I'm looking into a buying a new Mini and I plan to trade my current vehicle in to the Mini dealer. If I'm getting a Mini built and my trade-in is part of the deal, am I without wheels until my new Mini arrives? Or do I put down a deposit until delivery? How much? Just curious on how this works, I've always bought my cars straight off the lot.

Hope there might be one on a lot to my liking......

Thanks, and hope to be motoring soon.

 

My MA, Richard at D&R MINI told me that I could get a better deal with my trade would be to go to say a CarMax and sell them my car. I did it and then went non stop straight to D&R to order MIB. Thankfully we had the minivan so that we had something to drive for the 8 weeks it took to build MIB.

 

Most dealers will give you a trade-in price that is good for 30 days. Get a preliminary quote when you order, then get a final when your car is on the boat.

Or sell it on craigslist for more $$$. You will need to find a buyer who will agree to wait for the car, of course.

 

I'm in the same boat. Basically you order and put your $500 down. Then when your Mini is delivered you take your trade-in in for the appraisal and do the deal then and pay the balance on your Mini.

They can appraise your vehicle now but they'd need to do it again in 6-8 weeks (or however long it takes to get delivery in your area).

Short answer, no you're not without a vehicle until you actually close the Mini deal with your dealer.

 

If you're in a state with sales tax, and buying your MINI in your state, there may be an advantage to trading in beyond just the hassle-free nature of the deal.

In WA state, for example, if you buy a $25,000 car and trade-in a $15,000 car you'll only pay sales tax on the $10,000. If you sell the car on Craigslist, you'll pay the sales tax on the full $25,000 (they can't net it out unless its all part of the very same transaction). If the sales tax rate were 8.6%, you'd better get at least $1,290 more for the car than in the trade-in. That's probably not that hard to do since most dealers really don't pay top dollar for your trade-in unless they're trying to earn your business with a really lucrative sale (i.e. you're somehow paying MSRP on an Aztek).

I've done it both ways so I don't have a set opinion on which way is best, but you may need to take this into account depending on your state.

 

Good evening,

We asked similar questions while ordering my MCS yesterday afternoon. Albuquerque's Mini store wants $1500 deposit for a MC, $2000 for an MCS, can be cash or check or card. Rest is payable on delivery.

They do trade-ins (to be arranged as we get closer to delivery date), but I was advised that the offer will be well under Blue Book and that I may want to consider selling it myself to get more money. My plan is to offer my Escape for above the KBB value but below the Carmax price so I get OK money plus it's easy to get rid of.

Timeline: Ordered 6/12, 4pm. Email from Mini with Production # 6/13, 9am. Lounge website adjusted to reflect my color/options for PN on 6/13, 7pm. My car is "on order" with no projected schedule as of 10pm.

--doug