A car like the mini these days should be sold...never traded in.

You could have come out even if not made money

Either way good luck to you!

 

Glad to see U took the $28K trade, U did well, considering the huge tax break on the CTS. these are tough times for MINI dealers who simply cant keep cpo stock on hand. mine was sold within 12 hours after going thru cpo check, prep, and detail.

CTS? Good taste my friend. When I sold Caddys they were boring, ie the Catera. Now, I love the line.

 

For a year's worth of car payments..... The car's not free you know... unless you don't have car payments.

 

28K is awesome!!!! I wonder what sticker price the dealer will put on the car.
MINI dealer selling Caddy's too?

 

I sold it to a local Cadillac dealer..their intial offer was $24K :(Anyhow..$28K for my MCS and $41K for a fully loaded CTS(MSRP of $45K) with 0% financing..
Never thought I would buy an American car but this one sure looks and feels different!

 

As someone who works at a dealership- DO NOT trade in a car. Even salesmen have told me not to trade a car in- no matter what.

For example, right now someone could trade in a one year old, low mileage Civic and get probably $11K for it (estimated)- the dealership, due to high demand for Civics, will sell it USED for $17,500, only a few hundred under the cost of a brand new one.

 

Carmax and my Mini dealer offered me the exact same for my gas guzzling truck. I sold it myself for $3K more than that.

 

Sometimes the trade-in value for a car can be a little misleading. One of my buddies used to work for a car dealer and explained it to me. I'd do my best to try to convey what he explained to me. Say you would have taken the original trade-in value of $24,000 (rather than $28,000), you could have probably purchased the CTS for $37,000 (rather that $41,000). You're really getting the same deal, it just appears different by how they split it. My friend said a lot of people get sucked into this way of thinking. They'd give you $38,000 for your MINI but they'd charge you $51,000 for the CTS. They always get there money.

I hope this made sense. I think I sort of fell for this on my last car purchase because I was so focused on getting a good trade-in. I think the best process is to negotiate the price of the new car and don't even tell them about the trade-in and then bring up the trade-in later.

Tony

 

I traded mine in earlier this May. I bought a '07 S, last December for $25k. Traded it in for an '08 Infiniti G35 sedan. They valued the S at $22,400. A couple weeks after the trade in, they are advertising it for $23,900.

Trading in a vehicle isn't that bad, if you know what you're doing. I lost a little, but I lost no money out-of-pocket. They took the difference and tacked it onto my new loan.

The problem with selling a car to a third-party that you owe money on is, you need to pay the difference before they will transfer the title to the buyer's bank. In other words, the negative equity on your loan needs to be paid off before your bank will release the title to the new owner or new owner's bank.

 

The only way to know for sure is first negotaite a price for the new car telling the dealer you are not trading anything in. When offered a price that you can live with, change your mind and tell the dealer you will buy at that price if he can give a fair trade-in deal. Then you get to see what he is really offering for the trade. This works but don't expect to get much more than services like Edmunds are listing as average trade-in prices.

 

This is what Consumer Reports recommends but it only works if you're willing to negotiate on the trade in price just like you negotiated on the new car price and be willing to walk with your trade and sell privately. Otherwise, if they know you HAVE to trade the car, then they're going to low-ball you on the trade after you've committed to buy the new car.

And calll me old-fashioned, but I think it is deceptive to negotiate in good faith on a car price without a trade and then suddenly "change your mind" and refuse the deal unless you get a certain deal on the trade. Many dealers will require you to sign a sales contract also in the final steps of negotiation. Granted, car salespeople play some sleazy tricks too, but I see no reason to sink to their level and be dishonest or unethical.

If I'm sure I'm going to trade, I simply negotiate on the difference. That's all that matters - that's what you pay.

There is a lot of people throwing around hard and fast rules on this thread, when the correct answer is "it depends". And some are throwing out numbers that don't make much sense - sure you can get screwed on a trade, but you can also negotiate some reasonble deals. You have to pencil it out and see what the dealer is willing to offer. And as others have said, there may be HUGE tax consequences of doing a private sale vs. trading in your particular state; some states tax the difference, some tax on the full price, and some allow you to take a sales tax credit if you sell privately within a certain period of time. And trading is always a lot less hassle, so whatever the cost, it may be worth it to you.

- Mark

 

Congrats! The CTS is an awesome car and unlike most American cars, you'll be very happy.

 

Also, if you trade in you don't have to see the
people again. There is something to be said for that.

Way back in ancient times I sold my MG to a person I worked with.
She drove it around a few days, had her friend fk with the
carburator jets, then couldn't get it back together. They go
and cancel the check a week later (not sure how that was arranged),
didn't tell me, so I had like 4 other checks bounce, etc etc etc.
I sold it for $500 just because I already had another one and I
just wanted it out of the yard, it ran fine.

Maybe an extreme case. But selling cars to individuals is not
without its hassles.

Like on The First 48. In ancient times you just have to get the
car home and buy new jets. In modern times you're killed for
the car and the $12 in your wallet.

 

Never EVER trade in a car, if you can help it.
Trust me, dealers make more money off of used cars than new (I used to be in the car biz...briefly.) That dealer would give you $25k for the car, and the next day he'd have it back on the lot for $31k.
Right before I got my MINI I sold my 3 year-old Mazda 3 myself...it was a lease, and that's a little tricky, but doable. dealer wanted to give me $9k for it. I sold it for $11,500 (and even then, the buyer got a great deal, the car only had 27,000 miles on it.) I made $2400. Had I given it to the dealer for $9000, it would have been back out on the lot the next day for $15,000, easy.
Let me tell you an amusing story...when I was married, many moons ago, my then husband had a beautiful little Miata...he LOVED that car. But one day he got a bug-up-his-butt and decided he wanted a loaded Mustang. I told him he'd get tired of it in a week and want the Miata back, but did he listen to me? NOOOOOOO...I came home a week later and guess what was in the garage? A behemoth black Mustang convertible. And guess what happened next? A couple of weeks later he had buyers remorse and took the Mustang back and retrieved the Miata. He lost about $3600 in that deal (of course, he refused to tell me exactly what the damages were, but I found out a couple of years later from one of the salesmen I ran into...they're still laughing about that one at the dealership!)

 

When I sold my Prius I used the various internet car selling sites. As it turned out I got my best response, by far, from advertising in my local paper. I ended up getting about $2k more than was offered by Carmax and $3k more than the offered trade-in price for my MCS.

The point being, the Mini is one of the highly sought after cars. Advertise locally and people will come.

 

I am happy you are happy. Congrats

 

Kurt what happen to your other Mini if you don't mind me asking?

 

Despite what some might shout here, there are no absolutes when in comes to the "trade-in" vs 'sell privately" debate. It all depends on current market conditions and the current spread between retail and wholesale prices for a particular vehicle. For some cars, that spread is very wide...for other it is much more narrow. Then you must consider the potential sales tax savings of a trade.
Don't listen to the "NEVER" or "ALWAYS" crowds. Do your home work and the correct answer will become clear.

 

clearest, most logical rationale so far.

 

The dealers exist to make money.
They hit us for MSRP on the new Mini and want to cash in on a trade-in.

As noted above. Sell it yourself.
It's probably worth a few $thousand to do it yourself.

 

Double check that for your state. I live in Missouri and when I sold a car privately and then purchased a new car I was able to apply the private sale like a trade in and only pay tax on the difference. All it took was getting a form from the Missouri DMV website and filling it out. Easy-peasy.