Advice on preparing car for sale

N

NiallR

Member
Hi all, hoping for a bit of collective wisdom on the best course for prepping my Z4 for sale... please bear with me while i try and lay the groundwork as I think it's important to understand for any advice you may have. It's a 57 plate 2.5 SE convertible and is now on around 108k. For the age/mileage i'd say it's in great condition (of course i'm a little biased!) however there are a few areas that - as a buyer - i'd probably pick up on:
- Wheel condition of the 202 alloys is poor and let the car down: corrosion + kerbing. Currently trying to source a set of replacement wheels in better condition, but perhaps less 'special'
- Front bumper is stone-chipped and has a bit of a scuff/loss of paint to lower area
- Small area of surface rust around keyhole on boot lid

In my 1 year ownership i've had the following work done at a BMW specialist (working through a list of previous MOT advisories):
- Differential replaced
- Both wheel bearings replaced
- Both front wishbone bushings replaced
- Brake hoses replaced
- Both front brake callipers replaced, new discs, pads, sensors and brake fluid
- Gearbox oil replaced

Now, question time! I am having the valve cover gasket replaced by the specialist before putting up for sale (slight leak appeared recently), however I'm wondering if it'd be worth asking them to complete an oil service at the same time? Car currently indicates a 'oil service in 2,600 miles' - would you say it would make the sale easier/add appeal to have this done before sale? The MOT expires at the end of April - I plan to sell in March/April time so would it be sensible to ask the garage to do an MOT at the same time? For reference, the service schedule is below:

15k oil service
32k inspection 1
50k oil service
67k inspection 1
76k inspection 2
80k inspection 1
93k inspection 2
99k oil service
106k oil service (DIY by previous owner)

Feels a bit soon to have the oil service done but if it's worth it, I’d have it done. This aside, is there anything else that you'd recommend addressing before I put the car up for sale? Obviously i've got to make my own mind up on what's worth investing vs. what I'll get back, but your opinions would be very welcome.

Thanks in advance
 
You won't get a better sale price for having an oil change but it will be another plus point when any potential buyer reads the ad.
Why not get the wheels refurbished rather than trying to source others?
 
id definitely get a new MOT done if it is due to expire shortly after you want to sell it. and seeing as the car will be in for a valve cover gasket already, you might as well get an oil change.

Everything else i'd probably leave as is, and adjust price accordingly. the car is 15 years old, wheels are gonna get scratched slightly, but 202s are quite rare so someone might specifically want them. when i sold my zed i did swap the 107s for some 103s, but only because the 107s were basically mint and worth a lot more separately than attached to a 155k car!
 
Depends what the cars going to be worth and whether you are adding value/sales appeal. I would certainly get the wheels refurbed on my MR, if she was going up for sale. But I would not dream of refurbing the wheels on my daily runabout. Do the maths. :)
 
It'll be £350-£400 to refurb the wheels properly. Then sort the rust on the boot out - thats not a common problem by any means so needs investigation (it would put me off even looking at it to be honest).
A lot depends on what kind of money you are looking to get out of the car bearing in mind that the 3.0i is the one that commands the best prices.
 
Depends on what you expect to get for the car, I would assume your costs to sort properly will take a 10-20% of your cars value. Say the cars worth £4kish

The boot repair depending how bad the rust is could be £3-400 as the whole boot lid will need doing, refurb the wheels 2-300, oil change and valve cover gaskets again a couple hundred more.

I would sort the obvious stuff. At this sort of price I would expect a buyer would know that they need to do some work.

On the service history it says it was done at 106 but is on 108. Guessing this was nearly 2 years ago so the computer will be reading time not milage. Personally with 2k left for a service when the intervals are 15k it would be annoying to have to get it sorted but it may appeal to more DIY buyers.

Might be worth doing a WBAC just to get an idea on value before committing to more work.

This one is for sale granted its older but lower milage and seems well sorted.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202107245410607?onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used&model=Z4&year-to=2007&make=BMW&body-type=Convertible&include-delivery-option=on&advertising-location=at_cars&maximum-mileage=125000&year-from=2005&postcode=m307hl&minimum-badge-engine-size=2.4&sort=price-asc&radius=1500&page=1
 
I'd get the MOT done because that could impact the price and ease of sale. Most of the rest I wouldn't bother.

How much more are you going to get for it after having the work done? I'd suggest not much.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom