Hi first post, great forum you guys have here

I'm looking at a Dark Silver MCS right now from a private seller, he's asking 16500. It has 38k on it and manufacturer warranty up to 3/01/07 and I called Ask Mini and it is fully transferrable. I drove it and it feels great but seller has no maintenance records. Claims he bought it from his friend at a dealer where it had been traded in. Now is this just a really good deal or should I be weary of some major malfunction he's not telling me about.

 

That is a good price. Not fantastic, but good. Will the seller let you take the MINI to a mechanic for a check-up? That would be best.
Good luck and hope it works out for you.

 

Lots of maintenance information is stored in the microchip in the ignition key. You might take it to a dealer to have that scanned.

I don't think the price is crazy. But without knowing which specific packages it has it is hard to say.

You have 12k left on the warranty...that should bring you some peace of mind!

 

If the MINI has 38k on it, technically all the maintenance should have been free and should have been done by a MINI dealer (if it's free, why not?)...
Just call a MINI dealer and ask them what has been done to the car (be prepared to give them the VIN). They should be able to do it.
When I bought my Corvette back in 2001, all I did was call my local Chevy dealer and give them the VIN and they were able to tell me every thing that had ever been done to the car.

I don't think that the price is out of line at all for a private seller.

Good luck on making your purchase!

POWER to the MINI's!