Advice on when to sell

[Thuzbuz]

My dear wife will (fingers crossed!) be delivering us our first kid later this year (autumn/early winter time). Yay!

Meaning that I will need to say goodbye to the zed at some stage in the next 6 months. Boo!

The question is when.

It's an '03 2.5i auto with 58k on it, so £5kish I reckon at moment. Very decent condition mechanically (the same BMW main dealer has taken care of it all it's life though I will get some required work identified at its recent Inspection I done at a specialist prior to the sale).

How much less do you lot guess I will likely be able to sell it for in say September or October assuming an extra 2.5k miles on the clock??

As a side note, I'm currently running the original 16" 102s which have seen much better days. Plan was always to get some 108s at some stage and keep these as a winter set (after a refurb). Would buyers on the forum (I'd ideally like it to go to another enthusiast) generally be willing to pay £300 more for the car with refurbed wheels, or would they probably get taken off and binned immediately anyway?

Will be sad to say goodbye to what has been an awesome first car bought on a complete whim a little over a year ago, but couldn't be happier at the reasons why.

Charlie T.

 

[mr wilks]

Late May/June i would say is premium demand time giving you some chance to enjoy some sunny times , the roadster market swings very quickly from wanted to unwanted but by your description & price mentioned i doubt you will have much trouble selling anytime of the year , it can just take a little longer in the gloomy months of Nov/Dec/Jan
Best of luck & congrats on the junior

 

[Thuzbuz]

Thanks - that's really helpful!
Any thoughts anyone on the wheels refurb question? They're in a pretty awful state cosmetically at the moment, but don't really want to pour £300 down the drain if no one would want 102s on their zed anyways.

 

[mr wilks]

Thanks - that's really helpful!
Any thoughts anyone on the wheels refurb question? They're in a pretty awful state cosmetically at the moment, but don't really want to pour £300 down the drain if no one would want 102s on their zed anyways.

Wouldnt waste money refurbing 16s , keep your eyes on here for a decent set of used wheels with half decent tyres around £300 & it will enhance the car & its sale prospects

 

[Rob s]

I agree dont get the 16's refurbed, spend the money on 17's/18's as suggested.
Car should still be worth around £5k but will be slower to sell after summer

 

[Dev]

Another option would be to leave the wheels as-is and mention them in the ad along with stating that you have adjusted the price accordingly. This might end up being less effort and cost to you as wheels tend to be a personal choice anyway - changing them is one of the easiest and most effective ways to change the look of a car and there's little point if the buyer has a set (either in mind, or ready to fit) they want to put on. If the rest of the car is in good order, unless the wheels are in such a bad state they scream 'neglect' to a buyer, you should be ok.

 

[K3P0]

If the car was right, 16" wheels would not put me off buying it, as I would end up putting 18" 107s on any E85 Z4 that does not have them ! (but that is just me and my weird fondness for the 107s wheels !!

Good luck with the sale and congrats with the new arrival.

 

[Thuzbuz]

Thanks all for the comments - most helpful.

Will probably leave the wheels as they are in that case and note this on the ad when I come to sell in six weeks or so - they are really pretty awful but I put this down to it to the last owner being incapable of parallel parking and not being as particular as those who frequent this forum are with regards to looks.

Wheels aside, it has definitely not been neglected given the amount that the last owner put into the car for maintenance/servicing historically - seems to have been a no expense spared approach.

Now to make some plans for a glorious final few weekends of driving fun!