There are a lot of good points here. The marketing of a used car is critical to generating interest - and the more interest you generate the better your odds of selling the car at or above market. Also, remember selling a car is just like buying a car - you need to be prepared to walk away from a buyer who isn't meeting your price requirements - and this is regardless of how nice he/she may be. Remember this is business.

It is perfectly normal to panic when you have put a lot of effort into 'selling' the car to a perspective buyer and they suddenly seem to cool on the car during the price negotiations. The best way to avoid this panic is to prepare by doing your home work and settling on a minimum price you are willing to accept and then you must be willing to walk away if the buyer won't meet that minimum price. If you are not willing to walk away then get someone else to act as your negotiating agent and tell them to walk away if the minimum isn't reached. Price negotiating is a skill that can be learned but not everyone has this skill or been properly trained.

Based on the original post it looks like reidok is not generating enough traffic on the car. The thread that mbu posted is a great example of how to both generate more traffic but also how not to negotiate as that seller seemed to feel that he left money on the table - which is never a good feeling.

reidok - best of luck with selling your Clubman. Personally, the clubman works for me and when I carry business clients I poke fun at the size of the Clubman (something along the lines of 'lets take the clown car') and this seems to break the ice and people generally enjoy the car.

 

We just bought our '08 Clubman from a dealer Saturday (7/28/12) and it had been listed for 301 days. Marked down from $20,800 to $17,500 with 34,000 miles. Our other option was in St. Petersburg for $15,600.

It's our first mini and never considered the Countryman. We just needed something that would fit the kids (6 and 8) in back.

I wonder if interest would pick up if gas prices were higher (knock on wood) or if its the economy.

The dealer is trying to maximize his profit by under bidding the trade-in value. http://beatthecarsalesman.com/ helped us at least understand the dealer's game.

Hans

 

Try Carmax! I had the same issues selling my 07 Dodge Charger SRT back in 2009. Cragis list, autotrader, ebay for months and got nothing but tire kickers. After the frustration of dealing with flakes I ended up selling it to Carmax for next to retail bluebook.

 

IMHO #1 reason - it's not S.

 

there is quite a bit in tax savings when you trade in as well ... might be a wash in the end.

 

I never did catch the original posters asking price. You really shouldn't plan on getting anything for the options on the car. I know they cost a lot when you buy them new, but the bring little or $0 dollars when you go to sell the car or trade it in.

 

I travel 100 miles a day and my SAAB aero v6 turbo was eating the gas at 28mpg... I shopped at VW for a certified diesel, a new Chebby Sonic, Ford Fiesta (hated hated hated that car), and the mazda2. I think my experience came down to trade as well. As we all know SAAB is belly up, so selling was a big problem. It was on craigslist for a while, other sites too. 0 bites. All the bigger dealerships were trying to say 5-5500 was all the car was worth. Then, all of a sudden some started offering me 6500. MINI said 7000. I felt it was a good deal. KBB, NADA all said that it was 7500, so I was happy. I baby my cars, and they are always near perfect. So I knew what was happening.

Up here in VT... sales are hard! unless its a piece of crap, it wont sell right away.. everyone wants the $1000 beater. no one wants a CPO ford focus (wifes car, she now wants a mini too!), but my $1500 99 SAAB 9-3 with 150,000 miles sold in one weekend.

eh.

YMMV

 

Curious as to why you hated hated hated the Fiesta but not the Mazda2.

 

I just hated hated the mazda2. they both sucked. the fiesta just a tiny bit more. They both felt like I was driving a barstool, but the mazda barstool felt better put together.

 

Thanks. Just curious. I test drove a Fiesta SEL and liked the dynamics of the car, but hated the dash/IP (deal breaker). The Mazda2 (a lower grade model) I drove was just cheap looking inside. The red lighting was, um, garish. But I liked the chassis (essentially the same as the Fiesta's from which it was borrowed).

Yeah, they sit high.

 

Yeah all the fords are over reaching in terms of tech. I work for ford and cant stand any of their cars / trucks.

The mazda was simpler, but TOOO simple and cheap. I wanted out of the box fun and high MPG, which i got with a mini.