Hi guys,

I posted my custom 2009 JCW in the following tread a while ago:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ustom-jcw.html

Basically I spent about $50K on getting this car to where I wanted it, but alas the time has come to sell it as I now need something with a little more space.

It's got less than 15,000 miles on the clock, 72 month warranty etc, but I have no idea where I should list it where the value of the upgrades would be recognized (in addition to here of course). Any suggestions?

Also any idea what would be a reasonable price to list the car at? There doesn't seem to be very many comparable's out there.

Thanks!

Well not to rain on your parade but with only 450 JCWs sold in the US for 2009, there are not that many buyers out there to begin with and then you have to find that right person that likes the same mods and colors that you do...especially considering you can buy a new 2011 JCW for 34k. I have learned the hard way that I have to buy mods because I can afford it and I like them... but they are not usually an investment. And MINI owners are people that like variety.

Take onefish2's car and mine. They are like night and day, but I doubt neither one of us would trade.... except for I think mine goes faster...

wow, 50k in mods

can you just sell the mods first, then the car? that will probably be the best route

LOL. Maybe faster. Who knows??

I have a very loaded JCW to begin with. I have probably spent another 10k to 15k on my car with mods such as JCW aero kit, suspension, CF parts, tires, exterior mods etc. That was done knowing full well that I would not get a penny back if I sold it. I did it for me to make my car unique. To be honest I would never buy a car like mine with all those mods. Exterior mods is one thing but suspension, exhaust, tune, CAI etc. No way.

I wish the OP the best of luck selling his car. It is very cool. I love all that matte black vinyl. I am sure someone somewhere will love it too.

Unfortunately, aftermarket parts are not worth that much. I might buy a heavily modded car for the right price as a track dedicated car. But it would depend on the mods. Anything that is not safety or power or suspension is useless to me. And many kinds of parts especially from popular vendors are too poor quality for the track.

How much do you want for it?

Where is the 50K in aftermarket.

I tried reading the post you hyperlinked but didn't see that much $$$ in mods.

Let me know I am potentially interested in your car.

Thank you

I think the OP meant he spent a total of $50k including the car. No way 50 in mods!

FWIW, you'll have a VERY difficult time getting the money back. I just sold a custom C63 Mercedes. It was a once in a lifetime type of car and I fortunately found my one buyer. But even in that case, I barely got more than what dealer trade-in would have done.

On the flip side, I just bought a 2010 JCW convertible. 4000 miles on the clock, every single option including nav - $32k!! With yours being a hard top and 15k miles - you're way down from there.

I suggest you part it out. Perhaps do trades with people - core charge type of thing... sell all the vinyl'd trim with a core charge, when they send you the chrome parts you release the funds. Do the same for all the other parts, keeping the difference on the uprated items. When you're done, you'll get some of your cash back on the parts and then have a stock-ish JCW that you won't feel as bad taking a loss on.

Best of luck either way. It's a hard place to be!

No offense intended to the OP....but...lots of MINI owners still think that they have this almost mystical high resale value....well that went out the door around 2009 when the first factory incentives and widespread discounting began, they're now like any other car. Generally speaking, a car drops around 20% of its value the first year then tapers down from there. My '09 JCW had more mileage than yours and less mods, but I had it here on NAM for only $22K and got no buyers. Ended up trading it in for $20K (although here in Texas that was good for a $1250 sales tax break) on my '11. One of the salesmen at the dealer re-purchased it, no telling for how much. Bottom line, the mods you made are worth pennies on the dollar, I think realistically you might get $25K for your car with the right buyer, anymore than that would shock me.

I agree mtbscott. MINI resale isn't what it used to be. Now if gas goes up to $5 a gallon, that would help for sure.

The used car market follows the new car market. If a car has a rebate or incentive on it new, it hurts the resale of it used. It's all supply and demand.

BTW, take the mods off and sell them.

You'll get more that way than trying to up the price on the car with the mods.

Mods don't help when selling a car 95% of the time, it actually hurts the resale of the car.

Especially performance mods as most buyers think the car has been driven hard even if it hasn't.

Buy the mods because you like them, don't expect them to help the resale of your MINI.

I worked in the car business early in my sales career for 12 years so I have a little bit of experience with this subject.