Hi people of the greatest mini forum.

where did you guys turn to to find your used R53?

besides the obvious options of Craigslist and Autotrader. these two sources aren't enough, i always see the same ones :(

thanks

 

Cars.com, NAM, or Motor!ng@lliance. I think I found mine on autotrader and ended up flying to Nevada to buy it. It all depends on what you're looking for. I was looking for a 05-06 R53, hyper blue only with very specific options. I found one that was almost 6 years old with only 8,600 miles in the next state. To me it was worth it to travel that far to get a car in brand new condition because they weren't available anymore.

I forgot to add I looked off and on for almost two years for the right car to come up.

 

Like rb-mini said, look outside your area. It's absolutely worth it to drive a long distance to get a good car.

Watch every day, be patient, and have money ready so you can jump on a good deal, or the car you want.

Craigslist is free so there should be no reason for everone, including dealers to list their car on it. I found mine on Craigslist.

 

There's NAM, Craigslist, Autotrader, Cars.com, Edmunds.com, and Ebay Motors as options. I ended up mainly searching through Cars.com, Autotrader, and Ebay and found my car 2 states away thought Ebay. A few months later, I helped my Dad find an R53 through the NAM marketplace. Both cars were great deals and more than well equipped.

My advice would be to get an idea of what you want in an R53 then cast a wide net as far as distance and websites are concerned. Often times, cars are posted on only one site and you may miss a great deal just because you didn't happen to see it. Also, cars tend to be more expensive around major metro areas, so if you live near one it may be worth it to travel a bit to get a good deal. I ended up getting my R53 a few thousand under the going rate in my area just by traveling a couple hundred miles to pick it up.

Patience is also very important. Depending on what you want in your R53, it may take a few days or several months to find one that is equipped the way you want it. If you can, take your time and the right one will pop up. Good luck with your search!

 

I have been thinking of selling my 06 checkmate lots lately, needs a 4dr. it has a whopping 54K on it and has no leaks or rust.

I just have not been able to have free time to put up a friggin ad.

im in vermont, happy to send pics and details if you want.

 

You always see the same ones cause they all "scrape" the data from one another....and most folks also post in multiple locations....
Let's face it...if you sell a car diy as opposed to trading it in, you are motivated cause you are trying to maximize your $$$.
So unless you get lucky, and a friend tells you they saw one in a parking lot with a 4sale sign or a person used an classifieds add, you seem to have the main places covered...
Locally, there are tons of semi local car 4 sale monthly mags...you can try there...but most are just dealers trolling....cars rarely sit more than 2-3 weeks, and are dropping in value, and cost $$ to have sit...so it's about moving fast...
Forums have cars pop-up, as do social media...but imo you might want to be careful, since so.e are run bad, and putaway wet, or otherwise owned by folks who were pretty clueless....
Always do a prebuy unless you are a MECHANICALLY inclined and know what too look for....

 

In addition to the sites already mentioned, there is also CarMax, and don't forget to simply Google it.

There's nothing special about shopping for a used MINI. It's the same as shopping for any other used car. The vast majority of sellers gravitate towards a small number of websites because that's where buyers are looking as well.

Remember that there were never many R53's on the road (compared to other brands) and as they age they are now rapidly going out of service. Your choices will always be limited and you need to search outside of your local area for best selection.

 

I prefer carguru's and craiglist now

 

I bought one off of ebay and one off of NAM. Both transactions went very smoothly.


Regards,
Jerry

 

thank you everyone for your suggestions. yea i actually do a 500 miles radius. thats about how far i would drive for a car.

and agree, R53's are getting up in age, and even the decent ones will need some or alot of work to get them into condition to run til 200k miles.

my only worry is the clutch & supercharger service job. cost so much for a shop to do.

im not a noob, and can work on cars, but im no expert like modmini. but if im not in a rush and do stuff on my own time, i can probably diy the clutch job.

 

you are across the country, im in So Cal :(

 

Only from reading this forum the last couple years, I dont think the supercharger really fails all that often. Mine did though and I can assure you that if you think you can do the clutch, the sc would be a piece of cake. Much easier to do than a clutch.

Good luck in your search!

 

airplane ticket and roadtrip!

 

May have missed it above...but autotempest.com will search most of the other sites (along with multiple CL locations) in one shot.

Pat