[MEGA]

Hi All,

It's a year this week that I picked up the 335d!

In that time I've put on a meagre 5k - so I wanted to find out what it would be worth now.

My car is a 2010 335d Highline LCI model which I bought with 17k on the clock.

It was up for 28995 and I paid 27.

This springs up, with 10,000 more miles than mine had - also from BMW (the cheapest LCI from BMW I've found) - for £26,500! It's 3 months newer than mine and of a worse spec options wise.

I'm comparing trade retail with trade retail here as I didn't take a glasses/cap trade price when I bought mine and thus this is the only apples with apples test I can do.


Given my car had 10k less miles I'd expect atleast £1000 on the price, would you agree or not?

If so can it really be remotely possible that my car has only depreciated by 2k in 12 months?

That is only about 7% depreciation which would be fantastic for what was a 15 month old car, IMO.


Furthermore as I'm paying a relatively high monthly payment (through my own choice) on a flat HP agreement (with a great APR for BMW... 7.1%): I've paid off 5700 after interest and only owe around 21k: So I'm already in positive equity of 3k or so. Which I never would have dreamed of after 12 months.

Would you lot agree with my numbers? Was the used car market really that deflated 12 months ago?

Hmmm

Dave

[peterg1965]

Dave, do a CAP valuation to give you a rough idea of trade value. that might help.

[MEGA]

Like I said though Peter that wouldn't be an apples to apples comparison as I've no idea what my trade value was a year ago. As such I can only look really at what the retail values were then and now: In which case they seem very strong?

So in any case. That value comes out at 21 which is perhaps on the harsh end of expectations but more like the 10-12% I expected in year one. So retail would be 2k above that maybe which is 23. Doesn't seem in line with Autotrader which is more like 26-27..

Ho hum..

[Hotcoupe]

You're being a tad over analytical over the figures Dave.

For what it's worth,335D prices do indeed seem stronger now than a year ago,but doesn't help if you're trying to sell,analyse that

There have been at least 5 for sale on the forum over the last 4/5mths,and no one seemed in the least interested.

I tried selling mine on AT in Nov last,it was on there for 3 wks,first week @£22,500,the last two wks @£21,500,I received not one call,nor email!

Yes,arguably it was a shite time of yr to sell,but there seems to be far more 335d's on AUC now,then there was back in Nov last year.

Your car is worth far,far more than the CAP valuation of £21k,that's laughable,and it's worth at least £25/26k retail,so at the moment you are in equity,and by some margin.

My old car,an Oct 2008 model,with 33k mls,and a very similar spec to the one you have,is up for sale on AUC for £22,994!

Two hopes for achieving that though,one of those hopes is 'no'.

Thankfully I came away with a nice chunk of equity,and it goes towards my fighting fund.

[djgandy]

If you look at prices from Sytner of Sunningdale you'd be forgiven if you came to the conclusion that a second hand beemer is more valuable than a brand new one

BMW AUC prices vary wildly. They seem set their initial price super high then after a few months they may cave and knock 3 grand off in a blink. Dealers in the proximity of higher population and towards the south tend to have higher prices too. Even then though, if they don't shift the car, they'll knock big bucks off it, and probably still making a tidy profit.

[MEGA]

Ian: Yeah, I thought along more or less the same lines.

Good to know the car is doing OK on the used market, even if it'd be very hard to shift right now. The good thing is I don't plan to: And the value staying strong now means that when it's "only" worth 17-18k in (optimistically!) close to 2 years when I might consider selling: It'll be an easy sell and a strong amount of equity in hand..

Who knows in this crazy market but I think my decision to go HP rather than PCP and sell or keep at the end seems justified (If PCP I wouldn't have cared what happened to it, just hand back with halves and thirds.. But I was of the opinion I'd be keeping this car a long old while as my main priority now is saving for a house - not buying the next car).


Sorry for the thinking aloud style topic though gents

[AdamC]

Your thinking sounds about spot on to me.
Your car must be worth £25 now.

Off topic but can I ask why you chose a 335d over the i when you do so little miles?
I only do a small amount of miles now and I'm considering upgrading to a 335 in the near future. Just don't know whether to go petrol or diesel.

[davyk31]

You aren't taking regard of the fact that the gap between trade and retail may have widened, the motor trade are very good at regulating this.

Also a car trade at 21k will retail for more than 23k, they will want to be making at least 15% on that and also need to factor in their refurb costs. Often these are fictional and just add to the negotiating space or bottom line if they find a sucker. I would expect a car trading at 21k to be priced up near to 25k.

[MEGA]

Originally Posted by AdamC

Your thinking sounds about spot on to me.
Your car must be worth £25 now.

Off topic but can I ask why you chose a 335d over the i when you do so little miles?
I only do a small amount of miles now and I'm considering upgrading to a 335 in the near future. Just don't know whether to go petrol or diesel.

Well I planned to do at least triple the mileage when I bought the thing, but circumstances changed slightly with where I work (For BA presently) and it didn't make sense to drive to the office. As such it's only running weekend and trips away right now - or if I need to get away quickly after work.

If fuel economy isn't a concern I might be inclined to get the petrol.

It is however nice to average 42-43 on a motorway journey rather than 30 ish!

Residuals are much stronger on the D also. Less economical (although the 335i is pretty decent) petrols tank in value due to tax and the percieved idea that the diesel is so so much (even though it's not leagues apart with the 335's to be fair) more economical.

What you do have to remember is even though the d is more expensive to buy, it's also still got most of that price premium for the engine remaining in the car when you go to sell. So that 2k "loss" for the diesel engine that everyone factors into economy mathematics is moot really.

That's a tangeant really and a point that's been discussed to death 200 times, so I don't want the topic to go down that road too much... but basically I love the torque of the big diesel mixed with the economy, getting a 13.3 quarter mile at Santa pod with a 2 second 60 ft time but on the journey home averaging over 40 to the gallon. What more can you ask for really!

[Kerr]

All the values seem to have gone up. They have been doing so for quite some time.

A quick search of autotrader only shows up 3 335i coupe under 3 year old. Is my filter not working?

One is £23.5k and one £25k with low spec and both on 60 plates.

The other is a 62 plate with 10 miles on the clock for £31k which seems better value than a 3 year old car for the above prices.

[djgandy]

Originally Posted by Kerr

All the values seem to have gone up. They have been doing so for quite some time.

A quick search of autotrader only shows up 3 335i coupe under 3 year old. Is my filter not working?

One is £23.5k and one £25k with low spec and both on 60 plates.

The other is a 62 plate with 10 miles on the clock for £31k which seems better value than a 3 year old car for the above prices.

Your search isn't broken. Most people don't trade their cars in under 3 years and there wont be a huge amount of fleet 335d due to tax. Also Autotrader's search is very primitive and doesn't actually work based on car age. Towards the end of the year cars registered in the year that was 3 years ago that are over 3 years old will still appear on Autotrader. When you go from 2012 to 2013 every car registered in 2009 gets wiped out including ones that are way over three years old or just a day over.

So for example a 58 plate registered on 1st Jan 2009 would be present on Autotrader as under 3 years old until Dec 31st 2012 even though it is 4 years old the next day. That car would be listed as under 3 years old for all of 2012 despite the fact that it is over 3 years old technically. A 58 plate registered on 31st Dec 2008 would never appear as under 3 years old in 2012.

So as you can see that one day of difference in registration makes a huge difference and as the year goes on more cars are available for the under 3 years old category.