One of my friends wants to sell his 2008 BMW 328i (that has only 8,000 miles on it) to me around $25,000, is this a good deal not? The car is clean and has no accident, overall in great condition. But I know BMW depreciates very quickly, so I don't know if this is a reasonable price.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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).
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.
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