As posted under the '1M - what's going on?' heading in early Jan., when I put feelers out for another 1M I had three dealers contact me offering (well spec'd) cars at £37,500ish. We got one for £35k and I certainly wouldn't entertain paying more than that for a used one now. I'd say an 8 month old £42.5k car going for £35k is pretty painless for a seller anyway compared with most cars.

Edited to add :- all above applies to car bought in first week of Jan.

All the above makes sense to me and I'd take some convincing that 1M's have appreciated in value since January! However, I don't know what's going on with some dealers at the moment as a number of secondhand cars look seriously over-priced to me. I can't get anyone to talk sense on a nearly new 335i and at the weekend I spotted an 08-reg XKR coupe on the forecourt of a local independent with a price tag of £38k in the windscreen; not especially low mileage so I'd have thought that must be thousands over top book.....

Wish I knew! Can only think that dealers are hoping people don't do their homework and buy the argument that a car's priced fairly if it's in line with others on the internet (which cheerfully overlooks the fact they're all overpriced and hence very few are selling!).

From the digging I've done on 335i's I think BMW UK are a big part of the problem as a lot of the nearly-new vehicles on the AUC website are management cars and the dealers are basically acting as an online showroom for Bracknell. However, BMW are wanting to charge dealers thousands over top book to take the cars so the dealers have no choice other than to ask a grossly inflated price if they want to make a profit. May just be a crude attempt by BMW UK to prop-up residuals but I guess they're not necessarily under pressure to move the cars quickly and hence can afford to give them a go at a high price and see what response they get? Best chance of a deal is probably on a car that a dealer's bought and actually has in stock but even then my experience is that they're not as willing to negotiate as you'd hope; the economy's obviously buoyant if you're a BMW dealer!!

You're quite right, for some cars BMW will control the supply of nearly-new vehicles (and 335i's are certainly an example of that). That being the case I think there are three things you can look at to see whether their asking prices look reasonable:

1. Are cars selling? You're right about not knowing what they actually sell for but if they're not moving that would suggest to me that the prices are too high. In the case of 335i's many of those cars have been advertised for at least a couple of months - and in one or two instances for rather longer - and that probably says it all!
2. How do the asking prices compare to a brand new car? With some of the nearly-new cars I've seen you could source a brand new one from someone like Broadspeed for less and again that suggests to me that the used prices are too high. You can probably argue a bit about like for like specification levels but whenever I'm trading-in I'm always told by dealers that most options add only to marketability not value and therefore a car laden with extras isn't necessarily worth more IMO! I'd expect a one year old car to be worth a fair bit less than I'd have to pay for a brand new one but for the most part that's not the case.
3. How do prices compare to older vehicles that are non-BMW management cars and/or outside the main dealer network? Again on that basis the prices of 11-reg cars look steep to me.

At the end of day these cars are obviously worth what people are prepared to pay but with the new 3 Series coupe only around 18 months away paying over the odds for the current shape is just a recipe for a right royal pasting on the depreciation front. Therefore, I won't be taking the plunge at current prices either!

hi guys, chap in the office is looking for a showroom black or VO car ... hes not a member of PH so asking on his behalf. thanks