Help With Quandary?

S

simonlpearce

Senior member
So im hoping for a bit of help from some of you guys that may be able to steer me in the right direction.

Basically i currently own a Vauxhall VX220 and an E36 M3 Evo Individual Spec. My big plan here was to sell each of these for circa £5k leaving me with around £10k cash. I also have £5k in savings which all added together is plenty of money for a half decent Z4MC, which is my ultimate goal here.

However in order to sell the E36 it would need a bit of work, including new rear arches, vanos rebuild and clutch. Add to that i have spent thousands on the rest of the mechanics over the past year, not to mention many many hours on my back working away, bringing it back up to near mint. So you could say i am reasonably attached to the car.

So my train of thought has led me towards looking at some of the Cat write off cars that are about at the moment. There are a few going for around £9-£12k. Obviously i am aware of the risks with Cat cars, but if i did go for one it means i get to keep the E36 M and finish a project and have an appreciating classic to play with as well as the Z4MC. Some may say that's greedy? It would also mean i can get into a Z4 MC a lot quicker as i expect it will be the new year before i could get the M3 ready for sale, plus another couple of months to sell.

As the Z4MC is also bottoming out on price, or so it would seem, does anyone have a view on how the market for Cat versions will look in say 5 years time. I had a look online to see if there were any comparable Z3MC's out there but couldn't see anything. Basically i am aware of the issues with buying and selling Cat cars, research is key, but how is resale value affected? I don't want to end up with a £10-£12k mistake or something that in 5 years is worth £4-5k...

Sorry if thats a bit long winded!
 
Providing the price was 20/25% below market value of non reg then buying a Cat reg car would not bother me providing everything else stacked in the cars favour after scrutinizing it ,
There is every chance it would lose nothing as ZMc's appear to have reached their "level" 8) worse case scenario genuine examples touch £10k & the Cat reg ones drop to £7500 ? Not exactly a killer blow for the potential performance & ownership enjoyment ?
These cars take a while to shift whatever & as with most things in life it all comes down to price
 
Thanks for the input. I am leaning more towards this train of thought, and appreciate the complexities in selling a Cat car at any time of its life span.

Does anyone have any comparable experience with Cat Z3 MC's?
 
It might depend on what age/spec/condition/mileage Z4MC you're looking for or willing to accept.

There are now a few over the 100k mark (including mine at 117k), and it wouldn't surprise me if you could pick one up for £10k as there are ones with half the mileage going for £12k.
 
Not bothered about age or spec, but would hope to find something with around 60-70k miles max. I do a fair amount of driving, around 20k a year, so whilst a higher mileage one i know would be perfectly fine, i also want to consider resale value.

I'm a bit of a stickler for depreciation as i bought an E46 330 some years ago for £15k. The market took a dive and i lost £10k on it in 3 years which was a bit of a kick in the nuts :cry: . So naturally i have been refusing to spend big on cars again for fear of the same happening, though the Z4MC seems a reasonably safe buy.
 
If I was in your pos , I would keep the M3 , sell the VX220 and save up a bit more cash to buy a not cat Z4m.
You can buy a Z4M a the moment for reasonable money so why take a chance on buying a cat repaired motor.
 
maxman said:
If I was in your pos , I would keep the M3 , sell the VX220 and save up a bit more cash to buy a not cat Z4m.
You can buy a Z4M a the moment for reasonable money so why take a chance on buying a cat repaired motor.
Click to expand...

I had thought about that, but paying off a wedding and saving up for honeymoon next year means there's little to no free cash to keep saving for a car, plus im impatient and my daily is a track e36 328 which is driving my nuts :headbang: .
 
NeilP said:
Don't sell your e36. :cry:
Click to expand...

Believe me, if i can get away without selling it then i will. Its been a labor of love for the past year, plus i had 2 years trouble free motoring from it until i let it sit for a year outside. I have some plans in place that could mean i keep it!
 
Hi and welcome. :)

There are at least two members who have bought Cat cars and repaired themselves. One has completed it the other just started. Are you looking to do the work yourself or buy an already repaired one. I would have no issues in buying a Cat car as long as there is photo evidence of the pre repair condition and detailed history of work done.

It doesnt take a lot to write these cars off now their value has dropped. There are many of these running round that have been repaired in the past but had the accident happened today would have been written off.
 
Hi,

I wouldn't take the work on myself, as although i could probably do it, i don't have the time and sort of need something i can just jump in and drive. So i would ideally be looking for one already fixed.

I see what your saying though and would be searching through log books etc for previous owners to get the lowdown on the cars condition etc.
 
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