BillMcC

Deep Sea Blue Metallic with Natural Brown? ....just a guess

tex_phil

45k is way too high, you can buy a m5 for 45k

luigi524td

BMWUSA lists many 550's similar to what you have located and priced from the 30's to the 50's.

http://www.bmwusa.co...dfmJUzz4yYtqk4H

You might use this as a barometer about what dealers are trying to get for cars like the one you want. In fact, if that specific car is listed you can grab a free carfax for it. That might help answer other questions about the history. And as other posters have noted, it's still a buyer's market. Don't give in too easily - you're in a better position than they are to make demands (IMHO).

Excession

+ 1

Used car market is just crazy IMHO, in fact in looking at asking prices on the net it would almost seem like my E60 has appreciated in value in the year since I purchased mine. WTF???

I had been searching for a beater and am astonished at the asking prices for 10+ year old, over 100k miles vehicles. Really, even with a terrible or nonexistant carfax report? No thanks!

Honestly, if I needed a car right now, I would wait a couple of months for the year end sales events and buy new.

tuffluck

there are a lot of things that go into used car prices that you'll never know. the FEW 550i's that are under 35k may have made 17 trips to the dealer that you probably will never know about, and you might inherit a lemon thinking it is the best deal. also carfax doesn't show everything. just because someone drives through their garage when they are drunk doesn't mean they call their insurance and tell them, but instead fix it on their own and it never shows up under a history report. paint chips, door dings, etc. other things you *don't* always see until after you purchase your car affect the sticker price on a used car. don't expect a salesman to be truthful about any of that stuff either.

i do think 40k sounds about right though. you could probably get a 550i in the US somewhere for under 35k and it be a good deal. factor in a one-way plane ticket, hotel, food, etc., plus potentially driving it back and out of it's factory warranty from the extra miles--all worth a cost too, not to mention the hassle. if you can find a good deal locally, it's probably better than a great deal on the other side of the country. if you've got 10k or so for a down payment, even better since you wipe out the inherited interest expense from the cost increase.

as a side note, if you like deep green metallic, you can find some excellent deals. those seem to consistently be the lowest priced used BMWs on the market.

BillMcC

I hope you can get it for 40 but 42-44 is prob more realistic. YES, there are 550's in the country for mid 30s - with very few options, no nav, CA, etc. This car appears to be well equipped.

Keep your cash - In my experience, only mom & pop dealers are interested in cash. Taking cash means they are not making money on your interest rate on a loan, so cash is not as appealing to them as you may think.

Also, whatever you end up paying, there is always going to be someone saying you paid too much or you could've done better. Its easier said than done and bottom line dealers do not accept low ball offers.

Excession

At the risk of thread hijacking and not to dispute your point above, but I have to clarify; I'm talking about vehicles with 110-135K miles one owner carfaxes registered in the NYC metro area (severe duty), one or more accidents, only one service record at 35K, failed an inspection a couple of years ago but its a fuel efficient 06 Civic (with a TSB for engine cracking) and they want ~ 10K.

I wish this was just an isolated event. You can easily replace the Civic with a Toyota/Lexus with the 3.0 V-6, 2001 - 2004 Honda/Acuras with V-6 and 5 speed autos; 99-01 E46 w/automatics; etc.

hooch999

Lot of folks, including myself... and BMW itself as well - in Europe they make most of their sales on diesel and turbo cars. Here in the US the shift to smaller and turbo engines is pretty obvious too.

BillMcC

I understand the global economy pushing for better fuel economy for the environment, becoming more efficient blah blah blah. I'm just saying if you are willing to pay a luxury tax, gas guzzler tax and state tax in most cases between 3-12%, totalling several thousand dollars - then the price of a gallon of gas is irrelevant.

vikingshelmut

I went to the CA DMV website which has a vehicle registration fee calculator, and once I input all the info it spits out a LONG list of fees (I hate California), and includes the sales tax. All fees minus sales tax is around $800, for a total of around $4686. What other fees should I be looking for on when I speak to the dealer? I want to try and get a ballpark "out the door" price to work from including tax, license fees, and vehicle cost and want to know what else to watch for.