Part-ex value

[Electric Sheep]

Today I visited my BMW dealer to test drive a 1 series (120d auto - very nice, not sure about the auto gearbox though, very disconcerting to drive an auto for the first time). The bloke who "dealt" with me was quite insistent on valuing my MINI and doing the sums to see what my monthly payments would be, despite me (a) not wanting to change my car for another year and (b) not having a job, so not being able to afford it, even if I wanted to (which I don't, yet).

Anyway, he assessed the value of my car. It's an October 2002 ('03 model year) Cooper with metallic paint (silver), black roof, Pepper pack, CD, Boost, parking sensors and manual air-con. There is a slight stone chip in the front of the bonnet - nothing major though. I was told that if I were to change the car in October this year, they'd give me £9500 as the trade in value.

£9500. Is this value realistic? Personally, I thought it was a bit low, but that's just me. Does anyone else have any better ideas?

Edit: Mileage is about 14300.

[stuartkey]

Well, on my recent experience I wouldn't be too disappointed with that price.

September '03 Cooper S, DS/DS, Silver Racing stripes, Chili, Climate, CD boost, MFSW, Tinted windows, Heated jets & mirrors, Chrome ext., Clear lights, 15k in just over 1 year
Cost new: £17,500

Just been priced for trade in against another Mini (£25k worth of Mini) at a measly £13k

[zyo]

Just part exed my Jan 03 ONE for £9750 .It was solid black,with 17" s spokes,single cd,sunroof,sports seats(red and black cloth)salt pack,chromeline exterior,it had done 20,000miles.I must pop back to the dealers so i can cry when i see what they've got it up for.

[R1]

Test drove a 1 at the dealer launch last week.

My dealer offered £11,700 for my '02 Cooper with Chili pack, 17" S spokes and grey roof flag with 19,000 miles. He said next March time I could expect it to loose another £1000 on that price.

[icheatatscrabble]

That one series is one ugly car - they wont shift many and they'll be offering big discounts within 6months it'll be known as the poor mans bmw, just like the compact was/is

[petecrosby]

FYI, never treat a trade-in as part of a deal. They will play numbers games
with you, giving you a good price on the trade-in but refusing to deal on the
new car or vice-versa. Any new car purchase is, and should be treated as,
three separate transactions.

1. Value of trade-in. Do your research to determine what it is worth. Sell
it yourself if they won't give you a reasonable price.
2. Value of new car. This is where you want to deal. Don't expect to rob
the dealership, though. They have to make some money on the car.
The trick is to give them as little profit as possible.
3. Financing. Check other sources. Get the best you can.

[LMB]

Never trade in because you will always get pittance for it. I was offered £14.5K trade in on my last S, I sold it for £15.5K in the end. £1K is a huge difference.

[andyupnorth]

Quote: Originally Posted by stuartkey

Well, on my recent experience I wouldn't be too disappointed with that price.

September '03 Cooper S, DS/DS, Silver Racing stripes, Chili, Climate, CD boost, MFSW, Tinted windows, Heated jets & mirrors, Chrome ext., Clear lights, 15k in just over 1 year
Cost new: £17,500

Just been priced for trade in against another Mini (£25k worth of Mini) at a measly £13k

Last week I was offered £12,200 for my Sept 03 Cooper in Cosmos black with silver vipers, cd changer and boost, chili pack, manual aircon, 13500 miles , cost new £14,200.

Dealers seem to give better trade in prices on Chili pack equipped cars as second-hand buyers look for them - plus air con makes a big difference. The trouble with going mad on the options list is that when you come to sell it you rarely get the money back - people see a fully equipped second hand MINI at a price above that of a new one and they tend to prefer the latter.

[Electric Sheep]

Quote: Originally Posted by icheatatscrabble

That one series is one ugly car - they wont shift many and they'll be offering big discounts within 6months it'll be known as the poor mans bmw, just like the compact was/is

Well, apparently the waiting list on the 120d alone is sometime in December (i.e. about three months), and I was told they didn't have many slots left for the waiting list for that month. There seemed to be a decent amount of interest in the car, including from a fellow MINI owner who had been in to get his white MINI serviced (I overheard him asking for a 1 series brochure).

Time will tell. I suspect the "1" will be a very successful car.

As for trade-ins, I have no alternative (that I can think of). I got my car on the MINI Select finance scheme (or whatever it's called - the one with a deferred final payment).

[marrsbar]

Quote: Originally Posted by andyupnorth

Last week I was offered £12,200 for my Sept 03 Cooper in Cosmos black with silver vipers, cd changer and boost, chili pack, manual aircon, 13500 miles , cost new £14,200.

Dealers seem to give better trade in prices on Chili pack equipped cars as second-hand buyers look for them - plus air con makes a big difference. The trouble with going mad on the options list is that when you come to sell it you rarely get the money back - people see a fully equipped second hand MINI at a price above that of a new one and they tend to prefer the latter.

You're exactly right. Thats the problem I'm having with my current MINI ONE. Highly specced up - £14250 new March this year. Want to part ex it against a MCC at £20500ish. They've offered me £11500. Basically, they wont be able to sell a ONE with Pepper pack for more than a Cooper - basically, don't expect to get your money back on your extras!

[jasonfields007]

i tested a 120i auto today. i had never driven an auto before either but i thought it was really cool. bit too old man style for me though. the sports mode was great!

the 1 series is a great car and i'm seriously concidering it as i say goodbye to MINI.

J

[jasonfields007]

oh and something really scary.

My car cost £18303 brand new in December 2003
15000 miles later - trade in value £12500.

You just don't get the money back for the extras do you!!!

[Wobert]

Quote: Originally Posted by jasonfields007

oh and something really scary.

My car cost £18303 brand new in December 2003
15000 miles later - trade in value £12500.

You just don't get the money back for the extras do you!!!

Er....nope.....

The percentage depreciation figure will be calculated on the base car.......

Any options added will depreciate at a far greater rate.

A few years back, Autocar did an article on what options are worth going for, to "minimise" the effects of depreciation.......

From memory the worst ones were,

Full leather, sat-nav , odd-body / colour combinations.......these were all worth about 15-20% of their original value at the end of 12 months.

The best ones were,

Metallic paint, aircon, alloys, sunroof.........these were worth around 50% of their value.

So you don't need to be a rocket scientist to work out that a fully loaded car is gonna loose more £ than a "lightly" loaded one!

Robert

[MiniRoll]

Quote: Originally Posted by VincentVega

Well, apparently the waiting list on the 120d alone is sometime in December (i.e. about three months), and I was told they didn't have many slots left for the waiting list for that month. There seemed to be a decent amount of interest in the car, including from a fellow MINI owner who had been in to get his white MINI serviced (I overheard him asking for a 1 series brochure).

Time will tell. I suspect the "1" will be a very successful car.

As for trade-ins, I have no alternative (that I can think of). I got my car on the MINI Select finance scheme (or whatever it's called - the one with a deferred final payment).

I have sold my Mini and have a 120d SE It is a superb car. Absolutely amazing mid range shove (340 nm of torque from 2,000-3,000 rpm). My dealer has a waiting list to Jan 2005 for a 120d. Some dealers can just about get one for Dec.

The dealer offered me £14750 for my MSC (spec in signature). I sold it privately for £15500.

When I bought the Mini in Jan 2004, they offered me £5000 for my trade in. I got £6700 privately.

If you're interested in the 1-series (I expect most of you won't be ) check out:

http://www.babybmw.net/

[steebo777]

Now I know I'm in the US, and that the car in the following story is not a MINI, but it applies well to the post. I went to the MINI dealership to trade in my truck ('98 S-10 ZQ8 in mint condition with 61k miles). KBB valued it at $7500, I owed $4800 on it, and all I wanted was an even (or close to even) trade in value. Needless to say, the dealership offered me $3400!!! I was asstounded, and immediately placed it on autotrader.com. Within 2 days it sold for $5600 (which was low, but I needed to get rid of it). Moral of the story: Never trade in your car to a dealership.