How much should I pay?
Discussion
Advice required please. Looking at buying a 528sport - in todays climate what do you think I should be paying for one? It needs to be manual and a decent colour (silver / blue / black). Not to bothered on mileage (say upto 120k as long as it has FSH)as I am told the engines are pretty bullet proof (need to check VVT and clutch of course). What people are asking and getting I assume are currently a little apart? Is it a buyers market! (prob. not enough of a buyers market to buy a 330 sport however! - just bought the mrs a golf last week)
I think how much you or us 'think' you should pay, its down to what they can be bought for.
Personally, if i were you, i'd do my homework using autotraders 'advanced search' option. See whats out there, and see what the spread of prices is for the parameters you require.
Play sellers off against each other - 'i've another one to look at thats been advertised thats £800 cheaper than this one..' that sort of thing.
Bid low, but show you are ready to buy if its the right car. See what happens.
Personally, if i were you, i'd do my homework using autotraders 'advanced search' option. See whats out there, and see what the spread of prices is for the parameters you require.
Play sellers off against each other - 'i've another one to look at thats been advertised thats £800 cheaper than this one..' that sort of thing.
Bid low, but show you are ready to buy if its the right car. See what happens.
£5-6k.
They are available for much less than this but you don't want somebody elses scabby old cast off with 9 previous owners from dodgy areas of Birmingham or whatever.
You need to completely ignore mileage and buy on condition, history and number of owners. If I was buying another one I'd completely ignore book price and pay whatever reasonable figure the owner of a completely mint 528i Sport wanted for it - provided it was in exceptional condition, and he'd owned it for a number of years and not spared any expense on it.
The amount of pleasure I've got out of owning mine over the last 2 years becuase of it's near perfect condition is not something I can put a price on. If I got written off tommorrow and a minter came up for £2k more than book price but in perfect condition with none of the 'good condition for age' stuff I'd pay it..
I'm not for one minute suggesting this is either rational or sensible advice.
They are available for much less than this but you don't want somebody elses scabby old cast off with 9 previous owners from dodgy areas of Birmingham or whatever.
You need to completely ignore mileage and buy on condition, history and number of owners. If I was buying another one I'd completely ignore book price and pay whatever reasonable figure the owner of a completely mint 528i Sport wanted for it - provided it was in exceptional condition, and he'd owned it for a number of years and not spared any expense on it.
The amount of pleasure I've got out of owning mine over the last 2 years becuase of it's near perfect condition is not something I can put a price on. If I got written off tommorrow and a minter came up for £2k more than book price but in perfect condition with none of the 'good condition for age' stuff I'd pay it..
I'm not for one minute suggesting this is either rational or sensible advice.
Edited by [TW]Fox on Sunday 27th July 18:53
Cheers Fox, went to look at one last week (you might remmber) and it was - to be polite not quite as described! Have you seen the one on e.bay? The owner wants 4750 and its done about 78k miles. Only came on last night I think. If you get chance have a quick look and see what you think - what colour did you get and have you enjoyed the car?
This is the problem I found. They all look nice in the pictures but so many of them have been mistreated and look neglected.
The one that has just popped up doesn't look to bad. It's on its 4th owner but I guess its 9 years old so I kinda need to stop thinking thats the end of the world. Those tints set a few alarm bells ringing - they are not BMW factory fit ones, and are very dark. The front window ones are illegal. I'll leave you to stereotype the owners of limo-tinted BMW's
Certainly worth a look although don't forget with every 528i Sport budget an extra £500 for genuine Angel Eye front headlights and CELIS LED rear lights - really freshens up the car.
One good thing about the one in the advert is that it has Continental tyres on it. Now, these are not especially awesome tyres but they are reasonably expensive - I find tyres tell you a lot about a car. If it's got 4 Wan Li's on it then its likely similar corners have been cut elsewhere yet if the previous owner saw fit to throw in excess of 500 quids worth of tyres at the car I think its a pretty good sign.
As for mine, I've had mine a couple of years now so it cost quite a bit more and it's a 530i Sport rather than a 528i Sport but I absolutely love it. It always amazes me quite how solid, well built and generally decent it feels once I get back into it after driving supposedly much newer and 'better' cars.
I was ridiculously fussy when I bought mine and hence it took me 6 months to find the right one, and like you I kept coming across 'mint' examples which looked like a tramp had spent the last 2 years sleeping on the rear seats, etc etc. Eventually bought a car off its original owner in immaculate condition for no more money than the shabby ones on account of the fact it was the wrong side of 100k.
Interestingly when I was looking I found that the cars in the best condition were either the low mileage or the high mileage ones - most of the nasty ones were 'average' mileage. I can only assume this is becuase the low milers were hardly used, the high milers spent all their time on the Motorway carrying one person with no wear to the rest of the interior, no trolley dinks on the M4, etc etc whereas the 'average' mileage cars were family cars with all the marks and damage that brings with it..
And mine is Silver as well. To be honest I think its the best colour for them - they don't show swirlmarks etc like a black one does, and although polishing it isn't rewarding they almost always look smart.
The one that has just popped up doesn't look to bad. It's on its 4th owner but I guess its 9 years old so I kinda need to stop thinking thats the end of the world. Those tints set a few alarm bells ringing - they are not BMW factory fit ones, and are very dark. The front window ones are illegal. I'll leave you to stereotype the owners of limo-tinted BMW's
Certainly worth a look although don't forget with every 528i Sport budget an extra £500 for genuine Angel Eye front headlights and CELIS LED rear lights - really freshens up the car.
One good thing about the one in the advert is that it has Continental tyres on it. Now, these are not especially awesome tyres but they are reasonably expensive - I find tyres tell you a lot about a car. If it's got 4 Wan Li's on it then its likely similar corners have been cut elsewhere yet if the previous owner saw fit to throw in excess of 500 quids worth of tyres at the car I think its a pretty good sign.
As for mine, I've had mine a couple of years now so it cost quite a bit more and it's a 530i Sport rather than a 528i Sport but I absolutely love it. It always amazes me quite how solid, well built and generally decent it feels once I get back into it after driving supposedly much newer and 'better' cars.
I was ridiculously fussy when I bought mine and hence it took me 6 months to find the right one, and like you I kept coming across 'mint' examples which looked like a tramp had spent the last 2 years sleeping on the rear seats, etc etc. Eventually bought a car off its original owner in immaculate condition for no more money than the shabby ones on account of the fact it was the wrong side of 100k.
Interestingly when I was looking I found that the cars in the best condition were either the low mileage or the high mileage ones - most of the nasty ones were 'average' mileage. I can only assume this is becuase the low milers were hardly used, the high milers spent all their time on the Motorway carrying one person with no wear to the rest of the interior, no trolley dinks on the M4, etc etc whereas the 'average' mileage cars were family cars with all the marks and damage that brings with it..
And mine is Silver as well. To be honest I think its the best colour for them - they don't show swirlmarks etc like a black one does, and although polishing it isn't rewarding they almost always look smart.
Edited by [TW]Fox on Sunday 27th July 19:52
What do you want to spend??
No way £5-6k for a 120k mile 528i imho. For that money you should be in a nice 530i sport.
You need to test them though, when I was looking for one as a stop gap I saw 4 or 5, had to be sub 80k miles for me and they were all dogs, in the end bought a 2001 with 5 owners from another member on here with 99k miles on it and it felt like a new car.
Oh, and as a word of warning, 2 of the cars I looked at were clocked, so be very careful, call BMW and find out the last time they saw the car, not amusing when you are buying a so called 68k mile car and BMW had last seen it at a dealer 2 years agao with 135k miles on it!!
I would say £4-5k for a 528i and £5-7k for a nice 530i the way prices have tumbled over the last few months, with about 100k on them.
No way £5-6k for a 120k mile 528i imho. For that money you should be in a nice 530i sport.
You need to test them though, when I was looking for one as a stop gap I saw 4 or 5, had to be sub 80k miles for me and they were all dogs, in the end bought a 2001 with 5 owners from another member on here with 99k miles on it and it felt like a new car.
Oh, and as a word of warning, 2 of the cars I looked at were clocked, so be very careful, call BMW and find out the last time they saw the car, not amusing when you are buying a so called 68k mile car and BMW had last seen it at a dealer 2 years agao with 135k miles on it!!
I would say £4-5k for a 528i and £5-7k for a nice 530i the way prices have tumbled over the last few months, with about 100k on them.
I have heard about the clocking off these cars before - its very common by all accounts. I will pay what I need - it would seem about 4500 will get me a decent 528. Have you seen the one on ebay Fox, its up with a seller called yellobaby silver 2000 528i. about 130k on the clock. What do you think? My friend owns a bodyshop so the dent in the door is not a problem - looks way to big for dentmaster however!
pgilc1 said:
Play sellers off against each other - 'i've another one to look at thats been advertised thats £800 cheaper than this one..' that sort of thing.
I had some asian guy and his mate/brother turn up to look at a car I was selling. They started giving it the old "Like the car mate, but we've seen loads going for £x less. Will you take £y?" - No I f
king won't!Finster said:
Cheers Fox, not sure what to do - need a car! Have made 2 bids on 530 sports tonight (both £5k bids on cars priced at 5750 and 5500, see what happens! This is more stress than I imagined!!
I do hope you are not bidding on cars you've not seen? These are reasonably complex cars which require a GOOD looking over. Don't even think about buying one unseen![TW]Fox said:
Finster said:
Cheers Fox, not sure what to do - need a car! Have made 2 bids on 530 sports tonight (both £5k bids on cars priced at 5750 and 5500, see what happens! This is more stress than I imagined!!
I do hope you are not bidding on cars you've not seen? These are reasonably complex cars which require a GOOD looking over. Don't even think about buying one unseen!
Fox, I am going to travel to Edinburgh from Devon to look at the one one e.bay (the one that you looked at above) HOWEVER on the logbook it just says 528 NOT 528 sport but on the sales advice from the dealer in Newcastle that it was bought from it states 528 sport (it has the dark headling) Should I be worried (its a long way to go for it not to be a genuine sport model). I have more pics that he e.mailed me (it also has a 528i badge on the back which again worries me as this should not be there - right?) Any thoughts? Thanks
Rang the supplying BMW dealer of the car and he checked the records and yes it is a 528 sport - no question about it (and they have all the service history which matches the mileage which is good!) - thanks for taking the time to look - i appreciate it - it looks really nice and the seller has e.mailed me 60 pics this afternoon so it may well be purchased by my goodself!
Nice choice, though I do like my V8, estate body, auto box, wood and comfort seats.
Maybe interesting (to you) - I changed to my E39 from an E34 and the E34 felt more sporty, the E39 more modern. Yet 12k miles and a bit over a year on, I really adore the E39. And whichever 528 you buy, it'll have better steering than my car because it's rack and pinion not recirculating ball. Enjoy.
Maybe interesting (to you) - I changed to my E39 from an E34 and the E34 felt more sporty, the E39 more modern. Yet 12k miles and a bit over a year on, I really adore the E39. And whichever 528 you buy, it'll have better steering than my car because it's rack and pinion not recirculating ball. Enjoy.
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