35i

[tiglon]

That is how it SHOULD work, but things seem to have got a lot more complicated these days.

With everyone (buyers and sellers) having access to multiple sources to 'price' cars....from WBAC and Motorway, Carwow, etc to Autotrader offering 'pricing advice', looking at others for sale on multiple platforms, to 'experts' on car forums and FB it is difficult.

I see many, in fact most, private sellers asking as much if not more than dealers for comparable cars. That is a new phenomenon which I don't like or understand. And what happens to overpriced cars by private sellers that don't sell?
I very rarely see cars keep being reduced until they sell. They seem to just disappear. I can't believe anyone would pay some of the asking prices by deluded private sellers. I have seen some corkers in the past few years and none have been reduced to sell them.
Do they keep them just so they don't sell them for less than they think they are worth? Or do they sell to the trade at less than they think they are worth?

They put them up for sale speculatively, with the attitude of "if I can get X amount I'll sell, otherwise I might as well keep it".

I don't fully agree with your implication that dealer cars should always be valued higher, it depends on the dealer. Main dealer approved used with proper warranty, yes. Pretty much every other dealer, no thanks - I tend to treat them as less well informed private sellers.

 

[Pondy]

I don't fully agree with your implication that dealer cars should always be valued higher, it depends on the dealer. Main dealer approved used with proper warranty, yes. Pretty much every other dealer, no thanks - I tend to treat them as less well informed private sellers.

From a buyer's perspective, buying from a dealer gives you legal protection. There are laws in place to protect buyers in the event of buying a faulty car from a dealer. That, as far as I am aware, is the number one reason for many buying from a dealer. Whether it pans out like that is another thing, as I have read numerous stories of dealers not taking any notice without legal action. The vast majority of the general public know nothing about cars. They are an expensive necessity to most and people are scared of buying with no comeback.

The other reasons are generally a (crap IME) short warranty is included, easy finance and part exchange/ settling outstanding finance.

In the old days (not so long ago) no-one would ever sell a car privately at anywhere near a dealer's price. Buyers would just laugh and move on to the next.

When I say dealers, I am not including main dealers or 'Approved used' that is a different market. Although IME the cars are no better than the average from a backstreet dealer.

 

[B21]

Of the 5 (huge supply there) 35is currently listed only 1(?) has been on more than a few months, and IIRC it's 97k miles and Cat N.

Sorry, but the things you keep saying just don't match up to the clear reality.

AT isn’t the go to place for most E89 bargains…it’s the land of day dreamers..mostly..as Pondrew says lots of private owners sit on AT in lah Leah land…I can only comment on the 31 I’ve helped buy..nobody paid anywhere close to some of the AT prices ..with a couple of exceptions all the cars were in pretty good nick…in fact some of the AT ones my buyers looked at were in far worse condition…

Look..if you’re world doesn’t accord with my experience that’s fine…I’m not selling my E89 so frankly it’s retail value is irrelevant and having spent £30k on it in addition to the purchase price it would be economic suicide anyway..

If you want to sell yours for top dollar to a long line of buyers great…

If someone asks me for my advice on the matter I’d suggest they could do similar for a lot less money…

FWIW the lowest figure I’ve seen on a road worthy 35i with a roof fault was £2,750…115k miles…that was the sale price..

 

[Pondy]

FWIW the lowest figure I’ve seen on a road worthy 35i with a roof fault was £2,750…115k miles…that was the sale price..

Just out of interest.....how au fait are you with the 1970s two stroke motorcycle market? Cos I am struggling to find anything without a re-mortgage.

 

[tiglon]

Just out of interest.....how au fait are you with the 1970s two stroke motorcycle market? Cos I am struggling to find anything without a re-mortgage.

You'll find one for £2.50 with his advice, easy. Any seller asking more than that is a daydreamer.

 

[john-e89]

AT isn’t the go to place for most E89 bargains…it’s the land of day dreamers..mostly..as Pondrew says lots of private owners sit on AT in lah Leah land…I can only comment on the 31 I’ve helped buy..nobody paid anywhere close to some of the AT prices ..with a couple of exceptions all the cars were in pretty good nick…in fact some of the AT ones my buyers looked at were in far worse condition…

Look..if you’re world doesn’t accord with my experience that’s fine…I’m not selling my E89 so frankly it’s retail value is irrelevant and having spent £30k on it in addition to the purchase price it would be economic suicide anyway..

If you want to sell yours for top dollar to a long line of buyers great…

If someone asks me for my advice on the matter I’d suggest they could do similar for a lot less money…

FWIW the lowest figure I’ve seen on a road worthy 35i with a roof fault was £2,750…115k miles…that was the sale price..

So where IS the go to place for E89’s…? From what I’ve seen it is, as the ones on eBay etc, are often riddled with issues etc,. Anyone wanting a good E89 with the means to pay for one will go AT first and foremost, as that’s the best place, it has its good reputation, and unless someone is wanting a bargain basement bucket car the ‘discerning’ buyer is still shelling out good money despite the cars age now, and wants a decent car.

 

[tiglon]

AT isn’t the go to place for most E89 bargains…it’s the land of day dreamers..mostly..as Pondrew says lots of private owners sit on AT in lah Leah land…I can only comment on the 31 I’ve helped buy..nobody paid anywhere close to some of the AT prices ..with a couple of exceptions all the cars were in pretty good nick…in fact some of the AT ones my buyers looked at were in far worse condition…

Look..if you’re world doesn’t accord with my experience that’s fine…I’m not selling my E89 so frankly it’s retail value is irrelevant and having spent £30k on it in addition to the purchase price it would be economic suicide anyway..

If you want to sell yours for top dollar to a long line of buyers great…

If someone asks me for my advice on the matter I’d suggest they could do similar for a lot less money…

FWIW the lowest figure I’ve seen on a road worthy 35i with a roof fault was £2,750…115k miles…that was the sale price..

No, I don't want to sell mine. I already did sell it - for a price that you're insisting is daydreaming.

Now we're talking about high mileage cars with serious faults? I'm sure there is a very cheap market for them that isn't on autotrader. Did you put the goalposts in that yellow Z4 of yours? They're moving just as quickly

 

[Pondy]

So where IS the go to place for E89’s…? From what I’ve seen it is, as the ones on eBay etc, are often riddled with issues etc,. Anyone wanting a good E89 with the means to pay for one will go AT first and foremost, as that’s the best place, it has its good reputation, and unless someone is wanting a bargain basement bucket car the ‘discerning’ buyer is still shelling out good money despite the cars age now, and wants a decent car.

I look at lots and lots of cars (and now bikes too). It has become a sad hobby!
My 'go to' place for cars is AT. Second is now Car & Classic (they are popular now and their auctions are good). Third is eBay. Can't look at FB marketplace as I presume they are all scams, or just shite. Pistonheads is just 99% traders (duplicated AT and eBay ads).
Never looked on Gumtree, as associate that with FB.

Then I look at two auction sites, but most cars and bikes I am interested in are 'classics'.

If it's free to advertise you get the dross IME. Apart from forums but they are a dying breed, except this one and very few others IME.

I don't know of anywhere else to look, apart from the crap websites on the net which pull adverts from the above just for 'clicks'. They are usually about three years out of date.

 

[john-e89]

I look at lots and lots of cars (and now bikes too). It has become a sad hobby!
My 'go to' place for cars is AT. Second is now Car & Classic (they are popular now and their auctions are good). Third is eBay. Can't look at FB marketplace as I presume they are all scams, or just shite. Pistonheads is just 99% traders (duplicated AT and eBay ads).
Never looked on Gumtree, as associate that with FB.

Then I look at two auction sites, but most cars and bikes I am interested in are 'classics'.

If it's free to advertise you get the dross IME. Apart from forums but they are a dying breed, except this one and very few others IME.

I don't know of anywhere else to look, apart from the crap websites on the net which pull adverts from the above just for 'clicks'. They are usually about three years out of date.

Absolutely.

Car and classic don’t have much, E89’s are too new, and as you say a free site just attracts dross. AT IS the go to place.

 

[CliveN]

I only look at AT and PH and CC and the ads are nearly the same ones for the car I am looking at. E89s are that awkward stage where they are neither new nor collectible. Frankly the best thing to do is to hold onto yours if you like it and then sell when it passes out the other side. My preference is always to buy privately - from someone who clearly knows there onions and lives in a nice houses. Never a back street (although I did buy the Z from one in Harrow lol). Yeah you get a warranty but it’s f**k all use frankly. As others have said people now have no idea about cars so buy from a dealer. We should know better (certainly I think I do in terms of understanding cars - I do my research etc) so we should have the confidence to buy from all and work out the pros and cons.

I have always been in the lucky position of either selling my cars to mates/colleagues (as they know they have been looked after) or saying to others “no offers mate; find another like it”. And always they buy.

With my E89 I am not yet selling and I am not yet at the point at saying “find another” but a 30000 miles perfect 3.0 is getting much harder to find. It’s all to do with what you have to sell. If it’s an ordinary (condition/mileage/provenance) car then it will find it much harder to be noticed.

 

[B21]

Just out of interest.....how au fait are you with the 1970s two stroke motorcycle market? Cos I am struggling to find anything without a re-mortgage.

I’m out of touch with virtually all car / bike markets… so I’ve no idea apart from a perception that new bikes seem ridiculously expensive and the market has gone soft on vintage stuff…

 

[B21]

So where IS the go to place for E89’s…? From what I’ve seen it is, as the ones on eBay etc, are often riddled with issues etc,. Anyone wanting a good E89 with the means to pay for one will go AT first and foremost, as that’s the best place, it has its good reputation, and unless someone is wanting a bargain basement bucket car the ‘discerning’ buyer is still shelling out good money despite the cars age now, and wants a decent car.

A lot go via FB these days ..and eBay…obviously serious cowboy country but if you do your due diligence..also even Gumtree …

Don’t get me wrong ..it’s not that it’s impossible to get a good buy via AT and if you want a newer car and willing to pay premium prices no problem..and as I said I know nothing about any other car / bike market apart from E89…

But AT is the land of daydreamers / opportunists when it comes to premium pricing…and it’s the private buyers that are biggest day dreamers..

 

[CliveN]

I think we can all agree that if a car is on an advert site for a long time that it is over-priced or flawed fundamentally in some way so that it is preventing a sale. I look at Z4MC prices routinely and there are plenty on AT that perhaps should have sold as they look okay (40000 miles etc) and middle £20ks prices. But they are stuck. Meanwhile two cars have flown out of Munich Legends for £5k more. Meanwhile again there are the £17k cars that also don’t seem to sell. Why?

I am guessing but the ML cars were lower mileage (sub-40000), unusual colours (marmite can be good here), and traded out of a place that has a good reputation. The buyers wanted something exceptional and they were prepared to pay for it. The dealer cars in the £25k bracket are all a bit “yawn” in that they are all ILB/black, and while lowish mileage they don’t seem to be perfect enough to catch people’s attention. They don’t have that je ne sais quoi” that make the collectors buy. So they sit. (By the way my car is ILB so I am not making the point against ILB owners). The sub £17k cars are just older BMWs with potentially ruinous running costs and at this point in their lives they just sit there until an enthusiast comes along and negotiates it down so that they can justify the purchase.

As i think Pondrew has said often, mileage is king. It is, but the trick is to have everything else in place too. I looked at the ex-JK ZMC with 4000 miles on. I think it had one real service in 15 years. I walked away. I didn’t bother looking at it in depth. It still had ally corrosion on the disc hubs so it had been poorly stored too.

 

[Matt.rowley.1990]

For what it’s worth, I got my 2011 manual M Sport Highline Edition 30i from eBay at the tail end of 2024 through a private seller. It was also on Facebook marketplace and I had to travel 240 miles to get it.

It was a bit of a diamond in the rough. It needed some cosmetics sorting (front bumper respray, new wheels, side skirt repair and repaint and some PDR), needed some small mechanical bits sorted but the price was right (£5,650) and I couldn’t find another for sale. At the time I didn’t realise how incredibly rare the manual M Sport spec 30i models were, with only 116 Highline editions registered on the road!

She’s been a huge passion project and I now believe her to be one of the cleanest examples on the road.

 

[B21]

For what it’s worth, I got my 2011 manual M Sport Highline Edition 30i from eBay at the tail end of 2024 through a private seller. It was also on Facebook marketplace and I had to travel 240 miles to get it.

It was a bit of a diamond in the rough. It needed some cosmetics sorting (front bumper respray, new wheels, side skirt repair and repaint and some PDR), needed some small mechanical bits sorted but the price was right (£5,650) and I couldn’t find another for sale. At the time I didn’t realise how incredibly rare the manual M Sport spec 30i models were, with only 116 Highline editions registered on the road!

She’s been a huge passion project and I now believe her to be one of the cleanest examples on the road.

View attachment 289450
View attachment 289452

Great result..nice car like the wheels n tyres..less so the stubby and caliper colour!-

 

[CliveN]

Looks lovely well done !

 

[CliveN]

Nothing wrong with a stubby - allows you to use an indoor car cover…..

 

[B21]

Nothing wrong with a stubby - allows you to use an indoor car cover…..

Just unscrew the whippy..simples!-

If BMW had meant it to have a stubby they would have shipped it with one!-

 

[MikeyH]

Perhaps stubbies are cheaper

 

[BMWZ4MC]

Nothing wrong with a whippy if your car was made by Tamiya