Discussion
Do dealers just pull numbers out of thin air? The prices on the AUC site are all over the place and seem to bear no sort of pattern whatsoever.
Wood BMW in Bournemouth have a completely base specification 45k mile April 08 335i M Sport with a manual box. It's so light on spec they've even had to pad it out by mentioning 'Multifunction controls for steering wheel' as an option.
They want £26k for it?!
Meanwhile, on the same page, another dealer wants only £22k for a lower mileage example of the same age but with far more spec, and £22.5k buys an 18k miler, again the same age, with Pro Nav and an autobox? Last week the main dealer in Exeter had a 57 plate on the same miles but with Pro nav - £19980!
What makes a base spec 08 plate one worth £26,000 from Wood in Bournemouth?
You'd presumably get laughed out of the showroom if you pitched up and offered them £6k under sticker..
Wood BMW in Bournemouth have a completely base specification 45k mile April 08 335i M Sport with a manual box. It's so light on spec they've even had to pad it out by mentioning 'Multifunction controls for steering wheel' as an option.
They want £26k for it?!
Meanwhile, on the same page, another dealer wants only £22k for a lower mileage example of the same age but with far more spec, and £22.5k buys an 18k miler, again the same age, with Pro Nav and an autobox? Last week the main dealer in Exeter had a 57 plate on the same miles but with Pro nav - £19980!
What makes a base spec 08 plate one worth £26,000 from Wood in Bournemouth?
You'd presumably get laughed out of the showroom if you pitched up and offered them £6k under sticker..
It's just completely bizarre and irritating - it adds another frustrating dynamic to the search, not only does the right spec and colour combo have to appear but it also needs to appear at a dealer who isn't ridiculously deluded and content to let it sit on the forecourt for 6 months. Some of them have been for sale for months!
Just why? £26k? for an 08 base car?
Just why? £26k? for an 08 base car?
It can depend on a lot of things.....some cars "owe" dealers more than others. They may have paid over the odds for this particular car to generate a sale on something else they have been very keen to get rid of.
Seems especially strange with a base spec car though as it's not like it's going to have an unusual spec some muppet may pay well over the odds for.
Seems especially strange with a base spec car though as it's not like it's going to have an unusual spec some muppet may pay well over the odds for.
Beardy10 said:
It can depend on a lot of things.....some cars "owe" dealers more than others. They may have paid over the odds for this particular car to generate a sale on something else they have been very keen to get rid of.
I don't see how that matters, what they've paid for it has no bearings on what its worth to sell - nobody is going to say 'You paid more for it to give the previous owner a good deal? Oh ok, I'll pay you £4k more than another dealer wants for the same car but with Sat Nav' are they?It just cannot be worth anything like £26k - its an 08 with 42k miles. Last week Rybrook sold a '10 335i Coupe LCI with Nav which was advertised at £25k with 40k miles!
Wait, it gets better!
http://pistonheads.com/sales/2750758.htm
There it is - I didnt realise it... has cloth seats as well?!
It truely is a completely zero-option fitted 3 year 335i with 42k miles for... £26k.
How can they even begin to think they'll get that?
The SAME dealer group has this - exactly the same but with leather and 10k more miles - for £6k less?
http://pistonheads.com/sales/2750760.htm
http://pistonheads.com/sales/2750758.htm
There it is - I didnt realise it... has cloth seats as well?!
It truely is a completely zero-option fitted 3 year 335i with 42k miles for... £26k.
How can they even begin to think they'll get that?
The SAME dealer group has this - exactly the same but with leather and 10k more miles - for £6k less?
http://pistonheads.com/sales/2750760.htm
Edited by Fox- on Tuesday 10th May 19:08
All valid points but perhaps it is something to do with the location of the dealership?
I have read that Hexagon of Highgate have laughably high pricing and often refuse to entertain any negotiation whatsoever. From what I understand, the reason for this is that Hexagon have prime location in an expensive area of London and can ask the earth as the shopfront is surrounded by people with more money than sense!
I'm looking at six cylinder petrols at the moment and also noticed that 10 plate 40k 335i at what seemed like a bargain price. I am not surprised it has sold, as it was a good colour too.
You can always try a bit of banter in negotiation for fun, sucking the air through your teeth, commenting that a car has been on sale for months, price of petrol, nobody wants big petrols etc. Get the right salesman and have a bit of a friendly rally!
A good spec 30-40k mile 335i on an 08 is worth about 20-22k in my opinion...you can buy privately at that kind of price level at present just before warranty expiry and extend it on a rolling basis for £32 a month.
135i's seem to be 2-4k less, dependent on spec.
I have read that Hexagon of Highgate have laughably high pricing and often refuse to entertain any negotiation whatsoever. From what I understand, the reason for this is that Hexagon have prime location in an expensive area of London and can ask the earth as the shopfront is surrounded by people with more money than sense!
I'm looking at six cylinder petrols at the moment and also noticed that 10 plate 40k 335i at what seemed like a bargain price. I am not surprised it has sold, as it was a good colour too.
You can always try a bit of banter in negotiation for fun, sucking the air through your teeth, commenting that a car has been on sale for months, price of petrol, nobody wants big petrols etc. Get the right salesman and have a bit of a friendly rally!
A good spec 30-40k mile 335i on an 08 is worth about 20-22k in my opinion...you can buy privately at that kind of price level at present just before warranty expiry and extend it on a rolling basis for £32 a month.
135i's seem to be 2-4k less, dependent on spec.
Fox- said:
Wait, it gets better!
http://pistonheads.com/sales/2750758.htm
Truly poverty spec and beyond outrageously priced. I can only surmise that they got the first digit wrong in the price or it's a late April Fools. I mean who would actually pay for that?! Mind you, who would even 'spec' that as the first owner? http://pistonheads.com/sales/2750758.htm
Edited by Fox- on Tuesday 10th May 19:08
Fox-, you're not really thinking of selling the 530i sport are you? This is just a lesson to show us how lucky we are driving in our well specced 5 series' at Mondeo prices
I concur. It appears that some AUC units are given values beyond the scope of rational economics. A PX trade bid on a E90.1 330dA M Sport >£2k under CAP Clean (in a sensible colour with Black Leather, Professional Navigation and Xenons- requiring no retail preparation except the AUC check) vs a E90.2 330dA M Sport (same specification) it’s £3k over CAP Retail. So effectively a £7.5k net loss if you were to trade the E90.2 after purchase. It’s bizarre; a new factory order would represent much better value. £7.5k margin for a nice, but fairly ordinary used car appears to be outlandish. It’s a facile point I accept, but the £15k margin on a Ferrari AUC £75k F430 seems infinitely better value!
It's just annoying because others might use the prices of the wacky ones as a benchmark and all of a sudden you've got several cars you might actually want to buy priced at completely stupid money. Because you just wont get £6k off if you walk in, so you have to just ignore them.
Then occasionally nice ones come up.
I viewed the one at Westerly in Exeter. It was great, actually - 40k miles, 57 plate, Pro Nav, Le Mans Blue. Drove really nicely. It was up for £21990 when I viewed it which I thought was a tad rich, but I was put off by the grey leather.
It stayed around for 6 weeks before vanishing a week after being put out at £19800.
So if that one needed to be £19800 to sell, who the hell is going to buy pretty much the same car without the 19's, Pro Nav or leather for £6k more?
Broadspeed can supply you a brand new 335i M Sport Coupe with Pro Nav (It's free at the moment) for £33k so really high 20's for any 335i are pushing it let alone pre LCI crap spec ones!
It's a 3-4 year old 3 Series with a huge engine in a world of 140p a litre fuel, I dont think its unreasonable to expect to pay £20k rather than £25k+!
Then occasionally nice ones come up.
I viewed the one at Westerly in Exeter. It was great, actually - 40k miles, 57 plate, Pro Nav, Le Mans Blue. Drove really nicely. It was up for £21990 when I viewed it which I thought was a tad rich, but I was put off by the grey leather.
It stayed around for 6 weeks before vanishing a week after being put out at £19800.
So if that one needed to be £19800 to sell, who the hell is going to buy pretty much the same car without the 19's, Pro Nav or leather for £6k more?
Broadspeed can supply you a brand new 335i M Sport Coupe with Pro Nav (It's free at the moment) for £33k so really high 20's for any 335i are pushing it let alone pre LCI crap spec ones!
It's a 3-4 year old 3 Series with a huge engine in a world of 140p a litre fuel, I dont think its unreasonable to expect to pay £20k rather than £25k+!
A BMW dealer once told me they add on 4k to whatever they get their cars for.
I suppose if they do this to everything they get in regardless every now and again you may get a good deal if they've managed to get a well specced one cheaply somehow (and couldn't be bothered to check similar cars avaliable and add 6k instead).
Not very good buisness if they had to pay 22k for a poverty spec car though for some reason. I can't see any BMW dealer choosing to take in a poverty spec 335i unless you virtually gave it to them, in fact, not many of them want to take in big petrol engined ones at all, whatever the spec.
I suppose if they do this to everything they get in regardless every now and again you may get a good deal if they've managed to get a well specced one cheaply somehow (and couldn't be bothered to check similar cars avaliable and add 6k instead).
Not very good buisness if they had to pay 22k for a poverty spec car though for some reason. I can't see any BMW dealer choosing to take in a poverty spec 335i unless you virtually gave it to them, in fact, not many of them want to take in big petrol engined ones at all, whatever the spec.
Beardy10 said:
It can depend on a lot of things.....some cars "owe" dealers more than others. They may have paid over the odds for this particular car to generate a sale on something else they have been very keen to get rid of.
Seems especially strange with a base spec car though as it's not like it's going to have an unusual spec some muppet may pay well over the odds for.
From the inside, I can confirm that this is somewhat right. In a nutshell, dealer bonuses are given out on performance, and oddly enough its better for a car to sit around for 90 days and make £200 than to sell fast at -£1,200.Seems especially strange with a base spec car though as it's not like it's going to have an unusual spec some muppet may pay well over the odds for.
Can I just say also, that with this particular coupe... there's a very feasible reason as to why the price is so artificially inflated. SHOULD someone in the UK be desperately looking for a larger engined, manual, petrol E92 for towing a horse box or a caravan (whatever their reasons)... this is pretty much their only option in the entire country as it has the towbar fitted. Now, if that is what the customer needs (don't ask me why you'd buy a coupe for that!) the fact that it doesn't have leather etc is far out weighed by the fact that it has a manual box and a tow bar! And if its over priced, that person (should they exist) will pay that money because that's what they need!
Just on another note, a comment here that we make about £4k on part exchanges. Maybe it happens once or twice a year. I'm currently seeing p/x's clear no more than £1k in profit, after approximately £1k worth of prep in the form of SMART repairs, servicing and AUC repairs.
AOK said:
Can I just say also, that with this particular coupe... there's a very feasible reason as to why the price is so artificially inflated. SHOULD someone in the UK be desperately looking for a larger engined, manual, petrol E92 for towing a horse box or a caravan (whatever their reasons)... this is pretty much their only option in the entire country as it has the towbar fitted. Now, if that is what the customer needs (don't ask me why you'd buy a coupe for that!) the fact that it doesn't have leather etc is far out weighed by the fact that it has a manual box and a tow bar! And if its over priced, that person (should they exist) will pay that money because that's what they need!
Are you telling me it would cost £5000 to fit a Towbar to the identical spec and age car the same dealer group has at another site (Actually, the other one has leather)?Because that sounds like the worst reason ever. You don't charge £5000 more for a car because it has a towbar!
They don't seem to sit around and make +£200 anyway, they sit around eventually shedding a grand a month until one day it ends up at the price it should have been all along and somebody buys it - albeit it 90 days after it first went up for sale!
va1o said:
Not true, it really depends on the car.
The 4k figure i was given isn't the profit obviously, any prep costs have to come out of it plus whatever the buyer knocks the dealer down by. So maybe they make 1k on a car that needs a lot to get it up to scratch, but 3k on a perfect one.When i was thinking of selling my 330i a year or so ago i phoned three separate dealers to offer the car, as its very high spec, low miles, FDSH etc etc which would probably sell quite easily. I had earlier researched how much similar cars were priced at in the AUC system, as you do, and each one offered about 4k less than retail prices. So in my experience at least, it is true.
Fox- said:
What makes a base spec 08 plate one worth £26,000 from Wood in Bournemouth?
Bournemouth, probably. You charge what people will bear.Dealers who are a fair way from a competitor will also try it on, though I dount that it's too far to another BMW dealer in that area. Where I live, there's a main dealer every 15 or so miles, so people can shop around more easily.
V8mate said:
Bournemouth, probably. You charge what people will bear.
Dealers who are a fair way from a competitor will also try it on, though I dount that it's too far to another BMW dealer in that area. Where I live, there's a main dealer every 15 or so miles, so people can shop around more easily.
You can drive 30 miles up the road to Salisbury and buy the same car with leather advertised at £5000 less money.Dealers who are a fair way from a competitor will also try it on, though I dount that it's too far to another BMW dealer in that area. Where I live, there's a main dealer every 15 or so miles, so people can shop around more easily.
BMW AUC are so varied.
When I was looking for my Z4 there were some horrors for silly money, and some bargains that just looked like stupidly low prices.
I assume they do a bit of random pricing, so just go in hard and negotiate hard. Loads of 4dr 130i's about so no worries if you don't get anywhere
Dave
When I was looking for my Z4 there were some horrors for silly money, and some bargains that just looked like stupidly low prices.
I assume they do a bit of random pricing, so just go in hard and negotiate hard. Loads of 4dr 130i's about so no worries if you don't get anywhere
Dave
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