[Rampage9]

New to the forum, with a question on CPO purchases:

I'm looking to buy a CPO e90 328i or 335i, and want to know what is the best time of year to be making the purchase?

BMW has the "National Pre-owned 3 Series Event" on now, but their finance rates only apply to the 2006 + 2007 models (I have seen a few 2008 models I might be interested in).

Also, any feedback on the quality of the CPO program?

Thanks!

[stylin20]

Originally Posted by Rampage9

New to the forum, with a question on CPO purchases:

I'm looking to buy a CPO e90 328i or 335i, and want to know what is the best time of year to be making the purchase?

BMW has the "National Pre-owned 3 Series Event" on now, but their finance rates only apply to the 2006 + 2007 models (I have seen a few 2008 models I might be interested in).

Also, any feedback on the quality of the CPO program?

Thanks!

I'm guessing it all depends on when most people leases start and go 2 -3 years from then. I bought a CPO 07 in Oct last year (09) and so far its been great. Though the person before never drove it much, only had 18,000 or so KM's in 3 years (actually started lease on 07 model in 2006) on it so it is practically new. Has until OCT 10 for the full maintenance warranty to run out but has another 2 years extended causes its a CPO.

You'll just have to keep checking with your dealer and check out the website for models and years that you want. Thats what I did.

Hope this helps.

[Rampage9]

Originally Posted by stylin20

I'm guessing it all depends on when most people leases start and go 2 -3 years from then. I bought a CPO 07 in Oct last year (09) and so far its been great. Though the person before never drove it much, only had 18,000 or so KM's in 3 years (actually started lease on 07 model in 2006) on it so it is practically new. Has until OCT 10 for the full maintenance warranty to run out but has another 2 years extended causes its a CPO.

You'll just have to keep checking with your dealer and check out the website for models and years that you want. Thats what I did.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, good to hear positive reports. I've been keeping a watch on the BMW.ca inventory list and it hasn't changed much since December.

So the remaining balance on the 4yr no charge scheduled maintenance program is transferable? Thats good to know, I knew it probably wouldn't continue into the CPO warranty, but didn't know for the remaining factory warranty it still applied.

[MMachines]

Looks like the CPO inventory list is down right now. Last spring and summer I did a potentially foolish thing and checked where the prices were heading for cars optioned like mine and it seemed like I had bought at a good time last March.

[stylin20]

Originally Posted by Rampage9

Thanks, good to hear positive reports. I've been keeping a watch on the BMW.ca inventory list and it hasn't changed much since December.

So the remaining balance on the 4yr no charge scheduled maintenance program is transferable? Thats good to know, I knew it probably wouldn't continue into the CPO warranty, but didn't know for the remaining factory warranty it still applied.

I believe thats why when you buy a CPO it is a little more money than say maybe a private sale as you do get what is left on the regular warranty remaining on the vehicle and then they extend it 2 more years. The guy that sold me the car (the guy taking the money) said it covers approx 80% of the vehicle on the extended warranty. He said though if my stereo crapped out after regular warranty, extended didn't cover that.

[Outlaw 06]

I’m not sure if you’re aware of it, but between 1 Oct 09 and 4 Jan 10, BMW offered 0.9% APR for 48 months on 2007 CPO 3-Series vehicles AND waived the first two month’s payments (in the US).

That was a pretty good deal, so I guess the answer to your question is probably the last quarter of the calendar year. At least that was the case in 2009 anyway.

[Rampage9]

Originally Posted by TJDiCandido

I’m not sure if you’re aware of it, but between 1 Oct 09 and 4 Jan 10, BMW offered 0.9% APR for 48 months on 2007 CPO 3-Series vehicles AND waived the first two month’s payments (in the US).

That was a pretty good deal, so I guess the answer to your question is probably the last quarter of the calendar year. At least that was the case in 2009 anyway.

Wow, that is a good deal! I guess to clear inventory off the lots prior to the end of the calendar year.

BMW Canada's promotion runs until the end of the month, I wonder if its worth it to see what the Spring promotion brings.

[hubble bubble]

Try the BMW pre-owned inventory monitor. It will e-mail you when new CPO cars come on the market. That's how I foudn my first BMW - an e46 330i. I'd suggest passing on a 328 and going for the 335. 335 has almost 100 extra hp. But I am biased as I have a 335i.

Best time for a great deal is right now, in the last few days before the end of the month. Dealers (used to?) only pay financing on cars in inventory at the end of the month, so it saves them a couple hundred dollars to get it out of inventory if you can take delivery right away. And the salesman/salemanager see monthly sales targets being met.

Best selection is in April/May. Most cars sell in the spring, so most lease returns also happen in the spring. But prices are better now.

As for warranty...BMW 4 year warranty and free maintenance are 100% transferable, no matter who you buy from. But only BMW adds the CPO extended warranty.

[aspiring335]

I looked at a CPO 335xi, but my issue was that they are almost always heinously overpriced. I would say this car was priced at least $8k - $10k over what a private buyer would get ($46k for an '07 E90 335xi with 27k kms, 6MT, Sports, Comfort Access and Shades). The sales guy was pretty adamant that he could not budge more than $2k on the price.

The 160k kms warranty is nice, but in reality they know that the kms aren't really the issue, since it expires six years after the in-service date -- that's the real measure of the end of the warranty.

So, let's say you're getting two extra years of a warranty that isn't as comprehensive as a new warranty, plus some reconditioning (the car will have new or virtually new tires and brakes, and usually they'll repair any little scrapes and door dings).

Let's also say that the real difference between the private sale price and the dealer price is about 15% (i.e. the dealer sells for about 15% more than the private seller). In the case of the 335xi I looked at, the premium would have been more like 20%, but I think 15% is the minimum you're looking at.

A $35k private sale would therefore be a $40,250 dealer sale. On the private sale you pay only PST in Ontario, not PST and GST, so the total price of the dealer car is $45,482,50. The private sale car is $37,800.00. The final difference is $7,682.50.

For argument's sake, let's say you finance the private sale with zero down and 5.9% interest (much lower if you use your HELOC, etc., but let's take a pretty standard car loan rate) over 60 months. The rate on a 2007 Certified Series E90 is 1.9% from BMW.

Your monthly payment with zero down on the Certified car would be $795.22, with total interest charges of $2,230.59. The total cost of buying the car is $47,713.20

On the private sale the monthly payment would be $729.02, with total interest charges of $5,941.41. Total cost $43,741.20.

So, if you don't have access to alternate cheap financing, the difference narrows to a hair under $4k. The CPO car is now only about 9% more expensive.

The answer, all of the above being the case, comes down to whether you think the warranty is worth a 9% premium....

[Rampage9]

Thanks for the feedback.

I think the warranty may be worth some premium, an '07 bought in mid/late '06 is almost out of the original warranty. The more months I make payments and still have a warranty the better, even CPO, better than nothing if something major goes wrong (hopefully not!).

I would love the 335i, I did the BMW Driver Training in the 335i and the power is intoxicating! But the premium over the 328i, and the fuel economy are negatives for me, but I'm still considering it if I find the right one.

I almost bought a 328i on the weekend. Found a car with the options I'm looking for (6-speed, Sport Package, and Dakota), drove to the dealer and went out for a test drive. Came back inside the dealership and found that in the meantime it had already sold, just minutes earlier! Fantastic deal though, someone just beat me to it (even though I did phone to book an test drive 5 days earlier...) , 2008, only 16k, for $30.9k

[Rampage9]

I tried the Inventory Monitor on the BMW site, but it seems broken.

Clicking on it, just jumps me back to the regular inventory search (on Safari).

Can someone else quickly give it a try to see if its just something on my end?

[aspiring335]

The other deal-breaker on the CPOs for me was that it was impossible to find manual + sports + bluetooth + low kms on a 2007 E90, E91 or E92. So much easier in the US because the premium package included bluetooth from '06 on, not '08 on like in Canada.

[jasonintoronto]

very hard to find bluetooth on 07's - it was not on an option package but had to be added seperately. same with phone prep.

[aspiring335]

Originally Posted by Rampage9

I tried the Inventory Monitor on the BMW site, but it seems broken.

Clicking on it, just jumps me back to the regular inventory search (on Safari).

Can someone else quickly give it a try to see if its just something on my end?

Must be a Safari issue (well, more specifically a shitty BMW.ca website issue). Works fine on Firefox for the mac.

[hubble bubble]

If you loved the 335i power on the Downsview airport autocross course, wait until you pass a semi on a two-lane road. I went a step further and installed Dinan stage 2 software and....wow.

Aspiring 335 has a point...BMW Stealerships really stick it to you. If you look hard enough, you could probably find a nice private sale 335 for a similar price as a CPO 328. With BMW free maintenance, you know almost every car was maintained by the factory.

[TwinPowerF30]

If you do a buyout at the end of the lease, how much is it to add extended warranty? How does the buyout + warranty compare to a CPO price?