ - 30.08.2007

guys, thanks for the support and advice. i have contacted bmw germany and they promised to investigate the issue. fingers crossed they will do that. thanks once again. i will keep you informed.
rudi

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