Comments on: Another Award Goes to MINI for Resale Value

By: seng

seng — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 23:16:51 +0000

Is there anyone who knows a place where i can get a decent mini for under 15 with gg mileage. My brother bought a 05 mini with only 6k mileage from a old lady for a good 12k.(San Jose) I was surprise to hear it from him and saw the receipt because i remember the whole fuss about the high resale value of mini. I think i am just going to give up and get myself a old school restored mini at LA mini dealership or Nevada dealership. I live in the bayarea over here in california.

By: John

John — Fri, 01 Oct 2004 22:31:56 +0000

I also have an '03 MCS in mint condition with very low KM (Canadian). I'm noticing the same thing zero response with a price lower than comparable used mini's even at the dealer. I just don't get it, the dealer tells me that the market to buy used minis's is very low and people are only looking to by used. Still no intrest, what can I do ???

By: Ailish

Ailish — Thu, 23 Sep 2004 23:47:35 +0000

Yes! There is someone who wants a 3 year old mini with 100,000+ miles on it! If anyone has one id love to hear from you because I think my budget wont otheriwise stretch.

By: Alvan Lichtenstein

Alvan Lichtenstein — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 22:24:29 +0000

I ORDERED A 05 MINI S CONV. WITH THE JOHNN COOPER WORKS.IS THERE ANY ONE OUT THERE THAT HAS DRIVEN ONE.

By: Gabe

Gabe — Sun, 29 Aug 2004 21:10:40 +0000

Cool Doug – best of the luck with the tC! Shoot me an email sometime.

By: Doug

Doug — Sun, 29 Aug 2004 19:23:46 +0000

hey guys, this seems to hold true pretty much. But in reality, it's inflated. Try to sell your Coops. Report findings and the offers you recieve.

Anyhow, I traded my Mini in for a Scion believe it or not! Yes, it's true. The fine folks at MINIUSA and BMWNA had frustrated and angered me BEYOND Belief over the past 18 months... so much that I got rid of the MINI.
I now own a Scion tC, it's a great car and I do not want to hear any of you talk KeeRap.
I am still a MINI enthusiast, will always be. I despise the Managment, Legal, Service, Sales and all that is corporate in regards to MINI. BUT I love the Vehicle itself, the people, the fun. I'll be around.

Gabe... We should talk sometime... The Scion Community has already made a big thing out of my switch....

By: elmor fudwel

elmor fudwel — Sat, 28 Aug 2004 14:59:17 +0000

Dillon, thanks for the suggestion. Have you by chance visited the website for Kelley Blue Book? (www.kbb.com)

They have a quoting system on there and I am wondering how it might differ from what you've suggested. I've used it a couple of times to figure pricing for my '02 MCS. Not to mention, I've read reviews on possible other cars that I was not familiar with.

For consumption by everyone: I'm wondering how the high resale values may affect sales. Many posters have mentioned their excitement on selecting such a highly valued car, however, if newbies are willing to wait and order & purchase their cars rather than buy used, does that not affect the resale value if an owner can't sale the car? Seems like a Catch 22...great resale value but no buyers??

By: Dillon

Dillon — Sat, 28 Aug 2004 08:38:58 +0000

…Gabe,good looking out for Lawrance. Elmor,get,”friendly” with some car mgr. at any dealership and see if they will let you look at their Kelly Black-not Blue-Book. That's how dealers come up with THEIR trade-in price(Trust me,I know). Damon,I respectfully say that it depends on what dealership you go to and what kind of reputation they have. I let one of the salepeople at the SCION of Union City(Atlanta)give me a trade-in price for my Pepper White '03 MC(with 26K). They offer me a little over 15K for it.

By: John

John — Fri, 27 Aug 2004 23:07:07 +0000

I was looking to trade my 03 MCS in for a Volvo V70R. With only 7800 miles on it, the dealer was willing to give me $22,000 trade-in (Oregon). Not too bad, but decided to trade in my other car for a Subaru and keep my MINI.

By: ukpylot

ukpylot — Fri, 27 Aug 2004 17:32:15 +0000

One thought I have is that most of us who keep our MINIs for a few years will have very high mileage – is there really going to be anyone who wants a 3 year old MINI with 100,000+ miles on it? I hope so!

By: Damon

Damon — Fri, 27 Aug 2004 16:37:21 +0000

More about my comment above about not being able to sell my 02 Cooper. MINI of Concorde (Bay Area) is where I bought the car and where I bought the 04 MCS. The Kelly Blue Book value as a trade-in was $16,500 and they offered me $15,100 with 17" S-LITES running lights and stripes added. I thought I'd sell it for the $18,900 private party value but as I mentioned not a single call after three weeks.

The Cooper will eventually drop a lot in value. The Cooper S will probably hold it's value better. Owning both cars and the Cooper for almost three years now, I'd highly recommend the Cooper S new or used.

By: Deborah

Deborah — Fri, 27 Aug 2004 15:30:17 +0000

Just as an aside, my friend Casey send me a link to this article… aren't we glad we don't have Nissans? http://money.cnn.com/2004/08/26/pf/autos/bc.autos.freecar.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes

By: dan

dan — Fri, 27 Aug 2004 13:31:28 +0000

When I traded my '02 Cooper in back in late April – a few dealers were willing to give me close to book. One of the lowest offers I got came from a MINI dealer, had they been closer to the others – I might have gotten an MCS. Most people were impressed by how much the car held it's value though.

By: Irmiger

Irmiger — Fri, 27 Aug 2004 05:30:17 +0000

I, for one, don't plan on selling my '05 Cooper for quite some time. When I do though, it'll be great to know that it's value will stil be there when I need it...to buy another Cooper!

Side note: San Francisco Mini won't even touch used Minis because of the high sticker price. Kind of supports all your thoughts on the "hard to sell" subject.

By: elmor fudwel

elmor fudwel — Fri, 27 Aug 2004 05:11:49 +0000

Something else that I thought of would be the different model years and the various amounts that garner.

For example, would an '02 get more or less because of it being a first year model run car. It also would have certain nuances not associated with the '03 and '04, for example.

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 27 Aug 2004 04:41:25 +0000

Well I was surprised this past week, looking for a 2nd vehicle I thought I'd see what I'd get as a trade in and most of the dealer offers were HALF what I paid for it less than a year ago :-/

I know you expect to take a hit trading compared to private sale but half the price is crazy...

By: Gavin

Gavin — Fri, 27 Aug 2004 02:30:24 +0000

I agree with Frank and elmor about the problem selling high value cars used. We have our '02 Cooper advertised online in the Boston Globe and stickers in the windows. The only interest we had was from someone who was really keen until they realised that for not much more and a bit of a wait they could have a new one. Our car is mint with very low miles too. The local dealer offered us 3K less than what we're asking and said they'd sell it on their lot for the same as us. Somehow we didn't jump at the chance of giving the dealer 3K after the trade in price they gave us on the Miata 2.5 yrs ago..!! :) I'm sure it would sell in a heartbeat from their lot though. Maybe we'll come to a better deal with them.

By: elmor fudwel

elmor fudwel — Fri, 27 Aug 2004 02:00:56 +0000

Any word on what the dealers are giving on trade ins? Are they doing stricly blue book or ??

By: Gabe

Gabe — Fri, 27 Aug 2004 01:59:45 +0000

I would have posted it yesterday but I wanted to give Lawrence his due :)

By: Dillon

Dillon — Fri, 27 Aug 2004 01:52:41 +0000

…Gabe,I figured you would include the above story on the website when I read the same story in the(8-26-04)edition of USA Today in Atlanta. Anyway,it does my heart good that if I decide to sell my '03 MINI,I would get a great resale/trade-in value than;gasp,a Ford Focus.