[orie's_mini]

I guess a number of us out there has a Cooper already and will/might be thinking of getting an S. What sort of deals have you got with your dealers or independently?

My story:
I was to my dealer a couple days ago and he offered to take my Cooper at 75% of the total price paid for a year old MINI and doing less than 15000 km. Got my Cooper in Feb2002 and if I book now, Cooper S will be delivered early 2003.

[Varse]

Thats madness, are they trying to tell us a MINI Cooper will lose 25% of it's value in one year!!!

Am I the only one who thinks that is taking the p**s?

[BRG4Me]

... and car dealers fall into this category for sure. That's the salesman's job - amazing how the value of the car they want to sell you is astronomical, but ten minutes after you pay for it, the same idiot will swear up and down that your car is a commodity, and actually is worth very little. Hello? Just avoid Mr. Salesman and sell it yourself if you want to get a fair price for it.

[Varse]

Too true... I tired to sell a 3 door car with aircon, the dealer told me that most people wanted 5 doors and a sunroof!!

Oh and that red wasn't very popular for a GTi, the most commonly brought colour is white, what a crock of s**t.

When you buy a car though, it's always, 'well you should have aircon for when you come to resell it'!

We should all be used to it by now though shouldn't we??

Car dealers, estate agents, letting agents and recruitment consultants....scum of the earth, not a drop of integrity between the lot of them.

[moonshine]

First of all, you have to remember that depreciation isn't linear, and Autocar said there would be about 35% depreciation over 3 years. How much of that happens in year 1?

then remember that dealers are there to make money, so they have to take a cut off each transaction. if they buy it for £10000, they'll sell it for £12000. (they may add £1500 to the price that they buy a second hand car before sale)

i Think their calculation goes somehing like this.
your car was say £13000 when new,
after 10 minutes, as far as a dealer is concerned, you will have written off VAT (in UK 17.5%) and the delivery charges (£500) plus his commission on the sale (another 9%) plus probably some more to account for milage and age,

so after 10 miles, you have probably around lost £2500 from the value, after 10000 miles, maybe £3200, and so on. Its the price one pays for buying a new car.

I agree that go private, thats where the real money is if you find a buyer. you will get more for your car than through a dealer and the buyer will pay less because of the lesser degree of security, the caveat emptor, or buyer beware principal comes into operation

All that been said, because the mini is so desirable, selling it privately should not be a problem, just dont have an overinflated valuation of the car.

[Sealevel]

Quote:

Originally posted by orie's_mini
I was to my dealer a couple days ago and he offered to take my Cooper at 75% of the total price paid for a year old MINI...

View that as the opening shot of a tired old game. Now it's your turn! "Okay, that sounds good, 75% of the total I paid for it, less tax & licensing, but including the markup over MSRP, the delivery fees, and all the dealer installed mandatory options & protection packages at full retail. Oh, and I'd like my new one at 7% off MSRP with no dealer extras. Do we have a deal?"

[M]

Quote:

Originally posted by Varse
[BCar dealers, estate agents, letting agents and recruitment consultants....scum of the earth, not a drop of integrity between the lot of them. [/b]

Careful now thats rather a sweeping generalisation and liable to start an argument!!!

[Varse]

I was waiting for that.

Sorry, in general then.... Point me to one who shows integrity and I'll eat my hat, or MINI in fact.

[12000rpm]

interesting...

i had a quote a few weeks back cos i was interested in s type r (yes im sorry) and they gave me the trade in price of £11500 (2500 miles) when i paid £14100 for it just after christmas... not TOO bad i thought but i wonder wot it will be like in about a year? cos im finking about an S as well...

i fink someone should start a thread about whether its worth it or not in exchanging for an S...

mike

[Martin L]

I got my Cooper in March and was promised if I got an S in Sept/Oct I would lose at most £1,500, and they thought that been very conservative. I asked them for a written guarantee but they said no of course. We'll just have to wait and see I guess

[Aurel]

I don't think the Copper or the S will lose much value over a year or two ... here in the US anyway.

The car is brand new in all respects, so I think in one year or two the demand will be high for a used one and the supply very low.

This is of course if you sell privately.

Check out the used prices on PT Cruisers in the US. A used one sells only $1000-$2000 less than a new one ... and they have been out for 2 years already. That is because very few people are sick of them and selling.

I predict the same for the Cooper ... this is why I am investing in one.

Just hope there will be nothing major wrong with the first year models

[orie's_mini]

Quote:

Originally posted by Sealevel
..... Oh, and I'd like my new one at 7% off MSRP with no dealer extras. Do we have a deal?"

I don't know how it works in the US and UK but in Switzerland the MINI catalogue price is FIXED (I asked 5 dealers and they had the same answer) no discount, nothing!

[Sealevel]

Quote:

Originally posted by orie's_mini
I don't know how it works in the US and UK but in Switzerland the MINI catalogue price is FIXED (I asked 5 dealers and they had the same answer) no discount, nothing!

It's no different in the US, and there's usually a markup over MSRF too. That "7% off MSRP" needs to be read in the context of my entire quote, I'm sorry to send you off on a futile search for a dealer that would actually grant it! What I meant was since a dealer's trade-in offer on your current MINI is too low in your view, you play the game by making an equally silly counter-offer. The idea is that the give and take will eventually reach a mutually acceptable middle ground. In the case of the MINI market, that means you probably won't get any discount on a new one. But since you are giving the dealer everything they want by way of profit on it, in return you want the most favorable price possible on your trade.

[Sealevel]

...and orie's_mini, I really don't think you should trade it in at all. A one year old MINI should sell easily, and for a good price!! Why let a dealer make a profit on an easy sale of your Cooper? Sell it privately so you can apply its full value against the purchase of a new S.