I've been trying to sell my 03 Cooper (Velvet Red with black roof, fully loaded) for under KBB ($17000) for almost 5 months. I've spent well over $400 in newspaper ads (Washington Post and local) and on-line websites (Autobytel, cars.com, Trading post, etc) with not a single nibble. It is in excellent condition, garage kept. It does have CVT instead of 5-speed and has 42K miles which are factored into the KBB price.

Has anyone else out there been trying to sell their Mini with or without success? What seems to work? Watching e-bay prices seems to show that doesn't work, as most have topped out a several thousand $$ below asking price.

Thanks
BigCliff

 

When my 05 Mini arrived I sold my 02 to Carmax. I got a decent (not great) price and sold it in a day.

 

Have you tried autotrader.com? I had a heck of a time selling my last car (a spotless 5-year-old 5sp Geo Prizm) until I posted it on there. This was back in 2000. I absolutely cannot vouch for the performance of the website (I had to try about five times before my ad finally appeared), but it was effective once I penetrated its wall of stupidity.

This is not encouraging - I'm looking at selling my car and going to an '05, but definitely don't want to pay double insurance for multiple months!

Let us know how it turns out. Good luck!

 

Fact is, MINIs sell well. If you're experiencing problems selling, it may be related to your (lack of) advertising market.

The larger the market, the better chance you have of selling. Try "Auto Trader" as mentioned above. Or best, put it on EBay, possibly the best place to sell any car.

I've sold cars on EBay, it's a snap. And, folks become fired up by the auction format and sometimes bid and pay far more than the car's retail value. As long as your ad description is accurate and honest, the sky's the limit. A fellow happily paid me almost twice (yes, about 80% above retail) for a Triumph last Fall. He was glad to get the car.

And, it was fine with me, too.

Good luck, let us know.

 

last week , I was wading through the process of dealing with my mother's estate (she passed away in Nov.) I posted her car on craig's List and sold it for the asking price in 10 minutes! 1999 VW jetta with 24,450 miles.Looked up the value on Kelly Blue book($6700) and advertised it for $6000.Don't know where you're located, but this sure worked for me.Craig's list is in a bunch of cities now,it's a free classified format and very easy to deal with.

www.craigslist.com

 

Kelly's Blue Book has a reputation for being high. I am not saying that it definitely is in your case, but you may want to check Edmunds or NADA to make sure your price is in line.

I had a camper that I was trying to sell a few years ago. I advertised it in the paper and on the bulletin boards at a large employer in our area. No calls or interest at all. I then arranged to park it in a visible spot on a major road in our area. I had a call on it before I got home. The person admitted that they had seen the advertising, but they did not call until they saw it beside the road. I met them to show the camper and two more people stopped to see it while we were there. I actually had a line of three people waiting to buy the camper! The first person bought it with no negotiation because they saw that two other people were interested.
That is one reason that a dealer can sell a car more easily and at a higher price. Location and traffic is everything.

 

I find the opposite to be true:

kbb
Private Party Sale
2000 Toyota MR2 Spyder
http://www.kbb.com/kb/ki.dll/kw.kc.u...der&6;TO;MR&&&

NADA
2k difference
http://www.nadaguides.com/uv/viewres...wPr=1&wPg=2032

 

I agree, I have a '94 Miata with 32k miles I need to sell (replaced with MCSC). KBB gives me a value of $4500. NADA gives me $7200. Needless to say, I'll be listing it around the $7k mark. $4500 for a Miata with 32k miles seems insultingly low.

 

Also, I agree that displaying the vehicle for sale can be the key. I just spent a couple hundred dollars on ads to sell my '00 Passat. Only one call, not a single visit. Put a "For Sale" sign in the window and a coworker bought it that same day. So you never know what's going to work.

 

E-Bay will definately get your seen my many people, as it tends to for everything. The insertion fee starts at 40 bucks for a week. You should try putting it on there with a somewhat low starting price, but also a reserve price of the minimum you are willing to let it go for. It seems that almost every single mini has at leas one bid on it every time i check. Good Luck

 

Photos help to sell the car. Part of my success story when I sold my '04 MCS in early February was that I took the plunge and ordered the $50 "Premium ad package" from www.cars.com which allows you to upload up to 12 photos and runs until it sells. Buyers like to see photos more than detailed descriptions of the vehicle.

The market is tough out there new vs used MINI. The high resale of used MINIs is a double headed sword because on one hand you get the coveted high resale prices and on the other you are competing against brand new factory fresh MINis that are selling only a few hundred more than your used MINI.

MINI dealers with used MINI stock are also experiencing the same problem. When people see the asking prices for used 2-3 year old MINIs, they much rather order a brand new one with full warranty, to their exact liking.

 

It probably goes without saying but, if you post your car for sale on-line, ignore all of the email from representatives of buyers overseas, who have a cashier's check for more than the value of your car, and only require that you refund the balance to them. Just don't even reply.

One of the first questions you should ask of anyone that expresses interest is, "where are you located?" Also, don't reveal any personal information untill you've verified that they are a legitimate potential buyer.

 

I looked at KBB, Edmunds, and NADA. Edmunds showed it worth the most, KBB and NADA were about the same. Thanks for the info.

 

I used them the first time I tried, and got absolutely zilch in response. Beginning to wonder if its the color

 

Laguna,

For what its worth I just sold a 96 Miata w/ leather package on Miata.net The car, with some very minor flaws, was in outstanding condition with 42,000 miles. Edmunds said $5400 to $5800. (Condition can be subjective) It had $3200 worth of extras (suspension, rims, etc). I got $7000 sight unseen.

 

I know this is of little consolation.. I sold my '02 MC (44k, loaded) for $16,000 using only Cars.com. It took 4 days and I had three people bidding on the it in the end. It probably helps a little that I'm in Chicago. I could have easily gotten another $500 out of it but I just wanted to make the sell as quick and painless as possible.

I'd recommend watching the pricing of what else is out there very closely. I'd also recommend going with either a premium service (from cars.com or autotrader) or simple creating your own website with tons of pics.

 

Could be something as simple as the quality of the pictures you use. If the pictures of your car don't look good on the web, people will probably turn away. Just a guess. (Got a link to pics?)

 

Are you kidding me?

Velvet Red is one of the most beautiful colors ever offered in the MINI. It is rare and soooo classy! The problem with Velvet Red is that pics don't do any justice to it. It tends to look "Brown" in photos thus turning away potential buyers. Here I need to re-emphazise the importance of good quality photos of every angle of the car, including the interior.

Photos is what sell the car in the end.

 

I echo Gabe's experience with Cars.com. (Gabe your old MINI was a MC not MCS ) I sold my '04 MCS with 17K miles (16 months old at the time) for $700 above original sticker price and in only 6 days to the first person that called on it. No haggling, no test drives were necessary! The person saw the 12 pics in the online ad, feel in love with the car and made a cash offer on the spot. The person didn't even made an attempt to haggle the price.

Everybody came out happy from the deal. I still can not believe how easy it was to this day!

 

Take an average of the prices between all the on line prices. Take some great pics of your car with a high quality camera and it will sell !!

Autotrader with good pics will sell the car quickly, like others said post the pics up here so we all can give you some pointers

 

I haven't tried cars.com but did use autotrader for 12 weeks with not a single response. I'll try adding more pictures. I haven't included interior shots. Need to probably try to get some really good ones on a sunny day to pull out the color. I'm using a 5-megpixel camera so they're good shots. Maybe just not enough. Thanks for the inputs.

 

Have you tied calling MINI Dealer? There aren't many used MINI's around and they need 'em for their lots. Just a thought.

 

Cars.com worked wonders for me. Best $50 ever spent on an online ad. For others, Autotrader.com has been more effective but evidently not in your case.

Before placing the ad in Cars.com, let us take a good look at the pics of your MINI and we will be happy to give you some suggestions. I am sure you will sell it in no time

If you have sunny weather forecasted in your area, give your MINI a good wash/wax/detail, pull out the camera and take the best shots you possibly can. Velvet Red being a rich metallic color looks stunning under sunlight, so make sure to somehow translate the beauty of the color into the photos.

 

can you link us to your auto trader ad ?

 

Wow... I can't believe I said that! Can you tell I'm anxious for my MCS to arrive