I will be getting my mini in a week or two. I ordered it in August and I was going to see if I could sell my car in the meantime. I didn't have any luck and now it looks like i have to trade it in. I was asking $9000 for it. The dealer told me ,at the time i ordered it ,they would give me $6000 the most without even looking at it. He looked it up on kbb.com and put in fair condition. I took really good care of my car so I think it is at least in good condition maybe even excellent. I still make payments on it so I can't have 2 cars if I refused to trade it in. Am I just screwed and should tell them I'll take what they give me or do u think I can negotiate a price with them? If anyone has been in this position let me know what u did or if anyone has a suggestion for me it will be greatly appreciated. HELP!

 

Believe it or not, you can get estimates from other dealers on what they would give you if you "traded it in." You can even just ask the other dealers what they would give you directly instead of acting like you want to trade it in. I just wouldn't let on that you are doing a comparison, because they probably won't be very helpful knowing that.

Get at least 3 quotes and see if you get anything higher. If so, you can take that to your dealer and see if they'll match it, or just go back to the place with the higher quote.

 

What kind of car do you have? One issue with which I am very familiar is that dealers will not give you a lot of money for a car which they will not retail on their lot-for instance, a local Audi dealer I know doesn't sell the BMW's they get in trade in their used car lot. They send them off to auction. I traded my 2001 Ford Escape in for my MINI, and they gave me an allowance $3K under what I could have sold it for person-to-person, and $1.5K under what the guides said "trade-in" should be. I also know they didn't put my car on their lot- they wholesaled it out right away. So, if you don't want the hassle of selling it yourself (which I didn't) and you don't want to try eBay, I think you're stuck. For a lot of other cars (non MINIs), sometimes dealers play with the trade-in allowance if they can charge you more for the car you're buying. But since we all (except apparently our friends in SoCal) pay list, there's nothing to gain.
Donald O

 

Two things:

** Get a newspaper from three weeks ago and find classified ads selling vehicles the same model/year as yours. Then call three or four sellers up and find out how long they took to sell and how much they got for them. This will give you an idea of how much your car's real market value is. If they all got $6000 to $7000, then it's probably not worth delaying the MINI purchase to sell your car yourself. But if they got $9000 to $10,000, then it IS worth delaying.

** Look your car up on Edmunds.com and kbb.com and run the valuation yourself -- see if you get a substantially different number from the one the dealer gave you, for both trade-ins and private-party sales.

If it really looks like you can realize more than $1000 to $1500 extra by selling the car yourself versus trading it in, I would do one of two things:

** Tell the MINI dealer you need to delay pickup for a week or two while you sell your current car. Maybe give him $1000 more in earnest/escrow money to prove you're serious. I can't believe a dealer wouldn't work with you on this.

** If he won't, take out a big loan to buy the MINI, THEN sell your current car and use the proceeds to pay down the loan by half right away. The slightly bigger interest charges you pay on the bigger loan will be outweighed by the extra revenue you get from selling your car yourself.

Good luck!

 

It's really hard to sell a used car these days because of the great bargains one can get on a new car. I bought my Mini in September and tried to sell my 1999 Chevrolet Tracker that was in excellent condition. The best price I was offered was $6200.00 which was highway robbery. I paid $17000.00 new in 1999. So I decided to keep it and now will drive my 4X4 Tracker in during the winter (snowing as I write) and will drive the Mini in the summer. I'll also alternate my insurance according to which car is being driven.

 

Try Carmax. They will cut you a check right there. They do an inspection over the course of an hourm and come back with an offer (They use that time to try to sell you a car). I don't advise you to let them know you already have a car on order elsewhere, or they may lowball your offer since they know they won't make any $ off the sale of a car to you.

NOTE: Just be sure to give them a few days for their check to clear.

 

Try posting it on autotrader.com. I posted my car on there with a pic and it was sold in about 9 days. Carmax is a good source too as long as your car doesn't have over 100,000 miles, which it doesn't sound like yours does.

Good luck!

 

A car is worth what someone is willing to pay for it, You had yours for sale for 4 months no buyers at $9000,it is now 2003 the car is now considered a year older.
You may want to look at KBB again ,the price will be lower after 4 months.
Lower your selling price as what was said in the other posts holds true.There are enough used car lots that will buy your car for wholesale just so they can market car as Not an auction car.Sell it to the highest offer. Good Luck in you search

 

NEGOTIATE! Ferman MINI gave me the same run around on my (POS) Jetta trade in. They ended up giving me what I wanted for it. I told them it was either that or I would forget the MINI and go pick up a WRX.

 

Jdcrew:

My mini is on the same boat as yours and I am having the same debate. However, my 1996 Saab is only worth $3,200 at trade in and about $4,200. in a private sale. I would lower your price and try and sell it in the next week. You have a lot of room between $9,000 and $6,000. You could advertise it as a good winter car selling below book value. I think you and I are supposed to have a big winter storm this weekend so this might appeal.

Since mine is worth so little, I think I am going to use it as a winter car for the time being. I do not really want to maintain two cars so I will sell mine soon. Good luck, let's hope our minis arrive at our dealers soon.