I have a 2006 BRG MC with 11,000 miles on it. I have a 2008 MCS on order and was wondering if I can get any where close to KBB "trade-in value" for the 2006.

KBB's website says it's worth $19,225 (manual trans. with no options, excellent condition), which is about what I paid for it new; how realistic is that KBB estimate? Does anyone have any real life data to share? Thanks.

P.S. I'm in SoCal.

 

Unfortunately... no... I expect they will offer you substantially less than that as a trade in.

 

I was offered $16,500 trade on a 2007 MCS for my 2006 MC.

My car (5-speed/premium package) went out the door for $20.850 one year and 10,000 miles ago.

This was at the same dealer where I bought it.

My hope is to sell it outright for $18,500.

I am in Los Angeles as well...

 

Thanks for that, ToroPerro. Not very encouraging news however. I guess I can't expect anything over $16000 for mine then.

 

If its any help. Our local S.CA dealer offered approx 17.5k$ towards an R56 on my 2004 R53 MCS-with JCW pack and all option packages. He was nice enough to tell me that I could probably get around 20k$ on a private sale.
Buang

 

From what I know you should use fair condition for the vehicle when using KBB and whatever it says...take about $1000 off of that and it has put me pretty close to what I have gotten...and if they offer less...well raise heck with them until they give what you want!

 

Here's a hint: Negotiate the value of your trade _before_ you order the new car... heh. The dealer is most likely gonna low ball you now considering you can't just walk away from the deal.

FWIW, I think KBB is worthless. If you want realistic numbers try www.edmunds.com. Every car I've bought/sold/traded has ended up w/in a couple percent of their numbers. They estimate a bit over 14k for average dealer trade-in offer. That sounds pretty accurate to me (20k MSRP, 16k off the lot, 14.4k a year later, pretty average).

Like I said though, the dealer will know he's got you by the short curlies so he might try to drive you down from 14.

-/flea

P.S. Not a bad idea to read over the advice articles on edmunds if you're bored surfing some day. Some of it is cliche, but still good info especially for folks who consider themselves car shopping newbies.

 

Interesting story- My Lady sold her '07 VW Beetle, less than a year old 5,000 miles, a no pick car, still looked new, no problems, one outstanding recall. We took it to the dealer she purchased it from, another dealer, and CarMax. We weren't interested in top dollar, we just wanted it gone. All three gave us the same quote, to the penny. Point to the story SHOP your car, take it to CarMax, they give you a 7 day no obligation quote of what they will buy your car for. Trust me they are going to get that quote from the dealer in the area. If they don't have a home for your car they will give you a low price, before they buy your car they know what they can sell it for on the BACK channel market. If you were to trade your MINI at a dealer other than a MINI dealer, the MINI dealer knows where it is and how much he can buy it for, because the dealer that you traded it to called him about the car. It's called market research, before a dealer buys a car that he's not familiar with, he'll call a dealer who sells it and get a quote of what he can sell it to that dealer for, in case he decides he doesn't want to sell it himself.

 

Thanks to some more of your responses, I checked Edmunds. They gave my 2006 MC 5-speed + sport seat a $13,765 trade in value. ($1000 more for private party.)

That is really an eye opener, if Edmunds is more accurate as some of you suggest, then I've lost roughly $5k after one year and 11,000 miles, what happened to the MINI's supposedly stellar resale value reputation? (Bad English, but you get the point.)

I will give CarMax a try if and when I have time, but my hopes are not high.

 

Any normal car (excluding exotic, hard to get cars) will take its biggest hit as soon as it is driven off the lot and in the first year.

Think about it from the other point of view. If you were in the market for a new/late model MINI, and you saw a one year old car with 11,000 miles, how much cheaper than new would it have to be for you to consider buying it? If you did your research and saw that the MSRP was $20k, what would you want to pay for this used one? Now take that number and subtract a few thousand dollars to represent the money the dealer needs to spend getting the car ready to put on their lot, plus their profit.

If you look at all those "highest resale value" studies, you'll see that they are all based on resale value after 3-5 years, not 1 or 2 years. Look up the trade in value on a similarly equipped '03 or '04 model and you'll see that it's resale is much better in terms of "Current Value divided by Original MSRP" when you look at it after a few years.

 

In the first few years the cars had such high demand that they didn't take the same massive hit off of the MSRP. Keep in mind that many dealerships were charging up to 5% over to drive 'em off the lot also.

A good rule of thumb for the average car with normal miles is 20% off the lot and 10% of the remainder each year after, up to 5 or 6 years, then most tend to drop off faster. There is some play in the numbers but that's a pretty good guideline.

This is why I never buy new. I would rather spend months shopping for a 2yr. old perfect match than take the initial hit. I also tend to keep cars forever. My '05 MCS was sold for roughly $30k new, I paid $23k at a dealer who probably paid around $19.5. She had 7500 miles and was in pristine condition. So trading a few months of time shopping I have an almost new car and either $7k to pay for future maintenance/repairs or I could sell it private party for around $18-19k. That comes down to about $170-180/mo. ownership. Compared to the $480/mo. it cost the new car buyer...

If you have a good credit bureau or you have the capital to pay cash you can drive 2-3 year old high-end cars for 2-3 years and pay 30-40% per month as the new car buyer. Just do the research and make sure the vehicle doesn't lose more than 10%/year between years 2-6.

-/flea

 

I usually buy new but decided to do just what you said with our mini. I got an 06 MCS loaded with 22K miles for $18.5k. I think I did ok.

 

As stated by "Qksquirt" above (and I am NOT Flaming or picking on you) this is Exactyly what the Dealers are banking on. Trying to sell a use car today is a PIA UNLESS you are holding a wanted car or price it LOW... Most people do not want strangers calling or coming by the house - they all want to 'test drive' then haggle and then try and find $$$ - You just do not know who will be knocking on your door - The Dealers LOVE this and us it Against us... I parked my PU in front of my fire station and sold it in a few days... Right place at the right time... Got KBB and was Glad - Wife just bougth a Toyota SUV this week and we sold her Avalon W/288K to a friend of hers at work. Again, at the right place and at the right time... BTW got Edmonds 4K for this car (SUPER condition but had miles) Just for fun I aks MINI how much as a trade in ( I was with the Finance guy and was paying Cash for the Mini... - as a favor he did a quick check and said they would only have offered us $500 for the car... They really do not want our trade-ins.. When buying the Toyota last week - it was on a Friday - I ask what all the people were doing in the back of the lot - Dealer wholesale of trade in cars they have No use for... You can make more $$ by selling yourself but you have to do all the work and deal with some A Holes... In the past two cars sold - I used Craigslist and the ole park and sign method - both worked for me... Price it between what the dealer will offer and what edmonds states and you can do it... If you are PROUD of your car it most likely Won't sale... Why - because you are most likley NOT a salesman and you can Not offer financing