I have a 06 MCS with the DINAN S2 upgrade. It is the checkmate edition. Pretty sweet ride. I got lucky and bought it for a steal from the original owner since he wanted a new beamer! Well now Im wanting to sell it due to just wanting something else! What would be a good way to determine fair market value. I have all the original invoices for the upgrades (parts and labor total almost $10,000) and it still has about 5000 miles of factory warranty left. No issues or problems. Non-smoker. Excellent condition. Dealership is trying to get me to come in and trade with an offer of $18,000. Any ideas?

 

I can give you Black Book, NADA, and MMR if you give me the VIN, miles, and your location.

 

WMWRE33536TL18684, 44600 miles, Located in Eatonton, Ga

I know they wont account for the Dinan stuff, but surely that is worth something????

 

Wish it could, but it wont. Mods generally tend to negatively affect a car's market/resale value.

 

I'd listen to this offer very closely, esp with 44K on a 2 year old car...

 

Dealers pretty much exclusively use Mannheim auction figures for their trade-in values. If you're selling it outright try to get a few thousand more than that. The $18K you were offered as trade in sounds good to me too, the much admired MINI residuals have taken a beating in the market lately just like all other used cars.

 

I agree. the best time to trade these cars in was last summer as P/U peaked at $4.50 and MINIs were the hottest thing on Planet Earth since sliced cheese, ergo empty dealer used car lots. based on the diff between what I paid and my trade amount, my 2005's depreciation averaged out to a little over 7.2%/year over 4 years, which is stellar, with most of that hit happening in year 4. I imagine that's prob inched up closer to 9, maybe 10% now, into Lexus territory.

 

wickedwitch, you pick up that car near Philly around Feb of last year and you're from KY or TN? If so, I was going to look at it if the deal fell through with you.

 

I would rather sell it out right if I could. I hate to take it to the dealer, not get what they are telling me they will give me and then pay way too much for the car I want. So I think Im better off hoping someone will buy it and I can just go get the car I want for a better price. I am very fortunate that I was not stupid enough to put that much money into it in the beginning!!! Guy had $42000 in it with all the DINAN stuff and the wing, floor mats, ect. Im not kidding. Have all the receipts! So I guess I really shouldnt complain about a couple of grand!!

 

Yep that is me. The car is awesome. I have actually moved back home to georgia, got a promotion and bigger paycheck, so I want something else.....ok Im spoiled! So what did you get?

 

Yeah, that's cool. My mother-in-law lives about 10 miles from that seller. I had talked to him extensively on the phone and was going to look at it while I was visiting in that area at the time.

I ended up getting a stock 04 MCS here in Pittsburgh. (It was my backup purchase if the one in Philly didn't work out.) It's prior owners weren't quite so careful so it has a little wear and tear but was a one-owner with records and low mileage. I paid considerably less than what your car was but mine is two years older without all the upgrades, though I have installed a couple since.

That was a really solid car you got for a very fair price. The premium that Dinan charges for their stuff is debatable but when buying used, it's nice to have the warranty, dealer support and all that. You certainly were able to take advantage of his checkbook in terms of the upgrades. He seemed like a stand-up seller. Even though I was in town the day before you and had expressed serious interest, once you indicated you were on en route, he called and said he was going to hold the car for you until you had the chance to look at it. I think you had to sell your MB? I really didn't want to spend quite that much and you seemed pretty committed to the sale. I told him to call me if things didn't work out. I'm glad they did though... Small world, eh?

I had tried to get his BMW dealer (Otto, I think) to do a courtesy trade so I could save on sales tax here in PA, had the deal gone through. They were weird about it, wanting to charge $500 or more; I can't recall. That basically offset almost all the tax advantage. I've (privately) sold used cars in the past when purchasing a new car and the dealers were very willing to do a courtesy trade for the typical state doc fees, like $52.50 or so...

You got a nice car. I don't know if I'd be in such a hurry to part with it but, hey, I trade the toy car every year or so, it seems. I'll probably keep the MINI another year, until I can get another garage built, hopefully. My wife wants a vert again so I'll probably look at those options. I'm ready to move on to a real, dedicated track car and possibly some racing so I'm hoping to pick up an IT/PT car.

What are you looking for now? You might be able to get a bit more out of your car by selling yourself, if you're patient enough to wait for the right buyer and advertise it effectively. Knowing what you paid for the car though, it breaks down to a pretty decent $/month number to drive that car even at $18K trade-in. You really can't complain.

 

Manheim Market Report (MMR) shows a trade-in of $16,750 (above average). That doesn't include the aftermarket adds you might have. This is what most dealers use to evaluate trade-ins.

Black Book has $12,200 trade in and $14725 retail.
Add $600 for Nav
$400 for auto trans
$600 for sport

deduct $400 w/o leather
$350 w/o sunroof


$18,000 sounds pretty good. Of course you could get more selling it yourself.

 

WW if that car has a good reliability and service record it may be worth it to try and sell it outright. the reason why I traded my R53 was that it was a shop queen, many many problems cheerfully fixed under warranty, and I didnt want to have to hassle selling something with a spotty record for maybe a thou over the trade offer.

 

Luckily I have not had any problems with it other than the thermostat housing leaking. I took it to global imports and they fixed it (under warranty) but they werent happy about it. Why is it they treat people so crappy? They tried to say the DINAN stuff voided my warranty, but luckily the BMW guy came over and told the service guy he was incorrect. DINAN warranty's all their work and it can be done at the MINI dealership. I had a VW and and Audi TT, both had CRAPPY service also. Syncronizers in the TT's manual tranny went bad, I took it to the shop, they said I didnt know how to drive a manual but when my warranty was up it was like you need a new tranny, total cost $9000! So I put some stuff in it to get it to the dealership and they gave me an even swap for a diesel jetta which I loved and kept for 3 years! Sorry to get on a rant there!!!