One thing I love about selling engines to customers all over the United States is that you break past the regional stranglehold that some brands have and end up dealing with just about everything. Sure, we sell a lot of GM, Toyota, Ford, Nissan, and Honda Engines, but we also sell a lot of engines for less dominant brands.
For example, we sell Subaru engines all over the country, especially to customers in New England and California. We’ve also been selling a lot of Mini Cooper engines, which are what I want to talk to you about.
Dave Ramsey talks a lot about the Mini Cooper because it has one of the highest rates of value retention. He says that after five years, it is the only vehicle to retain 50% of its sticker price for resale value in private party (individual to individual sale). That means that if you paid $30,000 for a Mini Cooper new (ha!) in 2004, right now you could expect to get approximately $15,000 if you tried to sell it.
There is a deeper meaning to this statistic though. In today’s economic climate where we just don’t have the throwaway money we used to, it means that replacing the engine in a Mini Cooper makes more sense than ever.
Let’s consider a few of the reasons for this.
- Replacing an engine costs a lot less than buying a new vehicle.
- If you don’t replace your engine, you lose out on resale value.
- Buying a low mileage engine with CARFAX mileage verification ensures that you’ll get a lot of life from your purchase.
- Purchasing a used engine is not only less costly than a remanufactured engine or new vehicle, but saves environmental resources.
Let’s look at these points in a little more detail.
Point one said “replacing an engines costs a lot less than buying a new vehicle.” Let’s say you had a 2004 John Cooper Works Mini Cooper. You need a 1.6L supercharged engine for it. To get a reman, you’re going to spend around $5,000 for the engine and an additional $4,300 for the JCW tuning kit. That puts you right around $9300. You can purchase a low mileage used Mini Cooper engine that is going to be easier to install for $4500 to $5500, fully dressed. On the other Cooper engines for that year, savings are even greater.
Point two talked about resale value. If you have an engine that doesn’t work in your vehicle, you lose a huge amount of resale value. Forget talking about percentages of retail value – we go into wholesale territory here. A vehicle with a bad engine is worth 20% of wholesale cost. That “$15,000″ car will sell for $8,000 at auction. 20% of $8,000 $1600. $15,000 – $1,600 is $13,400. Let’s say you had spent $8,000 to replace the engine. $13,400 – $8,000 is $5,400. Don’t put an engine in, and you lose over $13,400. Put an engine in, and you not only have another vehicle, but you end up saving five figures.
Our third point was about longevity. I will be the first to agree that if you don’t get any life out of engine replacement, it is a foolish waste of money. The fact of the matter is you do! Our standard warranty one used engines is 1 year. We honor our warranty claims, and we couldn’t do that if we had a high rate of failure. The secret to getting lots of life out of a used engine is to make sure it is barely used. If you buy a 150,000 mile engine, you won’t have good results. If you buy a 40,000 mile engine, you’ll have great results.
Don’t ever take any one’s word on mileage. There are a lot of companies out there selling cheap engines who lie on mileage. These companies will lie about the number of miles on a high dollar engine like a Mini Cooper engine in a heartbeat, and they don’t provide a free CARFAX because it would prove they’re lying on miles. Sadly, there are a lot of people out there buying these garbage engines without any verification of miles who would never buy said engine if they had demanded a CARFAX. A lot of them call me 30 days after they get their cheap engine installed. We sell high quality engines a low prices. Since we don’t lie on mileage and always provide a free CARFAX, we won’t always have the cheapest price, but ninety-nine times out of a hundred, we will have the best value.
The last point we have is about the use of resources. Good used engines come from vehicles that have been in a collision or are from a theft vehicle. The insurance companies sell vehicles they’ve determined are “totaled” at insurance salvage auction to try to recoup some of their payout money. Some of the highest quality parts come from wrecked vehicles with low miles because they are all OEM (original equipment manufacturer) parts with low wear. The engine from a low mileage vehicle requires no remanufacturing or reconditioning as long as no damage has occurred to it. Replace the normal maintenance parts on it, and you have an engine that is “ready to drop in.” There is no expensive factory to power, no parts to manufacture, and because of this you not only save money, but resources.
We’ve talked about many of the reasons replacing the engine in your Mini Cooper makes sense. If you find yourself needing an engine, please give us a call. You can reach us directly at (888) 810-0017 or can fill out a request for a free quote online. You might not know a lot about engine replacement, so we’re here to help walk you through the process, answer your questions, and save you money.
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