[bingobob2]

Hey everyone, I have a CPO 2015 328i with 17k miles, I'm wondering when should I get plan on getting rid of it (before any major repairs/mechanical or electrical appear)? Right after the warranty ends? Though that's a bit soon for me at 1.5 years from now.

Is there any mileage or year milestone that I should get rid of it before after the warranty expires? I could extend the warranty but that seems like a move that will only serve to line my dealership's pocketbook at ~1.7k for only 1 more year, especially considering my low mileage. There's also the matter of declining resale value, but if I just looked at that I should probably sell it tommorow!

[Humdizzle]

its a loaded question. personally i think if you do your research and take care of the car the right way, do preventative maintenance, do your oil changes twice as often as BMW recommends, don't drive like an idiot downshifting into 1st at 20mph, etc... the warranty isn't needed.

also depends on your finances. On the 0.1% chance your transmission fails can you pay a couple thousand to fix it without needing to transfer funds around or take a loan?


as far as depreciation every 3 series will go down on a steady decline. possibly a good chunk more once the 2019 3 series starts showing up to dealers. i doubt a super clean low miles 328 is going to command a significant premium over a regularly used one. might as well just drive it and enjoy it.

if you don't want to depreciation then buy a clean e46 m3 and take an old civic to work.. you'll probably come out ahead financially by doing this. but you will have zero tech in either car and be driving a civic everywhere.

[Billfitz]

I drive my cars for three years after they're paid for, meaning between seven and eight years. Whatever I have to put into them after they're paid for never begins to approach how much I'm not paying the bank every month. As for depreciation, past year four with any car it's minimal.

[RoundelM3]

Depends on how you drive it and how you care for it - I've driven them since 2001, have gotten up to 50K miles on a couple of them with no major repairs ($1000+). Current car is 2013 F30 M-Sport with 8AT, 28.8K miles, been out of warranty for 1.5 years, zero issues thus far. If you do all the preventative/recommended maintenance and don't beat it to death, the bigger question becomes "how long should I keep it before its value diminishes significantly?". I'm keeping mine for another year until the M340i comes out - I was going to wait until 2020, but by then my car would be 7 years old, although with very low mileage. If I sell it at the end of this year or 1Q next year, I can get more for it than waiting another year.

That said, some people keep them for a very long time, depending on how much they drive and whether or not they want the expense of buying a new or newer one. If it weren't for the attraction of the M340i (same concept as M235/M240i), I'd keep what I have now. If you like your car, you can buy an extended warranty ($50 deductible out to 100K miles or 7 years, as I did) and continue to enjoy it.

[vooonoo]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

I drive my cars for three years after they're paid for, meaning between seven and eight years. Whatever I have to put into them after they're paid for never begins to approach how much I'm not paying the bank every month. As for depreciation, past year four with any car it's minimal.

This is a good approach then with what you bank from not paying for the car you can use for a down payment

[Tribalpinoy911]

My sisters e90 has now about 120k plus miles. 11 years old. Its starting to become problematic I hear, many of the in car sensors seats airbag etc went south and needed replaced at 6 years 70k miles. Waterpump replaced at around 60k which is standard. And then water got into the headlights which causes issues that still linger after a dealer visit. It also was driven in the city almost all of its life so there is some natural abuse there. Not to mention female owner and just don't take care or drive it with care as a enthusiast.

[adhrp]

My 2012 328i has been out of warranty for two years and has 75k on the odo. I haven't had a single repair come up (touch wood). Not even minor. Just been doing regular maintenance.

The car is paid for and I plan on keeping it another 4 years or so (until it is 10 years old). Then I will probably buy an M240i or M340i and repeat.

[Billfitz]

Originally Posted by vooonoo

This is a good approach then with what you bank from not paying for the car you can use for a down payment

What I use for a down payment is the profits I made investing what I was no longer making in payments. I also make a fairly low DP, depending on the current interest rates. I financed my BMW at 2.4%, while I make 3% on my bonds and 9% on my stocks, so with a high DP I'm losing money.

[adhrp]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

What I use for a down payment is the profits I made investing what I was no longer making in payments. I also make a fairly low DP, depending on the current interest rates. I financed my BMW at 2.4%, while I make 3% on my bonds and 9% on my stocks, so with a high DP I'm losing money.

^ this. I have never paid more than a 2.4% rate for my car purchases and put down very little ($2-3k) for the reason described above.

[metallicpea]

Well, from your line of questioning it sounds like you are not too comfortable with car repair. If that is true, you might not want to keep it as long as you could.

I have owned BMWs as long as 12 years and as short as 4 years from new. With mileage ranging from 160k to 17k during ownership. I plan on keeping this one possibly as long as 12 years and 150k

I had only one major issue through 6 BMWs and that was a known weakness on a V8. Otherwise, I could have driven all of them much longer than I did with nothing but regular repairs. On the 160k mile E46, I only had window regulator and cooling system work done that wasn't what I would consider routine maintenance.

But, based on your questions I would suggest you can likely hit 7 or 8 years and 100k before I would expect any surprises. Is it heavily optioned? It is garage kept? Do you drive it in any extreme weather?

It's value will drop a little after 60k and again after 100k.

In short, you are a long ways away from a point where you should worry.

[chiefneil]

IME owning a BMW up to 60k is easy peasy. But around 60-80k you get a lot of items needing to be replaced or just breaking down as expected wear and tear. Stuff like radiators, water pumps, fuel pumps, various seals and gaskets, hoses and belts, etc. And there’s also 60k maintenance items like tranny and diff flushes that should be considered.

So your risk/reward balance really depends on your appetite for sinking repair/maintenance money into an older car vs payments on a newer car. But IME between 60-120k, repairs shouldn’t approach anything close to a new car payment. Plus if you’re in a state that charges registration fees based on the value of the car, you save a ton with an older car vs a newer car, along with lower insurance costs.

The only boogeyman hiding in the closet is a major component failing like the engine or tranny, but those should be solid well beyond 120k unless you’re really unlucky. Concern about the auto tranny was partly why I sold me 2002 330i in 2014 with 130k on the clock, but now 4 years later the current owner reports the car is still doing great.

[Tribalpinoy911]

Originally Posted by chiefneil

IME owning a BMW up to 60k is easy peasy. But around 60-80k you get a lot of items needing to be replaced or just breaking down as expected wear and tear. Stuff like radiators, water pumps, fuel pumps, various seals and gaskets, hoses and belts, etc. And there's also 60k maintenance items like tranny and diff flushes that should be considered.

So your risk/reward balance really depends on your appetite for sinking repair/maintenance money into an older car vs payments on a newer car. But IME between 60-120k, repairs shouldn't approach anything close to a new car payment. Plus if you're in a state that charges registration fees based on the value of the car, you save a ton with an older car vs a newer car, along with lower insurance costs.

The only boogeyman hiding in the closet is a major component failing like the engine or tranny, but those should be solid well beyond 120k unless you're really unlucky. Concern about the auto tranny was partly why I sold me 2002 330i in 2014 with 130k on the clock, but now 4 years later the current owner reports the car is still doing great.

Good post.

[yoon_209]

75k is the sweet spot for shit to go bad

[bavarianride]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

What I use for a down payment is the profits I made investing what I was no longer making in payments. I also make a fairly low DP, depending on the current interest rates. I financed my BMW at 2.4%, while I make 3% on my bonds and 9% on my stocks, so with a high DP I'm losing money.

Do remember 3% bond 9% stock after tax would become 1.5% and 4.5% to pay for that 2.4%.

[Billfitz]

My bonds are all tax free, and if I ever do cash out on my stocks I'll be paying at long term capital gains rates.

[wheen]

Originally Posted by bavarianride

Do remember 3% bond 9% stock after tax would become 1.5% and 4.5% to pay for that 2.4%.

long-term capital gains tax isn't taxed the same as your salary.

[Sea-Tac]

Wow...this is an interesting question.

I've owned 8 BMW's total. The older ones by far I kept the longest. The new ones 2013 forward I have sold or trade up every three years.

The older ones (1980's) were a lot more analog and well within the realm of a do it yourself type servicing as opposed to the new 2013 through 2018. The replacement of major electronic parts is very high let alone routine out of warranty servicing...just my opinion.

[Billfitz]

Originally Posted by wheen

long-term capital gains tax isn't taxed the same as your salary.

However, be careful with IRAs. When you take distributions from them they're taxed as normal income. You should have them as part of your portfolio, but by no means all of it.

[BEAR-AvHistory]

2004 330Ci ZHP 6MT 10 years 125,000 miles no major expenses.

[Kafkaesque328]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

I drive my cars for three years after they're paid for, meaning between seven and eight years. Whatever I have to put into them after they're paid for never begins to approach how much I'm not paying the bank every month. As for depreciation, past year four with any car it's minimal.

Thats an interesting way to look at it. A more honest picture of the equation is what you paid for the car over that 8 year period i.e. selling price of car + sales tax + finance charges + maintenance and repairs, less whatever you sell the car for or trade it in for. The whole "it costs way less to have the car after its paid for" thing is a bit of a fallacy isn't it? You're paying somewhere, either way, whether you pay a lot up front and less on the back end, or vise versa, its all the same.

If you pay $50k in cash for a car the day you buy it and then pay $5000 in maintenance and repairs over the length of time you own it, have no payments for the whole time you own it and then sell it for $10k, you pay $45k to drive the car for x amount of years. Doesn't matter whether you had car payments or not, you paid what you paid.

Spread out where you pay that money however you want but in the end, you pay the same.

Originally Posted by Billfitz

However, be careful with IRAs. When you take distributions from them they're taxed as normal income. You should have them as part of your portfolio, but by no means all of it.

Unless its a Roth. You can take qualified distributions from a Roth without paying taxes or penalties on that money as long as you are only touching contributions and not capital gains. Money into a roth is post-tax, so you don't pay taxes twice. Can also take 10k penalty free for 1st time home purchase.. So you know, enough to cover closing costs on a house in L.A., haha.

Originally Posted by vooonoo

This is a good approach then with what you bank from not paying for the car you can use for a down payment

If we are talking about an excercise in budgeting and cash flow, then sure, but again, he paid regardless. He's not 'saving' money anywhere using his approach.

[jmmmn]

Maybe 80k but all depends on how you drive it and how you care for your your vehicle

[js 84]

Originally Posted by bingobob2

Hey everyone, I have a CPO 2015 328i with 17k miles, I'm wondering when should I get plan on getting rid of it (before any major repairs/mechanical or electrical appear)? Right after the warranty ends? Though that's a bit soon for me at 1.5 years from now.

Is there any mileage or year milestone that I should get rid of it before after the warranty expires? I could extend the warranty but that seems like a move that will only serve to line my dealership's pocketbook at ~1.7k for only 1 more year, especially considering my low mileage. There's also the matter of declining resale value, but if I just looked at that I should probably sell it tommorow!

I had my car F30 320d for 5,5 years and 217k km with only maintenance repairs so far. Planning to keep it for another 5 years.