[gonnabuyone?]

I posted a few days ago asking for advice on whether or not to get a cooper when we've got a 9 month sproglet. Well the wife has just been on the phone - the buggy doesn't fit but she has decreed that cos they are so cute we can live with it !

I was going to order up a red/white one but my local dealer has got a liquid yellow cooper chilli with a white roof and white 17" alloys and most of the other extras we were going to get anyway for £13475, it looks like that is the one for me and if they offer me a reasonable trade in for the vectra then I'm going to go for it when I get back from offshore next Thursday !

We were going to sell the Vectra private while we were on the waiting list - but it appears things have accelerated so now we need to consider trade-in. Anyone got any thoughts or any particular gripes about trade in deals offered to them by the dealers - the wife is going in tomorrow to get a price, I told them if they offer trade for the car we'll close the deal. What sort of offers have others here had for their cars as a trade in against a mini?

 

[Sirobbo]

Good news!

Tell me, do you enjoy cleaning wheels? Those white ones get dirty quickly!

As for trade-in prices, Hmm, when I got mine they still had a three month waiting list so they just gave book value, sure you`d probably get more from a private sale but I always find it a pain, you pays your money and you take your chance.......

 

[Dave Wright]

Before my trade in I went to jamjar.com to get a trade-in value from there. The initial offer and the revised offer when my Mini arrived 4 months later matched that on Jamjar exactly.

I think the prices are rock bottom book value. BMW won't be selling your car.

 

[gonnabuyone?]

Yip I wasn't reckoning on getting offered much more than bottom book to trade value for it, but as long as they are being reasonable I'll probably go for the liquid yellow one that is on their forecourt.

If they offer me wee bit more than the JamJar price then there will be no probs - my local BMW/MINI dealer has their own trade centre so in this case they probably will be selling the car themselves.

I HATE cleaning wheels and living in Aberdeen we tend to have a lot of crap on the roads so I suspect the old autoglym wheel cleaner will be needed lots !

Anyway - I'll post tomorrow to let you know if my wife has put down the deposit in preparation for me coming home next Thursday

 

[dietcokeplease]

Steve,

The general state of the UK car market was of buoyant new car sales. As such many dealers have hit their annual targets, have a surplus of trade-ins and as such part-ex values ain't that great.

BMW/MINI in particular will probably at best only give book price and more often than not below book price. So sit down when the dealer gives you a trade in price! Have a look at www.vauxhall.co.uk There's a trade in calculator using Glass's Guide. This will probably give an optimistic indication of the value of your car. For a more market orientated valuation, look at www.cdbramall.co.uk

I always bid on several cars for my extended family before the year end in the hope that several dealers will phone back before the new year. This year only one dealer out of 6 phoned back willing to sell a car for a song. (It was a Vauxhall Zafira who agreed to match an importer)

If your buggy won't fit why not get the roof rack and roof box? Coooooool.................not!!!

 

[MiniMayhem]

Car Valuation

Have a look at www.vauxhall.co.uk There's a trade in calculator using Glass's Guide. This will probably give an optimistic indication of the value of your car. For a more market orientated valuation, look at www.cdbramall.co.uk

Neither service has my Alfa 147 listed; obviously people seem to think that nobody would dare sell their "Car Of The Year 2001" so soon even though I like the MINI better

Another car valuation service that uses the Glass's Guide but is even more comprehensive is the AA's service at http://www.theaa.com/allaboutcars/carvalue/valuation_home.jsp - it even lists the (new) MINI Cooper S (yes, really!) but won't permit it to be selected. Which is a shame since I wanted to know the price they would give me

 

[gonnabuyone?]

The deal is done, the reservation deposit is paid ! - as long as I like the car when I get home next Thursday, which I think is a given !

They offered us more or less smack on what JamJar does on their website for the Vectra, which is £400 less than trade guide but they did come up a little bit when challenged.

Has anyone else got the 17" S spokes? do they make the cars ride much harsher and do they have runflat tyres?