I'm reliably informed that the 26 British Racing Green Minis for sale at BCA Nottingham tomorrow are all from the Foxtons Estate Agents fleet.
I have always been lead to believe that these cars lead a hard life, as well as having decals plastered over them from new.
Would anyone see one of these as a good buy?
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Well, at least the decals protect the paint:). However, would you really want a car previously driven by an estate agent (and a junior one at that - senior agents get a 3 series dont they?)
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The decals protect the paint yes, but only the bits they cover, which is pretty random on the examples I've seen. I should think it would be very difficult to buff parts of a 3yr old mini which have been car washed to death to match the perfect bodywork which has been preserved by the decals.
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No.
What an absurd question.
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Actually I wouldn't buy any neoMini unless it was criminally cheap.
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No. Nor a property.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Unless it was a Foxtons bargain, 1 room studioette rahanacorner, £975,000 plus vat for a 20 year lease, or am I out of date...
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Wouldn't buy anything off an estate agent unless there was absolutely no alternative.
Not keen on Mini's anyway, done a couple of long journeys in them and it put me off.
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>>Unless it was a Foxtons bargain>>
tinyurl.com/pqsqr
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Presuming I wanted a mini, which I don't, then yes, why not? I see them around on, they seem to spend an awful lot of time in car parks and when they are driven, don't seem to be driven particuarly unusual.
Paint might be a bit patchy because of the decals, but other than thay what's the big thing ? Other than the fact that its cool and fashionable not to like Estate Agents ?
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Other than the fact that its cool and fashionable not to like Estate Agents ?
Nothing to do with 'cool and fashionable' - my experience of dealing with estate agents over the last 25 years is that they are mostly greedy and dishonest and I wouldn't want to do anything which supported their business.
The last guy I dealt with later had his face in the local paper - arrested for fraud and deception along with a corrupt surveyor!
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The fact it's Foxtons is irrelevant to me. I would be more concerned that they will have spent all their time being in congested traffic, maybe doing short journeys.
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I know one person who works for Foxton's. He's an absolute idiot, think of Tim Nice-but-Dim but better looking.. however, his driving is perfectly OK! I'd have his car no problems!
I remember once he came back to the "provinces" to see us, his poor Northern cousins, he was all London-ed up and "ooh I've got a Mini" etc. We all went to the car park to see it and collectively collapsed laughing at his mobile representation of corporate pink fluffy dice. Very amusing. Haven't seen such inspired writing on a car since Alan Partridge had his Rover vandalised...
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well the lease company aint that clever if they put 26 identical minis through the same auction are they?
and if they are held in such high esteem why werent they underwritten before the lease contract ended.........therefore i wouldnt want one
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No but then I wouldn't buy any New Mini. ;o)
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As they are being auctioned and not sold by an estate agent, I reckon
1. you might get an honest description
2. you might get a reasonable price
IF
the car in question has not been molested.
My experiences of estate agents suggest 1 and 2 above are not normal qualities of estate agents.
Like all things, if the price is right and you really WANT a Mini.. otherwise don't bother.
Apologies to any estate agents reading but your induistry is as bad as back street garages for morals.. and rather less efficient imo:-)
madf
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madf
See my link earlier. I watched the programme at the time. It confirmed much of what many people believe about some operators in this particular section of the property market...:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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>Stuart
Thanks. I saw the program..as you say...
madf
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Apologies to any estate agents reading but your induistry is as bad as back street garages for morals.. and rather less efficient imo:-) madf
I find that comment extremely offensive, madf. I've had a lot of dealings with 'back street garages' and in general their morals bear no comparison with those of the average estate agent.....
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May I respectfully insert journalists, lawyers and policemen into this list of trusted stereotypes?
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>Apilia
No offense meant to back street garages. Apologies.
madf
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It's going to be like any ohter company owned/lesed car. It would depend on the mileage/history/condition and it's price in comparison with similar cars in garages/autotrader, estate agets are no better and no worse than any other companies in the way they look after their cars. Our company had at one time up to twenty company cars, mainly BMW and MINIs. I TLC'd mine, the guy in the next office didn't care a hoot, he wanted a car that started, went and stopped, he never washed it, never checked the oil. WHich one would you pay good money for. You pays your money you takes your chance, the one on the delaer forecourt costing a grand or two more might be just as much of a moneypit. I love the stereotyping on theis site. VAG drivers do, BMW drivers don't, Merc drivers will if you ask nicely....etc etc.
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Funnily enough though, a lot of stereotypes turn out to be accurate - e.g. the lad with the baseball cap in the Corsa/Saxo, the old chap with the Rover etc etc. When I had my BMW (7 series) I could almost 100% guarantee that any 3- or 5- that came up behind would *have* to overtake, no matter what speed I was doing. Similarly I seemed to get a certain amount of 'aggro' off Merc drivers. Now, driving the Merc, its back to BM drivers tailgating me to within an inch of their lives. When I drive the QX people just leave me alone!
I have used a few estate agents over the course of my adult life and never felt I could trust any of them - basically because all of them were slightly dishonest with me, to a greater or lesser extent.
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PU - I don't necessarily accept that these MINIs are like any other fleet car.
Most fleet cars move along motorways from industrial estate to industrial estate, carrying kids on the weekends and can be driven by a broad range of drivers.
Foxtons MINIs on the other hand basically have the life of a minicab, driven around central London by young, deal hungry estate agents and probably have several "regular" drivers over the course of their time on the fleet. Despite this abuse they probably only cover a relatively low mileage so won't get serviced every three to six months like a high-mileage fleet car might be.
Sure it's a lottery and you might get a very nice one - but the fact is that you'd be paying quite a lot of money for a car that's had a relatively hard life, like a driving school car or minicab in fact, except that they will probably be discounted more heavily for that than the Foxtons cars will be.
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I wouldnt. For sound financial reasons tho. There will be hundreds of these things hitting the market over the next few years, and it will surely kill the second hand value of minis.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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There's a considerable change to the car in September this year too, so that'll do bad things to the resale value.
{fingers crossed}
Lee -- There\'s no place like 127.0.0.1
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I think you're right, DavidHM
Most CC's will spend a fair amount of time cruising the highways, byways and motorways. These Mini's will have spent most of their time doing short journeys in heavy traffic, probably with a driver who is in a rush. Relatively low mileage, but high wear.
In any case, I think 'Oldman' hit the nail on the head (as usual) further up in this thread.
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