Good price or not: 2008 BMW 328i with 8,000 miles asking for $25,000

kbb.com

Add the options, color, location, price, etc. and it will return private seller/buyer values.

The mileage looks suspiciously low for this type of car. What does carfax say?

Check the blue book buying and selling prices on the car.

Then think... how much would you be willing to pay for the car? How well does your friend take care of cars?

I'd be willing to pay a lot more money than blue book if I were buying from someone I knew took good care of his car and kept a maintenance log. The break-in period of the engine is critical. Less so than it used to be, but how the car was treated in the first 500 miles is going to affect how it runs a decade from now.

I wouldn't be willing to pay anything NEAR blue book cost if I knew the person I was buying it from was an aggressive driver in the first 500 miles.

Whatever you do, budget the cost to change all of the fluids in that car when you get it. Coolant, brake fluid, oil, transmission fluid. Yeah, I know it has only 8,000 miles on it in three years, which means condensation probably hasn't been driven off in many long drives. Change it all. And check the exhaust system for rust too.

--scott

Miles are low. BMW does not depreciate quickly. You should plug the options into kbb.com and see what the Private Party Value is. You can also look on autotrader.com and see what other cars like this are selling for in your area.

Well, how bad is it likely to be, considering that it's still within the 4-year free maintenance period?

As for logs, I don't believe in them. Too anal. I don't keep logs for my cars, and if anyone thinks that's oh-so-important and won't take my word, they can f*ck-off somewhere else. My cars speak for themselves.

Don't they all (if they've got the mobile phone prep fitted)? ;-)

Eventually it won't be within that period. Someday it will be 15 years old, and when it is, how well it runs will have a lot to do with how well it was treated in the first year or two.

Well, the nice thing about the 4-year free maintenance period is that even if you don't keep logs, the dealer does.

The bad thing about the 4-year free maintenance period is that the schedule has been stripped down to the point where you don't get a lot of services that you really should be doing, like transmission fluid changes.

--scott

Even if the car needed transmission fluid, it would not need it during the first 4 years. Doesn't the 4-year plan have a limitation of 15,000 miles per year? Trans fluid should easily last to 90k or 100k. They _say_ it is lifetime, but I think the experiences of the early E46s with the No Reverse problem proves that fluid needs to be changed occasionally, but I don't think it needs to be changed at 60,000 miles.

You don't think you can tell that an oil change was skipped, 13 years in the past... What else of significance happens, the first couple years?

Even if the car was "beat on", mostly likely the "beat" parts have been replaced.

A test drive will tell you how well a 15 year-old car has been taken care of, overall.

If you keep taking your car there (which I do), they keep the entire history.

Driving, lots of driving. Hopefully following the break-in schedule recommended by the manufacturer. The rings seat, the bearings wear-in.

150,000 miles later, you find out how well the rings seated in the first 500 miles of driving.

That's true, for the most part.

I'm too cheap, I just do it myself and keep it in a notebook in the glove compartment.

--scott

I'm inclined to think 60-80K for the first change. Remember when you change the fluid, you're actually changing out only about half of it. So when you get to the second change at 120k, half the fluid is 60k old and half is 120k old.

If you're doing a full exchange, that's different, but that's also a lot more work, a lot more expense, and you can't do it in the driveway.

But then, I change manual transmission gear oil every 60k or so...

--scott

In other words, nothing that any "log" will tell you.

That's why I say my cars speak for themselves. Of course, I'll also tell them the history, and they can even have it professionally checked-out, if they want.

But detailed "logs"? Sorry, if someone thinks that's so important, they'll have to shop elsewhere (and, most likely, get a car that wasn't as well-cared-for as mine).

Having the log for your own sake might be the best reason to keep one. It could be easily forgotten when the brake-fluid flush was last done...

And I suppose, it would look good to a prospective buyer...

Exactly. If you don't keep a log, how do you know when it's time for PM like fluid changes? I can remember when my next oil change is, but I have no idea when the transmission fluid change is due without looking in the book.

It does, but I don't know how many people look for it.

--scott