How Much is Your Hooptie Worth?

[Happy Jose]

I could have entitled this Reality Bites!

Anyway, I took my 2012 135i M-Sports Pkg to CarMax for an appraisal. First, I'll describe my ride. It was manufactured in 7/11. It has 42,355 miles with a clean CarFax, no accidents, one owner, proper timely service, etc, and it has every option possible. The seats, carpet, engine, tires, transmission, and wheels were all assessed to be in good condition. In short, the car doesn't need any reconditioning.

CarMax will buy nearly any vehicle, but it doesn't mean they'll put it on their retail lot. Some may be sent to a dealer's auction. This CarMax holds auctions at their place of business. Anyway, my vehicle was good enough to put on their retail lot.

So how much did they offer? They'll cut me a check for $13,500. CarMax will likely tack on a couple of K or 15,500. Does that sound to low to you? Let's look at my numbers. It stickered for $45,000. I paid $38,000 for it. I had the car for 8 years, so the average yearly depreciation was around $3K/year.

That's actually very good, but what helps my appraisal is the low mileage. In most cases, an 8 year old car will have 70K+ miles on it. The only way buying a vehicle new is to pile on the miles and keep it a minimum of 10 years or more.

I can tell you what a 10 year old BMW with 100K miles is worth, $4,000. I get that number by looking at hundreds of hoopties for sales.

BTW, if any of you want a late model Porsche or Mercedes, check out what CarMax has for sale in Miami. They have some very good prices on low mileage high buck rides! They also ship the vehicle to your local store.

Ciao,

Your great buddy, Happy Jose.

[swunder]

What is the point of this post?

[bagekko]

Carmax will buy any car which helps some people but their offer is usually below trade-in price of the various books. Once their scrutinized offer was less than an offer I received sight unseen from another dealer.

[Happy Jose]

Forget the various car pricing guides. These are only rough guesstimates and generally a fiction when you go to make a deal.

Also the CarMax offer was without a trade. I have offered this car to dealers with and without a trade, and the CarMax price was always better. Of course, depending upon market conditions and your market, prices are ever changing.

In any case, if you want the best deal, you need to do a lot of shopping.

[Gray_Panther]

I agree. Best way to own a car is to keep it for as long as possible and keep adding the miles! Maintaining a paid for car is so much less expensive to own than having a car payment.
My 1er is 7 years old and ain't going anywhere!

[Thunderguts]

I've heard from multiple people that they were much happier with quotes from Carvana. Carmax is usually the absolute lowest bid.

[JimVonBaden]

Originally Posted by swunder

What is the point of this post?

Unhappy Jose rarely actually has a point. He just likes to pontificate about total nonsense.

[zx10guy]

I don't even bother with Carmax. When I was looking to unload my 94 Z28 after buying my 13 135i, Carmax low balled their offer so much I didn't even bother with them. I went to We Buy Any Car. They offered over double what Carmax did. 2 hours after arriving at their office for them to inspect my car, I walked out with a check. Process was easy and painless.

[10"]

Originally Posted by swunder

What is the point of this post?

LOL.

Maybe he works for carfax?

[Happy Jose]

I'll have to check out We Buy Any Car. Why I might get what I paid for it! LOL

[duder13]

My 135i was nearly identical to yours, but with 6k less miles, and I bought it from CarMax a year and a half ago for $19,999. $15,500 seems pretty good to me from a non-private buyer.

[Happy Jose]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

I don't even bother with Carmax. When I was looking to unload my 94 Z28 after buying my 13 135i, Carmax low balled their offer so much I didn't even bother with them. I went to We Buy Any Car. They offered over double what Carmax did. 2 hours after arriving at their office for them to inspect my car, I walked out with a check. Process was easy and painless.

I just got an offer from We Buy Any Car, $13,960, so it beat CarMax by $460. That's a significant difference, but it ain't anything to rave about!

My post was just an exercise to give you folks just what the market value of your car might be. To buyers and sellers of used cars, they are just piles of iron valued like cabbages or any commodity.

I always buy new. My reasons are the warranty and avoiding trouble. I might buy a Japanese car used but never a German car especially a BMW. A used BMW has a high probability of being beat to death given the owner was testing BMW's motto, The Ultimate Driving Machine.

The new car warranty is worth a lot of money especially with high-tech modern engines with turbos and lots of electronics. My garage isn't equipped with any tools to deal with any problems associated with these things.

I have no plans to sell my '12. What would I gain buying a new Two? A little more HP and on the negative side a little less money in my wallet. BTW, I pay cash for cars, homes, and everything else. Paying interest on a loan, usually at an unfavorable market rate, for a depreciating asset is plain stupid.

I usually dump my old ride at 100K miles or 10 years whichever comes first. I might make an exception for my One, since I haven't put many miles on it.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by Happy Jose

I just got an offer from We Buy Any Car, $13,960, so it beat CarMax by $460. That's a significant difference, but it ain't anything to rave about!

My post was just an exercise to give you folks just what the market value of your car might be. To buyers and sellers of used cars, they are just piles of iron valued like cabbages or any commodity.

I always buy new. My reasons are the warranty and avoiding trouble. I might buy a Japanese car used but never a German car especially a BMW. A used BMW has a high probability of being beat to death given the owner was testing BMW's motto, The Ultimate Driving Machine.

The new car warranty is worth a lot of money especially with high-tech modern engines with turbos and lots of electronics. My garage isn't equipped with any tools to deal with any problems associated with these things.

I have no plans to sell my '12. What would I gain buying a new Two? A little more HP and on the negative side a little less money in my wallet. BTW, I pay cash for cars, homes, and everything else. Paying interest on a loan, usually at an unfavorable market rate, for a depreciating asset is plain stupid.

I usually dump my old ride at 100K miles or 10 years whichever comes first. I might make an exception for my One, since I haven't put many miles on it.

I guess it depends on the car. With my 94 Z28, We Buy Any Car beat Carmax by $1100. That's not chump change.

[dtla1]

I just checked KBB for the value of the car you described, the range given was $13k-15.5K for the trade-in value.

Not to bash on your post, but the info you shared is the same as can be found on KBB. Not too shocking really.

[ShocknAwe]

Drive your car man. 8+ yrs and ~40k miles?

Actually, maybe you should sell it to someone who will.

[tracer bullet]

Originally Posted by ShocknAwe

Drive your car man. 8+ yrs and ~40k miles?

Actually, maybe you should sell it to someone who will.

Screw that My 2011 only has 28,XXX on it.

I live close to work, have an X3 for when I bring my kid to school, and often bike to work in the summer. But those days I do drive the 1 you couldn't take away from me. I've had friends die on motorcycles and am not willing to own one, and outside of that what other fun car would I buy?

[ShocknAwe]

Originally Posted by tracer bullet

Screw that My 2011 only has 28,XXX on it.

I live close to work, have an X3 for when I bring my kid to school, and often bike to work in the summer. But those days I do drive the 1 you couldn't take away from me. I've had friends die on motorcycles and am not willing to own one, and outside of that what other fun car would I buy?

Fair point.

[duder13]

Originally Posted by tracer bullet

Screw that My 2011 only has 28,XXX on it.

I live close to work, have an X3 for when I bring my kid to school, and often bike to work in the summer. But those days I do drive the 1 you couldn't take away from me. I've had friends die on motorcycles and am not willing to own one, and outside of that what other fun car would I buy?

Hey, you can still do it. Get rid of that X3. I used to have an X3, but I realized I preferred driving a fun car all the time, which is why I no longer have a Porsche and only drive a more practical 135i. Taking son to school, going snowboarding, going camping, road trips, fun drives...all in the 135i.

[tracer bullet]

Originally Posted by duder13

Hey, you can still do it. Get rid of that X3. I used to have an X3, but I realized I preferred driving a fun car all the time, which is why I no longer have a Porsche and only drive a more practical 135i. Taking son to school, going snowboarding, going camping, road trips, fun drives...all in the 135i.

In another year or so I'm sure we'll drive the 1 all summer and on the non-salty winter days. Right now I'm still buckling the kid in and the X3 really is convenient for that. Not to mention, w/ the N55 and M-Sport package, at least the X3 is not a terrible thing to drive either.

[low135]

Bought my 08 with 30k miles on it last year for $14k

I've put 15k miles on it and probably about $20k

I doubt it's worth $10k now lol

[Happy Jose]

You do know that the 135i is becoming a Cult Car? Not that many were made, so to see one on the road is a rare opportunity. Also I get a lot of approving appreciating looks from the hoi polloi.

If any of you are smart, you'll take care of the car. Even one with damage is worth fixing regardless of its value. The reasons are simple, these car are well made, fun to drive, reasonably easy to repair, and not loaded down with stupid electronics. Except maybe for the Two, which is debatable, there isn't anything on the market that compares with the car's goodness and virtues!

[Happy Jose]

Originally Posted by ShocknAwe

Drive your car man. 8+ yrs and ~40k miles?

Actually, maybe you should sell it to someone who will.

My 2010 MB SLK350 just rolled over 15K miles! I bought it new for $40K, a $18K discount. I only drive it on Sundays and when I go to the Opera.