has ANYBODY had luck selling their cooper!!! i have had no responses posting it online. even after lowering the price by $2000 (well below blue book). i have been cold calling dealers in the cleveland (midwest) area asking them if they buy used cars. they all say "YEAH WE DO, WHAT DO YOU HAVE?" i tell them it is a MINT 2005 cooper and they say "WELL. UM.......NO. WE DON"T WANT THOSE CARS. SORRY." Seriously people, whats going on here. My car is one PERFECTO condition. I have made sure to park it far so it has not a scratch on it, wash it every week, take care of it to keep it showroom new, and still it seems the guy next door with his Ford F150 all banged up would be able to sell his POS before i can sell my MINI. This is killing me because i am making double car payments and need to sell it ASAP. OH! and by the way. I called all the MINI dealerships in the area (Classic, Michigan,Columbus and Pittsburgh) and not only did they not offer me any money for it but they all said "we honestly dont wants any used MINIs right now, SORRY". listen people i think the tide is turning. not only are we rapidly losing our great resale but i think its going to be hard to even sell these cars at all. anybody else having or had any luck selling a non S cooper recently. and anybody interested in this cooper. its really an awesome perfect car, i just cant afford two cars right now. thanks so much.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=62086

 

Maybe you should try somewhere like CarMax. They could probably buy it there and put it in their inventory anywhere in the country.

 

i dont have one near me. its 400 miles away. and i did call them this moring. the woman was very nice but said they need to see the car first. and best case they would offer me wholesale auction price for it. there is no way im driving 800 miles to get a $5000 - $6000 below blue book offer on my prestine MINI. but thanks for the idea.

 

If you're actually giving it away, I'll gladly take it off your hands. I'll even pick it up.

 

Been trying to sell my 02 MC for 2 months now, some nibbles but no bites. Mine is priced at $16,500 with the sports package and 45k. Good luck to you.

 

CDMINI covered it pretty well in your for sale thread:
You put 35K miles on a car in a year. That's a lot. And it makes it a hard sell to believe that it's minty. That's more than double average. Claims like 90% highway mileage are impossible to check on.

It's northern car, so that means snow and ice and that equals salt. Connect the dots.

Plus, that leaves less than 15K in factory warranty left. In other words, about a year.

Dealerships maynot want it because of that mileage. Especially if there's any stream of lower-mileage lease turn-ins coming through.

Don't take this as me bagging on your car, I'm sure it's nice and I'm not questioning you, but just pointing out what a suspicious buyer might think.

But I think your only chance to sell is to stick with the online thing (Auto-Trader, etc) and hope some left-coaster who is jonesing for a loaded Cooper is ready to go. Have all your service records on hand, etc.

Good luck and enjoy the TT.

 

Me too

 

I'm not surprised. I had my 2003 Cooper listed for 2 months without any interest. I eventually sold it to a local dealer.

 

A while back I had a brain fart and thought I should sell my MCSC
I'm better now. Really.
Anyway - 05 with 5250 miles - dealer offered $24500 against my MSRP purchase of about 28,000. January isn't prime weather for cabrios in Denver - and they had more than a few on the lot at the time.
The appraiser went over the offer - what they'd paid for the car when they bought it from MINI - from their perspective it was a fair offer...and in truth for a quick sale it was.
But I'm really glad I didn't take it
Peter

 

Do you live in cleveland? I might know someone interested.......please email, PM or IM me.....

Newdl@aol.com

~Neal

 

I'm wondering if maybe these cars aren't selling because the resale value is so great? I mean, seriously, if you can spec out a new car and have it delivered in 2 months with it exactly the way you want it, why buy used?

 

Exactly, and why have someone else's miles? High resale is what the dealers say, so they can still make a profit when they flip a used car. They don't actually PAY that money for them, I'll bet diamonds to doughnuts. They're just like very other dealer in buying used cars, don't you think? Buy low, sell HIGH. That's just business. I don't care what's on a car. I think they hover at base MSRP for a few years, maybe, then they'll start dropping. High mileage is always a killer in the used vehicle market.

 

Flav,

I would say that Trick has got right to the major marketing challenges:
1. 0nly one year of driving left on the warranty, and
2. Salt belt car

One additional challenge:
For just 2 grand more you can buy a fully loaded 2 year old MCS with only 25-27,000 miles at a private part sale.

At $16,995 you have priced the car at about $500 under the Kelley Blue Book private party sale value in your area. You may have to go down another $500-$1000 to move it quickly.

Another option would be to take the asking price back up to $17,995 and offer a full 4 year, 48000 mile warranty which you can buy for about $1500. (I'd only buy the warranty after finding the buyer).

Best of luck to you, and enjoy the TT.

 

great comments. keep them coming. also im interested in those of you that have had trouble or success selling your cooper. and of course a willing buyer for mine would be nice too.

 

I listed my car for sale at blue book around Thanksgiving last year. I sold it 2 weeks ago for 3000 below KBB impatientimpatient:impatient :impatient

There goes my Z06 budget...

What worked best for me was blanketing the market. I put up an ad here, on craigslist, a couple other forums, autotrader, and cars.com. Cars.com will get you KBB, and Autotrader will get you Yahoo Cars. I wound up selling the car finally through Yahoo cars, oddly enough. Autotrader was the best investment.

My advice is have LOTS of good pictures of the car, and shell out the extra 20 bucks for the premium ads. If you have a buddy who likes to take digital photos, set up a short photo shoot and get some dramatic shots of your car. Any parking lot with white flourescent lighting works well - park directly under one of the lights and snap away without the flash. It turns out pretty cool, regardless of your skill (as long as you hold it still).

Good luck! Early in the year is a horrible time to sell the car because people are still reeling from xmas bills.

I like the extra warranty idea. However, I would keep the price low and offer the warranty as an "option." That way people see your car at the bottom of the price range.

 

Classic gave me 16 for my 05 Cooper last Aug.

It had 12k and it was perfect. I traded it up for a car, but they did take it.

 

I'm sure the region is part of the problem -- I love my Mini to death, but I'm not sure that I'd want one if I lived in Cleveland. No twisties, and speed traps ever 2 miles on every street!!

 

When you guys say "blue book" or "less than blue book" I don't know what you mean. Do you mean retail? Trade-in? Wholesale (although that's black book)?

The only people who get retail pricing selling a car are dealers. This is because people come in on a Saturday, they say "oh, look at the cute little mini!" and the dealership will take their trade, arrange the financing, sell them a warranty, and fill up the tank after they wash and detail the car, and handle all of the paperwork. It's painless.

Now, you on the other hand, you're an individual that the buyer doesn't know, and if they want to buy the car from you, they have to call, schedule an appointment, get directions, drive out there, drive the car, then (if they want) take it to a mechanic to have it checked out, then arrange financing, sell their other car themselves, maybe buy a warranty, get the money, take the car, do all the DMV paperwork, and it's a real hassle to people not accustomed to doing it. It's much easier to go to a dealership. Why would I buy it from you? Well, to save several thousand dollars.

So that means if you want to sell it yourself, you need to price it several thousand dollars less than a dealership would. To think otherwise is just fooling yourself. And don't forget, the retail price quoted is the asking retail price. Most places, especially on used cars, will negotiate that price. If there is no trade-in, they will negotiate it a lot.

Additionally, whoever made the comments about the mileage, age, location and warranty is spot-on.

I've sold a lot of cars myself. It's tough. Some you just can't sell, especially 1 or 2 year old cars, and you just gotta bite the bullet and wholesale it to Carmax or whomever. Good luck!

Michael

 

When you guys say "blue book" or "less than blue book" I don't know what you mean. Do you mean retail? Trade-in? Wholesale (although that's black book)?

The only people who get retail pricing selling a car are dealers. This is because people come in on a Saturday, they say "oh, look at the cute little mini!" and the dealership will take their trade, arrange the financing, sell them a warranty, and fill up the tank after they wash and detail the car, and handle all of the paperwork. It's painless.

Now, you on the other hand, you're an individual that the buyer doesn't know, and if they want to buy the car from you, they have to call, schedule an appointment, get directions, drive out there, drive the car, then (if they want) take it to a mechanic to have it checked out, then arrange financing, sell their other car themselves, maybe buy a warranty, get the money, take the car, do all the DMV paperwork, and it's a real hassle to people not accustomed to doing it. It's much easier to go to a dealership. Why would I buy it from you? Well, to save several thousand dollars.

So that means if you want to sell it yourself, you need to price it several thousand dollars less than a dealership would. To think otherwise is just fooling yourself. And don't forget, the retail price quoted is the asking retail price. Most places, especially on used cars, will negotiate that price. If there is no trade-in, they will negotiate it a lot.

Additionally, whoever made the comments about the mileage, age, location and warranty is spot-on.

I've sold a lot of cars myself. It's tough. Some you just can't sell, especially 1 or 2 year old cars, and you just gotta bite the bullet and wholesale it to Carmax or whomever. Good luck!

Michael

 

Try making payments until after tax time. People do crazy things with their tax returns (those who get them).

 

I wonder, everytime I read one of these it seems to be with a regular MINI and not an 'S'... Is this the problem or do the 'S's fall into the same fate?

 

He's lucky he didnt MOD it out, and then be crying the BLues.... why cant i get "ALL" my money back,,,. its a depreciating asset.., he drove 35 k on it ->> 3 years ownership in just a year ( RED FLAG) and he wants al his money out of it,,lol,, better look at it as a 2003and see what the price is bet he might sell it that price...

 

I have a CVT MC ... which I hope woll sell fast when I trade up for an MCS later this year ... I think regular MC's sell faster with Auto Transmissions, it's that type of customer that is looking for them.

I also agree that this time of the year is a lousy time to try selling a car.

 

I sold my 8 yr old Mitsu ragtop with 105,00 mile for twice what the Mini dealership would give. 39.95 for 3 mos. with photos and national distribution.

 

I can only say that it is difficult to sell ANY vehicle in the dead of winter. I'm not saying this is the entire cause of 'lack of interest'. But it will narrow down the field.

I've used eBay to sell warm weather vehicles (Harley's) in the past. I think eBay can help you reach a wider range of buyers...possibly down south with more of an itch to buy something at this time of year. You'd be surprised how willing people are to come pick up their purchase.

It has worked for me and if you are in a pinch, it may be worth looking into.