Alright. I've got an '09 Clubman. Baseline model with winter package. It was my first car and it served its purpose, by getting me hooked on MINI. I want a Countryman, like really want! I have until April for my Balloon loan to be up. I have the payoff ready, but I thought I might trade-in for a countryman. I have more than the 3 year 30,000 miles on it. I'm closer to 50,000. So I know MINI will say it's not worth the balloon of $14,500. I have heard bad stories of MINI dealerships not giving the amount a car is worth for trade-in. Anyone got some tips that I can use to up the trade-in value? By the way I paid for the 6 year 100,000 mile warranty, so I've got the car covered for a while. And there is only one defect in the paint a slight chip in the hood from a rock. I could have that touched up but us it worth it? The car has otherwise been detailed once a year since I got it, so it looks remarkable.

 

The only tip I know of to up a car's trade-in value is to pay stupid top dollar for the car you are buying. It's all a numbers game, and the house has the advantage.

 

I don't know the packages on your car or even if its a Justa, an S or a JCW. But, just looking at Kelley BB, it appears your trade-in should be worth at least the 14500 mark.

It's all a matter of negotiation and a function of how much the dealership needs to move the cars on their lot.

Talk is cheap, go see what you can manage. Be prepared to walk away once or twice, its all part of the game.

 

If you have the money to pay it off, go ahead and do it and take Mini Finance out of the equation. Then shop your car and find out what it's really worth. If your dealer won't match your determined value, sell it privately and buy your Countryman. The primary advantage of a trade-in deal is convenience. How much is that convenience worth to you?

 

Maybe approach it this way. Go shop and price your Countryman. Get your best price (no trade). After you have your best price, ask if you choose to trade in, what will they give you for your clubman "if" you choose to trade it in. Now you know. Try and sell the car privately and if you get more for it, great. If you have trouble selling it at more than they offered on trade, you can always trade it in at that time.

 

I like Finner's approach, but let me add this: Find out your state law on sales tax. In my state, with a trade in, you don't pay tax on the trade in amount. So that needs to be factored in.

 

Once thing i found interesting when trading my last car in was that they claimed not to go off of KBB because its always "on the high side". At first i thought it was really strange...and then as i started to look around i saw that they had marketing material about how minis hold their resale value. The source listed was KBB.

Needless to say they were very red in the face when i brought up the fact that they use this as a selling point but dont back it up one bit.

 

Thanks for the tips. I asked a while back when I test drive a countryman and the rep had said then if I went over the 30,000 miles for three years they wouldn't give me the balloon amount. I have blue booked my car and it is worth roughly the balloon amount of $14,500.
I figure if I can get them to give me close to that for a trade in I'm doing pretty good, because I have the balloon already saved. So it's like having two balloons to put down on a new car. I figure if I payoff the car and private sell I could get about $18,000. That's roughly $5,000 less than if I trade in at a low ball. It all depends on how much I can get them to trade in for. And I've heard that going in and negotiating everything without the mention of a trade is best. Because at that point you've got them committed to a low price assuming you'll finance, then bring up a trade.
So does anyone think I should pay to get the chip fixed? Or just keep it protected with a good sealer and wax every three months?

 

I sold my two previous cars as private sales to pay for the Mini. I got almost $6000 more with selling privately than my best trade in offers. It was well worth it. I ordered my Mini after I sold one of my cars, and had the 2nd car sold a month before Jack arrived. I had to be able to borrow a car for around a month though.

It's be different if you're buying a car on the lot though...you can sell you car and pick up your new one much quicker.

 

If you want to know what your car is really worth as a trade in then take it around to a few used car dealerships, especially ones that sell MINI's and tell them you would like to sell your car and how much will they give you. To save yourself time use the phone to figure out which used car dealers will actually give you a price then visit them. You can figure the MINI dealer will be in the same ball park, maybe a little higher or lower but close. Then you can do exactly what Finner said, get your best price on the Countryman then you have an accurate picture of what is happening with your car purchase. DO NOT negotiate on monthly payments or financing. Ask for a cash price and tell them you will bring them a check once the deal is done, even if you plan on financing with the MINI dealer afterwards. Then you can do research on how much you can realistically expect to get from your car in a private sale and decide if the hassle of a private sale is worth the savings. Use kbb.com and nada.com to find a ball park price then get onto cars.com and autotrader.com and see what others are listing their vehicles for. Also check with NAM to see if any cars have sold there recently and how much they sold for. Good Luck. We always love an ending to a story so make sure you report to us what you find out.

 

I guess the other factor is, I kinda wanted to order this one. I went with what was on the lot last time because I couldn't wait and/or afford to do otherwise. This time I have some things I really am not going to negotiate about, I would like them included. So unless the dealer has someone very very similar on lot I'll be ordering this baby. I realize that gives me about 3-4 months to sell privately, but the market here is really bad. I see two or three on craigslist going for less than I would hope from a private sale. I think the convenience is worth it as long as I can get about $10,000 for it as a trade-in.

 

what about carmax? They 'usually' do alot better than the dealer. Also, try to sell it privately, then rent a car until your CM arrives. Good luck!

 

If you want to get what it is worth, sell privately. If you don't want the hassle, trade it in.

I sold my old Mini privately for 10,000. The dealer had offered me 5,000 for trade-in.

 

What do you think of the mini connected? I'm debating on that feature. All I really want is iPod integration and hands free calling. But the connected seems cool.
I'll keep everyone posted with what the trade in offer is from different places and obviously what I plan to do. Might be a few months before this all pans out but I'm looking ahead to be prepared.

 

As Jenk said above, Carmax is a good alternative - probably a better price than the MINI dealer, but probably less than a private sale, but no hassles. I got $3,000 more for my 2008 335i from Carmax than the MINI dealer was going to give me on a trade. I could have gotten more if I sold it privately, but the Carmax deal was clean and easy. As for the negotiation, you have to separate the three pieces of the sale (known in the trade as "the box" - don't let them put you in it) - price of the car, trade in, and financing. First get the best price possible on the car assuming you're paying cash. If youer dealer has a second sticker with add-on's, either find a new dealer or completely ignore that sticker. Negotiate down from the MIMI sticker, not the dealer's sticker. Shop multiple dealers. Then, shop for your financing and get the best deal you can get (credit unions are usually very competitive). Finally, go to Carmax and get a quote on your trade. This will at least give you an idea of what you can get for it easily and quickly and give you a benchmark against which to measure the dealer's offer. After you've gotten the dealer's best price, throw in the trade and get their offer. Regardless of what you do with your trade, show them your financing deal that you've pre-negotiated outside of the dealership and ask them to see if they can beat it. Doing it this way, you're assured that you're getting the best deal on all three elements of the sale. This part is important - When you have it all nailed down, shop the final package with other dealers and see if any of them "bite". Make sure you tell them that you're buying now, within the next day or two, and that they have to give you their best shot up front and there's no time for haggling. If no one will beat the deal you have, you know you've done as well as you can. Not only does this method work well and save you money, it also gives you great peace of mind that you got a good deal. You'll never wonder if you could have done better. Oh yeah, and when you get into the finance guy's office, just keep saying "no" regardless of how much he tries to scare you into buying the various things he sells and regardless of all the gloom he says will befall you if you don't buy this or that.

 

I sold my 2010 Subaru Forester and my 2008 Clubman S on eBay Motors Classified. They were only listed a couple of weeks and sold within 24 hours of each other. Made at least $4,000 more on each one than any dealer would offer. Low mileage on both (1,740 and 5,300).

The commission on the Subaru was $125. I pulled the MINI off when someone wanted to come see it, so it wasn't "sold" online, thus no commission.

I had to pare down as I had a 2012 R57 coming in and now a 2012 Countryman ALL4 S.
I had mine listed on Auto Trader and they screwed up both ads. I don't trust Craigs list. EBay has a great Motoring section and I will use them again if I decide to sell anything. A stipulation for me was that the new owner would pick the cars up. Worked like a charm.

 

The hassle of private sale hasn't proven worth it. I'm asking edmunds book value and I've gotten people to look at it, say it looks terrible (it's pristine, nearly showroom) and offer 5 grand under asking price. HA!

I got a good deal on a forester and I'm trading in for that today.

Remember also the taxes that you save by trading in. It's 8% here in NY, which translated to about $1000 savings for me. Given how far the dealer came down on the car and the price they offered for the mini, it worked out to be a wash.

 

Have you "been looking at" other crossover suvs? That might help in the bargaining -- if you're only somewhat interested in a MINI.

I should not be giving advice, MINI dealers see me coming. I'm a sucker for a MINI, and they know it. It's MSRP for Oldsbear

 

I am only interested in the countryman. I am a MINI fanatic so that is the only car I'm considering.
I got a sales man at the dealership to give me a ballpark number on the trade-in. He said regardless of how beautiful it looks to go to kbb.com. Look up a trade-in value for fair and take $500 off. That would be the range MINI would start offering for a trade. I find that to be kinda crappy, but it's better than I hoped, so I might do a trade for the ease. It's only ever been serviced by MINI dealerships so I might talk them up a little from that "fair" condition. I have the appraisal scheduled for the 7th. I'll let everyone know then.

 

Prior to your appraisal appointment, I would take it to Carmax and get a number from them so you can judge how good the dealer's offer is. It takes about 20 minutes (which you can spend checking out the MINI's on the lot) and the quote is good for a week (minus a small mileage charge for whatever miles you put on between the quote and the sale). The transaction is just about as easy as with the dealer. Once you decide you want to sell it to them, you'll walk out about 45 minutes later with a check.

 

What Oldsbear is saying is don't let them know they have a sale just walking in the door. Make them think they have to win your business, and that you are price conscious. "Hmm, that Juke is looking pretty good for the money (gag, puke)."

 

Well I got the offer but it wasn't worth the trade. I could sell higher and the car has still three more years of mini service. So I'm waiting to save up private sell then get a countryman. The offer was about $2000 less than I expected.

 

Used car managers are just so afraid of putting too much money into a unit so they base their quote off of the weekly auction sheets. Sure, they would like to gross $3k on your car but set their blow out price at what they know they can get at aution if they can't move it in 30 days. The KBB fair condition less $500 is about what most cars bring at auction.

However, if your trade fits right in with what is already on their front used car line, needs little reconditioning and would be a no brainer sale within 30 days, they may be willing to put more into the unit. Anything else just goes straight to next Tuesday's auction.