Are people off loading their 35/35is?

[deltasierra]

We are discussing 10 yr old complex cars having problems that are very expensive to fix, it’s easy to get a bill for £5k, unless you are a very skilled DIY with a good workshop they are simply unaffordable as a weekend fun car.

[Johnbmwz4]

Are these 3.5s so bad? I’m on my 2nd one with no problems at all from both cars. I sold my first one to a friend who still has it and is up to around 120k and he has had 5 years trouble free motoring (apart from water pump).

[tomscott]

All of these cars cost money to run its part and parcel. They all have their issues, if you like it you sort if you don't you move it on.

It's also the best time of year to sell being the summer months and with the new tax rates, my M cost £700 to tax last month im not surprised people are starting to offload. Everything is expensive at the moment and 2 seater car is niche and not really that desirable anymore hence why there are barely any options these days.

Everyone wants an SUV.

Saloons, hatches, sports cars, estates they are all selling in low volumes and lots of these models have been ditched or starting to be discontinued because they are hard to put EV platforms in. SUVs have a big area underneath where the battery can be placed so are the easier platforms to convert.

[mcbutler]

In the UK it seems prices are much much lower.

And yet the prices of used cars in the UK is higher than it has ever been in my lifetime. Mostly now driven by the huge increase in new car costs IMHO. Covid started it with a lack of new cars at all, now manufacturers have hiked their new prices by 30-40% in may cases.
I've been looking at 5 year old cars that are 90% of their original retail cost due to a new version of the same car being 35% more than the cost 5 years ago.

There was a 'rule of thumb' for used prices in the UK until quite recently:
40-50% depreciation in 3 years
50% of the 50% residual in 6 years
And so on until everything was a few hundred quid then stayed there. Then 'desirable' or exceptional cars started rising from there.
Not anymore. That rule has been torn up and it's "get as much as you can. Some idiot will pay it". And they do!

Used car prices are high right now due to the unavailability of new cars.
My daughter is in new car sales and with a lot of brands, even for small cars like corsas you can wait literally months, even longer if you want options.
Motobility customers can almost double the wait times for their 'free' car as dealers make less profit on them...

[B21]

FWIW I did some number crunching and obviously can prove anything with statistics but..

Taking AT and ‘how many left’ as sources…

In the aviation industry we often take the percentage of a fleet for sale as an indicator of health of the market / aircraft type..

Of the 3.3k 23i 2.9% are on the market

Of the 2.2k 30i 1.3% are on the market

Of the 10.6k N20 versions 1.6% are on the market

Of the 1.4k N54 versions 1.2% are on the market

On that basis whilst prices are certainly much lower it’s seems that N54 E89s are not being dumped at any greater rate than other E89s..

For Busterboo the Atacama yellow versions rank 66/95 and 7/10 in terms of increasing price for their respective variants…

[mcbutler]

I love my 35i, the sound and performance on a stage 2+map are amazing - BUT
I have recently started thinking about the next repair bill (I know its coming) and how much money I want to continue throwing at what is an old car.
Just last year I had an iDrive screen for £2600 - full set of BMW warranted injectors (less than 40k miles) nearly £2500 - new radiator (nearly £400) - new heater fan motor £200!!!!!
The two years prior to that were also equally expensive, the car was already on its second HPFP at 20k miles, to date its only just over 40k!!!!!
Shes garaged and always dry.
I only paid 12.5k for her 4 years ago so I should make a profit on that if I sell her but it wont cover all the work done....
Would I buy another - HELL NO probably lol

[mcbutler]

FWIW I did some number crunching and obviously can prove anything with statistics but..

Taking AT and ‘how many left’ as sources…

In the aviation industry we often take the percentage of a fleet for sale as an indicator of health of the market / aircraft type..

Of the 3.3k 23i 2.9% are on the market

Of the 2.2k 30i 1.3% are on the market

Of the 10.6k N20 versions 1.6% are on the market

Of the 1.4k N54 versions 1.2% are on the market

On that basis whilst prices are certainly much lower it’s seems that N54 E89s are not being dumped at any greater rate than other E89s..

For Busterboo the Atacama yellow versions rank 66/95 and 7/10 in terms of increasing price for their respective variants…

Interesting - When you say 'on the market' does that mean actually for sale or still on the road/registered??

[B21]

On the market equals for sale on Autotrader..

I appreciate there are other sales channels but for simplicity picked arguably the most popular / consistent one..in the UK

[enuff_zed]

Used car prices are high right now due to the unavailability of new cars.

Firstly, I have no evidence to back this up, other than being told by more than one new car dealer.
For various reasons (covid, raw materials from Ukraine, etc) there is a shortage of microchips and as we all know, modern cars are full of the things. Hence it is difficult to produce new vehicles and 'approved used' are becoming the next best alternative.
For a long while now we have had new cars on a PCP from Listers BMW in Kings Lynn. Usually we reach the 32-month mark and have paid back half, at which point you can hand the car back with no further fees.
A couple of months ago we reached that point with our 120d. Ignoring the lump sum at the end, but including the deposit I had paid, my outlay had been £20k. Rather than just hand it back, Listers were all over us and gave us just shy of £24k for it, giving a healthy deposit towards our new 520d and keeping the monthly payments for that reasonable.
So if you are sitting on a 2/3 year old motor and, like us, are happy to take a new car 'off the shelf' then it's a great time to be doing so.

[Z450]

I think prices are still higher than compared to pre covid but not as high as during covid.


Funny you mention the 35i/35is I have noticed a much higher levels on Z4 E86 Coupes for sale currently particularly on the private market

[tiglon]

In hard times, it's the middle of the market that suffers.

Owners of very expensive cars won't be as likely to suffer from a cost of living crisis, and cars at the bottom end will see increased demand as people look to cut costs.

Unfortunately, Z4's are in the middle, they aren't generally owned by people to whom money is no object, and they're often a luxury extra car rather than a necessity. It's the easiest way to raise funds if things are tight.

My Focus is still worth strong money, compared to during covid and pre-covid. Bought in 2019 for 4.5k on 25k miles, at one point it was worth just over £6k, now on 85k miles and cheapest comparable car on autotrader is still over £5k.

My Z4 is clearly worth considerably less than when I bought it 2 years ago this month. I would say minimum 25% less, if not even more.

It's easy to generalise used car prices, but there are considerable differences between different parts of the market.

[mr wilks]

Used car prices are high right now due to the unavailability of new cars.

Firstly, I have no evidence to back this up, other than being told by more than one new car dealer.
For various reasons (covid, raw materials from Ukraine, etc) there is a shortage of microchips and as we all know, modern cars are full of the things. Hence it is difficult to produce new vehicles and 'approved used' are becoming the next best alternative.
For a long while now we have had new cars on a PCP from Listers BMW in Kings Lynn. Usually we reach the 32-month mark and have paid back half, at which point you can hand the car back with no further fees.
A couple of months ago we reached that point with our 120d. Ignoring the lump sum at the end, but including the deposit I had paid, my outlay had been £20k. Rather than just hand it back, Listers were all over us and gave us just shy of £24k for it, giving a healthy deposit towards our new 520d and keeping the monthly payments for that reasonable.
So if you are sitting on a 2/3 year old motor and, like us, are happy to take a new car 'off the shelf' then it's a great time to be doing so.

£600+ a month to drive a 120d then walk away from it or go in deeper crazy days hoping the 520d is more "reasonable "

[enuff_zed]

Used car prices are high right now due to the unavailability of new cars.

Firstly, I have no evidence to back this up, other than being told by more than one new car dealer.
For various reasons (covid, raw materials from Ukraine, etc) there is a shortage of microchips and as we all know, modern cars are full of the things. Hence it is difficult to produce new vehicles and 'approved used' are becoming the next best alternative.
For a long while now we have had new cars on a PCP from Listers BMW in Kings Lynn. Usually we reach the 32-month mark and have paid back half, at which point you can hand the car back with no further fees.
A couple of months ago we reached that point with our 120d. Ignoring the lump sum at the end, but including the deposit I had paid, my outlay had been £20k. Rather than just hand it back, Listers were all over us and gave us just shy of £24k for it, giving a healthy deposit towards our new 520d and keeping the monthly payments for that reasonable.
So if you are sitting on a 2/3 year old motor and, like us, are happy to take a new car 'off the shelf' then it's a great time to be doing so.

£600+ a month to drive a 120d then walk away from it or go in deeper crazy days hoping the 520d is more "reasonable "

No the 120d was £463 a month as we've done it a few times and gained equity each time to put down as a deposit (hence the bit where I wrote 'including the deposit'. )
It works well for us and hey! We're loaded so don't care anyway.

[Pondrew]

My Z4 is clearly worth considerably less than when I bought it 2 years ago this month. I would say minimum 25% less, if not even more.

Only cos you bought it from a tight Scotsman who overpriced it...

[Pondrew]

I bought my Z4 during the second big Covid lockdown, Jan 2021.
It is easily worth £2-2.5k MORE now than I paid then with 6k miles more on it. So the covid thing doesn't quite add up. You can't equate an E89 to new car prices, as they haven't made them for 7 years.

I put mine down to mileage. Low mileage cars are being offered at massively more money than the equivalent with even slightly higher miles. Massively more!

Just look on the forum at the prices people are asking for low mileage E86s with low miles.