[RMachuca3d]

stealerships in a nutshell:

tradein:

"oh your car is manual? Sorry, we can only offer -2k market value, no one wants a manual car"

Buying:

"oh, yes thats the manual car we have in stock, super in demand with enthusiasts, thats why we have a markup on it, we keep getting calls for it all the time, non negotiable"

[culpability]

Carvana offered me almost $16k for my 2014 328xi with about 70k miles on it, so yeah I'd be super pissed about that offer too. That is a car they can CPO and list for probably over 30k, at least where I am...

My old ford dealership would give me the most insane trade-in values to keep me coming back. Made some great deals with those guys because they would give me absolutely phenomenal value for my trade-ins. IMO thats what any dealership should do.. their ability to CPO cars makes it so much easier for them to sell to you. Crazy low offer!

[Savageenterprise]

Originally Posted by Jeff01234567

I wouldn’t even consider trading it in in normal times and just sell it on my own, but Covid has me worried about allowing total strangers to sit in my car for a test drive. If these lowball offers continue, I may just have to wait until Covid blows over to switch cars.

Don't be too shook to do things man. It's not like you're gonna be in a packed out bar with no mask on. I just sold my 340 to a guy.... I was leasing and listed for sale since I had equity in the lease. I wore a mask with the guy in the car, he wore a mask while he test drove it and we both just kept the windows halfway down.

[RMachuca3d]

Originally Posted by culpability

Carvana offered me almost $16k for my 2014 328xi with about 70k miles on it, so yeah I'd be super pissed about that offer too. That is a car they can CPO and list for probably over 30k, at least where I am...

My old ford dealership would give me the most insane trade-in values to keep me coming back. Made some great deals with those guys because they would give me absolutely phenomenal value for my trade-ins. IMO thats what any dealership should do.. their ability to CPO cars makes it so much easier for them to sell to you. Crazy low offer!

High tradein means they just pad whatever car you're buying, just like casinos, they will make money on one end or the other, the house always wins.

[Jeff01234567]

Thanks for the responses, but I've decided not to sell for the time being.

I just love this car too much to let it go for anything less than top dollar. I will just get an S2000 to enjoy on the side along with my 335. Perhaps an M2 will be in the cards later on when the 335's mileage is too high to keep. I figure I still have a good 3-4 years left on this car until it won't be able to reliably get me to work every day.

[im_an_alien]

Originally Posted by RMachuca3d

stealerships in a nutshell:

tradein:

"oh your car is manual? Sorry, we can only offer -2k market value, no one wants a manual car"

Buying:

"oh, yes thats the manual car we have in stock, super in demand with enthusiasts, thats why we have a markup on it, we keep getting calls for it all the time, non negotiable"

This x1000
When i purchased my 6mt F30 the dealership would not take a dollar off for anything. Can't blame them though, someone showed up to look at the car while I was negotiating...of course they could have arranged that too...
Dealers love low-balling on 6mt trades then marking them up quite a bit, especially the 40i

[alrocsmash]

Originally Posted by Jeff01234567

Thanks for the responses, but I've decided not to sell for the time being.

I just love this car too much to let it go for anything less than top dollar. I will just get an S2000 to enjoy on the side along with my 335. Perhaps an M2 will be in the cards later on when the 335's mileage is too high to keep. I figure I still have a good 3-4 years left on this car until it won't be able to reliably get me to work every day.

"Extremely Low Trade-In " - Found your problem. Use this strategy for any new car purchase.

- Find your new car
- Estimate what your existing car is worth on the open market, not a garbage trade in aka they're stealing it from you.
- Put down what you think your existing car is worth on new car (you cough this up for a few weeks only)
- Now you have 2 cars. Wash and wax the hell out of old car. Take photos. Sell old car.
- You're done.

This method works wonders. It lowers your payment to a minimum if you can't cough up full cash, and you only carry the down payment for the sales cycle of old car.

[j2dad5389]

Originally Posted by Jeff01234567

I wouldn’t even consider trading it in in normal times and just sell it on my own, but Covid has me worried about allowing total strangers to sit in my car for a test drive. If these lowball offers continue, I may just have to wait until Covid blows over to switch cars.

OP, try bringing it to CarMax. Not the same car but kind of similar; I took my 2015 m235i there with like 30k miles and they gave me 23k trade-in offer. Pretty fair I'd say. They can then print it out your offer and you can bring it to other dealerships to negotiate with it.

I think the craziest part about this (and obvious) is that dealerships are out to make money. That's their #1 priority. When they bought my car for 23k they then listed it for 32k . I feel bad for the poor soul who bought that. I bought it for 25k flat almost a year prior and only put a couple thousand miles on it.

[i128]

Originally Posted by j2dad5389

OP, try bringing it to CarMax. Not the same car but kind of similar; I took my 2015 m235i there with like 30k miles and they gave me 23k trade-in offer. Pretty fair I'd say. They can then print it out your offer and you can bring it to other dealerships to negotiate with it.

I think the craziest part about this (and obvious) is that dealerships are out to make money. That's their #1 priority. When they bought my car for 23k they then listed it for 32k . I feel bad for the poor soul who bought that. I bought it for 25k flat almost a year prior and only put a couple thousand miles on it.

Apparently dealers have very low margins on new cars, hence they take advantage of where they can profit the most, used car sale + parts/service.

Regarding NEW CAR sales, dealers make little to no money, one of the reasons being they make much less profit as sales volume are not as high as base models.

[Jeff01234567]

Originally Posted by j2dad5389

OP, try bringing it to CarMax. Not the same car but kind of similar; I took my 2015 m235i there with like 30k miles and they gave me 23k trade-in offer. Pretty fair I'd say. They can then print it out your offer and you can bring it to other dealerships to negotiate with it.

I think the craziest part about this (and obvious) is that dealerships are out to make money. That's their #1 priority. When they bought my car for 23k they then listed it for 32k . I feel bad for the poor soul who bought that. I bought it for 25k flat almost a year prior and only put a couple thousand miles on it.

Wow, I bought my 335i with 11k miles in 2018 for $33K! The used car market now is crazy.

[Wires]

You guys are missing what the dealer needs to do when they take your car in for trade. It needs to be cleaned, detailed, repaired (dings, windshield, etc). And then they need to post it somewhere (Auto Trader etc) to sell it. And then they need to entertain a ton of potential buyers wanting to test drive it.

If they gave you $22k (the low end of KBB), that means they need to do all the above, and make $0. Makes no sense for them. And that forces them to not budge on the price when new buyers come in to buy it.

Trades are PITA's for them and extra work. They need to be paid for that service, and the only way you will get fair market value is sell it privately. I take the kick in the teeth and lose it on my trades because I don't want to have to deal with the extra work as well as potential buyers.

[MyE92]

What's the vin,miles, options, and exact condition of the car? I can give you a fair appraisal number for your car.

[Jeff01234567]

Originally Posted by MyE92

What's the vin,miles, options, and exact condition of the car? I can give you a fair appraisal number for your car.

Not selling it anymore but may be nice to get an estimate if not too much trouble for you.

WBA3A9G54FNS99114
31,000 Miles
Estoril Blue II
6-Speed manual
M-Sport package
M-Sport brakes
Dynamic Handling Package
Driving Assistance Package
Heated seats
Navigation
Harman Kardon
19" Wheels
M Performance Exhaust
Body color front splitter
Body color rear spoiler
M Rear Diffuser
Carbon Fiber & Alcantara Trim
CF shift knob with Alcantara boot
CF parking brake with Alcantara boot
M performance Alcantara steering wheel

[chrism9852]

Assuming your car is in as excellent condition as you claim, Manheim auction's value estimator puts your car @ $21,800.

The Carfax report also indicates you bought it 2 years ago and has a lien. The dealer may have limited interest in sitting on your car for a month waiting on the title from your bank unless its worth their while. If your loan is upside down, that's also hardly an incentive for them.

As has been suggested, if you want a legit appraisal, go to Carmax. They are fair, and you'll have a solid offer with *cash* behind it.

[MyE92]

Looks like $18k-$20k would be the right number for a dealer to take it in for. My Galves book isn't working for some reason, but I'm going to assume it's going to be in that same range. If you look at the retail comparables, with your same mileage, there are a couple retailing for around $22k-$24k.

At Manheim yours would probably go for $20k-$21k.

If you can get someone to offer $20k, you should probably consider it. But you're probably better off selling it yourself.

The manual trans is actually -$500 option when appraising. I know most of us BMW enthusiasts know the value of having manual trans, but for the average person, it's a harder sell.

Tbh, no dealers really follow KBB.

Hope this all helps.

[Jeff01234567]

Originally Posted by MyE92

Looks like $18k-$20k would be the right number for a dealer to take it in for. My Galves book isn't working for some reason, but I'm going to assume it's going to be in that same range. If you look at the retail comparables, with your same mileage, there are a couple retailing for around $22k-$24k.

At Manheim yours would probably go for $20k-$21k.

If you can get someone to offer $20k, you should probably consider it. But you're probably better off selling it yourself.

The manual trans is actually -$500 option when appraising. I know most of us BMW enthusiasts know the value of having manual trans, but for the average person, it's a harder sell.

Tbh, no dealers really follow KBB.

Hope this all helps.

Thanks for this. Is this an app or something that I can download and use for future reference?

[MyE92]

Originally Posted by Jeff01234567

Thanks for this. Is this an app or something that I can download and use for future reference?

Unfortunately it's not an app for public use. I use this program when I buy cars for dealers.

[BavMachina]

Interesting to hear the negative takes on manuals. When I was negotiating the trade-in of my well maintained 11 year old ‘06 325xi 6MT, the dealer let me know they would like to buy my car whether I bought a new one from them or not. It sold within days of when they listed it.

[agentorange]

As COVID drags on I suspect that trade in offers on sedans are only going to go one way, down. Throw in the stick shift and the down part just gets deeper. We live in a SUV/auto transmission dominated world now, certainly as far as the motor trade is concerned.

[im_an_alien]

Originally Posted by agentorange

As COVID drags on I suspect that trade in offers on sedans are only going to go one way, down. Throw in the stick shift and the down part just gets deeper. We live in a SUV/auto transmission dominated world now, certainly as far as the motor trade is concerned.

True, but there will always be the enthusiast. Three times now I have boarded a plane to fly somewhere to buy a hard to find 6MT car, including one of the last manuals from Mercedes. As manuals get rarer, it's not worth it to trade them, better deals can be had selling privately. The last time I took my 6MT C 230 kompressor to the Benz dealership a small group of sales and tech folks actually gathered around it.

[Jeff01234567]

Originally Posted by im_an_alien

True, but there will always be the enthusiast. Three times now I have boarded a plane to fly somewhere to buy a hard to find 6MT car, including one of the last manuals from Mercedes. As manuals get rarer, it's not worth it to trade them, better deals can be had selling privately. The last time I took my 6MT C 230 kompressor to the Benz dealership a small group of sales and tech folks actually gathered around it.

I actually boarded a plane to buy my 335i too. When taking the day off work to do so my coworkers and boss seemed fascinated and amazed by that. “Why are you flying so far for a car?” “Because it’s a stick shift.” “Oh.”

[Desertnate]

Similar situation when I bought my GTI many years ago. Fortunately I didn't have to get on a plane, but I was prepared to. It was the ONLY manual GTI within 500~700 miles of my location.

When I bought my manual 435i it was even worse. I found my car locally and jumped on it the first day it was on sale at the dealer. The next closest manual, RWD F30 or F32 was easily 600 miles away and to find one in MSport was 1000 miles away on the West Coast.