Are second hand Mini's as in demand as they used to be?

[chris4817]

I have had a Silver Cooper for ten months. I bought it from new with a Chilli pack, air con etc and it cost me £14400 all in. I have done 3800 miles and the car is as new.

Although I have loved the Mini I really do need something more practical. I have today bought a new car and expected a reasonable return from my Mini.

The dealer rang around and found that only one dealer in the whole of the South West wanted my car, and they only offered £11700.

While I appreciate that cars do not hold their value I always thought that Mini did well. I have not lost £2700 in 10 months on most cars I've owned. I was also shocked that only one dealer out of ten wanted it!

I think that the days of Mini's being desirable and a rock solid investment have gone.

[andyupnorth]

I had the same experience. I had to sell a one year old Cooper back to a dealer for £11300 (price new: £14400) as no one was interested in the classified at £12k. You always lose a big wedge in the first year.

[Intrepid]

apparently there is very little demand for second hand minis I guess most people want to personalise them so they buy them from new. Poor sad and lonely used Minis

[Kirstykix]

Absolutley! Had no luck selling my Cooper as of yet. Have been trying for over a month now. 2 Dealers have offered 10k, which in my book is rather low, was expecting at least 11k for her So she is now on eBay, i thought selling a mini would be easy!!!

[Martin L]

Now the MINI is over three years old with loads out there, prices I guess are now normalising.
I think the prices started to drop about 9mths to a year ago.

[Kaelaria]

Well that's certainly not the case in parts of the US! I looked for used cars first, but they were holding so much value, there wasn't any point in buying used!

[wildchild jules]

I can't sell my 03 Cooper - it is low mileage and good spec, no interest whatsoever!! I think, to be honest, that when you are selling a second hand car at £10,000+ people get edgy, particularly if you can buy a brand new basic entry model of the same car for not much different.

Doesn't seem right does it! Sold my 2 1/2 year old VW Beetle easily when I was buying the mini yet am struggling to sell the Mini!

[Rob.]

I think most people think of a Mini as near it's on the road price i.e. just over 12k for a Cooper.
We all know with options the cars can cost loads more. However in the second hand market options help sell the car but you get back very little of the initial cost.
Either buy a basic car and sell it on for a bigger % of it's new value or enjoy a car with options and take a bgger hit when you sell.
Also, some people believe the hype and simply want too much money for their car. I suggest trying to sell for £500 more than the best offer from a dealer.

[shiredweller]

Hard to find a used MINI around here. The few I have seen have all been priced above what I paid for my basic -no options- 03 Cooper.
Good luck with your's.

[wildchild jules]

Quote: Originally Posted by Rob.

I think most people think of a Mini as near it's on the road price i.e. just over 12k for a Cooper.
We all know with options the cars can cost loads more. However in the second hand market options help sell the car but you get back very little of the initial cost.
Either buy a basic car and sell it on for a bigger % of it's new value or enjoy a car with options and take a bgger hit when you sell.
Also, some people believe the hype and simply want too much money for their car. I suggest trying to sell for £500 more than the best offer from a dealer.

That's what I am aiming to do - there is a post in the for sale section that someone has put up for their friend where someone is selling an 03 Cooper and asking £13,750 (I think) - whilst it is well specc'd this is WAY over the top on price!

[RickB]

Even when my car was almost two years old, local used-car dealers were pricing Cooper Ss at just about what I paid for mine, new.

[Eric B]

The US is a different story because new ones are so freaking hard to get. My local dealer has a 12 month wait on the S, 9 months on a Convertable S

[cozzers]

Not surprised that the prices aren't holding up as they once did, that's simple economics, but I am very surprised that only 1 dealer was even interested

Were these MINI dealers? And were they not interested in your car full-stop, or was it the price you wanted that was the stumbling block??

[thribble]

After the trouble I've had with mine (not mini mechanics related, don't worry folks!) I phoned the dealer's buyer and explained that I wanted to sell. He took a look at their records and phoned me back, saying it's not what they were looking for. I got the impression that they want Cooper and Cooper S rather than the poor old lonely One. However, I'm not worrying too much as I got a really good deal on mine when I bought it

[dietcokeplease]

Quote: Originally Posted by chris4817

I have had a Silver Cooper for ten months. I bought it from new with a Chilli pack, air con etc and it cost me £14400 all in.
The dealer rang around and found that only one dealer in the whole of the South West wanted my car, and they only offered £11700.

Chris,

If the dealer buys it off you for £11,700, let's assume they add on a £2k profit margin and aim to settle at £1.5k profit - that's a retail price of £13,200 - and only £1,200 difference between what you paid for it. That's where these car mags are talking baloney about MINI prices.

Also, it's probably the wrong time of year to sell too. Most people who got paid on Jan 25th will have blown it all on bills and are struggling to normalise their existence to the next payday.

Dealers who are turning you down probably have high stock levels of used cars as there are no tyrekickers about.

And as others have stated, if I were a prospective MINI buyer, I'd buy new rather than used to get the spec I want. £1,200 could easily be saved by the financially prudent in 3 months or so to get a brand new car, rather than your used car. It's harsh at the moment for MINI sellers.