I'm so jealous

 

The Kelly Blue Book recommendations are just guidelines...they may apply in part to some cars only in that these cars will appeal to the broadest spectrum of buyers. I would never spec out a MINI with these guidelines in mind, but for what I would enjoy. That said, in relation to color I'd bet MINIs skew these guidelines from the start simply because MINIs arent the standard automotive fare. If we're talking Hondas...maybe....but w/ MINIs the other colors would do quite well in re-sale I would think. Who in their right mind could pass up CR, LY, or EB on such a fun car.

Also....I had Mexican food for lunch today, too!!

 

I'm 20 and fitting the bill 100% as well but my rents had 2 stipulations when I ordered my car (becuase I still live under their ROOF). It couldn't be EB and it had to be an automatic. Two reccomendations that had their ups and downs but all and all I'm super attached to my MINI

 

if I knew how I would post the classic Lyle and Slim Picken's sound bite from Blazing Saddles:

"How bout s'more beans Mr. Taggert?"

 

This thread has turned into "which color is awesome..er"

jet blaaaaack

 

There are a lot of assumptions here. What is the goal - to lose the least amount of money, or to lose the lowest percentage of the car's cost? If you buy a $20,000 car and get 50% back, you have a $10,000 loss. If you buy a $30,000 car and get 60% back, you lost $12,000. Which is better, losing $10,000 or losing $12,000? Yes, you can say there was a lower percentage loss, but it was more money. So to say that putting a bunch of options on the car is better for resale is just wrong - even if you get a higher percentage of the cost back (a dubious proposition, I suspect).

Also, the numbers fail to consider the time value of money - you could have earned interest on that extra $10,000 you paid (or those extra payments you made).

A stripped down, bare bones car is best for resale. In the Cooper, that means white, black, red or yellow - the rest of them cost more for the paint. I limited myself to deciding between these colors and chose red. Of the four, I like black the best (especially in the mini), but black is hard to keep clean and is hotter in summer. White was not available in the convertible. That left red and yellow - it was easy for me to choose red. I'm just too cheap to pay extra for paint.

Two more things. A car is a terrible investment. It is consumption, not savings. You can't justify the purchase of a new car on economic terms. You buy for the pleasure.

Second, projecting future depreciation (or investing) based on the past performance is like driving with only a rear-window view - You don't know what's up ahead. Mini demand greatly outstripped supply in the past. Supply is catching up. That does not bode well for resale value. At one time there were premiums on Chrysler's ugly PT Cruiser. Now, they are offering large incentives. The premium on Minis are quickly going away too - and some are even buying below sticker (I had no such luck). I would expect resale percentage of our coopers to decline, unless the price of the new cars goes up significantly.

So I know I made a bad investment. But I'm hoping to have a lot of fun to make up for it. If you see a middle-aged guy with a wide smile on his face driving a red cooper convertible, waive!

 

I wouldn't say you made a bad investment. If you compare to some other cars Cadillac for example you made a fairly good investment. I doubt anyone buys a brand new expecting to MAKE money when they sell it after a few thousand miles. I mention Cadillac because a lady i know bought a brand new CTS for like $50k+ , decided she did not like it in about 5000 Mi/6 months and sold for under $30k (she won't tell exactly what she paid and sold the car for just what i've told you) She then went out and bought a Bmw M5, and loves it.

 

I bought a brand new 2004 MCS which I took home in early October 2003. I had custom ordered the car 10 months prior to that, when the waiting lists still ran into 6+ months at most dealerships.

I drove the car for 17K miles and kept it until February 2005. Never had a single problem with it. I sold it privately for $21,900 cash to an eager buyer. I originally paid for it new $21,300. Do the math.... I enjoyed this car for one and a half years and made extra money on the sale, $700 to be exact

Extremely good luck? Maybe, but I can tell you that these cars used still command astronomical prices and for the person that sees the value in the car, they are willing to pay top dollar for it.

My car was a fairly "basic" MCS with just a few options and no packages. The car was in pristine condition and another factor that helped the sale was the balance of the fully transferable factory warranty.

My car was specced as follows:

Chili Red/White
Union Jack Roof flag
Chrome front grille and mirror caps
Harmon Kardon
Panther Black leatherette seats
Anthracite trim
Trip Computer
MFSW sport 2-spoke steering wheel
Front fog lights
AUX input jack for MP3's
16" Silver V-spoke wheels with factory Dunlop SP5000 runflats
Rain sensing wipers
Self dimming rearview mirror
Manual A/C controls (3 rotary dials).

The car was an absolute hit with the new buyer. No test drive was necessary. Cash was handed to me, keys and title signed over and off they went!

The retail market values for these cars are all over the map. Anything is possible.

Also, I don't see MINI going the way of the overproduced PT Cruiser or VW New Beetle. Those cars are not even in the league of the MINI, for starters, and second even if BMW intended (Which they are not) to put a new opne on every driveway in the United States, they can't because their production output is still limited to 100K-120K cars WORLDWIDE.

The US gets 25K-30K MINIs a YEAR, that is a drop in the bucket compared to mainstream cars. Ford sells 20K new '05 Mustangs a MONTH while MINI sells 25K MINIs per YEAR. BIG DIFFERENCE!

The MINI is a high quality, world class product with the heritage and driving dynamics to show for. Comparing a MINI to mediocre offerings in its price range is simply ridiculous.

The car has been selling for 3 years and still commands the highest resale values in the industry. Not to mention, there are still waiting lists in many areas of the country.

BMW learned from the mistakes made by the competition and I very much doubt we will ever see MINIs going out dealer lots with hefty discounts and fire sale rebates. That ain't gonna happen.

 

You're not disputing that it's a bad investment. You're just saying it could have been a worse investment (you're right, of course).

Investment = You expect to make money

Consumption = You expect to lose money, but get pleasure out of it.

Buying a new car is clearly consumption. Even a Mini

 

Did anyone trade in the old MINI for a newer one and if so how much did you get from the dealer?


MD STREGA2

 

C4: You did incredibly well with that car. It's hard for me to understand why someone would pay for a used car nearly as much as a new car - except (1) they don't have to wait for delivery, or (2) they didn't do their homework to realize what a new car would cost. All I'm saying is that one should not expect that result. If anyone wants to buy my used car for more than the new car price in a year, I'm happy to sell :-)

 

I advice against trade ins. Why? Because you are willingly giving away thousands of $$$ to the dealer, when you can put that same money in your pocket. Ask yourself this question... Do you make $3K-$5K in just 10 minutes? Unless you are Donald Trump, I very much doubt so.

Trading in is the most expensive convenience anyone will ever pay. Dealers make money in trade ins and used car sales, not new ones. The profit margin for a new MINI is around $1,500 and this is yet another reason why you will never see hefty discounts in these cars and why they sell at window sticker. Unlike many other new cars in the market, there is no "back money" in MINIs either.

When I was selling my '04 MCS, both my dealer and Carmax offered me $18,500 cash for my car. I said NO WAY JOSE!

I put an ad in Cars.com and sold it in just 6 days for $21,900 CASH. I put $3,400 green backs in my pocket, not the dealer's!

The MINI is a fantastic car to sell privately and the right buyers are willing to pay for it, period. Don't let your desire for "Instant gratification" be a way for the dealer to make himself richer on you

 

Actually, you'll be surprised. The buyer had done plenty research on used MINIs available in the area and was fairly knowledgeable about the car, its features, etc, etc. From the initial contact over the phone, I got the impression that they knew exactly what they wanted it and consequently were all over the car.

The buyer appeared to be a well off individual that likes cars, but is not interested in buying them brand new. Also the color/options and the rather conservative spec sheet on my car were very attractive to them. He was not interested in Sunroofs, leather seats, navigation systems or big wheels. Most used MCS at the time were fully loaded cars that were retailing for well above $24K in the market. My car given its condition, low mileage, warranty and fewer options were extremely attractive to them.

I agree with you that they could have ordered a new '05 MCS for a few hundred more, but they did not want a new one and were not interested in waiting. They wanted a Chili Red/White roof MCS, right now.

Puzzling buyer for sure, but these buyers do exist.

I also agree with you that contrary to popular belief, cars with fewer options and kept factory stock are much easier to sell privately.

 

I put an ad in Cars.com and sold it in just 6 days for $21,900 CASH.


Glad to hear, it looks as I did pretty well with my dealer then , I got $20,000 for my stock MCS 2003 with 19,000 miles (same original tires)
Maybe I lost a couple of hundred $$ but
1) no money for the Ad,
2) no phone calls,
3) no risk to have someone testing the car and crash it
4) no money to wash/ wax the car (actually it was pretty dirty inside)
5) no extra insurance (for the days the car was unsold)
6) no problems with paperwork (actually I couldn't find my title and I brought it to them 5 days later)
7) no problem with buyer's financial issues

All consider it will probably have cost me about 5-6 hours of my time plus expenses (car wash, insurance etc) and if the car will have taken longer to sell extra $$.

MDSTREGA2

 

I guess you did very well and congratulate you for it

Without knowing the spec of your '03 MCS, I am assuming you got nearly close to retail for it. That's pretty unheard of on a dealer trade-in but then again your local market seems to be pretty hot for these cars and is willing to bear and bet on high end pricing.

In my case, trading in wouldn't have worked. I was looking at losing $3.5K green backs for the "convenience".

For the ad I only spent $50, which i quickly recovered when I sold it. Also I got lucky because no test drive was necessary. The buyer got to drive the car for the first time after the title was signed over and the money was exchanged. The buyer had cash in hand. He paid me cash/Bank cashier's check with no problems. Insurance was kept until he took posession of the vehicle. Here in Florida, the buyer has to have proof of insurance before the new registration can be issued by the tag agency.

Lastly, there were no issues with paperwork that may have caused further delays.

I washed and detailed the car myself. No added expense there other than time, but since I enjoy washing my cars is not something I consider to be an added chore.

Your experience with the dealer trade-in and my experience with Private sale are pretty much parallel and illustrate the fact that anything can happen in terms of pricing when you sell/trade these vehicles.

 

it's true that we left with two convertibles so the dealer was already making $$ on that. Plus while I was waiting someone walked in and was very interested in my Little One and I had not finished the paper work, yet.


Yes, it was the right time for me to sell. The dealer, of course, did not lose any money

MD STREGA2

 

I think all planets were aligned for you that day

Washington DC appears to be a hot market for the MINI, so dealers are betting higher in trade-ins. In South Florida the playing field is more even, so dealers are not betting that high on MINI trade-ins because the new vs used MINI market is very tight. Of course, that was 5 months ago, so things could be different now.

I am glad the deal worked fairly well both ways. Your dealer made more money on your single '03 MCS than it did selling 2 brand new convertibles. MINI dealers don't make a whole lot of profit on new MINIs, hence these cars are not leaving showrooms with discounts. MSRP, take it or leave it.

 

Bingo. The numero uno reason why this thread exists. The MINI is not instantly devalued at purchase. What's the average rebate? $12? (it was last year, lead the industry.)

Along with limiting production, it's amazing what a pronounced racing (and cultural) heritage this car reflects--and that factor in resale value. Is anyone surprised here? :smile: Jimbo

 

Trade-ins can be tricky, because if you overpay for your new car, they can pretend to be paying you more for your trade-in. If you pay $22,000 for a $20,000 car, the dealer will hapily pay you $1,500 more for your trade-in than if you were not overpaying for your car. With leases and financing, it can be difficult to really figure out what you're getting for your trade-in. Best way is to negotiate the best deal on your new car, then discuss the trade-in. The situation is a bit different with minis, because sticker price rules.

You all seem very confident that Mini's will continue to hold their value as they have during the past few years. As a new Mini owner (about to be), I hope you're right, but I'm not depending on it.