Did I get a good deal?? (128i)

[low135]

All relative to what you want and are willing to pay. I got my 30k mile 08' 135i auto convertible for $14k before taxes in April. The E88 originally had a higher cost but now generally sell for less. And auto (which I didn't want initially) sells for less as well. Would it have been a manual coupe it might have been more like $16-17k

[olds350]

Originally Posted by low135

All relative to what you want and are willing to pay.

I gotta go with this quote. It's all relative. I can tell you when I picked up my '13 e88, it was no deal and I paid too much. That said, when you've been looking for a certain combo for 3 months and it finally pops up 529 miles away, you swallow your pride, break out the wallet and drive with your son for 22 hours straight to buy the car.

[Happy Jose]

There aren't any good or fair dealer unless you learn to negotiate like Scrooge McDuck!

At $14,400, you paid a rich price for a 2010 BMW. Also asking people if you got a good deal clearly shows you lack confidence in your financial decisions.

[Tuxedo]

Originally Posted by smeard

Amen! No modern car handles nearly as well as these 1ers, especially when they have proper suspension setup. Great deal on the car, especially if you were open to doing the work it needed

Speaking of shitty wholesale, keep in mind the CA market is probably 20% better then Chicago. The market in Chicago for this car is between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Que the sad trombone

[Tuxedo]

^^That number is harsh I know but most cars at that number need tires, body work, couple tell tale lights on the dashboard and repair. If you’re buying a 128 with none of these issues then a retail number will be closer to that selling price also a guy like me doesn’t think “profits” is a dirty word.

[apex_prd8r]

I purchased my 2011 128i 6M M-Sport for $13,500 in December 2018. I know my price is a bit over market per KBB, but figured into my "deal" were:

- Car lived in LA/TX for until 2015. From then, the owner only drove it as a fair weather car, first seeing a mid-west winter (and salt) in 2017. Finding a 8+ year old car that hadn't lived its life through mid-west winters and not having to buy airfare or buy sight unseen to find one was a huge selling point.

- This was a fairly rare car for my area being: (1) Not black/silver/white which 90% of BMW's in my area are (this one is LeMans blue); (2) being manual, and (3) having M-Sport package.

- Car came with a set of winter wheels/tires which is a necessary and worth $1k if I had to buy a new set. Luckily, I like the style wheel and tire combo he had.

- The service history reflected that previous owners had kept up with the basics, and the last owner was particularly detailed in following above and beyond what BMW calls for.

So, I didn't get an amazing deal by any means, but I got exactly what I wanted for a price that felt fair to me. I can't think of another vehicle of this mileage that offers as much for the price (I was cross-shopping BRZ's, which though newer, for the price would have come with double the miles).

I would say that if you feel as good about your purchase as I do mine, then you got a great deal. In the long run, if it is a good car, the $1,000 you may have saved on a "deal" will be easily forgotten.

[smeard]

Originally Posted by Happy Jose

There aren't any good or fair dealer unless you learn to negotiate like Scrooge McDuck!

At $14,400, you paid a rich price for a 2010 BMW. Also asking people if you got a good deal clearly shows you lack confidence in your financial decisions.

Yes I did overpay. Maybe not my best financial decision, but a few $k isn't going to break me. I set aside a few grand for maintenance and this 128 was well within my budget. Love the car, and i love the way she handles. Don't regret it, friends that have picked up low dollar 335i or 50i cars have had nothing but problems and almost always sell for next to nothing. I don't see myself getting rid of this car.

[JimVonBaden]

Originally Posted by smeard

Yes I did overpay. Maybe not my best financial decision, but a few $k isn't going to break me. I set aside a few grand for maintenance and this 128 was well within my budget. Love the car, and i love the way she handles. Don't regret it, friends that have picked up low dollar 335i or 50i cars have had nothing but problems and almost always sell for next to nothing. I don't see myself getting rid of this car.

Never listen to Unhappy Jose. He is nothing but a troll!

[smeard]

Originally Posted by JimVonBaden

Never listen to Unhappy Jose. He is nothing but a troll!

hahaha what would the internet do without a few trolls

[Gangplank]

Originally Posted by smeard

Yes I did overpay. Maybe not my best financial decision, but a few $k isn't going to break me. I set aside a few grand for maintenance and this 128 was well within my budget. Love the car, and i love the way she handles. Don't regret it, friends that have picked up low dollar 335i or 50i cars have had nothing but problems and almost always sell for next to nothing. I don't see myself getting rid of this car.

I think you got a good deal for the model, year, specs, 6mt, etc. Ignore anyone who tells you otherwise. If you own it long enough what you paid hardly matters. Keep it until it doesn't run, enjoy it. That's what I plan on doing.

[smeard]

Originally Posted by Gangplank

I think you got a good deal for the model, year, specs, 6mt, etc. Ignore anyone who tells you otherwise. If you own it long enough what you paid hardly matters. Keep it until it doesn't run, enjoy it. That's what I plan on doing.

Planning on keepin it! This spec was a rare find IMO as well. Thank you for your well-put advice

[smeard]

Originally Posted by Tuxedo

Speaking of shitty wholesale, keep in mind the CA market is probably 20% better then Chicago. The market in Chicago for this car is between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Que the sad trombone

Tux, thanks for that assessment. I think those appraisal tools, however, don't exactly capture the enthusiast mindset. Since when did "w/o auto trans" become a negative connotation in value?! That was the one option I was for sure set on having!

[Happy Jose]

Originally Posted by smeard

hahaha what would the internet do without a few trolls

Most of the clowns on here are so eager or desperate to own some car that they'll pay any price for it. Unfortunately, they lack rudimentary negotiation skills, and with any dealer or even two-bit car lot, they are easy prey by any salesman:

So let me give you some tips in negotiating the price of a car. I'll use myself as an example when I bought my new '12 BMW 135i. I didn't buy the car locally. I bought it from a new car dealership in Columbus, Georgia. To get a good price, you'll have to be willing to travel to where the best price is. This wasn't a problem, since I drove my trade to the dealer. If I didn't have one, I could have hopped on a Greyhound with my cashiers check. Actually, I did a wire from my bank to the dealer's.

The MSRP on the vehicle was $44,725. I had a trade, but I negotiated the trade-in separately. The first step was to get a good price on the '12. I got the dealer down to $38,000, but it didn't happen with my first contact with the sales person. The time between my first contact and the second one was nearly a month! The first was only to express interest in the vehicle. My second was to check to see if they still had the car. From there on it was back and forth between myself and the salesperson until we reached a price.

My trade was an 2007 MX-5 Miata that I had paid $18,000 for. It had 40K miles on it, and it didn't have any issues. The car was 5 years old, and I negotiated a $12,000 trade in leaving a balance of $26,000. Of course, I had to pay sales tax on that amount. I believe I could have done a $1,000 better, but I felt sorry for the salesperson who was thoroughly frustrated dealing with me at that point. BTW, all my deals are cash for everything even my house! If you can't earn enough to save some money to buy a car cash, you'll always be poor.

So what's the '12 worth today? BTW, it's in good shape all around without any issues. Well a dealer will give me $15K on a trade on a '19 M240i MSRP 49,295, leaving a balance of $34,295. I'd probably buy it for a grand less with some patience.

The world and the roads are stuffed with vehicles with factories cranking them out as fast as possible; there's barely any room to move around. Cars depreciate rapidly taking the biggest hit the first year of owner ship likely 20%. This leads me to the next words of wisdom. Just about any car has a minimum lifetime of at least 10 years. With a little care, you can get 15 years out of it. Of course, by then, it'll be junk, but when you total up your cost of ownership and the money you'll have saved, you'll be able to buy your next car cash!

For those who refuse to follow my advice, I expect you'll be dining at the Salvation Army. I hear on Wednesdays they serve fried chicken!

[JimVonBaden]

SMH

[atch417]

I recently purchased a 135i from a Carmax a few months back. I had the car shipped to me for $199 that included title transfer and a "detailed" overview and check of the car to make sure everything was in working order.

Car specifics: 2011 135i with 34k miles $19,900.

With that being said I'd never buy another car from Carmax.

At purchase none of the comfort accessories were working properly. I thought that was odd so I took it to BMW to pay to have one of their techs give it a once over. Turns out the car needed $2,500 worth of random little things replaced or repaired (battery replacement, programming for comfort accessories, new driver side door handle for comfort accessories, tpms sensors, windshield washer reservoir replaced due to crack, new aux/usb port). Luckily it was nothing major but it was a substantial amount of money and I would have been pretty upset if I had to pay for that out of my own pocket. Since it was caught within the first 30 days of ownership Carmax's policy had them paying for it.

I don't think Carmax should be selling a car like a BMW if they clearly don't have any working knowledge of when the most obvious of things are not working properly after I paid for shipping and a inspection from their mechanics when they clearly missed a bunch of things. But I'm happy I bought the car and have made it past the initial headache of dragging the car back and forth to the BMW dealer the local carmax has an account with. Took 2 trips back to carmax and 5 to the BMW dealer but all is fixed now.

[jjdajet]

In 2017 I bought my 2011 BMW 128i convertible 6MT with 32,000 miles, no accidents three owners all of whom in Vegas. Sport package, performance package. Black on black. I paid a mom and pop dealer in Las Vegas $15,000. I'm located in the Sacramento area so I used my girlfriend's flight benefits, she's a flight attendant, and took the first flight to see the car and bought after a test drive.

[smeard]

Originally Posted by jjdajet

In 2017 I bought my 2011 BMW 128i convertible 6MT with 32,000 miles, no accidents three owners all of whom in Vegas. Sport package, performance package. Black on black. I paid a mom and pop dealer in Las Vegas $15,000. I'm located in the Sacramento area so I used my girlfriend's flight benefits, she's a flight attendant, and took the first flight to see the car and bought after a test drive.

Congrats! Sounds like a good purchase, esp with the M/T

[smeard]

Originally Posted by atch417

I recently purchased a 135i from a Carmax a few months back. I had the car shipped to me for $199 that included title transfer and a "detailed" overview and check of the car to make sure everything was in working order.

Car specifics: 2011 135i with 34k miles $19,900.

With that being said I'd never buy another car from Carmax.

At purchase none of the comfort accessories were working properly. I thought that was odd so I took it to BMW to pay to have one of their techs give it a once over. Turns out the car needed $2,500 worth of random little things replaced or repaired (battery replacement, programming for comfort accessories, new driver side door handle for comfort accessories, tpms sensors, windshield washer reservoir replaced due to crack, new aux/usb port). Luckily it was nothing major but it was a substantial amount of money and I would have been pretty upset if I had to pay for that out of my own pocket. Since it was caught within the first 30 days of ownership Carmax's policy had them paying for it.

I don't think Carmax should be selling a car like a BMW if they clearly don't have any working knowledge of when the most obvious of things are not working properly after I paid for shipping and a inspection from their mechanics when they clearly missed a bunch of things. But I'm happy I bought the car and have made it past the initial headache of dragging the car back and forth to the BMW dealer the local carmax has an account with. Took 2 trips back to carmax and 5 to the BMW dealer but all is fixed now.

Yes some stuff wasn't working on my car, like the wiper fluid washer and the window goes up and down randomly sometimes! But worth it for the rare m sport and M/T. Most maint hasnt broken my wallet, thanks to a great indy!

[Happy Jose]

Originally Posted by atch417

I recently purchased a 135i from a Carmax a few months back. I had the car shipped to me for $199 that included title transfer and a "detailed" overview and check of the car to make sure everything was in working order.

Car specifics: 2011 135i with 34k miles $19,900.

With that being said I'd never buy another car from Carmax.

At purchase none of the comfort accessories were working properly. I thought that was odd so I took it to BMW to pay to have one of their techs give it a once over. Turns out the car needed $2,500 worth of random little things replaced or repaired (battery replacement, programming for comfort accessories, new driver side door handle for comfort accessories, tpms sensors, windshield washer reservoir replaced due to crack, new aux/usb port). Luckily it was nothing major but it was a substantial amount of money and I would have been pretty upset if I had to pay for that out of my own pocket. Since it was caught within the first 30 days of ownership Carmax's policy had them paying for it.

I don't think Carmax should be selling a car like a BMW if they clearly don't have any working knowledge of when the most obvious of things are not working properly after I paid for shipping and a inspection from their mechanics when they clearly missed a bunch of things. But I'm happy I bought the car and have made it past the initial headache of dragging the car back and forth to the BMW dealer the local carmax has an account with. Took 2 trips back to carmax and 5 to the BMW dealer but all is fixed now.

Carmax doesn't have the time to go over every little niggling issue with a BMW. Be glad the power train and engine functioned OK. Another thing Carmax offers a warranty with their vehicles. Only a fool would buy a German car from them without the warranty.

If you want a car without issues, buy a Mazda or Toyota!

[jjdajet]

Originally Posted by smeard

Congrats! Sounds like a good purchase, esp with the M/T

Thank you very much!

[duder13]

Originally Posted by atch417

I recently purchased a 135i from a Carmax a few months back. I had the car shipped to me for $199 that included title transfer and a "detailed" overview and check of the car to make sure everything was in working order.

Car specifics: 2011 135i with 34k miles $19,900.

With that being said I'd never buy another car from Carmax.

At purchase none of the comfort accessories were working properly. I thought that was odd so I took it to BMW to pay to have one of their techs give it a once over. Turns out the car needed $2,500 worth of random little things replaced or repaired (battery replacement, programming for comfort accessories, new driver side door handle for comfort accessories, tpms sensors, windshield washer reservoir replaced due to crack, new aux/usb port). Luckily it was nothing major but it was a substantial amount of money and I would have been pretty upset if I had to pay for that out of my own pocket. Since it was caught within the first 30 days of ownership Carmax's policy had them paying for it.

I don't think Carmax should be selling a car like a BMW if they clearly don't have any working knowledge of when the most obvious of things are not working properly after I paid for shipping and a inspection from their mechanics when they clearly missed a bunch of things. But I'm happy I bought the car and have made it past the initial headache of dragging the car back and forth to the BMW dealer the local carmax has an account with. Took 2 trips back to carmax and 5 to the BMW dealer but all is fixed now.

That's exactly why you buy from CarMax (and also buy the MaxCare warranty.) I bought my 135i from there and the headlights took on water the first week (probably weren't sealed properly after last bulb change.) They paid the BMW dealer for the $4500 bill to replace all the headlights and controllers, and it was painless. Then, 2 weeks later, my charge pipe blew, and MaxCare covered it. I haven't had any issues in the 9 months since, but that initial 30 day warranty gives you enough time to figure out what's wrong with the car and fix it for free, and then, if you buy MaxCare for a couple of grand, you have the same easy maintenance for 5 more years.

[Olgeezer1]

Originally Posted by Gangplank

I think you got a good deal for the model, year, specs, 6mt, etc. Ignore anyone who tells you otherwise. If you own it long enough what you paid hardly matters. Keep it until it doesn't run, enjoy it. That's what I plan on doing.

Have to agree. If you want the last of the old time BMW's, this is it. The price, if you plan on keeping it is almost irrelevant. You will not see a 6MT, N.A straight 6, hydraulic steering etc. ever again - they're gone, and you've got one.