[5050punk]

Hey Guys,
So my local BMW sends me a letter in the mail every other month saying my car is in high demand, and they want to by it back for a fair market value (or something along those lines). After having my HPFP die on the freeway yesterday, I decided to go see what sort of deal they were offering. I have an 09 E92 335xi with manual, pretty much loaded, and 25k miles on the clock which is in pretty good condition. They ended up offering a max of $28k for it. I looked up on KBB, and KBB has the trade in values posted as:

Excellent - $37k
Good - $35k
Poor - $32k

So my question is if this dealer was just trying to lowball me, or if the values of our cars have seriously tanked and KBB just hasn't caught up? Suffice it to say, I will not be trading it in to this dealership, and will probably go the private party route.

[adrianBMW99]

KBB numbers are generally always high and never represent true market value. The best way is to check in your area what similarly equipped '09 cars are selling for and then subtract a few grand to get a trade in value.

Here for example is a six speed 335i coupe non XI with 21K miles and it is selling for 32K, take a few grand off for trade in, you're around 27-28K.

http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail...5&aff=national


Dont Trust KBB, it has never worked for me and if you show those numbers to a dealership, they will probably laugh. If you can sell private do it, even though its harder, everyone wins! One other thing, you have a manual, while that is in high demand by enthusiasts, no so in the general market thereby reducing value!

[Outlaw 06]

Dealers don’t use KBB, NADA, Edmunds, etc., they use Galves. I’m assuming by “pretty much loaded” you mean the car has ZPP, ZSP, ZCW, and Navi.

The Galves trade-in (wholesale) is:

$28,700 Base Price for a 2009 E92 335xi
- $700 without auto transmission
+ $1,400 for iDrive/nav
+ $800 Sport Package
- $1,075 mileage adjustment for 25k miles (base mileage is 20k)
= $ 29,125 Trade-In / Wholesale Value

You’re being slightly lowballed, but the dealer is probably expecting you to negotiate the price up a little. The car has suffered its huge depreciation hit of almost 40% already, so you’d be wise to hold onto it for a few more years (as the price remains more stable for the next 2-3 years) or sell it privately instead.

[Philz BMW]

my dealer uses NADA. They quoted it to me and had it pulled it when negotiating my trade in. just sayin....

[Bulldog 6]

car.com is not a bad way to sell your car...lots of options to add pics make flyers etc. I posted a car on there on a sunday at mid-night and sold it the next day

[Outlaw 06]

Originally Posted by Philz BMW

my dealer uses NADA. They quoted it to me and had it pulled it when negotiating my trade in. just sayin....

Dealers play shell games with the trade-in numbers all the time. When customers pay too much for a new car, dealers will make it seem like they're giving more cash for the trade.

If your dealer had the NADA guide out (for show), he certainly paid a price for your trade-in that was comfortably below "market value" - a price where he was sure to make a profit reselling it to a wholesaler (or at auction) at near the Galves value.

[Octet]

KBB has dealer retail, private sale and trade in numbers.

Private sale always is more for the owner...

[Philz BMW]

Maybe, or not. I realize the dealer is out for profit, and I didn't mind them making one. When you take a vehicle in for trade, of course you won't get retail, but that's the price you pay for the convenience of them taking the vehicle off of your hands... But when I asked the sales rep, sales manger what they use, they said NADA and I believed them. Many of the motorcycle dealers I associated with also will cite NADA as their sole source for vehicle values.

I know what to look for on a bill of sale/invoice, after all it's all in black and white. The price of the new car and the trade in don't matter as much as the difference between the two cars. You are right, for people that don't know what to look for, they believe they are getting a great deal when they are not.

At the end of the day, what is a "deal?" If you get a car at less than invoice, good for you. If you overpay by $10k for a car, and you can afford not to care, good for you.

Eh....

[kokopuffs405]

I just bought my 2008 335xi coupe with cold/premium/sport/navi 32k miles for $27k.. sooo i think your getting lowballed

[Outlaw 06]

Originally Posted by kokopuffs405

I just bought my 2008 335xi coupe with cold/premium/sport/navi 32k miles for $27k.. sooo i think your getting lowballed

You're comparing apples to oranges. You paid retail value for a 2008 E92 335xi, while the OP is being offered wholesale value for his 2009 E92 335xi. There's no way to infer anything meaningful from these two completely different transactions involving two completely different model year cars.

[kokopuffs405]

Originally Posted by TJDiCandido

You're comparing apples to oranges. You paid retail value for a 2008 E92 335xi, while the OP is being offered wholesale value for his 2009 E92 335xi. There's no way to infer anything meaningful from these two completely different transactions involving two completely different model year cars.

Check Kbb values, I did not pay retail value...... hahaha

[cwg]

The point is that KBB values are overstated and that applies to all three of their different sales catagories - Trade In, Private Party and Retail.

[5050punk]

Well, I think the majority of responses confer that I did not get *that crappy* of an offer. I probably just need to hold on to this for a while longer since I've already been through the biggest depreciation hit in the first two years. It's just damned frustrating that I've owned this car for 2 years, and it has been in the shop for literally two months of that. When the car's driveable, it's a blast. I've just stopped trusting it's reliability.

[07E92TT]

Originally Posted by 5050punk

Well, I think the majority of responses confer that I did not get *that crappy* of an offer. I probably just need to hold on to this for a while longer since I've already been through the biggest depreciation hit in the first two years. It's just damned frustrating that I've owned this car for 2 years, and it has been in the shop for literally two months of that. When the car's driveable, it's a blast. I've just stopped trusting it's reliability.

dude sell it yourself for 35k. When I had my 07 E92 the dealer offered me 24k for it and I sold it for 29k privately. This was about a year ago

[ase2dais]

Originally Posted by 5050punk

Hey Guys,

So my question is if this dealer was just trying to lowball me, or if the values of our cars have seriously tanked and KBB just hasn't caught up? Suffice it to say, I will not be trading it in to this dealership, and will probably go the private party route.

thats the name of the game.. entice you, lowball you and frustrate you.. until the pressure gets to you to sell low and buy high

[rgc36537]

Originally Posted by 5050punk

Well, I think the majority of responses confer that I did not get *that crappy* of an offer. I probably just need to hold on to this for a while longer since I've already been through the biggest depreciation hit in the first two years. It's just damned frustrating that I've owned this car for 2 years, and it has been in the shop for literally two months of that. When the car's driveable, it's a blast. I've just stopped trusting it's reliability.

If your car has been in the shop for that amount of time, why not contact BMW NA (not the dealer) to pursue a buyback? I just wrapped up the settlement on my 535i...whole process took a month from start to finish doing it myself. They took it back based on the 'fuel system' failing four times. While I can't disclose how much the settlement was, I can honestly say BMW NA took pretty good care of me.

[5050punk]

Originally Posted by rgc36537

If your car has been in the shop for that amount of time, why not contact BMW NA (not the dealer) to pursue a buyback? I just wrapped up the settlement on my 535i...whole process took a month from start to finish doing it myself. They took it back based on the 'fuel system' failing four times. While I can't disclose how much the settlement was, I can honestly say BMW NA took pretty good care of me.

That's good advice. Did you call them to initiate that, or did you send them an email or letter and go from there?

[OnlyTruth]

Originally Posted by Bulldog 6

car.com is not a bad way to sell your car...lots of options to add pics make flyers etc. I posted a car on there on a sunday at mid-night and sold it the next day

If you price and represent it right you can even sell it on craigslist for free

[rgc36537]

Originally Posted by 5050punk

That's good advice. Did you call them to initiate that, or did you send them an email or letter and go from there?

I sent them an email via the BMW website. In the email, I stated the facts about the issues and itemized the warranty work. A couple of days after sending the email, someone from BMW NA reached out to me and began an investigation of the service/warranty records.

Try to do some research on lemon law so you can get a sense of whether or not your situation qualifies. While I had many issues with my car, the official reason for the buy back was "4 attempts to repair fuel system". If the car does qualify for a buyback, you essentially pay for the use of your car up until the problems started.

[alms21]

Just sold my '09 335i loaded (save for Sat Radio and Comfort) privately for $35.5K. Black/black, auto with 21k miles in damn near mint condition. Use autotrader and cars dot com. Took me 75 days to sell it and only had three people contact me but the one that bought it really wanted exactly what I had. Give it a try.

[Forcefed3]

Kbb is high, but your dealer just sucks.

[roadcarver]

I am not sure why everyone says you can't get near KBB for trade in. I have traded numerous cars of various Makes over the years and have always been able to negotiate to within $500 of Kbb trade in value for good to excellent condition. The dealer was not ripping me off on the new car sale price side either. I allow the dealer about $500 to $1000 over invoice for the new car minus any incentives to either the customer or dealer from the manufacturer. Sometimes you just have to be patient or shop various dealers. Yes, I have had several dealers scoff at KBB at first only to eventually come around to my way of thinking and end up giving me KBB and a fair deal on the new car purchase also. They sure as hell price their used cars on the lot at KBB prices or above. I am sure they would love to buy at wholesale prices and then sell at above KBB prices, kind of like having their cake and eating it too.