OK, so I have Bad luck with Silver Subarus...
I've had 4 subarus, 3 silver. @ of the silvers have been totalled:

1991 Legacy totalled when I was first learning how to drive. My fault.

1996 Outback (Blue), traded in for 02 WRX (Silver)
http://www.pbase.com/image/15204885/original

2002 WRX (Silver), totalled by idiot woman turning into me... "Didn't see me"


2004 WRX (Silver), Rear ended 3 times in the last 3 weeks....


I have been discussing getting a MINI cooper S as a trade for my 04 wrx. The wife agreed with me last night, and said I could go for the S if I broke even on the deal, or made money (yeah right!). But this brings up an important question: What is my 04 WRX worth? It is a Silver 04 WRX with 11,000 miles on it.

kbb.com says:
trade in for $20,250
Private sale for $22,490
but they don't have 04s listed... these are prices for the 03, so my 04 should go for more, but how much?

Thanks for the help.... Still haven't decided to go MINI %100 yet. Once I get the numbers then I will decide.

Ben

 

Half the trade in value. Thats about what Princeton MINI offered me on my trade.


--
Cheese

 

TRADE-IN AT A MINI DEALER

_________________
She let's me drive her MCS (which is good, cause I gave it to her as a wedding present)!!!

Our Baby? - she's an 03 Elect Blue (white roof/wheels) MCS, w/ all the toys (premium, cold, h/k, Nav, xenon, fogs etc) !

 

Trust me: you want to sell privately. I'd probably try to sell at about 80% of the price you paid. Go ahead and spend a couple hundred bucks and do some serious newspaper adverts and you'll be able to get that MCS you've been wanting.

 

If you get hit that often, your fault or not, stick with the Subaru. the MINI won't afford you that amount of protection. sides the likelyhood is the subie will still be drivable after a tap. I dont think the MINI will be. pop the hood on the Coop next time you are at a dealer, 4inches between the bumper and radiator. and you won't even have the same power. if you had something else then upgraded toa MINI then go for it. but when you owned the new WRX, you're step'n down big time.

 

Keep the monster of a car that is the WRX. I like the style revision done to the 2004 models. Unless your heart is content on owning a MINI Cooper S, I say save money and keep the WRX. Both cars have their merits. Power is where the WRX excels. The handling isn't bad, either .

Oh, and your car is beautiful!

 

The biggest reason for the switch to another MINI is for the bigger driver's seating area. I am 6'4" and 210lbs. When I drive my wifes MINI, I fit very well, and have room so spare. When i drive the WRX I feel as though I am sitting on the wheel and I can't go far enough back. Als when I look over my left shoulder to check the blindspot the b pillar is right in my face. Something I am very used to with all the subarus I have owned, but the MINI has the pillar back enough that I don't stare at it being a coupe....

I'll see what they offer me at the dealer. Maybe they will be nice since it will be our second MINI. I am just going to tell my Salesman I will trade even with my car for a MCS with one package and see if he can do it... This way they are forced to give me a bit of a deal either on the New MCS or the trade.... however they look at it, we will both make out, they just won't get the usual ammount they are used to...

I'll have to see what they are willing to do.

Ben

 

>>I'll see what they offer me at the dealer. Maybe they will be nice since it will be our second MINI. I am just going to tell my Salesman I will trade even with my car for a MCS with one package and see if he can do it... This way they are forced to give me a bit of a deal either on the New MCS or the trade.... however they look at it, we will both make out, they just won't get the usual ammount they are used to... .
>>
>>Ben


he he, you said FORCED... meaning you think you can FORCE a Mini dealer awww that cracks me up

ahhh, Ben, nice to see you're a glass half full type of guy.

Seriously, good luck and let us know how you make out...

 

Ben,

Keep in mind that the used car market is very soft, what with the big boys offering 60 month 0% interest loans for their new vehicles. Auction price is the MOST you can hope for from any dealer, not KBB. However, you do own a desireable vehicle in the WRX. Private sale via the local newspaper, Auto Trader or even better if you have a friend or relative in the market for some hot ride is the way to go. Expect closer to KBB wholesale rather than retail though, as you still have to compete against new cars with interest free loans.

p.s. I sold my 2000 GTI VR6 earlier this year at KBB wholesale pricing. Only took me 5 months to get my price.

 

I know most MINI dealer just auction off the cars, is this why you say wholesale pricing? The dealer we got the first cooper at does take in a few trade ins and sells them on their lot. The funniest thing they had there 2 months ago was a new excursion! Biggest car on raod today sitting next to the smalles.... pretty funny. Will they give me more than the auction price if they plan on selling it? Oh yeah, when I said forced, I meant they will have to give me a bit of a deal, or no deal at all.... I know you can't force them to do anything, and they have a long line of people waiting to get these cars.... hopefully since I won one and I am getting a second one they might be willing to not gouge me so bad the second time....

thanks for the input!

Where can I find the KBB wholesale value?

Ben

 

Actually, I got right at private retail on the trade of my 2001 Tahoe at the BMW/MINI dealer here in Dallas... they found a buyer right up the street (a Chevy dealer), and the deal was done. It made a huge difference... My dealer went the extra mile by calling around and getting the best bid...

 

Correct. Auction price is more commonly used, as most dealers who do not regularly trade in that brand will auction it off asap. Kelley Blue Book for an 2004 model year used vehicle I couldn't find either, only up to 2003 on
http://www.kbb.com/
I'd figure it on that number plus a few hundred dollars more.

 

As to Wholesale/auction pricing, Its generally 15% or so below kbb trade-in.

 

Ben,

The other reason dealers won't pay more than auction is because if they wanted a WRX on their used lot, they could go to auction and buy one for that price.

Yes dealers will sometimes pay a little more to make a customer happy, but they ALMOST always get it back somewhere else, the price of the new vehicle or other sell-ups (warranties, accessories, whatever else they've added to the deal). Hey, it is a business and if you were the dealer, that's what you'd do to.

Scobib, that is ABSOLUTELY amazing. There is no reason why that would happen, unless they hid the extra $$$ elsewhere in your purchase (above MSRP, accessories, warranty, etc like I said earlier). Think about it logically, WHY would another dealer down the road pay more for your vehicle than they could buy it for at auction. Unless they had somone already on the hook that was willing to pay more than kbb retail numbers (more by a grand or so at least).

 

I went to one MINI dealer in my area and inquired into trade value for my '01 Acura CL-S. I was offered $17K for it and it only has 22K miles. Excellent condition and never smoked in or wrecked. That was auction pricing. I have access to the auction and can check pricing and sales results. I purchased it through the auction 1.5 years ago for $22K.

It took 7 weeks to sell privately, but I got $20K for it. Not too bad, as mentioned earlier, the used car market is soft right now. Add it's a 2-door luxury car and not many people want to pay $20K for a used car.

Put a refundable deposit on the MINI, sell your car privately. You can also check with CarMax to see what they would give for it.

 

Sell private, and don't buy a silver MINI!... get a yellow one... that way nobody will plow into it! the non-viewability of silver cars is why I didn't get one... granted, red not the easiest to see either, but it's gotta stand out more in the winter then silver...

Rocketboy_X
(Oh, and I got $100 bux for my trade in... which was a really sweet deal as the car wasn't really safe to drive (one of the break calipers were locking up very quickly))

 

>>You can also check with CarMax to see what they would give for it.

Absolutely! If you're even THINKING about trading it in, just stop by CarMax when you've got a spare half hour. They'll give you an offer in writing and it is ALWAYS more than the dealer would offer on a trade-in. If it's in great condition, then they keep it for themselves and don't auction it and therefore are willing to pay more for it.

Still: I got $2K more than my dealer offered from CarMax, and I got $5K more than CarMax offered from a private sale...