[andrewhyperblue]

A quick story here: three weeks ago, beautiful R56 Cooper S arrived. Dealer offered 29k trade-in on MY05 Cooper S Chili with 52,000kms. I thought, "I can do much better than that selling privately". But no. It's been advertised on line with two different sites (carsales.com.au and drive.com.au) and also in The Age for two weeks. I've reduced the price successively from $35700 down to $32999. I've had just ONE phone call and ONE visit from a prospective buyer in three weeks.

Any wise people on this forum who might (i) tell me what I'm doing wrong here and (ii) suggest ways that I could sell in the next 10 days! It's a really beautiful car and I'm perplexed. Suggestions much appreciated!

[im_dave]

That's a pretty good price. I'd be interested if I didn't already have a MINI...!

If you look at the other prices of the other advertised it should shift pretty quickly.

[MickyD]

[sarcasm]
but MINI's have AWESOME resale value, look at all the ones you see advertised.
[/sarcasm]

niche car + limited market = poor & slow resale.

[The Artist]

Andrew, you're not alone.

Both private sellers and dealerships are having slow times with 1st gen used sales at the moment. Even the most pristine examples are sitting around longer than anyone would expect.

You will find that it will pick up soon...as to exactly when, i'm not sure.

[Josh and Ali]

I personally doubt that it will be picking up soon.

selling my mini was a long and drawn out process.

From the time of lising the ad with carsales/carpoint, to the time it was sold ws well over 18months. in that time i dropped the price of the car from 34k, to 24k, and was negotiated even lower than that for a final sale.

In that time i consistently checked that our car was the lowest priced one for the kms it had, (which was under 50k)

All i ever got was timewasters, idiots offering 15k-20k, dealerships offering less, and probably only 2-3 serious parties.

good luck with the sale. i hope it works out. but i guess if it does not sell pretyt soon, that 29k would of looked awfully tempting.

[KGB]

Had my '03 R53; Black/White, full leather, Xenons, HK, 17's, s/roof, alarm, 35,000km advertised on the main sites for 10 weeks, reduced price from 35k to 33k, 1 call to ask 1 stupid question, another from a wholesaler. Sold it to the trade after the Melb official stealers only offered me 26.5-27k for her. Got more from a w/saler... Good luck with your sale.

I think it's a summer car, wait for the good weather when happy people are looking for happy cars.

[swamos]

Since we sold our car it looks as though the MINI market has softened a bit from my causal observations on carsales. Saying that it's a bit hard to tell as there are dreamers aplenty as usual. Maybe things are generally slowing in the ecconomy... maybe people are waiting to see what the election holds. It might not just be MINI's.

While we sold our MINI privately, in my experience it is always a slow process. It is un-realistic to expect to list it and sell it by the following weekend. I know it does happen, but I'm sure for 95% of people it doesn't work that way. I'd love to know the average time taken, but I would suggest it would be 2+ months.

It took us 4 months to sell ours, and we got 6k more than we were offered as a trade. You just have to wait until someone who wants your car stumbles across it.

I'm not clear, but if you can still get them on the 29K trade, I would advertise it everywhere you can for 31.9 and if you get someone you're all good. If not, trade it, unless you can afford to have two MINI's. I think your pricing at 32.9 is fair if the car is in good nick. You just need time, which apparently you don't have.

[AndrewH]

I sold my first R53 MCS back in March last year and it sold very quickly. Having said that, I was a lot more realistic about the price I put on it than some people seem to be. Yes I could have probably squeezed 2k more out of it if I had tried hard enough but as it was, I got 2k more than the dealer was offering and the quick sale well and truly saved me 2k worth of time, stress and hassles I reckon All in all, I was happy with the result.

[swamos]

Quote: Originally Posted by AndrewH (original)

I sold my first R53 MCS back in March last year and it sold very quickly. Having said that, I was a lot more realistic about the price I put on it than some people seem to be. Yes I could have probably squeezed 2k more out of it if I had tried hard enough but as it was, I got 2k more than the dealer was offering and the quick sale well and truly saved me 2k worth of time, stress and hassles I reckon All in all, I was happy with the result.

That's spot on. People dream on, but if they just try for something that gets them a bit better off...

[Babes]

maybe try advertising it in perth, resale still seems quite strong over here as we only have one dealer who doesnt discount. I only ever see 2 or 3 for sale per week. There have been a few I know of purchase from eastern states.

[daisygirl]

Some cars sell quickly and others take forever. I had a Honda CRV when we ordered our MINI and the offer to trade in was terrible so we decided to sell privately. It took about 3 months and didnt sell till just after delivery of the MINI and even then it was the only serious call that we had on the car the whole time and I discounted it down to get rid of it but still better than the tradein offer.

Since then we have sold 2 x 4wds and sold very quickly in a couple of weeks but they were much lower priced cars. I have a new theory that a car under $10,000 sells quickly and anything over takes longer!!

[red5]

Only took 4 days to sell my DS/DS 03 cooper S, 47000klm back in may ........ had it on carsales & drive.com . /SMH.........I priced it 1k lower than its nearest competitor in the online adds & put in lots of nice photos .........had heaps of calls & emails. Sold it to the first guy that came to see it !!!!!!!!!............ I think if you want to sell fast you have to be priced right, after all its only worth what the market will pay for it.. You need to make a impact & a keen price will do that, once your car has been sitting on those add sites for a few weeks it goes stale & people start to wonder why its still there ............ good luck.

[shinchan]

just sold my nissan 200sx s15 on carsales, took about 3 weeks. and only 1 serious buyer. And prior to that, I sold my suzuki ignis in less than a week and 4-5 calls within the first 3 days.. I think people are looking at getting cheaper cars when it comes to 2nd hands, ie between $10-20K. Good luck with the sale, all it takes is 1 buyer. I think your price is fair, so it is not a problem there...

[chosta]

Is it really that hard/long/lengthy process to sell your minis? Well im in the market for an MCS Chilli (actually not for another 6months), but i might as well put my interest here. If anyone's interested in sales-pitching me their car, send me an email lil_honki@hotmail.com

Chosta

[Tit]

$29k is a pretty generous offer for trade-in from the dealer!

[J u s t]

Quote: Originally Posted by andrewhyperblue (original)

A quick story here: three weeks ago, beautiful R56 Cooper S arrived. Dealer offered 29k trade-in on MY05 Cooper S Chili with 52,000kms. I thought, "I can do much better than that selling privately". But no. It's been advertised on line with two different sites (carsales.com.au and drive.com.au) and also in The Age for two weeks. I've reduced the price successively from $35700 down to $32999. I've had just ONE phone call and ONE visit from a prospective buyer in three weeks.

Any wise people on this forum who might (i) tell me what I'm doing wrong here and (ii) suggest ways that I could sell in the next 10 days! It's a really beautiful car and I'm perplexed. Suggestions much appreciated!

I'm guessing you're over East somewhere. I'm totally new here and have only recently bought a MY05 R53 (Hi everyone!) .. We looked for QUITE awhile to find one over here in Perth, and came very close to flying over East to find one, because there are so many for sale over there, and only a handfull over here - which is probably why you're finding it hard to sell. Good luck anyway mate.

I ended up finding one here about a month ago, and have loved every minute spent driving it. I can't seem to get in a bad mood when I'm in the MCS.

[Babes]

Hi Just

Congrats on the purchase, hopefully we will see you at a clubMINI drive sometime!

Every second sunday from Auto Classic

[J u s t]

Quote: Originally Posted by Babes (original)

Hi Just

Congrats on the purchase, hopefully we will see you at a clubMINI drive sometime!

Every second sunday from Auto Classic

Thanks! Yes .. I have thought about making an appearance, but didn't want to join yet .. til we work out whether we really want to or not. May make an appearance first to see what it's all about.

[doona]

Hard to sell???,,, mine sold really quickly... then I had that 5 month wait for the new Golf GTI.... which I actually got in 2 weeks, not 5 months??.

Hindsight is a pain, I now wish I never sold mine and am half tempted to sell the GTI and get another MINI!!

-Dan

[minigolf]

Really, how come?! If you pay enough you can buy our MINI and I'll get a new S3 thanks.