My friend is looking at buying an MG ZR. She has a mini cooper sport at the moment.

I know nothing about this but am wary of dealers.

What is the best approach?

Should she part exchange. ?

Should she buy the new one or the nearly new one at a lower cost?

Should she take the finance or a banlk loan for the extra money needed?

Do they dupe you with finance?

it all rather depends.

there are some advantages to buying brand new, but you pay for it, most cars loose around 1/4 to 1/3 when you drive them off the forecourt.

if she doesn't px what will she be doing with her mini? she could compare what she is offered in px for it to what similar cars are fetching on autotrader to determine whether it's worth trying to sell it privately. She could also familiarise herself with the costs of 2nd hand mg's of whatever age/mileage she likes and see if she can get hold of glasses guide or parkers failing that to get values for both her car and the car she wants.

finance deals differ from dealer to dealer, so she should find out what she can get privately (probably around 6% apr) and compare that to whatever she is offered by a dealer.

Can you get 0% from most dealers on a new car if you haggle for it?

Change of plan she is now going for a new BMW MINI. Is there any hope of the 0% or would a bank loan/mortgage be a better option?

Go to www.drivethedeal.com get a price from there and take that price into the dealer and get them to beat it or match it.

Once you have a price, decide on how you are going to finance it, there is no such thing as a free lunch so the O% deals will just have a higher buy price.

All dealers will offer finance packages but you can get them cheaper on the net, work out what you are paying back in total as some deals have higher set up fees.

PS I have just done this recently and it worked a treat.

Thanks for that Mikey!

Just checked it out and will use it.

IMO the trick is really to be careful which car you buy.

For instance, the MINI Cooper will only lose about 25% (or less) of its value over 3 years, whereas any new MG will lose that as soon as you drive it away.

The finance is meaningless when you think about it like that because unless they are giving you interest you are losing more than any finance deal will make up for. A dealer wil get around £600 - £1000 for arranging hte finance, so you know you have that to haggle with if you take it from them. Turning up with cash finance from somewhere else doesn't give them much room to do you a deal on the purchase.

If she can, I would buy another MINI. They are great value when you consider the residuals and the £100 / 5 year servicing deal.

If she needs something bigger maybe a second hand 3 series BMW - they are cheap at the moment.

If she can afford it, a new Audi A3 or a BMW 1 series should have good residuals. Either of those should hang on to more of the value.

Thanks all, she is going for the BMW Mini cooper. After much disscussion she is going to get the extra she needs from her mortgage and make capital payments onto the mortgage to pay it off quicker.
That way she will get the finance at around 5%.


Anyone want to buy a mini cooper sport????? In top condition (as she is like Monica from friends)