Hello everyone, my wife and I have come across an awesome 2002 mini cooper with extremely low miles: just under 17k! It's being sold at a dealer. We test drove it and it felt great. Inspecting the body and engine revealed an excellent condition in our opinions.

But 17,000 miles?? That's *really* low. In fact, let's calculate real quick.... approx 2,550 miles per year. Divide by 52 weeks. Under 50 miles a week!! I don't know about you all but I often drive that much in one day. How to explain? Just 1 owner that kept the vehicle garaged then took it out on weekends? Not very far on weekends either it seems...

Well we were given the Carfax report and got the following information:

1 owner
Private Lease Vehicle
No accidents reported
9 service records
16 detailed records
16,913 Last reported odometer reading

It's the Private Leasing aspect that has me wondering what the situation really was.

At 30 mileage, on 09/03/2002, the car was purchased and registered as a lease vehicle.
on 9/25/02, the first owner was reported, and title or registration issued.
On 01/06/04, carfax reports "title or registration issued".
On 12/07/04, again "title or registration issued".
And again on 11/14/05 "title or registration issued".

On 11/16/06 Carfax says "Registration issued or renewed"
on 12/17/07, another "Registration issued or renewed".

Finally on 08/12/08, the car was serviced, inspected, and washed/detailed by the dealer, then put on their lot.

So I guess instead of 1 owner - what actually occurred was the vehicle was leased out to what looks like 3 or 4 separate individuals, I guess until the end of a 5 year lease. That sound about right? Wondering if anyone has any other ideas.

Actually my best guess is that the car was actually a loaner vehicle. Not that I have much of a problem with that. Carfax does report servicing and maintenance inspections of the car at regular intervals, and if it was a loaner they probably did take good care of it. I guess we just built up this image of the car sitting for the past 6 years in someone's garage except on weekends, and that's what explains the low mileage (that's what the salesperson had us believing too). Then a closer look through the Carfax report gives a different picture. Again, it's not a huge problem and at this time I definitely don't see it as being a deal breaker.

btw after further researching on these mini's... I'm becoming more and more sold

 

Nope, one owner. You need a new registration every year in most places.

 

It was a 2 year lease , at the end of the two year lease he /she bought the vehicle they then issued a title in their name