how are you guys valuing your cars

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peter2704

Member
Shes just flown through the mot ,but thinking of changing to something else.This isnt a sales pitch , my question is where do you get a fare value from,and where shell sell and not be messed around? Autotrader seem to be selling similar year mileage around 5-6.5k mark(2009 2.5i e89 125K)cant see any in classifieds on here
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Well I’m a relative expert on high mileage 23i and I can say that they are selling for around £4.5k….of course people are LISTING them for bigger numbers…

Of course a combination of an exceptional car / low mileage etc my mean someone will be willing to pay more money…so low mileage ones with lots of high quality goodies have shifted for as high as £7k..but they are rare events..

E89 prices are pretty depressed for 23i and the 18i/20i follow ons..

30i auto command much better prices..

Bottom has fallen out of the N54 too..

Of course some folks will be lucky to offload their toy on a chap who hasn’t done any market research…

Conversely I’ve helped ‘clients’ to buy 30i at way over what I considered a suitable price but they fell in love with the colour/spec etc

23i / 20i is a crowded market place ..but you may get lucky..you can only try..
 
Appreciate your reply , mines the n52 a good unit ,all the usual traits sorted, new bilstein and eibach shox/springs full disc/pads sump /rocker /oilfilter housing all sorted, new wheels tires ,drop links f/r vanos sols etc a sorted thing , was hoping nearer 5k but we’ll see
 
peter2704 said:
Appreciate your reply , mines the n52 a good unit ,all the usual traits sorted, new bilstein and eibach shox/springs full disc/pads sump /rocker /oilfilter housing all sorted, new wheels tires ,drop links f/r vanos sols etc a sorted thing , was hoping nearer 5k but we’ll see
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Problem is that it may be 'sorted' but the trade (which is where all prices ultimately derive from) couldn't care less.
The 'market' will only see a 17 year old entry-level model (it was until 2013) E89 with a lot of miles. Unless you can convince it otherwise.

But, of course, people looking at 'for sales' on forums should take being 'sorted' as adding value, so £5k plus is not unreasonable IMO.
It looks to be an M-sport in a popular colour combination (white/red) with the best looking wheels (as long as they aren't cracked), which will all help.

When you think of what else you can (or can't) buy for £5k, a half decent E89 is a complete bargain IMO. A lot of car for little money.

A car like this should sell on here. It sounds like the type of car people come here to find.

Many will tell you there is no point in trying to flog cars via the forum "cos everyone's already got one". It's not true. Many people visit this forum purely to look for cars to buy. It's a popular forum and easy to find.
 
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Price in between the next highest mileage and next lowest mileage cars of same type and same year. Adjust slightly based on spec if feeling optimistic. That's as complicated as it needs to be.

Photograph well, detail condition etc and maintenance done.

Hasn't failed for me.

Quick look on Autotrader suggests listing at £5k - £5.5k depending on desired speed of sale and being willing to negotiate £200 or so off.

B21, do you think perhaps your opinions on value have created a self fulfilling prophecy within your sample? I.e. if you advise a seller that the best they can hope for is £4.5k then they're very likely to sell for no more than £4.5k, and when you advise a buyer that they shouldn't pay more than £4.5k then they will refuse to pay more than £4.5k? Hence you only see sales of £4.5k or less, which convinces you that £4.5k is the true market value. Unless you're seeing plenty of achieved sale prices for which you were not in any way involved?
 
tiglon said:
B21, do you think perhaps your opinions
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Peter doesn't have opinions, those are for the rest of us without his vast superior knowledge. Peter only does facts. He knows so much he's written a book about it, you know. Although he doesn't like to mention it. ;)
 
tiglon said:
Photograph well, detail condition etc and maintenance done.
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That is good advice. I firmly believe you really need to 'sell' cars these days. Just sticking a couple of crap pictures up and saying 'take it or leave it' ain't gonna get you anywhere.
 
You first need to ask what your gonna replace it with? As previously said, 5.5k is pretty much nuthing when you consider the car you've got right now. You know its history, you know what it's issues are, and then for such little cash get into something else your gonna need to dump.a lot of cash into..

Unless your downing a car from your stable, I'd carefully look at what that value will buy you back. We all get the itch, and I've dumped many a car for such stupid inclination, only later on to completely regret the sale.
 
The reason I asked. Was I usually sell my cars too cheap and regret afterwards, I usually sort the car to how I like it then sell, wife goes nuts usually. No cracks or welds to alloys
 
tiglon said:
Price in between the next highest mileage and next lowest mileage cars of same type and same year. Adjust slightly based on spec if feeling optimistic. That's as complicated as it needs to be.

Photograph well, detail condition etc and maintenance done.

Hasn't failed for me.

Quick look on Autotrader suggests listing at £5k - £5.5k depending on desired speed of sale and being willing to negotiate £200 or so off.

B21, do you think perhaps your opinions on value have created a self fulfilling prophecy within your sample? I.e. if you advise a seller that the best they can hope for is £4.5k then they're very likely to sell for no more than £4.5k, and when you advise a buyer that they shouldn't pay more than £4.5k then they will refuse to pay more than £4.5k? Hence you only see sales of £4.5k or less, which convinces you that £4.5k is the true market value. Unless you're seeing plenty of achieved sale prices for which you were not in any way involved?
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I never advise sellers on their asking price..generally I’m not aware whether they are tyre kicking, desperate, pondering etc…I do ask what they sold it for…I do advise buyers on what I consider a buyer should pay in the market…as said some ignore my advice and pay way over ..but it’s their cash, they wanted that particular car for whatever reason and generally seem very happy with their decisions…

And..as usual ..like house buying programs so do many times what people said they were going to do / must do never happens..

The cars I consider fairly priced do sell, most of the AT upper percentile sit for a very long time ..unless they are ‘special’ in some way..
 
peter2704 said:
The reason I asked. Was I usually sell my cars too cheap and regret afterwards, I usually sort the car to how I like it then sell, wife goes nuts usually. No cracks or welds to alloys
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Yes difficult…you can always go high and come down…

Another issue is buyers prepared to travel….at the lower end fewer buyers are willing to travel..so potential buyers decline..plus entry level models compete with other manufacturers entry level models for the buyers attention…premium models tend to be bought by folks with more focus…all imho..

You’ve no doubt seen the post from a 23i owner with a 125k mile 23i at £4,500 that has not had a single enquiry for weeks..

Friend of mine here sold his 23i similar spec condition for £4,500

Empirical data points maybe
 
peter2704 said:
The reason I asked. Was I usually sell my cars too cheap and regret afterwards, I usually sort the car to how I like it then sell, wife goes nuts usually. No cracks or welds to alloys
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I did the same, had an f87 M2 N55 that I bought new and stupidly sold with 19k miles about 3 years ago for £27k, after I changed seats to comp, did the carbon brace, FMIC, sport cat etc.....

Then I sold my e89 3.0 Z4 auto 86k miles with a high spec after I had changed wheels, fixed dings and scratches etc for £5k

Never learn!
 
B21 said:
I never advise sellers on their asking price..generally I’m not aware whether they are tyre kicking, desperate, pondering etc…I do ask what they sold it for…I do advise buyers on what I consider a buyer should pay in the market…as said some ignore my advice and pay way over ..but it’s their cash, they wanted that particular car for whatever reason and generally seem very happy with their decisions…

And..as usual ..like house buying programs so do many times what people said they were going to do / must do never happens..

The cars I consider fairly priced do sell, most of the AT upper percentile sit for a very long time ..unless they are ‘special’ in some way..
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If buyers are paying more than you think a car is worth, then perhaps the car is worth more than you think? I mean, it undeniably is to that buyer.

I agree re the upper percentile of AT, of course if a car is priced higher than all the comparable alternatives then it will take a long time to sell. However, the lower percentile of high mileage 23i seems to be around £5.5k, so more than £4.5k should be achievable.
 
tiglon said:
If buyers are paying more than you think a car is worth, then perhaps the car is worth more than you think? I mean, it undeniably is to that buyer.

I agree re the upper percentile of AT, of course if a car is priced higher than all the comparable alternatives then it will take a long time to sell. However, the lower percentile of high mileage 23i seems to be around £5.5k, so more than £4.5k should be achievable.
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My ‘clients’ who paid top dollar were cash rich and fixated on certain colour combo / spec AND were impatient….similar cars..of course ..came up later at much more ‘sensible’ prices…

That’s the flip side..if your car floats somebody’s boat then maybe you can command a premium price…

Might as well try high if not in a rush..not that many sad bunnies chart the demise in sales price over time..
 
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