Probably a good bye. Due to the COVID-19 lock down here in CA I was laid off March 30. Given my age -- 68 -- it is unlikely I can find a job as good as the one I had (writing software for automotive test equipment and residential and agricultural weather stations). I have other skills but are 30+ years rusty and at 68 is not the time to resume welding or machining.

I think with this shut down and the economic consequences taxes in CA will skyrocket. The cost of living is already quite high here and will only go higher. Without a good job I do not want to remain in CA. It was only the job that kept me here.

This is a good bye because very likely because of where I think I'll end up retiring to -- some place in the north west area of Arkansas -- and the fact the nearest MINI dealer would be around 180 miles away (in Merriam KS I think, and Merriam KS is where I bought my Boxster back in 2002 and my VW Golf TDi also io 2002) I am exploring selling my 2018 MINI JCW 2-door hatchback with its 6-speed manual. Color is rebel green (very dark). Cloth seats. I have owned the car from new since Dec. 2017 and have put just over 25K miles on the car.The JCW has been a fantastic car and it is with great reluctance that I am almost certainly going to get rid of it. My other car is a 2018 Hellcat and while a cool/fun car in its own right doesn't make the loss of the JCW any less unpleasant.

The Hellcat may go once I get settled in to be replaced by maybe a Jeep or some 4-wheel drive pickup.

Not looking to sell the JCW privately. I am in talks with a dealer to have it put the car for sale at a dealer to dealer auction.

You all have been just great.

So adios amigos and vaya con Dios.

Pic of the car when new...

 

Sorry to hear that Rock....and that's a gorgeous spec'd out JCW....

I know what you mean about jobs and older guys these days.....Typically if your over 40 they won't even interview.
But it also sounds like you have a particular set of skills the under 40ish tech guys dont have....I wouldnt give up so quick, but moving from CA
is prob not a bad idea. Even Musk seems to be moving from what I hear.

If you do move and dont sell the MINI, you wont be far from where they have MINI's on the Dragon. Cancelled this year but next year
should be hoot to make up for it...

Best of luck.....stop back anytime and visit !

 

Well, 68 is young! 70 here and I am almost certain to be permanently laid off also. I was furloughed in March (Loved my job!). Not a good time for older employees regardless of skills. I'd keep the JCW...mine isn't going anywhere for any reason! You'd get way more money for the Hellcat, so if one has to go I'd say goodbye to that great car (but, honestly, I'd probably keep them all!) Life's too short...enjoy your cars now that you have the time! That's what I hope to do! Good luck!

 

Owning a Mini far away from a dealership is a real problem and very time consuming for service or warranty work. I experienced the situation 5 years ago when retiring from Vegas to WA where I live about 80 miles from Seattle.

Local shops have no clue how to work on these cars, cannot diagnose them properly and they don't have the proper tools to perform even a basic regular maintenance if you don't tell them how to do it. I ended up buying a BMW scanner and some specialty tools in the event I would need to provide them.

In the case of a more serious issue, my only option would be to ship the car to Seattle. Fortunately, most big items are still covered on extended 10yr / 120k warranty.

 

71 here with a 2016 JCW also rebel green. A wonderful little pocket rocket and I have a GP3 on order. I would suggest not giving up the JCW, there are a lot of independent BMW service centers in this part of the world (Kentucky) and most of them will gladly work on minis. See what they have in Arkansas if you really want to keep your JCW! Good luck on your retirement, I love it!

 

Was just going to suggest this myself....the tools both shops use are basically the same....the likes of which independant shops will not have or puchase and hack the job badly.

 

Sorry to hear this :( If you get an good independent shop or DIY you can save a bunch.

 

Yeah keep the JCW, it's not gonna need much/any work being that new. All my original 07 MCS ever needed was front brakes and maybe a battery in the 7 years I owned it. The 2014 JCW only needed one battery (under warranty) and nothing else in 6 yrs.
I'm 67 and work at a VA hospital so I won't get laid off but I'm gonna retire within a year so I bought my last Mini 2 weeks ago. And I agree, get the hell out of California ASAP! It's like a lot of other places: a nice place to be FROM. Right?

 

The dealer, here in town but not a MINI dealer, I contacted about putting the car through auction has not been in touch. That generally means "not interested".

Tomorrow I can visit the local (well, 10 miles distant) MINI dealer and see if there is any interest in buying the car. There is also a CarMax just an exit down from the MINI dealer exit.

CarMax might be the better way to get rid of the MINI.

If I end up not being able to sell it I'm faced with the expense of having the car transported back east 2K miles and into an area with no real MINI presence which means the car becomes a harder sell.

If I keep it I am faced with once again servicing my cars. Bad enough when the parts are available -- as was the case with my Porsche cars -- from a dealer just a mile or so away from me. But having to order parts from a dealer 180+ miles distant...

At any rate the pressure is on. I have given notice I will not be renewing my apartment lease. I have to be out by July 27. Since I have to pay the rent until July 27 regardless I can be out of here as soon as I can arrange movers to move my stuff. If I still have the MINI then I have to arrange to move it back east via a car transport company.

The Hellcat I'll drive back east.

 

We are in agreement. I have just not had good luck dealing with indy shops with more run of the mill cars. To expect to find a good indy MINI shop located in an area of the country where the nearest MINI dealer is 180+ miles away is just not likely IMO. It would be like moving to SF with a John Deere tractor as my daily driver.

To have to face that at some point I would need to rent a car trailer and something to tow it to get the MINI to the nearest MINI dealer -- or one that was further away but not booked up -- and then spend one or more nights at a hotel waiting for the car to be fixed is just *not* something I want to face.

Even regular oil/filter and other services based on miles I'd have to make an appointment some time in advance, then drive the car to the MINI dealer and drop it off and spend a night or 3 at a hotel until the car was ready to pick up. Given my annual miles would be low chances are I'd being doing this maybe just once a year -- every 5K miles -- but still...

I have not exhausted all potential ways to get rid of the car. Tomorrow I visit CarMax and then the MINI dealer just an exit away to see if there is any interest in the car and I don't have to give it away.

If these two potential buyers fall through then I will arrange to have the car transported back east.

 

NW Arkansas has a LOT of fun roads. If you can find a great condition R53 and have as much fun on a much lower budget. Best of luck to you in whatever happens!

 

+1 Go to ozarkmini.com, sponsor of MITO and check out their day trip map (Drives) selection, 20 or more to choose from. The War Eagle mill is good for lunch upstairs in the mill and worth the drive. On your way out of Eureka South on rt 23 watch off to the right for Quigley's Castle. Worth the time.

 

BMW mechanics are certified for MINI. Springfield, MO (North of Branson, MO, just over the state line) has a BMW dealership. Read the addendums in your Owner's manual. There is section on US law and warranties. I would call MINI USA and try to get some more info about options. I know the area as I inherited a lot in Boone County Arkansas many moons ago. Nice place.

 

Thanks Rock for the candid, and heartbreaking post.

At 67, I guess I'm the younger geezer on this thread -- been happily enjoying a planned retirement for many years so I'm trying to wrap my mind around having retirement forced on me by circumstances beyond my control. Sucks.

I will say this, I acquired my first MINI as a retirement treat for myself, and am now on my second one. These cars bring joy as we age. Helps keep the kid inside us alive, in my experience.

On a practical note, there are waaay too many cars for sale chasing too few customers these days, so prices are gonna be soft for awhile. Even for a great JCW. Load up a Uhaul, tow the MINI behind, and start a great new life, with your MINI. If you can.

Best of luck.

 

I have a feeling you'd take a beating on the Mini if you sell it. The dealer may take it 'cause it's pretty new, but you might get 30-35% of what you paid for it. I paid $40k for my 2014 JCW and I got $11k in trade last month from the Mini dealer. As posted elsewhere dealers are getting a TON of leased cars returned that are 3 years old and don't know what to do with them all, they're dropping the buyback prices and extending the leases if they can. Good luck but if it were me and I liked the car I'd keep it awhile longer.

 

We need to talk.. You seem pragmatic, and are no doubt wiser than I due to your advanced years.

Despite my having only sixty five summers to my credit, I shall presume to debate with you.

Since dumping this beautiful Works car is likely to cost you a very pretty penny, have you actually mapped out the implications of keeping it? The reality of necessities? Is it truly insurmountable?

My bias is that I own Gollum IV, the culmination of a long journey, and you might spot a resemblance... (this is the infant Gollum , back in '17 as we met).



2018 Works Cooper

I find that as I get older, and certainly after suffering divorce, that my life becomes smaller and simpler as I shed things that are unnecessary and abide by frugality.

But I carefully consider the matter of unnecessary - what shall be so deemed, and what not.

My life long love for driving, and riding motorbikes, I have accepted. It gives me joy, and although I get slower with age I accept that and do not throw my toys from the pram in consequence.

This BRG Works Cooper is mebbe the fastest and finest car I've ever own - would blow the doors off the '56 Jag XK 150 I had a long time back.

Like an old fencer with a fine sword, I am invested in the car, it becomes a means for me to enjoy driving, and the zen and thoughtfullness of travel.

That I have defended.

To you, it is one car among several it seems, so this issue perhaps does not arise.

But your pronouncements made an echo in my heart.

So cheers,

Charlie

 

The F series minis are durable automobiles with very few issues for the most part. I have over 60K miles on my 2016 JCW and I have had no issues with it other than going through 4 sets of tires! There are great road for driving minis through the southeast, we have a plethora of roads in Kentucky, but my favorites are in North Carolina and Tennessee. I haven't been through Arkansas in over 40 years, but I seem to recall some pretty good "fun' roads there as well.

Good luck with your move.

 

Well, the MINI is gone. CarMax was closed but the nearby MINI dealer where I have had the car serviced was open and we managed to reach a deal.

Got less than I hoped for but more than I feared I would be offered. Will not share what I got but it was satisfactory. Or I would have kept the car.

The car was wonderful to be sure and I didn't fear it would turn into a nightmare of a car requiring attention all the time. The car has been quite trouble free -- with only 25K miles though it should be -- but it gave every indication it was going to deliver a long and trouble free service life. Really my fear was some bone head indy tech would hurt the car.

At any rate the check is in the mail, well coming by FedEx, and should be here in 3 days.

Life gets a bit simpler with one less car. Canceled one of two parking spaces I was paying for here. Can't wait to call my car insurance company and cancel insurance for one car. And at the same trip drop my annual miles driven from around 20K to 5K which should cut the Hellcat insurance dramatically.

Reserved a moving trailer and a moving crew for July 14. Will be moved out of my apartment in a couple of hours then that afternoon have the place final inspected and hopefully early the next day after a night in a nearby hotel get on the road in my Hellcat and headed towards my new home.

 

Not too long after I bought my Boxster I ended up driving down highway 65 through Springfield MO and Branson MO and into Arkansas. The Arkansas road was fantastic. So much so I got car sick. First time I ever got car sick driving a car. The road was like a roller coaster and more fun to drive than just about any road I've ever been on.

'course, while I'll be there again I won't have the Boxster or the MINI and the Hellcat is not the same but the area still has nice roads to drive and other things going for it.

 

Update. Check arrived yesterday. Deposited.

Gosh I have 2 months to go before I move and I am going to miss my MINI JCW every day. Already miss it. The Hellcat is not a town car, an errand car. Just filled the tank yesterday. 12mpg fuel mileage. In the same usage the MINI averaged 22mpg and on the highway averaged 30mpg. Hellcat's best is 18mpg and more like closer to 15mpg most of the time.

Canceled the moving trailer and movers. I was looking at over $3K to move stuff 2000+ miles that I could replace for less than half that once I settle into a new place. Also, I won't replace everything. A number of possessions I never used and see no sense in just automatically replacing them once I'm in a new place. This gives me the opportunity to cut my personal possessions way back to the essentials.

Have a tentative arrangement with some guys that work at a restaurant I eat at regularly to come by and haul away my stuff. They get the stuff in exchange for loading into a truck and emptying my apartment.

Everything I keep and it won't be much will fit in my car's trunk. A few larger items -- bikes -- and maybe a coupe of boxes of books I decide to hold on to I'll arrange to ship shortly before I leave town and pick them up when I get to my destination. I'll have to store them for a while until I find a place to live.

 

Good luck and be safe. Enjoy your journey.

 

Good luck with everything...sorry to see you sell the JCW, but the Hellcat would have made more sense to sell imo! But, I'm also a muscle car guy and I "get that" believe me!


I attended college in Rolla, Missouri back in the '70's and we drove down into Arkansas on occasion...there were great roads down that way...."nothing" is flat in that region... lol!

Be safe!

 

Honestly, for me I would give up the corvette before the minis! However, I hope it never comes to that, we love all of our toys! The weather here has been so miserable it's really not fun to drive any of them! Crappy, cruddy, Corona weather, cold, wet, floods, mud! March temperatures in May!

 

I have decided the M-B van I bought in August 2020 when I first arrived here (Benton County AR) no longer meets my needs.

I half hearted shopped some other vehicles. Then on a hunch I decided to ask the local BMW dealer -- where I bought a new BMW in May of this year -- if it could service a 2023 MINI. The answer is yes albeit with some limitations.

Fluid services, tires, brakes, etc. yeah. No warranty work. No programming of the controllers.

But it can do enough I think I can manage quite nicely.

So I searched and found a new 2023 JCW. Trouble is it is located around 800 miles and 3 states away.

But I think the deal will go through.

Just waiting for the MINI to arrive at the dealer. The MINI was in CA at the MINI processing center and its being shipped to the dealer. When I get word the car is at the dealer I'll drive the van to the dealer trade in the van and pay the balance owed on the new car with a personal check. Dealer said it would accept the check with proof of sufficient funds in the account. I can go online and access my bank account -- using the dealer's secure internet connection -- and show the sales manager/finance guy I have sufficient funds.

Oh, 2023 MINI Cooper S 2-door hatchback JCW with a 6-speed manual! When I get the car I'll post pics and more details.

 

Good luck with your new mini! We love our F56 JCW, too. And, hope you enjoy your new mini as much as we do ours. We also have a GP3 and after a few early niggly issues it has been stellar and it has become our favorite mini. They are really great little beasts and get a good radar detector if you like to speed through the twisties!