Local dealership has a 09 JCW mini with 85k miles. 6 speed manual. Red exterior with black leather interior with red accent. Looking up the vin it has the n14 motor. Dealer is asking $12900. Kbb says anywhere between $10-12. Thoughts?
Anything to check for or to be concerned about? Car fax showed it had a minor/moderate front end damage.

 

I'd also check pricing on truecar.com, cars.com and craigs list. See what similar JCW's are going for in your area. Also, be sure to plug in the last 7 digits of the vin here and make sure it's a true JCW: bimmer.work : VIN Decoder for BMW. I'd also check service records and recalls to make sure everything has been taken care of on the vehicle.

 

I got an 09 JCW Clubman as a project car earlier this year. Ended up more of a spendy project than I had anticipated. 96K miles on it. Needed tires - the runflats ride like a buckboard, so I put badly needed non runflats on it. Also did all brakes, clutch, turbo & throttle module. Handling is awesome now.

Thenew turbo installed in March imploded in August when the bearings failed, so the warranty covered it.

You mentioned it showed minor front end damage. Due to the positioning of the turbocharger, you may be prone to early failure as mine did when it began leaking on the hot side and blew hot exhaust out & all over the valve cover, partially melting it. Clutches aren't known for their longevity, & my mechanic recommended I change my entire driving style to eliminate excessive downshifting / engine braking. Clutches are expensive & brakes are cheap.\ was his recommendation. Use ceramic brakepads & not the cheap ¢rap the dealer will want to gouge you with.

Pay the dealer's asking price, but only if it includes a good written warranty for turbo & clutch. Mine both went out at around 96K miles.

Depending on what the previous owner fed it, there may be heavy carbon build-up. I'd ask them to do a walnut hull cleanout to scrub out the excess carbon.

Learn how to reset your service warning lights, and also how to reinitialize the sunroof and windows - my dealer tried to BS me into a $50 code check, and that the switches & sunroof motors were likely bad - a simple open & close procedure will reset it for free.

You may have an honest dealer (not likely) they will want to have you subsidize their lifestyle from your wallet, so find a good independent Mini or Beemer mechanic. Right off, they checked my battery & told me it had a bad cell (3 month old battery) and recommended installing one of their $350 batteries - subsequent battery testing at an auto parts store indicated I have a brand new battery with nothing wrong with it.

And - have them put a new battery in the RF key module.

I'm happy with the performance of my 09, but I wouldn't recommend dealer work unless they provide a legitimate warranty.