Hello !

I'm not a Mini owner yet but I want to buy my first Mini. I found a 2003 with 83K miles. It sells for $5,500.00 I checked the car VIN number and found that it is reported as flooded. I made a quick test in the car and it seems to run pretty smoothly. If I offer $4,500.00 would it be worth the risk? What would be the worst case scenario?

Thanks in advanced for your responses.

 

Are you a mechanic? Will you have another means of transportation when you are working on he car? If it starts to fall apart and repairs cost more than the car is worth can you afford to walk away for a $4,500 investment?

In the "for what it's worth" category I bought a VW Rabbit that had been flooded. Drove it for a couple years with only some annoying issues like door and roof panels rattling. Got about the same as I paid for it when I traded it for a new car. I got lucky.

Can you have a MINI mechanic check it out for you before you buy?

 

Oh, and you asked about "worst case scenario" -- that would be issues with the electrical system, corroded contacts, etc. all depends on when it got flooded and what was done to repair it.

 

Flooded? Risky, very risky. I work in auto insurance claims and deal with flooded cars all the time. Often insurance companies total cars that flooded without even trying to write an estimate...for good reason. They can be nightmares to deal with. You could get lucky and the car just needs a good drying out in the sun. But much more often than not, the car will have electrical problems that can last for the life of the car.

I'd proceed with extreme caution if I were you.

 

Hello again guys.

I guess I'm just eager to jump into a MINI. I'll pass on this one and I'll keep looking.

Thank you so much for your input!

 

Very good decision to pass on a flooded car. Any car that's been flooded is subject to latent electrical failures/problems and can become very unreliable and expensive to own.

 

It's also important whether the car was flooded with fresh water or salt water. I had two friends that owned cars that were flooded, one with fresh water and the other with salt water. The fresh water car was dried and had no problems for years, the salt water car had all sorts of electrical problems and the car rusted from the inside out. Stay away from any car that has been flooded with salt water.