norham

as in life very few things are certain but one comes close and that is we never make money on cars as my dealer told me when I left his forecourt I would be losing ?1000 immediatly at least he was honest

needforspeed

Well this is what they say about the e61 535d SE:



And retained value comes out at 63.4% - but that is based on their mileage assumptions and pretty much ignores value / cost of options.

It's obviously not that simple. I just looked around the market and checked a variety of on-line valuations to see if the price I was paying was good or bad - and to judge what would be left when it comes to resale.

The AA offer some fairly accurate (IMO) info on their site, but they don't have figures for the 535d yet.

Personally, I think the entire used market has shifted in that older car's just don't have much value these days and are becoming much more 'disposable'. I don't think this is just BMW - I think it's on every brand.

Very few cars are worth much at all after 5/6 years and unfortunately big engined expensive cars take a massive hit in the first year.

There aren't many about, but BMW are still selling one year old 535d's for around ?35k - which is well above what car yr 1 figures.

I tried to beat gthe yr 2 figure when I bought my car (?23,231) and managed ?24K on the nose.

KAF

Asking for, or selling for ??

needforspeed

Quite.... what do you reckon they'll get - I don't think they'll come much below ?34K

pedrollo

As already said, I gave up on the BMW used car prices and paid the extra tuppence for new!

My son has just bought his first car, brand new, and even though he has ? in the bank I suggested he finance it so that he gets used to the idea that a car is a cost per month, however it is paid for.

needforspeed

Good idea I've financed my car over 4 years and the way it works out the cost of paying off the HP works out to be just about the retained value of the car (at least for yrs 1,2 and 3)

It's kind of scary to look at it that way - but I guess it should be - motoring is expensive.

Heiss5

Although I know this is pretty much always certain, I just wanted to share one experience where this was not true. I had a 2001 Mercedes C280 which I paid $28,000 for (it was used, had 6,000 miles on it, and was only like 4 months old). Anyway, I had the car for about 6 months and then I got in a really bad accident where the whole car was totalled. I ended up getting $33,000 for the car. Which just happened to be enough to go out and buy my first BMW, a 2001 330i. Score one for me.

Nopointsyet

I have done mine the same way: over 4 years, but the BMW Finance guy said to trade in after 3 as that way you maximise your return against the outstanding finance, giving you the deposit for your next car - roll on June '08!

NPY

KAF

Surely all that does is increase the cost of the car by 'finance rate' - minus- 'interest rate on his savings'?