So Ive had my countryman listed for sale since november. It's super clean, no accidents, nothing. Ive had it on cars.com, craigslist, here, and I even put a for sale sign on it.

I have gotten ZERO bites. Maybe 3 calls of interested parties who ended up just walking away without seeing it.

Are these cars really that hard to sell? I cant imagine that it is just because it is stick shift that I havent gotten a single bite on it... What gives?

Im not in a rush or hurry to sell, in fact I might just keep it, but Ive NEVER had such a lack of interest in any car Ive ever sold!

And my asking price is reasonable, not like Im asking for way over what anyone else is. In fact Im under most asking prices...

I just dont get it

 

It's not that popular or well known car therefore I would imagine there aren't many people looking to buy one. Also if they don't know much about it and do a quick search on the web there's more bad things posted than good. I know all I see when searching is complaints. I'd imagine this would deter anyone that doesn't know much about them. Just my guess...

 

Slap a Hyundai badge on it. 20 somethings including car thieves don't know how to work a clutch. I'd put it on ebay and/or craigslist.

 

Bring it to Carmax

 

That's pretty much the worst timeframe to try to sell a car. You'll probably start getting more interest soon once people get their tax refunds. I had the same problem selling my R53 when I got my countryman in Oct 2012, but I wasn't in a hurry so I just kept the price the same and got what I wanted in Feb 2013.

Also I sprung for the higher level listing on autotrader after awhile. It sold like 2-3 weeks after I upgraded so I guess it helped.

 

you bring up a good point! very true

 

I spent many years as a real estate agent. A house, or a car, not selling is ALWAYS a pricing problem. If priced right, they'll sell.

 

It's surprising given that the new ones seem to be selling well at dealers.

You did get three calls, so there actually was some interest, and I would assume each caller that decided not to come and look found out something from the phone call that was not in your ad, and caused them to decide not to come and see the car.

Any idea what that might be? What questions did each caller ask?

One thought. Not sure where you are located, but here in NJ most of the CM's seem to be All4's, and then there's some Justas. What I have not seen is many non All4 S models. Are you in a snow area? Here in NJ we have had far more than the usual amount of snow, and I would think that right now that might be driving more people toward all wheel drive than would usually be the case.

I tend to agree with what Conrad said. Tell us about your car. What options, mileage and asking price?

 

The problem might be the price. I would check Galves:

https://www.galves.com/t-galvesnfSellingUsed.aspx

This is what I've used to determine a realistic market value of my cars when selling or trading in. It's the resource that the dealers use. Be prepared to be shocked. If you do decide to go the Carmax route, you will be much better prepared for what you are likely to get for your car. Unfortunately, we all think our cars are worth more than they actually are. Good luck with the sale!

 

Here's my two cents. It's all about price point and the transmission. I would venture a guess that the customer base for a Mini Countryman is married with kids. That said when I was looking for the Countryman, a manual was out of the question as my wife refuses to drive stick (with all the distractions of daily driving with children). Lower your price slightly and see if you get more bites. Sticking firm to your price (if it is slightly high) may backfire as you will always be chasing the market.

 

Anything will sell if priced right.....
Imo, the newer the car, the harder it is to sell directly....
No warrenty(from the seller), no direct financing (from the seller), etc....
Then add a stick....only 20% of folks drive them still.....

 

Warranty shouldn't be a problem on a newer car, you still get the balance of the factory warranty. In my case the buyer got 2 years warranty, the car was 3 years old, warranty in Norway is 5 years.

The problem with the Countryman is that they aren't a mainstream vehicle and have a limited following, trying to flog one second hand will always take time. They are also a very personal vehicle with no two being a like, trying to find someone who wants what your one has got is going to be tough.

 

try lowering your sell price (gradually if you are not pressed for time or money)

then the phone should start ringing

Finding that point (sell price) where supply curve and demand curve meet

Good luck!

P.s.
Depreciation value for a new automobile is the greatest in the first year. Unfortunately automobiles do not benefit from straight line depreciation. Deepest hit is after you sign the check and drive it around the block and then the rate gradually declines over the years resembling more of a straight line value..

 

Zippy nailed it. Newer means more expensive and more expensive means most buyers will need financing. It's just a lot easier to buy from a dealer and get financed there. Most people will not take the initiative to secure it on their own. Your other type of buyer will be a cash buyer but those will be few and far between and will probably low ball you. On top of that the CM has a bad reputation for reliability and anyone who has done research online will know that.

I don't necessarily agree with the lower the price strategy. I had a CPO 2006 BMW 330i that I sold back in 2010. Great car, stick shift, nice options, but limited appeal due to the stick shift. Every potential buyer was low balling me. I upped the price by $2,000 and two weeks later got what I wanted for it. It took a few months though.

I had put the CM for sale and it was starting to look like the 330 story was repeating itself. When the perfect replacement car came up I bit the bullet and traded in. I loved the 330 so I was happy to drive it longer, but I was over the CM so wanted it gone. I don't know that I would have gotten all that much more selling it myself than I got on trade. It will sell eventually, but be prepared for it to take some time.

Best of luck. And out of curiosity, what are you replacing it with?

 

Not at all! The first buyer was super excited to come see it, but flaked as his "cash flow" fell through, as he said.

Second buyer was a girl who saw the fore sale ad on my car as she drove by. Super excited. I told her its stick shift, and she said it was what she wanted. We set a time and date for her to come look at it, I spent 2 hours detailing the car, she never called.

3rd buyer was super excited, again to see it. When I told her it's stick, she said oh... nvm. Thanks!

My price is fair, I think. Im asking 21k. Most auto countrymans with more mileage are listed for 22-24k.

 

How many miles are on it?

 

I agree with Turbofun. When we sold our MCS, based on the estimated value shown on Edmunds, KBB, and NADA we priced it a bit high at $7500, assuming we would be negotiable on the price. We advertised it on Ebay and Autotrader, and there was not even one inquiry for 3 full weeks. We reduced the price to $6500, and we immediately starting getting several calls each day, and based on the response decided to be firm on the $6500. Typically when a buyer calls, one of the questions they will ask is how flexible the price is, and my response was that I thought the car was well priced, and that given the number of inquiries we were getting it appeared we were not going to need to be very flexible. The first person to come and look immediately offered $6000, but I held firm on the $6500, and he took it. BTW, it was a stick, but I suspect more MCS buyers would be looking for that versus a CM.

 

At $21k, i think you are a tad high. Dealer retail pricing in my neck of the woods is $21k - $24k and i think that private sale values fall between retail & wholesale values. Just my 2 cents worth...

 

No disrespect on your car but here is where it get's difficult. Newer used cars are probably the most difficult to sell. And a lot has to do with the financing.

Your average used car finance rate is about 4.5%. So over 5 years at 21k puts you just under $400 a month. Like $390

We paid 27k for our brand new 13' Countryman S/auto as an end of the year deal. Mini was offering 0.9% financing for 72 months. and our payment is almost identical...actually slightly less.

Sure we pay on it for an extra year (assuming we don't pay it off early), but there is no question as to the history of the car. Plus you end up better on the warranty.
So, for those people that are shopping what they can afford monthly, it's tough not to choose a new vehicle for the same payment...

 

Yeah I think what youre saying combined with the fact that it's stick, makes it where no one wants it... its too bad.

 

I was trying to sell my very nice Lexus for KBB value.
Got a few hits but the money I was asking, while fair, was pretty high
Finally got tired of holding on to it and took it to Carmax. I could have waited
but it was easier to take a bit of a hit on price to get rid of it.

 

What's the odometer reading?

 

I wouldn't say no one wants it. It's just going to be more difficult to sell because your buyers are a bit more limited. Your ideal buyer is a cash buyer that doesn't need financing and looking to save 6-7k on a nice car.
I wish I had the cash!

 

Someone who works for me sold theirs on craigslist last week, and it appears to have been equipped exactly as yours .

They also thought that they would have a hard time selling their car because of the well-known clutch problems with the model years prior to 2013, before mini redesigned the clutch. This is despite that the clutch problems seem pretty much limited to all-wheel-drive models. Given that we had a ton of snow here recently, they also thought they might have a problem because theirs did not have all-wheel-drive, and that feature is fresh in many people's minds because of the recent weather.

I am familiar with the car because I saw it every day. It was absolutely mint condition, meticulously maintained, and they had all the service records ready to show any potential buyer.

They put it on craigslist for $20,000 firm, and the first buyer to come and look at it the next day bought it for the $20,000.

One thing though. It had only 22,000 miles on it, and it's not clear what the mileage is on yours. If yours has a lot more mileage on it, it could be worth significantly less.

 

$20,000 for a private sale sounds about right assuming it really was in flawless condition.