[kahala12]

Hello all, well as the E90 is in full production and probably luring many older model BMW owners to trade up, we should let each other know if they are trading in their older BMW's for the E90. So please post here what your location and the dealer amount they have given for your trade. I am going to look at trading up only if the local dealer has a decent offer, understanding that they do have to pay for advertising and sales commisions so the deal should be around 2000 less than local retail.

[onesixeight]

kahala12,

Good to see a fellow Hawaii member!

The E46 prices have held up very well and you shold be able to get "good money" for your car.

I presume you're dealing with BMW of Honolulu...Ask for Glenn Mervine or Rocco (pre-owned manager)... If I can be of any assistance to you, please let me know. I'm don't work for the dealer, but I do a lot of business with them!

[CC 330i]

Yes, trade in values have been surprisingly good.

One tactic that I can tell you works pretty well is to tell them that you have a private buyer for your car at $X amount (maybe low blue book), and then a couple of days before you close the deal on the new car, tell them that the deal fell through. Let them know you will need a month or two to come up with another private buyer before you can buy the new car. See what they say.

This actually happened to me, and my salesperson asked what I was going to get from the private party, and then did his best to get as close to that number as he could. His incentive was not having to wait to sell me the new car until I found another buyer. Since there is a lot of wiggle room on a new car price, they can sometimes effectively give you a higher trade in amount by lowering the new car price by a little more than they normally would have.

I was able to get nearly what I was going to get from the private party on trade in. Of course, the dealer has to be able to make a decent profit, and they ought to be able to make a decent profit, so if you have already negotiated a rock-bottom price, don't expect this to work... My dealer still probably made at least $2000 profit on the sale, which I think is fair and I don't regret the deal at all.

Most people would agree that it is a much better financial decision to sell your car privately, but of course it is a hassle that many people would prefer to avoid. Dealers sometimes do lose money on trade-ins, but on the whole, I think they make a pretty good profit on them.

By the way, when I was shopping for my E90, I was considering a one year old E46, but they were only selling for about $2000 less than an E90, so I opted to go new. The E46 holds it's value very well.

[bookman2]

I traded my '02 530i (PP, SP, CWP, Step, miles:51K) for the 330i and got $22,500 for my trade. My 530i is in good condition but the miles are a bit high. There are many '02 E39s on dealer lots in the Chicago area with between 35K and 45K on the clock and they're getting top dollar.

[bookman2]

Originally Posted by CC 330i

Yes, trade in values have been surprisingly good.

One tactic that I can tell you works pretty well is to tell them that you have a private buyer for your car at $X amount (maybe low blue book), and then a couple of days before you close the deal on the new car, tell them that the deal fell through. Let them know you will need a month or two to come up with another private buyer before you can buy the new car. See what they say.

This actually happened to me, and my salesperson asked what I was going to get from the private party, and then did his best to get as close to that number as he could. His incentive was not having to wait to sell me the new car until I found another buyer. Since there is a lot of wiggle room on a new car price, they can sometimes effectively give you a higher trade in amount by lowering the new car price by a little more than they normally would have.

I was able to get nearly what I was going to get from the private party on trade in. Of course, the dealer has to be able to make a decent profit, and they ought to be able to make a decent profit, so if you have already negotiated a rock-bottom price, don't expect this to work... My dealer still probably made at least $2000 profit on the sale, which I think is fair and I don't regret the deal at all.

Most people would agree that it is a much better financial decision to sell your car privately, but of course it is a hassle that many people would prefer to avoid. Dealers sometimes do lose money on trade-ins, but on the whole, I think they make a pretty good profit on them.

By the way, when I was shopping for my E90, I was considering a one year old E46, but they were only selling for about $2000 less than an E90, so I opted to go new. The E46 holds it's value very well.

Dealers make a huge profit on used cars, in fact the profit margin is much higher than with new car sales. Take my E39 for example, after taking it in for 22.5k they will ask for 32K retail and will likely get 30k. Such margins do not exist in new car sales.

[CC 330i]

Originally Posted by bookman2

Dealers make a huge profit on used cars, in fact the profit margin is much higher than with new car sales. Take my E39 for example, after taking it in for 22.5k they will ask for 32K retail and will likely get 30k. Such margins do not exist in new car sales.

Yes you are right. They can make a huge profit on trade-ins.

So it is our job to get as close to the $30K mark on the trade-in (in the example of your E39) as we possibly can. It' s hard to do, but if you tell the dealer you have a private buyer at $27.5K, and then the day before you close the sale, tell him the deal fell through, and you have to be able to get at least $26K in order to afford the new car, I'll bet that you get at least $26K from him on the trade... Maybe not, but it's worth a try.

[scottz5]

Just sell it private. I sold my BMW very quickly and for 2700 more then the dealer was going to give me. The car was perect and had low miles 34k on an 2001 325i.

[bobnaz]

Had a 97 M3 with 90k, dealer offered about 10k. Gave it away for 13.5k.

[bookman2]

Originally Posted by CC 330i

Yes you are right. They can make a huge profit on trade-ins.

So it is our job to get as close to the $30K mark on the trade-in (in the example of your E39) as we possibly can. It' s hard to do, but if you tell the dealer you have a private buyer at $27.5K, and then the day before you close the sale, tell him the deal fell through, and you have to be able to get at least $26K in order to afford the new car, I'll bet that you get at least $26K from him on the trade... Maybe not, but it's worth a try.

Good point.

[bookman2]

Originally Posted by scottz5

Just sell it private. I sold my BMW very quickly and for 2700 more then the dealer was going to give me. The car was perect and had low miles 34k on an 2001 325i.

I definately thought about selling it privately but I've done that in the past and remember the endeavor being a huge hassle. I'll pass this time around.

[onesixeight]

Originally Posted by bookman2

I definately thought about selling it privately but I've done that in the past and remember the endeavor being a huge hassle. I'll pass this time around.

I once got a phony cashier's check that even the bank didn't catch until it went to their processing office :mad:

Thankfully the crook who wrote me the bad check was caught hours later!

[bookman2]

Originally Posted by onesixeight

I once got a phony cashier's check that even the bank didn't catch until it went to their processing office :mad:

Thankfully the crook who wrote me the bad check was caught hours later!

Then you know what I mean.

[scottz5]

Thanks why I take only cash. F checks even bank checks.