Good day all, I was just wondering what peoples thoughts were on buying a used Cooper (non S). Should I be hesitant at all? Or as long as I get a carfax I should be ok? The other thing would be that I was thinking of buying it sight unseen from another state. I'm in Cali, and can't find a Mellow Yellow with a black top (w/o a sunroof) anywhere local. However, they seem to be in abundance out of state. So what do you all think?

 

I think that you could treat a non-S cooper like almost any other used car purchase. Check the carfax and have an independant inspection done. The 09 Justa that I bought had a clean carfax, but it was obvious that the hood and bumper were replaced.
If you feel comfortable with the inspection and carfax, then you should be in good shape. Get ready to smile more than you have driving your regular car, there is just something about a MINI.

Mike

 

I don't think MINI's are that different when you're buying used. I'm selling my '09 S with less than 21k miles on it and the only reason is I've got a Countryman S due in a week. The only thing other than oil changes every 6 months and tire rotations every 3 months was a HPFP replacement when it was about 3 months old. I consider that trouble-free ownership.

Shop around and try to find a low-mileage used MINI that meets your desires, check the carfax, and motor on. We've got MINI's #5 & 6 due in a week and all four have been great, dependable cars...Good Luck!

 

Take a clean Carfax with a grain of salt. Not everyone reports to it and it often takes up to a year, some have reported longer, for it to show up. I bought a used 05 MINI years ago with a clean Carfax at the time of purchase, and by the time I was selling it, it had a "permanent record".

 

regarding the Carfax. If a previous owner of an S had changed their HPFP would that show up on the carfax? Would that show up anywhere in the vehicles history? Perhaps pulling up the VIN from a Mini dealership or something? Just wondering.

 

No, CarFax show vehicle accidents, possible owners fraud and state inspection dates.

Yes, you can take the VIN in question and bring it to any MINI dealer to see what service history has been performed on the vehicle.

- Erik

 

When I got my car, there were notes on the carfax when service was done at the dealer. Not all of the information was complete, but there were comments.

If the person selling the car is serious, they should have no problem giving you the VIN (or at least the last 7 digits). You can take this to your local dealer and start a relationship. They can probably give you some indication of what was done with the car, but privacy laws will likely give them an excuse to not print anything out.

One thing that is also important when looking for a car is to get one that is still under warranty. MINI's have a 4 year 50k mile warranty, and a 3 year, 36k mile maintenance agreement. If you can find a car within your budget that is still under these programs, your local dealer will help you know what has been done to the car without issue.

Mike

 

I hit a deer in my old Element and it never showed up on the CARFAX! Quite a bit of work was done! I did however disclose this in my ad and had all the repair records available for any potential buyer. The guy that bought it from me, sight unseen (other than pictures) told me he purchased from me because I was so honest. He didn't even see the car til he drove it off after flying in and meeting at the bank! Great buyer!!!

Now if I could just get someone to buy my Clubbie that never hit anything, has low miles, brand new tires, is loaded and still under warranty!

Go figure!

I did notice that CARFAX shows miles per year, so good to look at, esp if low miles. Saw a car that put em all on in one year to my two years!

 

So, let's say you buy the car sight unseen and it arrives and you start it and it's spewing huge clouds of blue smoke from the exhaust. Your next step would be... ? What? Leave the seller an angry voice mail? A really really angry voice mail? And cross them off your Christmas card list?

I mean, I guess if you only paid $3000 and had to do an engine rebuild, that might not hurt so bad. But if you paid 8 grand, or 9, or 10, or more, and the car had some huge problem, that would kind of suck.

Why not just buy any color non-sunroof car locally, have a pre-purchase inspection done by a decent mechanic, and the take it and get it painted? You might even drive it for a few weeks and decide the color wasn't that important to you after all. I wasn't too enthusiastic about velvet red metallic but I got so many complements that it grew on me. Perception is weird like that.

I know what you mean about that glass albatross camping out on the roof though. Fifty pounds of useless bling, that. Feels like 100 pounds. Some days, 200 pounds. I searched for 3 months for a Mini without a sunroof and finally gave up.

My 3 year old loves it though. Loves. It. Hopefully by the time he's 4 he'll believe me when I tell him it is inappropriate open the sunroof in the rain. He's always like "No, it's not!" and I'm like, "Yes. Yes it IS! It's inappropriate. We will get wet."

"No we won't", he says, "Just drive faster."

 

 

Also, have you read the MINI R50/R53 Buyers Guide? If that's what you're in the market for. Don't know if there's a buyer's guide for the newer ones.

 

I'm currently compiling one as the R56 used market is starting to come to full light.

- Erik