ISUK

I went along to a BMW dealer yesterday to investigate part exchanging my 530d for a new 535d sport. Whilst I wasn't expecting a superb price for mine due to selling it at the worst possible time in the depreciation curve, I was shocked at the poor offer I was given. My car cost nearly ?41k new and I was offered ?28k for it with less than 13,000 miles on the clock and only 10 months old. I had to politely decline their offer and told them I would have to seriously reconsider buying another 5 with such poor residuals. To get a simmilar spec 535d Sport would have set me back around ?17k as a cost to change which is nuts quite frankly.

A drop of 32% is by far the worst depreciating BMW I have ever owned and I doubt I'll go for another 5 series after this shock. I was rather hoping for stronger residuals of around 25% first year depreciation on such a new model. Heaven only knows what people who've shelled out considerable sums on 545i's in the UK will be offered come trade in time. I sold an Audi A4 cab last year to get into the 530d and it was also a very highly spec'ed car but I only lost 12% on that by way of comparison.

Looks like I'll be keeping the current car a mite longer than expected so I'll be having the M sport bumpers and skirts fitted in September. At around ?1500 fitted (estimate based upon parts guys guess of kit price) this will be a far cheaper way to get the sport look as my car already has the other M sport options.

I'm not sure what to replace the car with now when the time comes but am shocked to hear myself say that it is very unlikely to be another BMW due to poor residuals.

jamespratt

I can understand your disappointment, but before you get too depressed I would look around elsewhere for other offers. I bought a used 530D about a month ago with 9,000 on the clock. It was a 53 model with spec as per my signature below - so nothing amazing. New price would have been roughly 34-35K and I paid 28K for it privately. I reckon I got a pretty good deal so I would expect that for a car with a new price of 41K you really should be able to get a better price.

James

ISUK

Thanks for your input. I know I would most likely get a better price if I found a private buyer. The problem with cars of this age is that most buyers require finance and prefer to go through a main dealer for their purchase. The dealer even told me they would retail my car for up to ?33k so that's allowing them a profit of up to ?3k depending upon the part exchange allowance they would give to a prospective buyer and any financing charges incurred whilst sitting on their forecourt.

I just thought other owners may be interested to note that initial residuals are pretty poor. At this stage in a new model BMW's life cycle residuals usually lead the class. The E60 is following the trend set by the E65 7 series - not good IMHO. From the discussion I had with the sales person yesterday, I would say the outlook for the E63 6 series is even worse as they aren't shifting those new.

browellm

I think Porsche is probably the only marque in the UK with decent residuals any more

With the possible exception of the A4 cab.

jamespratt

ISUK - I've just been looking at the prices of similar cars to yours and it looks like dealers are selling them for about 32K, so I suppose one shouldn't be surprised if they are only offering 28K. My guess is that you have two problems:
1. You have a colour combination that is one of the less popular and therefore less easy to shift. (When I was looking for a 5 series I'm afraid I wouldn't have considered black, let alone black with auburn leather - purely personal, but black is definitely one of the less popular colours)
2. You've got a lot of EXPENSIVE options on yr car, the majority of which have very, very little residual value. I read an article the other day that listed the options that do / do not add value. Those that do include auto, sunroof, aircon .... and that's about it. Your car cost roughly 7K more than mine when new, but I wouldn't have willingly paid more than 1 K extra for the options when buying second hand. And that 1K would have been for the nav system.

I guess all this is pretty obvious stuff, but the point I was trying to make is that it isn't necessarily the fact that it's a 5 series that is the problem. It's the above 2 factors and the fact that you are selling at a point which is guaranteed to give you the most painful hit of depreciation.


(just seen that this additional comment is slightly superseded by other posts - never mind)

James

ISUK

James,

I'm aware of the issue of losing money on extras and what will/won't add value. With a car like the 5 most of the extras I spec'ed were standard on the previous generation E39 sport so the overall spec is not an issue. I just find it insulting that BMW de-contented the car to such a level to hide a significant price hike on the E60 model. Second hand buyers will be the benificiaries of those of us who upped our options to match E39 levels. As for your sunroof option having a value 2nd hand that simply isn't the case. I have got no extra cash come trade in time on previous BMW's with sunroof vs those without. And it is an expensive option. Aircon has made them redundant in the UK.

I agree that the colour and trim combination is not to everyones taste (I likewise would never have considered a car in your combination) but you may be surprised to know that the dealer said black sells very well - they had three on site - and that she had a buyer who would snap my car up right away from them if I traded it in.

The point I was trying to make in my original post is that for the first time in a very long time, BMW's residual values are now only average whereas they used to be bullet proof. In years gone by it was almost a cast iron certainty that newly launched BMW models held their value extremely well for the first 18 months to 2 years as supply was restricted. The change in design direction combined with much higher sales volumes is now starting to have a very adverse effect upon that. Don't get me wrong, values aren't in freefall. They just aren't very strong anymore.

Like browellm says, the only car in the UK with a half decent residual now (other than the X5) is Porsche. I am seriously regretting buying a Z4 now over a Boxster as I suspect I will take a caning on that car too. Guess I'll just have to keep it for far longer than I thought.

jamespratt

ISUK - totally agree with you about the sunroof option. I would never have chosen it personally. My comment was related to an article I had read about options generally, and I was as surprised as you to see a sunroof as a 'good' option. Maybe only if you don't have a/c. (Doesn't almost everyone these days?)

I suspect you have hit the nail on the head about the increase in sales/production volumes being the root cause of the problem.

There is of course the argument that anyone concerned about deprecaition would never dream of selling a car for the first 3 years anyway

Much more worrying as far as my image and depreciation is concerned is the fact that Jeremy Clarkson has put the 5-series in the 'uncool' section of the 'cool wall'.

James

530E60NL

Really??? In holland we get the shows a lot later in the year than in the UK. What did he say about the 5 series???

browellm

Top Gear in general (magazine and TV show) are quite down on the 5 series.

Only James May is a fan, Clarkey can't stand it and the magazine prefers the E-class.

This is why I prefer to read 'Car'. They tend to 'get' the whole Bangle thing a whole lot more. What Car? likes the 5 too, but that is a horrible rag!

530E60NL

I like the 'Car' magazine a lot too. When I was on vacation I read several magazines in one of them there was a test of the E-Class, 5-Series and A6. The A6 was blown away by the mercedes and BMW they didn't like it at all (only liked the interior).