Buying new / used BMW
Discussion
I'd be interested in a few people's opinions on several options for my next car.
I'm about to leave my job and have been fortunate enough to been driving a 430d MSport for the past year via a ridiculously generous company car ownership scheme which ends up only costing me £250 per month with no benefit in kind / company car tax.
However, my new role means I will get a £5k per year car allowance bumped into my salary which doesn't work out as much when you tax it at 40%.
I love the 4 series and was planning do go for the 435d MSport next but I'm looking ahead and planning for this car to last me at least 3 years and that might mean a first child and I don't want the hassle of then changing cars.
I'm now looking at the ActiveHybrid 3 where you seem to get a nice spec and superb performance (relatively speaking).
I will have £10k available as a deposit if needs be, but I have a few things to consider / questions:
- this is a £43k car new, and there are some nice spec'd models which are going for around £33k with less than 10k miles on the clock in BMW Used.
- I could get a £20k loan at 5.8% over three years which comes in at £605 per month (yes I might need a bit more on the deposit to get one of the Used cars around £33k which would not be an issue), but this means I have a car at the end of it which I own outright.
- presumably the active hybrid is not a very desirable car (to most people anyway) so after 3 years residual value would be poor
- there are some offers with the BMW Select finance option which on the face of it look reasonable on a new car. If I was to put down £10k deposit (BMW UK / Dealer deposit contribution is £8k) this equates to £332 per month over 4 years at 4.9% APR leaving just shy of £15k optional final payment.
- does anyone know if the Select is available on BMW Used? If so, I presume that it would be a punitively high interest rate / there would be no contribution from dealer / BMW UK I.e. They would try and steer me to getting a new BMW instead.
- what sort of haggling would you go for on new / used BMW with a dealer? Servicing / throw in options on new / extend warranty etc.
- when you by new / used cars, do you go to several different dealers and play them off against each other on what you are looking for?
- I'll need my new car in the new year from Jan or few - would just before Xmas be a good time to pursue securing something?
Any advice / thoughts would be appreciated - thanks!
I'm about to leave my job and have been fortunate enough to been driving a 430d MSport for the past year via a ridiculously generous company car ownership scheme which ends up only costing me £250 per month with no benefit in kind / company car tax.
However, my new role means I will get a £5k per year car allowance bumped into my salary which doesn't work out as much when you tax it at 40%.
I love the 4 series and was planning do go for the 435d MSport next but I'm looking ahead and planning for this car to last me at least 3 years and that might mean a first child and I don't want the hassle of then changing cars.
I'm now looking at the ActiveHybrid 3 where you seem to get a nice spec and superb performance (relatively speaking).
I will have £10k available as a deposit if needs be, but I have a few things to consider / questions:
- this is a £43k car new, and there are some nice spec'd models which are going for around £33k with less than 10k miles on the clock in BMW Used.
- I could get a £20k loan at 5.8% over three years which comes in at £605 per month (yes I might need a bit more on the deposit to get one of the Used cars around £33k which would not be an issue), but this means I have a car at the end of it which I own outright.
- presumably the active hybrid is not a very desirable car (to most people anyway) so after 3 years residual value would be poor
- there are some offers with the BMW Select finance option which on the face of it look reasonable on a new car. If I was to put down £10k deposit (BMW UK / Dealer deposit contribution is £8k) this equates to £332 per month over 4 years at 4.9% APR leaving just shy of £15k optional final payment.
- does anyone know if the Select is available on BMW Used? If so, I presume that it would be a punitively high interest rate / there would be no contribution from dealer / BMW UK I.e. They would try and steer me to getting a new BMW instead.
- what sort of haggling would you go for on new / used BMW with a dealer? Servicing / throw in options on new / extend warranty etc.
- when you by new / used cars, do you go to several different dealers and play them off against each other on what you are looking for?
- I'll need my new car in the new year from Jan or few - would just before Xmas be a good time to pursue securing something?
Any advice / thoughts would be appreciated - thanks!
Hi Sew,
Leaving an Alphadrive lease scheme? That will hurt as they do cars ridiculously cheap.
Does it need to be a hybrid 3? I hear that there are currently really good deals on 330d's, with a £7k BMW UK deposit contribution on top of what ever you can get off the dealer. Or would a 430d GC not do? Not sure if they've got any offers mind.
Select is available on used, however, often the finance rates aren't as good, less or no support from the manufactures, and poor GFV's. If you're looking at financing (bar a straight bank loan), often new can be better value.
Haggling can really depend. On some used cars they might literally only have a few hundred pounds across them, others will have thousands.
In regards to new, there's a guy on BabyBMW called TRL (I'll PM you his email). He'll do it cheaper than any broker, and no BS really. A family member got circa £7k off a M135i. No other dealer will match it, or very rare at least. I'd just deal direct with him so there's no hassle of negotiation.
Hope that helps.
Leaving an Alphadrive lease scheme? That will hurt as they do cars ridiculously cheap.
Does it need to be a hybrid 3? I hear that there are currently really good deals on 330d's, with a £7k BMW UK deposit contribution on top of what ever you can get off the dealer. Or would a 430d GC not do? Not sure if they've got any offers mind.
Select is available on used, however, often the finance rates aren't as good, less or no support from the manufactures, and poor GFV's. If you're looking at financing (bar a straight bank loan), often new can be better value.
Haggling can really depend. On some used cars they might literally only have a few hundred pounds across them, others will have thousands.
In regards to new, there's a guy on BabyBMW called TRL (I'll PM you his email). He'll do it cheaper than any broker, and no BS really. A family member got circa £7k off a M135i. No other dealer will match it, or very rare at least. I'd just deal direct with him so there's no hassle of negotiation.
Hope that helps.
Snollygoster said:
Hi Sew,
Leaving an Alphadrive lease scheme? That will hurt as they do cars ridiculously cheap.
Does it need to be a hybrid 3? I hear that there are currently really good deals on 330d's, with a £7k BMW UK deposit contribution on top of what ever you can get off the dealer. Or would a 430d GC not do? Not sure if they've got any offers mind.
Select is available on used, however, often the finance rates aren't as good, less or no support from the manufactures, and poor GFV's. If you're looking at financing (bar a straight bank loan), often new can be better value.
Haggling can really depend. On some used cars they might literally only have a few hundred pounds across them, others will have thousands.
In regards to new, there's a guy on BabyBMW called TRL (I'll PM you his email). He'll do it cheaper than any broker, and no BS really. A family member got circa £7k off a M135i. No other dealer will match it, or very rare at least. I'd just deal direct with him so there's no hassle of negotiation.
Hope that helps.
Hmm, yeah, the Alphadrive scheme is ridiculous and its gutting that the new employer has a traditional company car scheme which equals poor choice and being speared by the taxman or a car allowance which is not over generous (considering I was getting £5k a year allowance 13 years ago as a very junior employee!)Leaving an Alphadrive lease scheme? That will hurt as they do cars ridiculously cheap.
Does it need to be a hybrid 3? I hear that there are currently really good deals on 330d's, with a £7k BMW UK deposit contribution on top of what ever you can get off the dealer. Or would a 430d GC not do? Not sure if they've got any offers mind.
Select is available on used, however, often the finance rates aren't as good, less or no support from the manufactures, and poor GFV's. If you're looking at financing (bar a straight bank loan), often new can be better value.
Haggling can really depend. On some used cars they might literally only have a few hundred pounds across them, others will have thousands.
In regards to new, there's a guy on BabyBMW called TRL (I'll PM you his email). He'll do it cheaper than any broker, and no BS really. A family member got circa £7k off a M135i. No other dealer will match it, or very rare at least. I'd just deal direct with him so there's no hassle of negotiation.
Hope that helps.
I'm not 100% on the Active hybrid but I quite fancy a change from the diesel and they do seem to come with some good kit as standard (like the 4 series) and I know i'll need he five doors in the next few years. I've not seen the 4 series GC yet but I would presume it will at a premium over a 3 series? However the trade off would probably be better residuals later on. I'm also not going to be a high mileage user, probably less than 10k p/a
All the offers on at the moment don't include anything higher than the 420d and now I've had the taste I'm wanting some as fast as my 430d or faster!
Useful on your insight on your thoughts on Select for Used - that was what I suspected. I'll have a chat with the chap you messaged me about - thanks for sending me on the information.
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