Sorry if I insulted you. Just realize you chose very poor verbage for your topic title and my Mini takes such remarks personally

Seriously though, how do you think dealers make money?

 

Be sure to really fiddle around with the seats until you find the perfect position, MCS&. Crank it down low, or crank it up high, experiment with the seatback, but really...try it in a number of positions before you give up on it. I hope this helps.

 

Oh my god this thread is just making me....impatientimpatient:imp atient Some people!!!!!

 

The Lapis Blue leather was a $1250 option, and included blue carpets. (I love mine)
The good news is that you have an adjustable lumbar support - that should help (it's the dial on the inside of the seat). Otherwise I've heard people rave about both 'regular' tires and the FSDs to help ease the back pain. And Clo loves the heated seats to help with back issues!


As for the Checkmate,
from Motoringfile:
The new MINI Cooper S Checkmate exclusively features Space Blue metallic paint, ‘Checkmate’ cloth/leather interior trim, ‘Checkmate’ decals, silver roof and mirror caps, 3-spoke two-tone sports leather steering wheel, 17″ Flame spoke alloy wheels and silver bonnet stripes. Additional MINI options which feature as standard on ‘Checkmate’ are limited slip differential, floor mats, passenger seat height adjust, storage compartment pack, front fog-lights, manual air conditioning, on board computer, interior lights pack, anthracite headlining and xenon headlights.

 

My dad contacted the out-of-state dealership about trading in his '03 MCS. He gave them the run down of everything wrong with it, that would mark against depreciation. The dealership quoted a trade value and knew exactly what they would be recieving. When my dad arrived, the trade-in value dropped $3k. The only thing besides the mileage (which was calculated for in advance too) that changed between the phone call and arrival was just that, his arrival. Basically, he was already there, so they pulled a slimeball used car salesman trick on him, which he caught, confronted, and walked right back out.

If your set on trading it in vs. selling privatly, shop around. There is more than one place to get a GTI, and make sure you tell them that too. Also, visit kelleybluebook.com, and spec it out to see how competitive the trade value actually is.

 

You are definitely being quoted what you will get as a trade-in. What the vehicle will actually sell for will be quite close to what you originally paid for it.

By originally buying from the dealer, you paid a premium and slightly inflated price. When you go to the dealer to trade in, you will get low-balled. The "depreciation" you are experiencing is the difference between the two EXTREMES of the pricing scale that the dealer uses.

Had you originally purchased the car from a private party, you would have probably paid closer to $18k for it, and were you to sell it yourself to a private party, you'd probably sell it for about $17-17.5K. Not much depreciation there.

 

Your MINI doesn't want to go

 

Buy at retail, sell at retail. Would be nice in a world. Welcome to planet earth

 

Buy LO, Sell HI, it's the First rule of used car sales, it's in the Car Salesman's Bible on page one...

 

Are you sure you're not a politician because you're doing some awfully quirky math here. If I were to buy a car for retail at a dealer today and take it in to another dealer tomarrow and trade it in, I would get a much lower price for the trade-in. That doesn't mean the car has depreciated. I understand that for your purposes you would have lost $6,700 if you had accepted the trade-in offer, but its not depreciation. Furthermore, it sounds like you may have overpaid for the car in the first place. Yes, it is true that MINI Coopers DO depreciate, but it is also a fact that they depreciate at a much lower rate than most other cars. If you were to buy a used Cooper at fair market value now, there's no reason that you couldn't sell it in two months for close to the same price (and possibly even more if you're lucky). Even new Coopers aren't subject to the whole losing a bunch of value when you drive them off the lot thing... In fact, I decided to look up the values of my 2 month old 06 on Kelly Blue Book. After 2500 miles here are the numbers:

Sticker Price I paid: $20,150
Private Party Value: $22,615
Trade-in Value: $20,725
Retail Value: $24,560

Even the trade-in value is higher than the orignal sticker price. I realize that its true value is what I can actually get someone to pay, but I'm very pleased that I likely won't ever be upside down with this car. A quick look on Cars.com showed many similarly equipped 04 and 05 Coopers going for as much as 20-24k. So I certainly wouldn't say that the claim that "MINI Coopers don't depreciate" is an urban legend. I would say that MINI Coopers have a very low depreciation rate though...

 

All this depreciation talk reminds me of the Harley boom that has gone bust. Up until a couple of years ago you could buy a new Harley and expect to sell it for near what you paid (and sometimes more). I know, I bought 2 of them and sold them for more than I paid for them. Seems like many folks simply couldn't wait and order one from the dealer brand new for the same price as used. I wouldn't count on that anymore. The used market has softened as there is now more supply than demand and the new models have bigger engines and more features for about the same price as the previous generation. MINI's are no different, the boom days are nearing an end and it will become another great car that will settle into a normal premium car depreciation cycle like other BMW's. By the way, I think the original poster paid too much for his 03 in the first place and I also think KBB and others are smoking crack when it comes to used pricing for MINI's (though I'm not complaining).

 

I agree that the market will come back to earth a little, especially after the release of the 07. But it will still be a lower depreciation than most cars out there. Look at the used BMW market. Even when a new generation of the 3 or 5 series is introduced, the older ones still hold their value fairly well. As the first MINIs continue to rack up the years and miles you'll start to see their values fall. Its inevitable with any car (unless you're driving a Ferrari Enzo ). But the good news for MINI owners is that BMW is very good at brand management and it will continue to protect the MINI brand by limiting production and putting out a great product. This will benefit even the owners older used MINIs by not making them worthless ie most used American cars.

 

But you didn't actually sell your car. Those that have have found that they don't get those numbers.

Matt

 

Exactly, which is why I said this:

"I realize that its true value is what I can actually get someone to pay, but I'm very pleased that I likely won't ever be upside down with this car..."

 

instead of looking at the threads where cars don't sell quickley, or where people who actually sold thier car said that they didn't get close to the Edmunds "true market value"?

Matt

 

Last trade in I WAS going to make...Not only did they quote me below wholesale but
1) they said the car was SOFT...BS
2) tried to deduct $2200 for detailing and service. I told him to look at the car and it's service records and that his detail shop could never get it the same way anyway...

Took a little while but I sold it for a bunch more $ myself. Dealers have overhead and are entitled to a profit...not a rape job!
Now if it were a Dodge Ram or F-350 etc...I would almost buy off on the "SOFT" argument!

I WALKED...he followed...so I walked faster!

 

Because its a starting point for negotiations with dealers and other buyers. The point I was making is that my car has not lost the typical value that you often hear about when you drive a new car off the lot. Even if I only got 2 or 3k below Blue Book by selling it privately I still would come out alright.

Furthermore, of the cars I've sold, all of them have been relatively close to Blue Book. Believe it or not KBB knows what they are talking about, they aren't just inflated BS numbers. I don't know why some owners haven't sold their cars, but from my experience if you do it right, you can sell most good cars for close to the blue book or true market value. Maybe its due to their location, asking price, too many mods (yes, some people are turned off by pre-modded cars), etc. The point I was making is that the original poster paid too much for his MCS and that his depreciation wasn't nearly as much as he claimed because he was comparing retail and trade in values. Its not a myth that MINIs have a much lower depreciation than an average car.

 

Oh....you should check your VW depreciation before you by that VW....

1. As others pointed out you bought at RETAIL and are selling at trade in. You need to compare apples to apples

2. You bought an MCS.....now despite the fact that this board is absolutely overflowing with the MCS lovers, and will recomend a MCS at a 10:1 rate....check the marketplace and see that there are at least 10 MCS's for every one MC for sale. If you buy a loaded MCS for 25k and a base MC for 17k after a few years all those options are meaningless to the used car buyer....both cars will be selling close to the same price. I am willing to bet that your 19k MCS is loaded, and a MC would still be selling for around 17. In otherwords the car does not depriciate much but all the options including the supercharger of the S depretiate rapidly.....lesson....when buying new....always buy base model cars if you want to keep depretiation to a miniumum

3. and nobody said that they dont depreciate at all.....but It is a provable fact that they depreciate among the least of any model.

Depreciation is not a buyer paying to much and then selling to low just to quickly move on to something else. Depreciation is the decline in value the market is willing to pay over time. The markets intrest has not changed much in the last 2 months....yours has .....The dealer is taking advantage of you..... and that is not a reflection upon the car.

 

are based on past sales etc. So if anything happens to effect forward looking pricing, that doesn't show up in those numbers for a while.

Many of those that post that they had issues selling thier cars did all the right things. I'd bet (but don't know for sure) that the close TMV or whatever gets to new car prices, the less accurate they are. After all, you can just buy new!

Matt

 

I get what you're saying. But you'd be surprized at how many suckers there are out there. Thats why a lot of non-MINI dealers are selling used Coopers for well over their new sticker price (maybe people don't want to wait to order one or maybe they're just stupid...). But I guess its a moot point because I'm not going to sell my MC anytime soon. Once again though:impatient , the point is that MINIs don't depreciate very much compared to a lot of other cars out there! And if I decide to sell it in a couple of years I'll probably come out comfortably ahead of what I actually owe on the car. I probably couldn't say that if I had bought the VW Rabbit I was strongly considering...

 

That's great that mini cars hardly depreciate in value.

 

I'm thinking someone already posted this info on another thread on the NAM board but I can't find it. Maybe I read it somewhere else last week.

Anyway, fits the discussion in this thread so check it out:

http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2...08/017690.html

 

a while ago I was looking at used XKRs. You could get one under warrenty for less than half of new car cost, or one out of warranty for about $30k. For an almost $90k car new! Now, that's a stylish bargain!

Matt

 

Kia Rio at 20.7%

Kia Rio owners

Me

 

I'm right there with you. When my 04 MC with 20K miles was totaled, they gave me enough money to get a brand new 06 MC.