Is there any indication how the factory JCW cars are doing on resale as compared to a Cooper S? I couldn't find any book values. I wonder if the premium paid for the JCW is lost when it comes to resale?

Thoughts?

 

I doubt it - the STI commands a premium over the WRX, M3 over the 335, SVT over the Focus, GTI over the Golf. You get what I mean. Of course it isn't going to be dollar for dollar as much more as the difference in price is from the factory, but that isn't why you buy it.

 

The reason U cant find any book values is that they've not been manufactured very long; we're still in the first model year. And who knows in this current economic climate where MINI values are going anyway. Check in about 6 months and y'll have a better idea.

 

Really....no offense intended but the factory JCW just hit these shores in July and I would guess no more than 500-1000 or less have been sold, and very few have been resold yet. I would think a year after introduction you'd start getting a more realistic answer to your question.

 

This should help, scroll all the way to bottom of page: http://www.prestigemini.com/MiscPage


This car was originally almost $44K with all the equipment. It's never been titled but has just over 8K miles on it and we are selling it for $36K which I personally think is a bit TOO aggressive.

 

Lease residuals might give you an idea of what MINI FS thinks resale values will be like.

 

All the equipment includes over $10K of dealer installed options with the dealer mark-up included in there. If it was $44K from the factory, that's one thing - this is an entirely different thing. The dealer wants to make the MSRP look really high to try and justify the sales price.

I've sold my last two MINIs on ebay after about a year and only discounted a couple of grand off of MSRP. They both had extremely low miles, but at the time the dealers weren't discounting them, so mine held their resale very well. We'll see what happens as the economy goes off the cliff and if dealers start discounting to move inventory. Say what you want, but I'd rather the dealer hold MSRP on these so that they'll hold resale later. I know everyone wants a "deal", but in the end it just diminishes the value for everyone.

 

Sorry but I have to say you are incorrect here. This car had all of the accessories put on it before the mileage and the sticker has not changed. We do not charge any dealer markup whatsoever on any of our cars. The prices reflected for the accessories are exactly what sales got charged by service/parts to put those things on the car. All of those accessories have value too. I think a 2009 JCW that was 44K with no mileage is a steal at 36K with only 8K miles especially considering the JCW suspension, JCW wheels, etc.

 

It clearly states: Dealer Installed Accessories, and they were added at their full MSRP plus overpriced installation charges - so, you can think I'm wrong all day long - but, your service department is gouging people compared to what my local dealer will do.

Suede Steering Wheel w/John Cooper Works Carbon Fiber Bottom Cover (not worth $1,000)$1,125.00
Portable Navigation (no mark-up - please)$760.00
John Cooper Works Door Sill Illuminated (ditto on the mark-up)$989.00
Black Carpet Floor Mats (Front And Rear)$105.00
18" Black John Cooper Works Wheels (way over-priced and no trade given for the stock 17's)$3,289.00
Carbon Fiber Rear Door Handle$245.00
Rubber Boot Mat$59.50
Black Grill Side Side Scuttle$55.00
Black Driving Lights (over-priced)$797.00
Carbon Fiber Hood Scoop$354.00
Strut Brace (over-priced and marked-up)$350.00John Cooper Works Sport Suspension (1,000 to install?)$2,175.00
Total Accesories Added To MINI$10,303.50

 

I paid less than half that for the exact same thing, including installation (which took less than 30 mins.).

 

Anybody is entitled to have their opinion on what is overpriced or what is worth this or that. Every service department needs to make money somehow and obviously they cannot sell everything at their cost to do that. You are not taking into account the labor that it costs to install some of these accessories and that every service department has a different labor rate. Did you know for instance that it takes a speedy technician about 5 hours to install the JCW suspension? Not so speedy, about 8. Regardless, I do not work in the service department and we are two completely separate entities. I was just stating facts according to what I know and what I know is that our sales department is selling a 2009 JCW with 8K miles for only 36K which was originally almmost 44K with installed accessories. Not a bad deal in my estimation.

 

The sad thing about this car is that it has a lot of expensive JCW CF bling, but doesn't even have the JCW Aero kit.

The portable nav for $700+ is just a Garmin 360, a discontinued mid-line model that you can get for $160 new on Amazon. That means the special MINI mount and MINI screen graphics come out to $600. That is seriously not a bad deal by any stretch of imagination. I have a Garmin 760 with a nice CravenSpeed mount that can be had for about half the above quoted cost.

 

Personally, i'd rather have the painted wheel arches and the aero kit from the factory for $1250 than pay 3 times that for a slightly nicer one w/o the painted wheel arches.

Most of you seem to overlook labor when factoring in what you think is or what is not worth it. You are not just paying for the parts but also what it costs to install the parts.

 

I sold BMW's for 10 years before I went to law school, and prior to that my dad owned a BMW dealership in New Jersey, so I've got a little background on this.

Dealer installed options depreciate at a rapid pace, especially when you're looking at their suggested retail price (marked-up over cost) and outrageously priced installation charges (because as you said - the service department is making their money on the install).

The car before the options is $33,300, it's got 8,000 miles and a bunch of not so desireable addons - except for the JCW suspension. IMO - $36,000 is a lot of money for that rig - and, I don't see it moving anytime soon to a knowlegeable buyer.

 

I didn't overlook labor, especially that for the JCW steering wheel. I guess the shop has $1000/hr rates?

Let's see about this...

JCW Alcantara Steering Wheel $585.00 MSRP
JCW Carbon FIber cover $87.00 MSRP
Total $672.00

To get to the $1125 sticker, that makes labor (1/2 hour install) and markup: $453

A lot of people who would like this car won't buy it because it's overloaded with dealer accessories and bling that they won't want. Any potential customer will like some of it, but won't want all of it.

On top of that, I (and many others here) know we can get many of the accessories online with a 20% discount and install them ourselves at a huge savings. Even the suspension can be bought at a discount, even if the install is still 5-8 hrs.

Sorry, but I have to agree with others that the car is overpriced. My dealer has something similar, a PW/PW Cooper S with ALL the JCW stuff. It was the car I test drove before ordering my factory JCW. It's at the dealer on the showroom floor where it just sits, and sits, and sits....

 

Very well said. altho my dealer is "dealing" on their lot stock, they are holding fast to msrp (or a tiny bit less, like for repeats) for ordered cars. I wonder how much longer they'll be able to hold out, however.

And yes that is a very overpriced JCW IMO

 

I would say, in regads to the car from Prestige, this:

When you buy a totally stock car and start adding lots of personalized parts, it does not necessarily add to the value. For example, I have a buddy who worked over his Honda Civic with all sorts of goodies. While he liked it, not everyone else did. When he went to sell the car, he did not get back near as much as he thought, he actually ended up selling the car for less than he paid for it even after installing a bunch of goodies. I'm not saying that the car mentioned here for sale is not nice because it is, it is just that when you add a lot of parts that aren't standard, your chances of recouping that value goes down.

I would agree that I prefer the Aero Kit over the JCW Aero Kit. I like the solid color scheme. I also have had issue with cleaning/removing road tar from the black wheel well flares (the semi-flat black, semi-rough black plastic). Painted areas are much easier to clean. I am not much a fan of the rear of the JCW kit either. I do like the black grill trim on the JCW though. I am in the process of ordering my JCW through a dealer in Dubai (I'm deployed, so I get a massive discount on any Mini/BMW if I go through a non-US dealer) and I think I'll stick with no kit and just have the chrome part painted and baked black.

In case you were wondering, the discount is just north of 10%, may not seem like alot, but when your cutoff is one level in terms of price, you hit that price, remove the 10%, it gives you the option to add more goodies and head back north to your limit.