Looked at changing my R53....not a good outcome

[tyrerc]

After 19 months with my 54 reg R53 'S' i decided to see if it was possible to get myself into a new 'S' without much trouble.

I was basically told that my car would trade in at 8500 and i still owe 10500 to MINI finance so for me to get into a new car i need to find at least 3k to cover my negative equity and a grand deposit.

Im not happy as i feel im now never going to get into equity on my car in order to change

Had my eye on new Works aswel

Anyone else had the same situation? any ideas?

Chris

[hollinshead]

Did you not take out agreed future value when you financed your car through mini?

[tyrerc]

not sure, will have to look but i dont think it was mentioned to me.

i have a final payment that they mentioned was the future value but to be honest it looks like im stuck for the foreseeable future

[ALD0]

Would you be coming out of your current agreement early, i.e 19 months out of 24/36 etc?
Maybe try selling privately first and then ordering a new un?

[tyrerc]

yeah out early, its 4 years with a final payment.

[baskers]

Stick with your Supercharged S - you'll miss it otherwise!

See this as a sign that the MINI-Gods are keeping you with your one!

[Scrogg]

How much are you short of 50% of the total amount payable Chris?

[Darth Mini]

Quote: Originally Posted by Scrogg (original)

How much are you short of 50% of the total amount payable Chris?

I was going to ask that too.
Chris - have a look at your agreement - on many finance deals with balloon payments, if you have paid 50% or more of the finance amount, you have the option to terminate the finance arrangement and simply hand the car back. If you have paid more than 50%, then you can just hand your car back and start from zero again (and not worry about the negative equity).

I have done this in the past - the finance company weren't happy about it and tried to persuade me to sell the car and pay them the full outstanding amount as well as threaten my credit rating. I simply phoned the Financial Services Ombudsman to see if they could do this - they can't. So I told them that if they did anything to affect my credit rating, I would report them to the Ombudsman and suddenly they backed down. So I returned the car that was worth 2 grand less than the outstanding finance I owed and got a new car.

[hollinshead]

If he is only 19 months through a 48 month finance deal with a baloon payment at the end, its highly unlikely he will have paid 50% of the total.

The main problem is now is not the time to sell an R53, what with the low mpg and the high tax. If I was you I would wait till all this doom and gloom blows over.

[ALD0]

Keep it, you will be in negative equity a good bit longer. As above, keep it until things are better, maybe another year/year and half...

[adams]

Yeah i would keep it mate, its a cracking car still (i have one, also in engative equity) but it made me realise i didnt actually need to change it and lose a load of money, so i kept it and i am glad i did

[Keano]

Quote: Originally Posted by tyrerc (original)

After 19 months with my 54 reg R53 'S' i decided to see if it was possible to get myself into a new 'S' without much trouble.

I was basically told that my car would trade in at 8500 and i still owe 10500 to MINI finance so for me to get into a new car i need to find at least 3k to cover my negative equity and a grand deposit.

Im not happy as i feel im now never going to get into equity on my car in order to change

Had my eye on new Works aswel

Anyone else had the same situation? any ideas?

Chris

Did exactly the same thing myself a few weeks ago and got the same sort of answer as yourself. Keep it and enjoy it was my decision - perhaps add a few extras to it to give it a bit of a spruce??? When the gloom receeds people will be back in the market for the R53 so just a case of holding on till the time is right for selling...

I too was tempted by a new works but have decided to stay with my R53 - if the dealership cant do you a good deal to get out of your existing car then its not worth loosing all that money...

[Lawrothegreat]

Similar situation here - went for a test drive in the new factory works with the possibility of trading my R56 MCS in. Thankfully I didn't feel the factory works was significantly quicker so didn't want to trade in anyway.

December 2007 cost to me: £19,000
October 2008 trade-in offer: £12,000
Guaranteed December 2010 buy back price: £11,000

Don't think I'll be selling yet! Though that is a good thing!

[Scrogg]

Quote: Originally Posted by hollinshead (original)

If he is only 19 months through a 48 month finance deal with a baloon payment at the end, its highly unlikely he will have paid 50% of the total.

That's why I asked "How much are you short of 50%..."

If it's less then £3k it would be a cheaper (although still not ideal) way of changing the car now.

[LMB]

Mini's have certainly depreciated more since I last bought a new one.

As others have said I'd stick with what you've got. You'd miss the supercharger anyway.