does anybody know why the price of all of the used mini cooper s's have gone way up and are also very scarce?

 

Maybe people didn't like what they saw at the Frankfurt auto show on Monday?

 

Have you checked the gas prices lately? These cars are in demand... along with other small fuel efficient cars.

 

Others are starting to learn what we already know......

 

I do. Gas prices. That's why I ordered an 06 MCS and put my 03 MCS up for sale a few months earlier than originally planned. Friday, Sept 2nd, my MCS hit Autotrader. Saturday, Sept 3rd at 3pm I was sitting in the local credit union signing over the car for not much less than I originally payed for it.

 

That would be my guess also.

 

Some dealers have had mark-ups (raising the price because people will pay it) on Mini's for years... and still do. This type of marketing for new cars, keeps prices high for their used cars...

Counter example. Got an appraisal of my ford truck 2 months ago, $16k. Got it appraised last week to see about getting the wife a Mini, $11k. Reason being not the local economy/gas, but the 'ford family plan'. Because people can get new fords for 5-6k less now, it hurts the value of ford used vehicles.

 

all the above, but i would be happy to sell my 2 month old 05 for what i paid so i could order an 06!! with or without extras now added. actually, there is a pw/b JCW in the marketplace that isnt outragously priced for what it is.

 

I can agree with the family plan discount. My wifes grandfathers both retired from Ford so she always got the discount. We never had a situation where we were upside down on a Ford product except for an Explorer. Putting over 20,000 miles in the 9 months we owned it. We were amazed that we actually broke even on that. Now that everyone gets the discount. It wouldn't be the same anymore.

 

I was thinking of selling my '05 and getting an '06, so I looked on Autotrader for my car's going rate (Cooper S, w/ Sport Package, Computer, Chrono). There were only half a dozen used S's for sale in my area (down from around 50 when I looked at my car 9 months ago), and the closest I could find to mine was an '04 selling for $25,999. If people are getting that for an '04 (with more miles) then I am really keen to order an '06 with an LSD and just sell my car when the new one comes in (probably for the same price I paid). Crazy. Anyway, I am still up in the air about it. Who knows how long the strong demand and high on-the-lot pricing will last.

 

When I looked at buying a used convertible here this summer, the few that were for sale were around $3000 more than the MSRP on a new one. This state apparently has a law that requires cars sold as used to have a certain number of miles to prevent dealers from going to other states and buying new cars for resale here, so all the cars had between 5 - 12K mileage. The nearest Mini dealer had a 12 month wait for new, and the next nearest (almost 200 miles away) had an 8 month wait. Maybe this area is underserviced as far as Mini dealers go, but I think there's a strong demand for the cars all over.

 

Any chance you might share the specs, mileage, color of said car?

 

traffice last week - mpg is the word of the month...

 

I bought my 02 Cooper in 03 for $17k with the sport package, leather heated seats, 32k miles. Just did a search within 300 miles and found only 31 MINI's with the current price range for a similar car (private and dealer) is $17-$29K, with the average being in the low $20s. Seems like a good investment to me.

 

I think this would be a good time for me to sell my 04 S modded. I'm only asking $60,000. Any takers?

 

This thread reminded me of a joke / commercial:


Why is divorce so expensive?

Because it is worth it!

 

Sure Mini mpg is a huge factor, but in addition...

Read today's thread about the 07s. There are just too many unknowns.

How about "New Model Year Fear?" Personally, I'd buy a very late 07 or an early 08 if the 07s didn't have any teething pains. If they did, I'd wait even longer until the problems were resolved.

Any current Mini owners who feel as I do will be hanging on to their current generation Minis for at least 2 more years, so supply and demand will keep them up there in price.

I also wonder how many think the 02 thru 06s will become collectors items?

hs

 

I have also been wondering this myself. I just bought an 05 MCS a week ago. I was going to order an 06 with the specs that i wanted, but then I went to the dealer and by nothing other than pure luck, they had a brand new 05 with the EXACT specs I wanted and created on the website, so I was sold... and with only about +/- $500 in re-sale value between the 05 and 06, it wasn't worth getting an 06 in my eyes...

I do believe that the first gen coopers will be collectors...

 

This has been discussed several times on different forums. To be a true collectable it has to be truely rare AND something desirable. Take a look at what sells at Barrett-Jackson. Speed Channel on Thurs nites.

A few auto writers say it "might" be. On the other hand, MINI has sold more than 140K cars in US ... not exactly rare. Look at the Plymouth Superbird price at auction. Few were bought, I doubt they got 500 sold yet just sold for over $100K.

 

I know I could sell my MINI for much more than I owe on it, but the only thing that is keeping me from getting an 06 JCW is the fact that there is no LY anymore. Still thinking about it. If an S is selling so well and I could get say $22,000 plus for my LY with Sport, Cold weather MFSW and H/K. (cost $25k new) I could get the JCW upgrade for free and then some.

 

I was at my dealer on Saturday and they had taken 3 different SUVs on trades for MINIs. Won't those people be happy?

 

So this is kind of like the stock market ... ups and downs ... buying long and short. It would appear this is PRIME time to buy a SUV and get a great deal

 

Bingo! Keep it in the garage until your driving skills diminish and gas goes down to 1.25.

 

And when you buy a MINI, you are getting SUPER-short!


Clover

 

ROFL ... Selling short is GOOD!