Loads of Auto Minis on Ebay

[shoutforjoy]

Anyone else noticed that there seems to be loads of auto's on Ebay at the moment. I've been tracking a few just to see what they're fetching. I need to sort out an agreed value for mine.

With so many available it's a good time to buy


But not so good if you're selling

[clambod]

What sort of price are they going for? and how does it compare to manual prices?

[shoutforjoy]

Here goes... please bear in mind that this is just my opinion based on what I have observed over the last week or so.

There are mainly 998's available at the moment. 1275's do attract a premium (around £100-£200, perhaps a bit more).

Minis is good condition with a decent amount of MOT will fetch between £1,000 and £2,000 in an auction. I've seen one or two fetch a tiny bit more. Buy-it-now prices and reserves are typically set between £2,000 and £3,000.

Project Minis and those with little or no MOT are fetching between £400 and £1,000 in the auctions. Buy-it-now prices and reserves are typically set between £800 and £1,500.

Clearly there's some disparity between the price that buyers are prepared to pay and the price that owners would like to achieve. There's definitley some downward pressure on prices at the moment. Good news if you're buying - not so good if you're selling.

Given that auto's tend to be bog-standard and a good proportion of manuals are tuned in some way there doesn't appear to much difference between un-tuned standard manuals and auto prices.

There are 2 things that I've noticed seem to affect the prices on Ebay (and they're not rocket science):-
1. The amount of MOT. A full MOT can easily add £300+ to the price when compared to one with just 2-3 months. I gues that this reflects the kind of costs that you typically incur putting an MOT on one. Don't claim that your car will sail though an MOT - put one on for £50 (even if you've still got 6 months to run on your existing one) and reap the rewards!
2. The quality of the advert. Well presented cars attract higher prices. Cars that have been cleaned, well photographed and comprehensively (and honestly) described sell much better. But a not of caution, don't over-egg the description - I've seen a few 'relisted due to timewasters' - sometimes this is true, other times it's because the seller has over-egged the car and the buyer walks away. Personally I would never bid on a car that I have not inspected myself.

I hope this helps and please do remember that it is just my opinion.

Paul

[clambod]

that's an interesting comment. I would have thought there would have been a bigger difference between autos and manuals

[shoutforjoy]

I thought so too but it doesn't appear that way on first inspection. I'm going to track a few Mayfair 998's auto and manual over the next few days to check this out further. This should give me a good comparison.

I will report back.

[clambod]

It will be interesting to see what your opinions are.

[shoutforjoy]

OK, here we go...

I have tracked 26 Mini Mayfair 998's over the last few days, the results may surprise a little. Prices quoted are the maximum bid price regardless of whether reserve was met or not.

Manual project average price £550
Manual ready-to-drive average price £1,163.

Automatic project average price £398
Automatic ready-to-drive average price £1,253

5 of the minis I tracked did not attract any bids, these were all ready-to-drive. 4 of these were autos, 1 was manual.

6 more did attract bids but did not make their reserves, 3 autos and 3 manuals. 4 of these were ready-to-drive, 2 were projects.

So, of the 26 there were 11 that did not sell.

A few observations from this small survey...
- prices for all minis are down and are much lower than expected. I would say that these are lower then when I first started this thread about a week ago.
- projects are more sought after than ready-to-drive
- auto projects are fetching lower prices than manual ones - about £150 - this is what I would have expected.
- auto ready-to-drive minis are fetching more than manual ones! About £100. Really not expected but a pleasant surprise. I wonder why?
- autos appear to be harder to sell than manuals but are making better prices when they do.

I'm off now to follow my kid's advice and 'get a life'

Let's have your thoughts.

[clambod]

That's really interesting. I would have expected the autos to be less than manuals too.
I'm also surprised at how low the prices have fallen recently. I suspect that the "Project" minis will be back on EBay when the new owners find out the project is is beyond them or how much it will cost to complete

[asahartz]

Ebay is always full of "abandoned projects". I'd rather have a straight runner that's not been mucked about with - repairing other peoples' bodges takes longer than fixing original damage!

Skye was virtually untouched; a pleasure to restore. Evy the Clubman is similar. Nemo looks superb but when I get down to it I found the prep for the sprayjob left something to be desired; there are loads of bubbles a year down the line and I'm just in the process of replacing both sills! (well they are original and to be fair, are about the best I've seen behind them).