You're going to pay sales tax in CA on a used car, private sale or not.
If you are trying to make it work in that range and you're basing your decision on a few thousand dollars as to whether you can afford the car or not, let me be the one to tell you...you cannot afford this car. Don't stretch yourself thin. Get what is in your budget, not whats on the verge of being out of budget. Honestly that last couple grand makes a 30-40 dollar difference on your payment.

 

Fron, what's your 2cents?

Should I buy a CPO and find a way to pay for that extra 6k or just buy a private one?

 

2008 535i
45,000 miles
$32k + tax (yes, in CA you will pay taxes regardless of private party/dealer purchase, unless gift[?])
Private party

Not a good deal IMO.

$0 maintenance plan - it's about $2,200 for the E60. I'd recommend going to an indy shop or DIY. Here's what's covered: http://www.bmwusa.com/mpdisclaimer

 

My 2 cents is.....

Find the cheapest/nicest private party sale for a 535. Don't buy CPO. Do the work yourself/indy shop.. If you truly require a warranty, you can always buy one after. The point is to get the car you want at the best price. No offense to anyone, because I have CPO, but honestly....F*** CPO! Why would you want to factor in and finance that 6K CPO in the purchase price of your car, pay interest on it, blah blah. Buy it private, if you want a warranty, buy a warranty outright cash. Don't fall for the "this car is certified" crap. My car was certified too, though, IMHO, whoever certified it must have been stoned.

 

Brother Fronjoni, out of curiosity, what issues have you encountered on your CPO thus far? I have a CPO as well.

 

I'm aware of that, I have a CPO car that I bought from a private seller. I believe that OP is looking at a car that has never been CPO and he wants to CPO the car after buying it.

 

A car can only be CPO by the dealer...and they won't CPO a car that you buy privately and bring to them. However, if you buy a car privately, that is still under factory warranty, the dealer will sell you an extented warranty for that car...which is as good...if not better...than a the CPO. So I wouldn't get to hung up on CPO or not...because you "get it CPO" yourself buy getting an extended warranty...obviously that's gonna cost you, but the CPO is also gonna cost you...it's just built into the price. Also, a warranty from BMW (CPO, extended, HPFP, etc.) is transferrable to all subsequent owners of the car.

Concerning buying privately or from a dealer. I would have no problem buying from a BMW dealership or a private party. BUT...I would never buy from one the "high-end" used car car dealers. I know personally many of these kind of dealers. They buy slightly damaged cars for a huge discount...spend minimal money fixing the damage (usually an in-house guy or guy who travels the area shops fixing cars just for these kinds of shops), and then they sell the car as "no stories, no damage, etc." for full price. That's how they stay in business. They know ALL the little tricks of the trade to "get a car ready for the floor" at minimal cost to them. On the other hand...most private parties just have a car they want to sell...usually because they have their eye on some other car. They don't have the tools or knowledge to "get the car ready for the floor"...if there is a problem with the car that needs fixing before they can sell it...they just get it fixed. Lastly, believe it or not...most individual sellers of higher end cars are in fact honest and up front...they just want to sell their car. How often does a private party car no service records? A dealer...almost always has no records..."oh..you can get those from the dealer", well sometimes a dealer won't give those out. A dealer is ALWAYS gonna say "no paintwork or wrecks...AS FAR AS I AM AWARE". Private party generally isn't gonna say that and probably won't lie either. Enough about that...but for me...I generally seek out private party sales for higher end cars.

Oh...and let me finish with this. I know there are good/honest/proper high-end dealers out there...and bad/dishonest/improper individual sellers out there. This is all MY opinion based on MY years of experience.

 

Thanks Allen

I remember you guys say ask the dealer to inspect the car. How should I make the request? I have my eyes on this 2008 535i from a chrysler dealer. Asking them to do the inspection is counter-intuitive, no? Because they want to sell that car and PROBABLY skim over inspection and tell you everything is alrite? Is it possible to call into a BMW dealer and give him that car's VIN and get a service record?

I have a friend who is not a mechanic, but he likes doing his own brake pads and controller arms on his old lexus. Is it worth bringing him to take a look at the car?

 

I think the best thing would be to get a qualified BMW independent shop to do the inspection...someone who has no interest in whether you buy or not. If that's not available, I would have the BMW dealer do it. I certainly would not have the dealer who is selling the car do it. Having said that...if the seller of the car does the inspection, then something that they "inspected" goes bad...you should have some recourse to get it fixed/paid for by the seller.

However...if the car is still under factory warranty...not sure if you said it was or not...it significantly reduces your risk. Personally, I would put a HUGE premium on a factory warranty still in place.

Like someone else said though...don't over think it. You are right for checking things throughly. But a car is a machine...you might get a perfect inspection and it falls apart the next day...you may get no inpsection, and it goes for years with no issue. Just do your best on the things you can control, buy what you believe is the best car, and enjoy it.

 

Cool! it still has original warranty for a year. I guess I'll just take it back to the dealer to fix it if anything happen. But I'll still call in to the dealer to check for the inspection and service record.