There is a guy selling a 2002 Mini Cooper "Base" model stick-shift with 110,000 miles. He paid $5,300 for it and is now asking $3,000. Here is what is wrong with it........Clutch needs replacing, the driver window is stuck down and wont roll up, and the power steering makes a whining noise (which he says Mini has a recall on and will replace for free). It is red and while with no sunroof and has the stock British flag design on top of roof.

Kelly blue book says it is in "poor" condition. I think that $3,000 is way too high to ask for it. What would be a reasonable price?

Thanks.

 

With other brands of cars and the Mini is really no different the car is worth something between its trade in value and however much a buyer is willing to pay and however much a seller is willing to let the car go for.

'course, this assumes the car is worth owning at all.

I have to ask is this particular car really the best example you can find and afford?

You can visit the KBB site:

www.kbb.com

and in the used car section plug in the make, model, year, mileage, options, condition, and the site will display the whoel sale/trade in value but also the private and retail sales values.

NADA,

wwww.nada.com

offers a similar feature. The two sites will probably offer up different values. KBB will (probably) be the lower of the two sites.

'course, you have to factor in what it will cost to bring the car up to an acceptable level of repair and function.

For the issues this car has you need to get high confidence quotes on what a new clutch costs, what it would cost to make the power steering system quiet again.

Also, the general rule is with a used car one should have in reserve 10% of what a used car costs to have just in case. Just in case a water pump fails, a fuel pump quits, etc.

However, with the used car selling for $3K 10% of this is just $300. $300 doesn't go far with a Mini.

I'd say you are looking at -- roughly -- spending $1000 and maybe more to bring the car up to spec. And almost certainly something else will decide to fail/act up and you could be facing that "10% of the cost of the car repair bill" and then some.

Based on the car's condition I wouldn't find it hard to believe the car is worth maybe just half of that $3000 asking price.

Remember price is not fact only an opinion.

And don't be afraid to walk away from this car. There is always another car.

 

KBB said that it is in "Poor*" condition "* We do not provide values for cars in this condition."

 

Consider the time and money it would take for the repairs....does it put you over what KBB calls a fair price? Then, what about your time? You can always get more money, you can't get more time. I know I'd rather spend $5000 on a clean Cooper than $3000 on something that needs help. Maybe its just the "instant gratification" I need, or maybe its all the time I spent trying to save a couple bucks here and there that I wish I could get back. I am not sure where you live, but the value of these cars are in the toilet the moment in the PacNW, or maybe thats just because I bought mine right before Christmas. I didn't follow them much before, but there were literally 50 to chose from six weeks ago. There was a super clean stock '04 S w/103k miles (original owner) for $5000 OBO I almost picked up. Its not listed now, but it was on there for at least three weeks. Maybe wait and get a better one for not much more money?

 

Another factor is what you want to do with the car. If the body is clean and solid, and the interior is in reasonable shape, it may be worth it. If you plan on modding it and it meets those criteria, it's probably not too much. Also, how much of the work will you be doing yourself ... that makes a big difference.

 

Simply put, an 02 base with 110K that needs a clutch is just not worth $3000, then there are the other factors that need to be addressed, what else needs to be done?
To get the clutch done is still a $2k+ job, he's not factored that in, yes you will save money if you do the work, but it doesn't change the fact that he's asking $3000 for a 16 year old BASE model car that needs a clutch..

 

A grand or (probably) less depending on overall condition. I'd give him around a grand if the car was otherwise perfect/clean, but based on what you've said I can already tell what is probably looks like...