I am listing this for my boss. This Mini was bought in Atlanta, GA. I can assure that this car is in bone stock form. It has not been abused in any way. She is basing her price below retail value.

2004 Mini Cooper S
4350 Miles
Asking $24,750
Car is located in Jackson, MS

Cars.com ad with same info















Features: A/C: Front, Power Locks, Remote Keyless Entry, Bucket Seats, Leather Interior, Airbag: Driver, Airbag: Passenger, Airbag: Side, Anti-Lock Brakes, Fog Lights, CD Player, Power Windows, Rear Window Defroster, Rear Window Wiper, Tinted Glass, Alloy Wheels

Additional Selling Points: The INDI Blue Metallic exterior(discontinued in 2004)adorns a contrasting white roof, white mirror caps & white 17” alloy wheels.Add the white racing stripes on the bonnet and the “world’s first luxury street legal Go-Kart” is ready to motor. The color coord. flows thru the int. w/ Lapis Blue/Panther Black leather complimented by silver int. trim,Lapis Blue carpet,all-weather black rubber "S” floor mats. A collector’s MINI,this color combo is not available in 2005. {0-60 in 6.9 sec.; 0-SMILE in 0.1 seconds} Guaranteed!!! Now,“Let’s Sweat the Details”! First,“Let’s be Smart & Safe” with 6 std air bags & AHPS II, 4 chan. ABS, side impact dr bms w/ crumple zones around the pgr cabin. Supercharged, intercooled 1.6 OHC,16 vlve inline 4 cyl.eng., 163 hp @ 6000 rpm, 6 spd man. Getrag trans, Sport Pkg with run flat perf. tires, flat tire monitor, spt seats, xenon hdlghts, rain sens.wipers, auto dimmer int. mirror, rear fog lamps, DSC,remote entry,antitheft CD audio system with AM/FM radio.

Condition Description: Showroom presentation, absolutely immaculate, always garaged. Please admire the pictures. She is adorable from the bonnet to the boot. Robust enough for the guys, gorgeous enough for the ladies and wonderfully exhilarating for all. Please email for further information. If you are a true MINI lover and serious about owning 2004’s Best Rated Compact Car come motor with me as my passenger…have a MINI mint…and see what you have been missing. No joy riders, please! Let’s Motor


Individual Seller

Seller: Deborah

Daytime Phone: 601-366-3751

Evening Phone: 601-366-3751

Vehicle Location: Jackson, MS

 

Sorry, you may ask her to show you the invoice, because she certainly paid less than $25k she paid closer to $23.5k for this car.
04 base price $19,900
sport pkg $1250
leather $1250
rear fog $175
rain sens wiper/auto dim miror $200

no premium pkg, and no cold pkg

total $22,775
+ $550 destination charge
$23,325

With that kind of mark-up I would think you would be in CA

It is very nice and clean, looks as good as new but for 25k go order a brand new one at your dealer. Here is the same spec for an 05 from miniusa.com
for only $24,420


If you do sell this car on cars.com please come back and let us all know what it sold for. good luck

 

I priced her car with options on KBB.com and retail price was $27,985.

Link

I'd also like to point out that there is no waiting for this car. It has the Indi Blue color which you can't get anymore. There is also a car cover, and insurance on the run flat tires for over 4 more years.

This vehicle was custom ordered in May 5, 2004.
It was purchased August 5, 2005

The car was only used for a 30 mile roundtrip to work from Aug. 10 through December 31 2004.

This milege is less than most demo's or program cars.

The seller is also willing to negotiate.

 

I'd like to point out that you're not considering dealer fees, tax, car cover, or wheel insurance.

Thanks for your input but she has a lot more than that in this vehicle when purchased new.

 

The second-hand buyer has to pay tax and tags whether buying new or used. When you hear about cars losing value the second they're driven off the lot, it's primarily because of the tax and tags - a second-hand buyer can't be expected to help the original owner offset their tax burden when they must pay tax themselves on the transaction.

The car cover is $200 new. I don't know the value of a used car cover.

The Indi Blue color is a selling point. The no waiting time is not necessarily a selling point - the days of "no dealer inventory" are over. However, someone specifically looking for a mildly contented vehicle like this would most likely have to special order it.

The club racers would be drawn to a car without the sunroof and the extra amenities of the premium and cold weather packages. However, these buyers would not be swayed by tire insurance, as their first move would be to ditch the heavy wheels and tires.

This information is intended to give more insight into what may prove to be a lack of positive reaction.

Now, if you find someone who must have an Indi Blue with exactly those specs, you're in luck. And really, when you come down to it, you only need a single buyer if you're only selling a single car.

Keep us posted.

 

BTW,
- I don't see any way you can skip tax for buying from dealer or from individual.
- Most dealer except CA, are selling MSRP + may be $100 dealer fee, and I don't see any way it can be saved from this purchase.

 

Good point as well. What I was trying to point out is that you can't buy a 2005 for the price he was listing.

BTW the price in the add is lowered to $24,750 and she is still willing to negotiate.

 

Thank you for your reply. I agree with your views as well. She explained to me how she was able to pick and choose most of her options and got several items that would have been included in the premium package.

We are hoping it will stand out to a buyer with similar interests as hers. Unfortunately here in MS we don't have much a market for these cars. We don't have any Mini dealers so most people do not know what they are worth. We hoped by presenting this car to the enthusiast market it would attract more interest.

She spoke with the dealer where she bought the car and they gave her the bottom line price she should expect to get for the car. That is the price she is willing to negotiate to. We don't want to list that price so that there is room left for negotiation.

 

Actually you can pay MSRP. We just bought our 05 MCSC at the MSRP from Checkered Flag in VA Beach. That's nothing to brag about but these cars are not scarce. We ordered ours and received it in about 5 weeks.

Oh yeah, we paid a $395 processing fee - big deal.

 

FYI/FWIW,
The Premium package consists of the sunroof, auto a/c, MFSW w/cruise and OBC*
From the pictures this car doesn't have the first three - can't tell if it has the OBC (identified by a protruding button on top of the turn signal stalk.)
If you're going to talk to enthusiasts, it helps to know the lingo.:smile:
This car does have the 'thumb bump' steering wheel, which is well regarded and much nicer than the 'regular' wheel.

MFSW=Multi Function Steering Wheel
OBC = On Board Computer

As has been noted, what she paid in taxes and fees is irrelevant in valuing the current vehicle, though the cover and wheel ins. are worth something. Being a private seller, you can negotiate the reported sales price to lower the taxes paid by the buyer, thus their overall cost.
It's tough to eat the fees/taxes on a nearly new car, but it's also good to set reasonable expectations lest she turn down a reasonable offer.

A NAMmer in FL recently sold his 'low content' MCS for more than he paid for it, so the buyers are out there - you just have to find the right one. Best of luck!

 

Hard sell. Let me explain briefly.... This car has no Cruise Control, No OBC, No sunroof, no Auto A/C and no Harmon Kardon Either.

Metallic Paint, lapis Blue leather and sport pack help also the low miles are a definite plus.

A more realistic price for this baby is $22,500 to $23K and that is pushing it.

Back in early February I sold my '04 MCS with 17K miles. It had the following equipment:

16" V-spoke silver rims with factory Dunlop runflats
Leatherette seats
Harmon Kardon
Rain sensing wipers
auto self dimming rear view mirror
Front fogs
AUX input jack
Chrome front grille and mirror caps
Union jack Roof Flag
OBC computer
anthracite dash trim
MINI fabric floor mats
MFSW Sport 2 spoke steering wheel with cruise control
Chili Red/White roof

I sold this car for $21,900. The car was also bone stock, no mods and no racing at all. It still had 2.5 years left in the factory warranty (Strong selling point).

Your boss' car has the sport package and leather seats and metallic paint. You could say that the resale value of those options are more or less equal to the items her car is missing like the cruise control, Harmon Kardon, OBC, cruise control, rain sensing, etc.

The low miles are on her side. But she will be lucky to get more than $22,500 for it. A car without cruise control in that price range is a hard sell for some buyers.

 

Eric_Rowland,

FYI/FWIW,
All 04 and newer MINIs have the button on top of the turn signal stalk whether they have the OBC or not. In these cars without the OBC the button is used to switch the tachometer readout between outside temperature and speed.

Bill

 

Yep that was me! Sold it for $700 above original sticker. It is doable but you need to tell her to price her car more realistically.

Also, taxes, fees, etc that where paid when she took delivery of the car new are NON-RECOVERABLE expenses, period. You can't expect the next person to refund your sales tax, tag and dealer fees. That ain't gonna happen.

 

That is correct. The OBC functions in the '04+ models include miles to empty, average fuel usage, instant average fuel usage, speed, temperature, average speed.

 

survey says XXXX
Not on cars with Nav anyway... (but thanks for the info on non-nav cars!) Any way of identifying an OBC car w/o scrolling through the menu? (Not that there are many w/o premium and with OBC - buy hey, minutiae (MINIutae?) is cool.:smile: )

 

Again I appreicate the insight from you all. This is a great resource for me to see what potential buyers are thinking. I am learning a lot from just this afternoon from everyone

I feel like watching ebay will give the most insight on what the real world will pay for this car. I still don't understand why the kbb.com value is so much higher than everyone here says it worth.

 

I was trying to sell my '04 JCW with 6500 miles for $26,000 and it was negotiable and I have installed crazy stuff from suspention sway bars, springs, TWC wheels, Alpine stereo, phone ready XM ready, Orciari back seats, pro-mini gages,boost and oil, arm rest, up windows,custom mounted centered gages (volts and oil temp), Piaa driving lights, parcel shelf, infinity bass link, 1 uf digital capacitor, BMP cold air intake....and....blah....blah .... blah....AND NO TAKERS....So good luck...

 

I think KBB is a bit behind the times (were they ever WITH the times??) It's telling that they value a used MCS for more than a new spec.
A year ago used MCS's were routinely going for more than new. That may have changed because of the additions to the '05s, as well as a more satiated market.
Watching Ebay is a good idea. I watched it for ages and the number of reserves not met slowly climbed.
Actually found my car by underbidding an ebay car, had the seller come back to me with a '2nd chance', and we eventually negotiated a price below what I had originally bid (hey, he obviously didn't have any other buyers!)

 

For most buyers though that only turns them away with all those mods. You can typically never get back the value of the mods you put in a car, unless you find a buyer that wants a pre-modded car. And typically most people will feel as a modded car has been abused, IMO.

 

Thanks for the reply Eric. That makes some since. I hope I can get back close to what the private party is on my Millenia when I sell it in the next few months

 

The main problem with KBB is that people don't value their car correctly, They rate the car in excellent condition when it is really good condition, they don't make the correct milage and region adjustments, double enter options....etc. And finally but most importantly when it says RETAIL price thats not the price and individual gets (or asks for generally) I can't tell you how many fliers I see on bulletin boards, etc....with a silly KBB, or NADA printout touting a price "under book" and they are asking under retail, not under private party value

 

KBB values are so "off" it's not even funny anymore. That website should be taken off line... Look at Ebay and Autotrader. There are a lot of MINI's out there for sale right now...

This is a nice car with really low miles, but it lacks a few important options for most potential MINI buyers. She might get that prce for the car, but it may take awhile...

 

Bump:

Seller has reduced the price to $23,750.

 

everything ends up selling for "what it is worth"

you can ask any price you'd like...but until the check clears, it's only worth that to you

 

When looking for the KBB value you must use the correct zip code for the area you are in. The difference in value on a 2003 Tbird between VA and NC is $4,000.00 wholesale. I purchased my MINI in VA and sold the Tbird in NC. VA value was less for the Bird.