[drivecar]

I have a 2008 328i automatic with about 11K miles and it is very lightly equipped. No Sport or Premium Packages.


I also didn't get bluetooth, HD radio and comfort access because I couldn't find any with those options that weren't heavily loaded with other options and packages and I didn't want to wait for a factory order. Power seat would have been nice, but I didn't want Premium package because I didn't care to pay for leather. I still don't miss leather, but I miss power seats. The height adjustment is awkward with the manual seats.
I use a portable nav or a T-505 now, but I would prefer built-in bluetooth at least. Retrofitting is either too expensive or not possible at all.

Now, I'm thinking of replacing the car around December and factory ordering a 2010 with exactly the options I want if I get another 328 or replacing it sooner if I get something other than a BMW (like something with better gas mileage).
I do mostly city driving and it would be great if I could average closer to 30 mpg instead or 19 the mpg I get now with 75% city driving.

Generally people keep cars for 3 or more years before trading.
On one hand, replacing sooner means more value to trade-in towards the next new car, but I would also be throwing away more than 2 years of free maintenance and warranty.

Is there an advantage to waiting until the car is 3 or 4 years old to trade other than having more of the loan paid off?

[200Duece]

no.

Yes, your car value becomes closer to what the loan balance is. you have a better chance at pulling some equity out of it.

[drivecar]

Originally Posted by 200Duece

no.

Yes, your car value becomes closer to what the loan balance is. you have a better chance at pulling some equity out of it.

I put money down, so I already have a little bit of equity after a year.
I owe under $26K at this point. Of course, I will have a lot more equity after another 2 years of payments since each payment takes a bigger bite out of the principle the longer the loan goes on, but the value would also being going down.

[200Duece]

Originally Posted by drivecar

I put money down, so I already have a little bit of equity after a year.
I owe under $26K at this point. Of course, I will have a lot more equity after another 2 years of payments since each payment takes a bigger bite out of the principle the longer the loan goes on, but the value would also being going down.

How much did you put down? Can you get all that money back if you sell the car or trade it in?

[drivecar]

Originally Posted by 200Duece

How much did you put down? Can you get all that money back if you sell the car or trade it in?

Some of the money, such as sales tax is gone no matter when I sell or trade.
With trade-in equity plus cash, it was around $8K down.

I guess if I wait 2 more years, I won't have to come up with another big cash down payment to maintain the same payments, so that will be an advantage.

If I am able to sell privately for quite a bit more than trade-in value, that could save some waiting time.

[200Duece]

Funny how you had the answer to your question all along...

[drivecar]

Well, a car salesmen told me it was better to trade it in earlier because the value of my car was falling every month.

[E90RWC]

The market for a base vehicle is very unfavorable for you.

The dealer is going to nail you.

The only upside is that you WILL have an optioned vehicle after the railing is said and done.

With that said, I would do it and enjoy a vehicle that you really want.

[drivecar]

Originally Posted by E90RWC

The market for a base vehicle is very unfavorable for you.

The dealer is going to nail you.

The only upside is that you WILL have an optioned vehicle after the railing is said and done.

With that said, I would do it and enjoy a vehicle that you really want.

There are always some people looking for a used base vehicle especially in this economy. Not just to pay less initially, but so there "less to go wrong" when the car is older and out of warranty.
It will be priced noticeably less than the loaded model or else be much newer and have much fewer miles for around the same price.
It is not as if it would be priced at about the same level as one with many more options.
It at least has the Steptronic and a few minor options like heated seats and iPod, so it won't be that difficult (like a manual transmission sedan etc.)

[seanl]

Originally Posted by drivecar

If I am able to sell privately for quite a bit more than trade-in value, that could save some waiting time.

good luck with that....private party selling is tough now as credit is harder to get, and if you have a cash buyer they'll want a heck of a deal!

The best financial decision is to hang on it your car for now

[drivecar]

Originally Posted by seanl

good luck with that....private party selling is tough now as credit is harder to get, and if you have a cash buyer they'll want a heck of a deal!

The best financial decision is to hang on it your car for now

Well, it would be a significantly better deal than they could get from a dealer CPO or not CPO and the car would be low miles with factory warranty still in effect. They can still get financing at a good rate from a credit union, so they don't need to have cash. I have sold a car I owed money on to a private party in the past. The credit union took care of all the finance paperwork and transfer of title from them to the new leinholder.
I would look at what CPOs were selling for and cut my price quite a bit from there and get a quote from someplace like CarMax for what they would buy it for and add to that to find a price that made sense to me and that a private party would not be able to find better.

No one is going to sell to their car to a private party for the same price or less than they could get just turning it in to a dealer or CarMax.

I will probably wait for better equity later in the loan anyway since I want to do much better than just break even and walk away.

[seanl]

Originally Posted by drivecar

No one is going to sell to their car to a private party for the same price or less than they could get just turning it in to a dealer or CarMax.

Perhaps, but a dealer or CarMax would pay no more than pure wholesale unless you're trading the vehicle on another, giving them an opportunity to make money on both sides of the deal. if you don't trade in your car when you buy a new one, the onus is gonna be on you to move it. And everyone knows that. At that point the car is still only worth true wholesale (at best) which may likely be less than trade-in value. I personally wouldn't pay more than trade-in/wholesale for a used private party car. Why would you buy a used car that you'd be upside down in from day 1? It doesn't make any sense. The whole goal of buying used *is* to get a great deal. Being upside down from day 1 ain't a good deal.

My point is that you're going to have to give up $ (and your equity) to get this car sold private party, so in that regard it will absolutely be a great deal for a buyer. Many banks are loaning less than Private Party or retail, and at crap rates.

IMO don't expect any more than trade in value when you go to sell private party. I'm looking at used cars now (I need a bigger daily driver with an auto trans.) and I can tell you from my experiences people who chose to sell private party vs. trading are having a tough time moving their cars at pp values they see on Edmunds and KBB. They just don't have anywhere else to start the negotiations.

Good Luck drivecar, I wish you well in whatever your decision may be, I just wanted to provide you with an alternative point of view.

On the other hand, you car will never be worth as much as it is today so if you're going to sell it you'll get the maximum cash now vs any point in the future.

[drivecar]

It's nice for them that a private party "wants" to buy for trade-in value, but it's not logical that a private party would sell to them for that price. If it is really "trade-in value" then they would just trade it in instead of dealing with the private party.

If I tried and failed to get more than trade-in value I was already offered at a dealer or CarMax for any reason, then I would trade it in rather than sell to a private party for a lower price or even the same price.

This would be the same for anyone else.

I have used CarMax to sell my car before. I had an Accord EXV6 coupe with low miles and they offered enough at the time that I didn't even bother to try to sell it privately. I saw the car listed on their website a few days later for about $4K more.

[E90RWC]

Basically,

If you want to switch cars often, you must be able to take the hits.

I have taken so many hits on cars, I could have bought at least a Honda Accord from them.

But, I have had so many cars and that is how I reason everything I do.

[drivecar]

Originally Posted by E90RWC

Basically,

If you want to switch cars often, you must be able to take the hits.

I have taken so many hits on cars, I could have bought at least a Honda Accord from them.

But, I have had so many cars and that is how I reason everything I do.

I have sold a few Hondas after less than 2 years and it worked out OK, because I got a great deal at purchase and the value at resale held up pretty well.
I got a good deal on my 328, but not fantastic, because a month after I purchased, the incentives were raised to add the $1200 free Steptronic and financing dropped from 3.9 to 0.9. If I had got the lower price, I would be $1200 closer to the next trade today since I would have paid less and still have the same resale value.

I'm a bit more likely to stick with this car for at least 3 years because I don't want to waste most of the free maintenance and warranty and there are more dollars to depreciate making it more costly to flip through BMWs.

[E90RWC]

Yeah sounds like you made off with out getting a full railing.

Problem with me, I used to like American cars, I took BIG BEATINGS on those puppies.

I always used to trade them in as well, I hate dealing with private party bull.

I have sold a car privately before, it went very well, but it's a lot of work.

Time is money for me, and convenience.

[drivecar]

I'm only "thinking about" a 2010 with more options, but I might actually go back to a less expensive car with more options instead.
I bought a BMW because I wanted one for several years and now I can "check that box" off. I'm not sure I need to keep buying BMWs from now on.
I probably would have got a 24 month lease last year, but the lease deals offered weren't good at all when I was ready so I got a 60 month loan at 3.9 instead.

If I don't get a 2010 328i, I may end up buying some kind of Toyota or Honda next and save money. I wish they offered something like a 323d in the US. The 335 diesel doesn't make any more sense than the Accord Hybrid V6 did a few years ago.

[dannygenio]

may be a kia soul fits you better the power seats are standard

[E90RWC]

Take a look at VW Jettas. They got a lot of standard features for less than $22k.

They even have heated seats for god's sake!

[drivecar]

Originally Posted by E90RWC

Take a look at VW Jettas. They got a lot of standard features for less than $22k.

They even have heated seats for god's sake!

I probably will at least look at a Jetti TDI, but VWs have quality/reliability problems even if the TDI diesel engine itself will probably last a long time.
I could live with the Jetta for 36 months (as long as the warranty and free maintenance plan lasts).
If I don't get another 328, I think the next car I get will finally be the one I keep 10 years, so I will lean towards something that will hold up without much pricey repairs.
Honda and Toyota are probably best bets to go 150K without big time repairs.
I probably don't want the 328 after warranty is over and extended warranty is so pricey for only 2 extra years and has some exclusions.

[darkcloud]

I'm having new car issues too.

My lease is ending though so my situation is a little different. I would obviously like another BMW and we can afford it but my wife does not want a car payment much above $500 and she also refuses to lease another car. That quickly eliminates the BMW due to we don't have the $10k to put down to get the payment into the $500/mo range. Well we do but we weren't planning on using that stash on a car, you all know how that goes.

So now I'm looking around. My thoughts have been on checking out the Mazda3 hatch, Honda fit & CRV, Jetta wagon, GTI 4dr, and Wrangler 4 dr. I'm refusing to look at Acura as if I went there I'm only slightly off the BMW so that makes no sense. The other problem with everything but the fit and the mazda 3 is they all close in on $30k quickly once you add the options you would want and once I'm hitting $30k I would rather hold out a till the spring, drive my work car which my work OK'd me to do, for free I might add and order the e91 wagon for Euro delivery like we really want to do. Yes, you can get those cars for less than $30k, I know, but I also don't want those cars w/o features that push them to $30k.

Tough decisions. My wife's car is also looming over us. It's a 2003 Cavalier that she got in college. It only has 35k miles and is in fine shape which should easily last us another 4 or so years but she's getting rather upset that she's driving a Cavalier while I'm rocking a BMW. Which brings us back to her being a car cheap ass, which we have the income to get us both new cars but she then refuses to have 2 car payments at once.

I should just

Back on topic, I think the OP should keep his current ride for at least another year and then upgrade if he wishes. Many circumstances can change in that time and he'll only have more equity in the car then as well. It just makes more sense to give it at least another year and revisit the upgrade in the spring. Besides the fact that if you ordered the new car now it won't be showing up until late summer so you won't have much time to enjoy it then and you'll have to drive your shiney new BMW right through the entire winter.

[seanl]

Originally Posted by dannygenio

may be a kia soul fits you better the power seats are standard