Car worth fixing up before sale or not?

T

thecremeegg

Active member
 North Hampshire
First up apologies if this isn't allowed, or in the wrong place - feel free to delete if so!

So I have a 3.0i 2003 on 147k that is going to be sold as I'm getting a company car and can't justify/have the space for both.

Thing is, whilst my car runs great and drives well, it has a few things that need sorting and I'm wondering if it's worth bothering considering the mileage and age?

The list of main fixes are:

Oil leak from SOMEWHERE - it's had the vanos re-done and don't think it's coming from there.
Main beams flicker and cause a bulb-out light when used
Rear passenger shock clunks when cold (all shocks and springs are new last year)

Other than that it has the usual couple of scratches etc.

The car is a high-miler and has some nice bits on it (sat nav, heated seats, 221 wheels, clear spot rears, xenons etc) so what I'm essentially asking is is it worth me getting these fixed and selling for a potentially higher price or not?

Thanks!
 
I would think that if you can do these issues for a nominal amount of money you will attract a bigger potential buying pool than if you leave the issues and try to sell. You just need to decide if the fixes will cost more than the potential difference between the as is and fixed car. Always difficult once you get over 100k as the number of buyers drops . You could also look at a price unfixed and test the water. If you get no bites then look at fixing it. GLWTS
 
Thing is I have no idea on how much it'll cost to fix it as I don't know what's causing the issues hah!
 
It will affect price and how easy it is to sell. But there is maybe more cost involved if you are paying smeone else to fix it. As long as you are being honest about it the car will find it's value. But oil leaks, clunks and definitely lighting failures are pretty annoying faults. But positives, it's had the vanos done and on new shocks springs and a decent spec so it may balance out. Worth spending a bit of time yourself to see if any are an easy fix. Get through the searches online and see if you can get an easy win.
 
Have you thought about getting estimates for the repairs, then you could make an informed decision

...caution... if you get an estimate, decide to do the repairs, you may then decide to keep her :P
 
Is the oil leak up top? Was the rocker/cam cover gasket fixed as part of the vanos overhaul? If it is leaking up top either that or the oil filter gasket would be my prime suspects. The rocker gasket is the easier of the two, budget an hour or so for a garage to fit that. If its the oil filter that's more involved budget 2-3 hours. Rear shocker wise. Well it's likely the shocker itself if it only happens when cold and if youve paid to have it replaced recently is it under warranty? It's either the shocker or the top mount I would have though. Did you replace them with the shocker? What sort of money do you think you'll be asking for the car?
 
Personally, on a high-miler, I'd want everything to be sorted with history, then I'd feel like the car has been well looked after and be more willing to go and take a look...
 
I'd say sell it as is... a perfect high miler is still a high miler. nobody would expect a 16 year old car with 140,000 miles to be perfect.

I bought my car with 148k on the clock for 3 grand... having used and abused it on trackdays, if I was to sell it one I'd realistically hope for maybe £2,200?

but yeah, a 16 year old car with 140k on the clock is surely nearing the end of its life, I'd hope that someone buys it, lives with the foibles, and gets some fun out of it before its put out to stud. its only 4 years away from being a 20 year old car with 160,000 on the clock.
 
Depends how much you want for it.

If you’re looking for top money for it then yes you’ll have to fix it up.

However you’ve got to ask yourself whether this is worth it on a 147,000 mile car...

It probably isn’t.
 
MACK said:
Is the oil leak up top? Was the rocker/cam cover gasket fixed as part of the vanos overhaul? If it is leaking up top either that or the oil filter gasket would be my prime suspects. The rocker gasket is the easier of the two, budget an hour or so for a garage to fit that. If its the oil filter that's more involved budget 2-3 hours. Rear shocker wise. Well it's likely the shocker itself if it only happens when cold and if youve paid to have it replaced recently is it under warranty? It's either the shocker or the top mount I would have though. Did you replace them with the shocker? What sort of money do you think you'll be asking for the car?
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Thanks Mack. Thing is, I can't really see where it's coming from, however the top of the engine cover is quite oily always so I've thought possibly the filler cap, is that a thing?!

Thanks everyone, some mixed opinions. The issue is that like someone said, they're annoying issues that garages will probably need to spend time on diagnosing which of course eats up the £££!
Thing is, I have no idea what it's worth in its current state or when fixed up. It's had regular oil changes etc by me and has a pretty solid service history, however as it's such a high miler it's never going to be worth much.

Anyone know any good value BMW indies down in Surrey/Hants that could take a look at it for me?!
 
thecremeegg said:
Anyone know any good value BMW indies down in Surrey/Hants that could take a look at it for me?!
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BMS Surrey in Leatherhead.

Kevin or Lee will sort you out.

But as said before, it’s probably not worth it.
 
Sell it as as. A 150k car will be £2k ish with or without the issues you mention. I don't think you will ever get the repair costs back on the selling price.
 
I guess it all comes down to how much you'll take for it. It your prepared to let it go for circa £2,000 then it would make sense to someone handy with the spanners who's not scared of a few miles as a potential cheap daily/seller or just want to keep it for sunny days at that sort of money. At £3k+ I think you'll struggle unless the faults are fixed, particular when its up against lower mileage cars, unless of course the buyer doesn't notice or care about a few niggles
 
Yea I was thinking I'd be happy with £2k from it in its current state tbh. Annoyingly it's in the need of new rear tyres currently so probably gonna have to shell out £300 on those first!
Thanks for all the advice guys, I'll have a think on it, not in a rush anyway as new car isn't here yet. Might even try and fix it up myself when I don't need it for work!
 
thecremeegg said:
Yea I was thinking I'd be happy with £2k from it in its current state tbh. Annoyingly it's in the need of new rear tyres currently so probably gonna have to shell out £300 on those first!
Thanks for all the advice guys, I'll have a think on it, not in a rush anyway as new car isn't here yet. Might even try and fix it up myself when I don't need it for work!
Click to expand...

And when do you want to move it on.
 
Hi,

Probably can't be putting too many details here tbh as it'll class as being a Sale thread but I'll let you know when/if I put it up for sale (probably in a month or so, depending on what I decide to fix!).

It's black with heated red seats, sat nav, xenons, DLV exhaust mod, Eibach springs, Bilstein B4 shocks, 221 wheels with PS4 tyres, fixed vanos, aux in cable, clear 3rd brake light etc etc.

Spends most of its time looking like this:

AmAHUYS.jpg

But yea, I'll let you know in the future if you're still looking!
 
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