I'm ordering a 2007 MCSC, so I took my 2006 MCC to the MINI dealer I bought it from and they gave me a trade-in value of $18,000.

This was for an MCC with an MSRP of $24,700 that I bought in late May 2006, is flawless inside and out (no dings, no scratches, no curb rash, non-smoker car, etc.), and now has precisely 9500 miles on it. It's Liquid Yellow, has the Premium and Cold Weather packages, plus Xenons and the front and rear fog lamps. (And FWIW, if the car hadn't been an early production 2006, the sticker would've read $25,200, since it was built right before the $500 price increase that took effect about a year ago.)

Now, I know there are about a gazillion reasons why I shouldn't expect any kind of spectacular trade-in value: I haven't even had the car for 8 months (first-year depreciation is the worst, check), it's a convertible that I had appraised in the dark of winter instead of spring or summer, I live in Utah and not sunny California, MINI dealers are more interested in selling new MINIS than used ones, it doesn't have the Sport package or sport seats or leather, you always get more for your car when you sell it yourself and should't expect any miracles if you're trading in your car to the dealer, blah blah blah...

...but based on your experiences and knowledge, doesn't that seem like an awfully low trade-in value to get from the same MINI dealer I bought it from, and with whom I've reserved a spot for the March production and April delivery of a new 2007 MCSC?

Like I said, I didn't expect a spectacular trade-in value, but I did expect at least a fair and reasonable one. And $18,000 doesn't strike me as either fair or reasonable, or even respectable.

The Edmunds trade-in value for my car -- which, yeah, I know is only a guideline -- is $20,168. (Their private party and dealer retail values, just for context, are $21,734 and $23,293, respectively, all of which sound about right to me. And I'm disregarding the outrageously inflated $24,825 Kelley Blue Book says it's worth -- that's just bogus, as it's more than the MSRP new.)

I welcome your comments, suggestions and opinions.

 

Sounds like that infamous appraiser, Ricardo Cabeza, is making the rounds.
My suggestion (worth exactly what you paid for it) is to tell the dealer that you need Edmunds wholesale for your trade, or the new car order gets cancelled.
Are you in a financial position to sell the 06 yourself? That would be your best recovery, but I understand that that is not always possible.
Is there a CarMax near you? You might see what they would offer.

 

Sell it private party. Dealers will often try and screw you on trade-ins, especially Mini dealers. I had a similar situation. One year old MC that stickered for around $21,500, went to a dealer to inquire about trading it in on an MCS, the car was in excellent condition with $11k miles on it, they claimed ther were within $500 of KBB trade-in ($18.5 IIRC), and then they offered me $15,500. I walked out, an MCS certainly wasn't worth taking a $5k loss after a year. Mini dealers offer the high resale value as a selling point, then turn around and try and screw you when you actually try and trade it in. They want to make several thousand off your new car sale and that much or more on your trade-in.

-Keith

 

Sounds Fair, face it with the new 07's coming out all are cars are going to be worthless than they were 4 or 5 months ago. Plus last time i check they were in the business of making money and you can never fault them for that.

 

+1 on taking it to CarMax. appraisal is free and if you can get more than 18k, you can sell it and walk home with a check.

super deal, imho.

 

Something else to point out...A used 2006 on the lot is essentially competition for the dealer on their 2007's. If they paid you what you are looking for, they can probably only make a few grand on the used car (after porting, commissions, etc.)

In the end they would probably rather sell the new 2007's...

 

You sure you weren't dealing with "Bob" from Rasmussen Mini? He offered the same crap deal to me on my MCC. I told him he was better suited to selling used cars in a seedy part of town (that's 82nd ave for us). Needless to say, Bob and I don't care much for one another....

 

I've sold 2 cars to them, my brother 1 car, and my dad 1 (a real dump! but they gave him $500 for it ). I've never purchased from them either. Carmax offered more for my 99 Integra than any dealer. My rule of thumb (and experience) is they'll likely offer $1k less than what they're selling a similar car at. When I'm ready to trade my MCS, they'll be the first place I visit to get a base line.

 

The large number of leftover 06's many dealers have is probably depressing the trade in. If a dealer is going to give up to a $1500 discount on a new 06 they can't have a used one priced too close to the new one, or they will never sell it.

Try to sell it yourself.

 

Very true, trying to trade in an 06 in the 06 model year you're going to take a big hit.

The dealer has to price it considerably less than a new 06 to sell it.

 

9500 miles on a car purchased barely 7 months ago is quite the rack-up, this could be one reason, for that works out to the shy side of 20K/year, which is excessive mileage by any dealer's standards. Sell it privately.

 

I don't understand this. If he sells private party, he could rent a car for months and still come out ahead. How could someone not be in a financial position to make more money???

 

Well, one possibility would be if one were upside down in the trade and counting on rolling the overage into the new purchase.

 

Ahh, good point.

 

So I was asking my Dealer about trade-in for my 2006 MCCa for a 2007 MCSCa. He said that mileage doesn't matter (mine had 5k), only the model year of the car (I'm sure this is not always the case for high mileage cars). Since my car is now one model year old the deduct off wholesale price is $1500. What is wholesale price I asked and this is what he gave me:

(Wholesale/MSRP)
2006 MCC $19,755/$21,950
-ZCW Cold Weather Package $270/$300
-ZPP Premium Package $1,260/$1,400
-ZSP Sport Package $1,260/$1,400
-205 Steptonic Automatic $1,170/$1,300
-318 Interior Body Color $180/$200
-346 Chrome Line Exterior $225/$250
-522 Xenon Headlights $495/$550
-5AA Rear Fog Lamp $90/$100
-Destination Charge $550/$550
-Training Service Fee $82/$0

Total from Dealer $25,337/$28,000

So my trade-in would be roughly $23,837. But since mine is a convertible and it is the "off-season" an additional $1,000 would be deducted until March 2007.

 

I have sold a couple of cars to Carmax, including the Jeep Cherokee that I had before getting teh MINI. It is definitely worth checking out. You will get a littel less (but not that much) than you could on a private sale, but you can be in and out and know their money is good and not have to worry about weeks of running ads all over the place possibly costing money.

On the other hand, I would not recommend Carmax to buy a used car since they give so much on the cars they buy.

 

Now that is really interesting, MiniMaybee. Using those figures (I included an est. $100 for front fog lamps, and left off the $82 "Training Service Fee," since I can't figure out what that is), my total for the trade-in value of my car from your dealer came to $21,200, or, after deducting $1,000 since it's a convertible before March, $20,200 -- almost identical to the $20,168 trade-in figure Edmunds.com gave me.

Also interesting? I got in touch with two different professional car buyers this morning and both of them told me, independently of each other, that they agreed that the $18,000 trade-in value I'd been offered was too low -- one of them even described my experience as having been "low-balled" -- with one telling me I should've been offered closer to $20,000, while the other said I should've been offered at least $19,500. So between the Edmunds.com online valuation tool, the info from MiniMaybee's MINI dealer, and the two pros' opinions, all of which more or less corroborated each other, I feel vindicated in thinking that the trade-in value my MINI dealer offered me yesterday was subpar.

Why do some dealers have to make it so effing difficult? I wish mine were more like yours, MiniMaybee -- thanks again very much for sharing that detailed info! And thanks to others who chimed in with their thoughts and suggestions -- all duly noted.

 

You would think the dealer would just tell you they didn't want to take the trade in (for whatever reason). I've had dealers tell me that in the past ("go somewhere else to sell it since we won't be competitive", etc.)

This just leaves a bad taste in the mouth, so to speak. Kind of like being low-balled on a house for sale... Makes you not want to do business with the other party...

 

My feelings exactly, Ed.

 

Well Wessy, hop in your MINI and take a road trip to Denver and Ralph Schomp. Do it after March and the extra $1000 will pay for the trip and then some!

 

From what I've seen on ebay motors and a few other places, convertibles sell much faster and easier than tintops... you're better off selling it yourself IMO... but when I looked, the listings were flooded with tintops.

If I remember right, I got $21,500 on a 2 y/o $28k tintop when I traded in for my 06 vert last March. I dunno, $6k for 2 years of MINI isn't that bad.

MINI is supposed to come out with a certified pre-owned program like BMW has, but until that's in place, they send them off to auction. (hence the lowish trade in offers)

 

The whole system is bogus. Kelly and Edmunds don't mean SQUAT to a dealer. They go by two standards. One is the Blackbook which could be anywhere from 1K-2K less then Kelly. Or they go by the main auto auction in your area. I just traded mine 4 days ago. (Chicagoland area)

I paid 26,9 for my '06 MCSa. It had 13K miles I was offered 20K by 2 dealers and 19,5K by another.
(BTW after 2 round on ebay I never got more then 21K)
But the dealer I want with I got up to $23K.
I traded in on a used car so their more apted to work with you on used
vs. new. It all depend on how much margin there is in the car that their selling.

On trades you have to play hard ball but be cool and not a ****. But know how to play and be prepared to walk if you have too.

Good luck

 

wholesale is what dealers consider when considering a trade in.

If you are already considering tradding in a 06, perhaps you made the wrong decision to start with. someone's gonna pay for that, and that person is probably going to be you.