I bought an eight month old Yaris from Motorpoint, it was £2k less than main dealer price for an identical spec, age and mileage. There had obviously been some sort of auction of ex-hire cars as there were loads around.The main dealer wouldn't shift on price, but neither would Motorpoint. The Motorpoint cars were all better prepared, clean, tidy without annoying little things missing like aerials, wipers and handbooks. The main dealer wouldn't show me the V5 for any car (maybe wanted to hide it was ex-hire), whereas Motorpoint had no such qualms and freely admitted they were ex-hire.

Annoyingly, the main dealer rang me several times in the following weeks to ask if I was buying their car, despite me making it clear I wasn't.

The Motorpoint salesman handed me the keys to several models and left me to my own devices. Readily agreed to a test drive and wasn't bothered when I said I'll go home and sleep on it. He obviously had me sussed and didn't try to flog finance, gap insurance or paint protection. All in all a much better experience (for me) than dealing with a pushy dealer.

Around the same time, a neighbour bought a second hand Merc from a main dealer and they delighted in recounting how they were fawned over and presented with a bouquet of flowers on the back seat when collecting the car, but couldn't see they were paying for them.

These minis are like the parent company BMW all about spec,packages and extras. Check that you are getting like for like car for the same price. Worth looking at Autotrader or Ebay for comparisons. If buying two year old still in warranty so no problem going outside dealers. A private sale should be OK if you do the checks

You've been around long enough i suspect HB to make that 2 or 3% more expensive main dealer car the same or better value when you've negotiated the right service/care package for the next couple of years into the deal, maybe something extra on the warranty too.

Plus buying from the main dealer and pre negotiated maintenance should see more willing back up and possible goodwill after warranty has expired than the motorpoint supplied vehicle might benefit from.

As for BT's experience, i humbly suggest there's a world of difference in buying a Yaris to a MINI, the chance of there being any problems in the first 5 years at least worth mentioning are on a Yaris is minimal, this may not prove to be the case with a MINI, so may be better having some goodwill in the bank?