Trading in your car .....

[Just Jade]

Is it 'normal' for a dealership to agree a trade in, but they have to phone around garages to get to get a price for the car your trading in?

I was in 2 BMW dealerships at the weekend. Eastern offered me a trade in price straight away, but Menzies at Stirling started phoning around different places to see what trade in price they could get. It was near closing time, the guy said he would try other places on Monday to try and get a better price, but he's not got back to me on this :(

I just thought it a bit strange, as they sell pre-owned cars and wondered why they just didn't sell it on themselves?

[MiniSnaps]

Is it 'normal' for a dealership to agree a trade in, but they have to phone around garages to get to get a price for the car your trading in?

I was in 2 BMW dealerships at the weekend. Eastern offered me a trade in price straight away, but Menzies at Stirling started phoning around different places to see what trade in price they could get. It was near closing time, the guy said he would try other places on Monday to try and get a better price, but he's not got back to me on this :(

I just thought it a bit strange, as they sell pre-owned cars and wondered why they just didn't sell it on themselves?

It sounds as if they don't want your car for retail stock, probably because the season for buying convertibles is over, and basically what they're trying to do is get somewhere that will agree to buy your car (it's called "underwriting") before they will make you an offer on it.

[Just Jade]

Hmm.... had a feeling something like that was going on! I asked the guy why he was phoning around when Eastern hadn't and he just said that some dealers did and some didn't but never said why :|

[Craig]

yeah sounds very much like your car is maybe outside the bounds of the "cherished" scheme. This is normally because the car has a higher mileage or is over a certain age? Either of these true? :confused:

If not, maybe they just didn't want your car... Nice way to get you to buy from them eh ? :rolleyes:;)

[Just Jade]

Hi Craig

It's a 06 plate Mini One with 27600 miles on the clock? It's a brand new Cooper S I'm trading it in against.

[Craig]

Hi Craig

It's a 06 plate Mini One with 27600 miles on the clock? It's a brand new Cooper S I'm trading it in against.

well that defo comes within the cherished rules, so it ain't that reason. Looks like they didn't want your car then.... :frown:

[Just Jade]

It might be something to do with the 'whining' noise that's coming from under the bonnet somewhere ???? :Whistle:

[KenL]

Hi Craig

It's a 06 plate Mini One with 27600 miles on the clock? It's a brand new Cooper S I'm trading it in against.

That sounds very strange!

I would have thought they would just price your MINI. You will only get a trade price for your car that way. I know MINI dealers are not usually interested in non-MINI cars but this sounds like a nice car and low miles.

Unless they are giving you a good discount, I would shop around more.

Peter Vardy, Edinburgh or our sponsors in Dundee are also worth a visit.

Also get a firm idea (perhaps from Glasses guide online) what you know your car is worth as a trade in, not a trade value.

[Just Jade]

Thanks Ken

Yeah kinda puts me off going back there tbh, that and the fact that they've not bothered to get back in touch with me as promised :(

My fiance is back from the rigs next Thursday, so I'm going to wait until he's home. Andy and Lenore were in Eastern when I was there on Sunday, Andy gave me some good advice as well ;)

[zimbo]

Jade you should maybe try Grassicks in Perth as well, they are really good :thumbs up: I have had two minis from them :yes nod: (including my current car)

[Scottie]

I know when I was in at Eastern last weekend they had been asked by other dealers to under write 6 convertibles that weekend.

Not the best time of year to sell them maybe.

I would try dealers down south where they might have a higher turn over on the convertibles.

[Just Jade]

Thanks folks, I'll take all that onboard when I go looking again next weekend ;)

[Forbes]

Hi Craig

It's a 06 plate Mini One with 27600 miles on the clock? It's a brand new Cooper S I'm trading it in against.

Maybe it is to do with the Mods? Some places won't touch cars that are not original spec.

Maybe try other general garages. I know it is not the same but with the Subaru Justy I had we were offered something stupid against the trade in of the Golf. We went to a few places seeing if they would take it and ended up getting above book price for it, like a grand more than the other Garage, mind it was only worth a bit more than a grand:lol:

[Just Jade]

Hi, yeah your right the mods do make a difference, but we told them we have the original wheels and tyres in mint condition and would be putting them back on. Also the spots would be taken off as they don't bump the price up any in a trade in. Ideally a private sale would sort this all out without having to go through a dealer, but there's not many folk out there with ready cash to buy private it would seem :(

[MiniSnaps]

What did they quote you as a trade-in? Minis are doing strong money in the auctions just now, especially at the BMW/Mini sale at BCA Edinburgh. Even though it's not the convertible season any more I would imagine it would still find a ready buyer as a lot of the stuff is going down south.

[Just Jade]

Hi

Eastern quoted £8800 which I thought was a fair trade in price? (I'm not up on this kinda thing) Menzies phoned around a few places and said the best they could get was £8500. The guy at Menzies said he would try more places on Monday, but never got back to me :(

[zimbo]

Hi

Eastern quoted £8800 which I thought was a fair trade in price? (I'm not up on this kinda thing) Menzies phoned around a few places and said the best they could get was £8500. The guy at Menzies said he would try more places on Monday, but never got back to me :(

I would [cough] forget menzies [cough], there are loads of better places out there for you try if you dont mind shopping around.

[TheDoctor46]

Parkers arent the best to gauge Trade In prices but they state your car at £8130 p/x.
I've a friend who runs his own Garage so i'll ask him what the Glasses Guide is pricing it at:thumbs up:
I would think that Mini would give you a better price, especially as its against a Brand New MCS!!!:confused:

[MiniSnaps]

Parkers arent the best to gauge Trade In prices but they state your car at £8130 p/x.
I've a friend who runs his own Garage so i'll ask him what the Glasses Guide is pricing it at:thumbs up:
I would think that Mini would give you a better price, especially as its against a Brand New MCS!!!:confused:

Parkers Guide is actually pretty accurate, if you know how to read it "correctly". In general the "poor" price is what a clean car with average miles will do at auction, adjust the price for the actual mileage and the guide is near enough spot-on. It gives £7620 as "poor" so £8500 is a pretty decent bid for it, given the time of year...

[Just Jade]

Thanks again folks for the advice, I'm not in any desperate hurry so I'll take my time and shop around as suggested ;) As for Menzies, yeah they've not exactly gone out there way to get a sale, you'd think in the current climate they'd have shown a bit more interest :|

[euan]

I'm in the process of trading may car in and was offered a less than satisfactory amount. So I told them straight off what I wanted/needed for my car and that without that I'd not do a deal. This is slightly different as it's a used car not new, but the same principle applies.

I knew the car I was looking at, and there were only two garages with one for sale (there are only 500 or so in the UK so I'm told). Both were near identical cars, both on at the same price and with very similar mileage (1K in it). One came back straight off with what I needed, the other 1500 quid below and said there was no way they could do it. So I explained the situation and that as their car had the better spec on it, I'd prefer to do a deal with them but I needed more for mine. After a few hours they came back to me and said OK but only if we could complete the deal this week so it counts in this quarters figures (which end at the end of the month). So we're off to see it early this week and make sure my wife is happy to drive it (which is one of the reasons to change as she hates my 3 series!).

The dealer isn't going to retail my car, it's been underwritten by another dealer who wants the stock, so the additional on my trade in has come off some of the profit they have in the car.

So my advice is try loads of dealers, and be very clear what you want for yours to get the deal. If you can say to them - I want a car from you and this is what I need for mine to do it, they know your serious and should try and help you get it. If you don't mind doing the legwork and potentially traveling to get the car, you should get what you want.

[Just Jade]

Thanks Euan, I'll keep all that in mind. So do you think I'm likely to get a better dea,l if the dealer would get the sale before the end of the month?

Colins home on Thursday, I'm not in any desperate hurry tbh - I would wait until nearer the end of next month to give me more time to shop around, if I thought it would make a difference?

[euan]

I would think it depends on how big the dealer is. This month is the end of a the financial quarter, so if they are part of a big chain and they haven't made their targets, yes you might well get a good deal. Really depends on the dealer to be honest.

The end of the next quarter is the end of December which is typically quiet in dealers as well, so you may be better hanging on if your not in a hurry, though not sure how winter affects residuals on convertibles anymore, I know it used to when they weren't as well insulated as they are now.