5 replies to this topic

[RichieH]

HI all, am looking for some help to put some value to a car my daughter has owned since 2010. We need to sell it quite quickly (1 month ish) due to house move. Heres the details and some pics. Hopefully enough to allow you to give me some much appreciated ideas? Also is the Chelsea rare? I can see Mayfair but haven't seen any of these so far but i only joined the forum in December.

Car has been stored in the dry since 2014 which was when it wouldn't start and my daughter needed a more reliable car. It was often troublesome in the rain.

Mileage - 95,328 - Engine 998cc - 1st registered 01/05/86 - Currently we tried to move it out of the store room into the light and one of the rear brake drums is locked. Internally i think you could say it needs some revamping but it looks like most of the floor carpets are there but rear seat has deteriorated due to previous sun damage maybe? Externally doesn't look too horrible considering the time its sat there but i dont know about mini's and any known obvious areas of concern that are well known. Engine, i could try and get the battery charged and see if it will turn over but i expect it will need to be drained of fuel and some mechanical work done before we could see if it fires or tries and we wont have time to do that unless its critically important. I am pretty sure it wont be seized or anything serious. Prior to 2014 it was used regularly and MOT ran out in November 2014. I will try and get more pics if anyone thinks its needed, inside boot and bonnet would probably be useful i guess? If you could give me some ideas about the various values considering - without MOT, non-runner, physical or obvious areas of concern and also if there would be benefit in doing a certain amount of work on it to make it sell quicker. Thanks for any guidance!

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[stuart bowes]

I would spend some time identifying areas of rust and taking pics for clarity and ease of decision making for any potential buyer

 

there are loads of places but you could start by lifting all the carpets and checking around the driver/front passenger footwells and inner sills.  In the boot rear corners behind the wheel arches (granted the fuel tank is in the way on the left side).  The A panels, valances, up in the front wheel arches and the wings in general, the underside of the bonnet.. rear quarter panels at the bottom edge just in front of the wheels.. the rear subframe is particularly vulnerable to rusting as well but in a lot of cases can be sand blasted and put back into use (within reason..)  all around the edges of the roof and guttering as well, that's a typical rust area.  outer sills and round the jacking points as well, they usually rot.  along the scuttle panel as well (back edge of bonnet / below window around wipers etc) and around all the windows, under the edges of the rubber seals

 

the area below the boot door as well (hiding behind the bumper) looks a bit suspect as well, have a good look at that, as that's where the rear panel / boot floor / valance all come together, fair bit of work to sort that out 

 

bodywork is one of the big costly and time consuming parts of the refurb / repair job, the rest is mostly relatively easy replacing of parts which are not too hard to get hold of

 

engine is obviously another whole thing but probably would be rebuilt anyway with sort of mileage on it, and again, parts are not impossible to get your hands on, does it turn freely ?

 

this is just thinking from the buyers perspective..

 

if in solid reasonable condition but needing general refurb to make it really nice, maybe £3-4k?

if quite rusty (which is quite likely), £1-2k?

refurbed and in nice condition, £6-8k? maybe more if you find the right buyer

 

but that's not any sort of garuntee that's just me thinking what would i want to pay for it if I was looking, others may think differently.  until people know more it's very much 'how long is a piece of string'

 

it doesn't look shabby or anything maybe just a good wash and hoovering, try and make it look as nice as you can as well as identifying all the problem areas

 

if you have to shift it within a month there's not a lot you can do in that time to arrange repairs or any sort of work to a good standard so you might as well just list all the issues and sell it as-is really (imo)

 

lets see what others say though maybe there is something special or rare about the chelseas

Edited by stuart bowes, 11 February 2025 - 02:32 PM.

[RichieH]

Hi Stuart, thanks so much for the reply and guidance. Will see what we can do to get it out into the sunlight and check / photo those areas you suggest.
Would
Welcome further guidance from other members!

[slidehammer]

I would have a look on Ebay or Facebook Marketplace and see what similar Minis are going for. and try and gauge from that. I personally would have thought around the £2,000 to £2,500 mark but as you want to sell it quickly that will reduce..

[beardylondon]

Just to clarify the Chelsea was a special edition, but like most special editions they are based on a City, ie the base model.
The Chelsea is not particularly sought after and unfortunately this example is not the original colour, this red looks like a later brighter red and has lost its original wheels and gained some sportpack arches and a walnut dash from a later model.

This is what it looked like originally:

https://www.theminif...nd-information/

Stuart is spot on, might just need a good clean, however you might open a can of worms trying to get a MOT on it, esp as it’s been sat for so long. Make it someone’s else’s problem and hence if you really need it gone, put it on an eBay auction with a reserve. Or a eBay classified ad, think they are £15.
Depending on the points Stuart mentioned, I think you’d be lucky to get £1500 for it in the current market in my humble opinion.
Good luck!

Edited by beardylondon, 13 February 2025 - 06:23 AM.

[RichieH]

Thanks for all the replies and tips on this. I will start to get all the info as suggested and maybe try eBay / marketplace.