[makiko]

I have a 2015 435i Coupe that's been hardly used, with only 2600 miles on it. I've decided to sell the car because I need the money. Can you guys suggest on how I can get the most amount of money for it? I was thinking about selling it back to the BMW dealer where I purchased it from. The car is in immaculate condition since it's stays in the garage most of the time. I'm sad to let her go, she's such a beauty, but I have much more important priorities that I need to take care of.

So it's either selling it to a dealer or a private party. But I've never sold a car before, so I'm not sure what the best process is. I appreciate any advice and tips you guys can offer me.

[HotTea69]

Private party will always be the highest value.

No matter how good the condition of the car, remember the dealers are in the business to profit, there fore they will 100% undervalue your car. Because they need to resell it back.

Asking Private party you guys can come to an agreed market value.
If you are in no rush to sell the car, then I would list the car on all different kinds of internet postings to get the most exposure. Forums, Car selling websites, Craigslist etc.

Good luck selling the car!

[S4NoMore]

Sounds like you don't have a lot of experience with this - my advice would be to get the car appraised at your dealer and your local carmax for an idea of the least amount you can get. Then go to KBB and look up the private party value for excellent condition, and list it for sale on Craigslist as well as Autotrader and/or cars.com at that price (or maybe round up) with as many good photos as you can manage, and service history, inspection results etc.

If you're looking to do it fast, Carmax might be a good path but you'll no doubt be getting less than what it's worth on the open market.

If you are able to hold out for a few weeks or longer, I'm sure the right buyer will come along. You'll want to research (google) the title transfer process for your state. If you haven't paid off the car, you won't be able to say "title in hand," but that's not a deal breaker for everyone. It's still doable and just adds a week or maybe a couple weeks of wait time for the buyer before they can take delivery from you. Sounds like you have a clean 435 which should be worth the the wait. Good luck!

[floydarogers]

As said already, private party sales will return you more. However, it's not the easiest route to take.

Don't be too stingy with advertising dollars: although you can get a free ad on cars.com, it's probably not worth it due to the limited listing. I sold a car on autotrader but paid $25 or something like that for a semi-basic ad. Craigslist, while free, generally doesn't attract high-end buyers - often people are bargain hunting on CL.

A second route is a consignment dealer. You tell them how much you want and they charge you a percentage, or sometimes fixed price. Don't forget that they're car dealers are it's rare that someone will out-negotiate them for the commission/cut.

[donkey]

I would avoid private party sales unless you're really familiar with the process or know a buyer...

Do you really want to pay to get the car detailed, list the car on car websites, get dozens of calls, have buyers that back out and tire kickers, and pay car payments the whole time you're trying to sell it (could take a month or more)?

Just sell it at the dealer IMO.

[tex2670]

While I admit I've never sold a car private party, if you go this route, you need to look on line to read articles about scammers; there's tons of them on Craiglist. I've gotten inquiries from scammers for practically every item I've ever sold on CL.

If you make a deal through CL or anywhere else with a private buyer, you and the buyer should go together to the buyer's bank so you can see the bank cut the a bank check so you know it's not fake.

[metallicpea]

High value near new cars are tough to sell private party. People shopping private party are looking for lower value cars or older models. People shopping for newer cars don't often even browse the private market, so use some place where the ads cross over like cars.com or autotrader. Don't even bother with craigslist in that case. I have sold my last 3 or 4 cars on craigslist, but the newest one was about 7 years old with a value of 15k and even that was pushing it - although it did sell.

You just don't often find people wanting to risk a purchase that large when they can buy a similar car used with warranty from a dealer for similar money.

[Uthemang31]

I second Tex2670, going to buyers bank to verify the availability of the funds. Limit taking a personal check b/c you are unable to verify funds.

[makiko]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Well I just got back from the BMW dealer and got an appraisal, and they gave me a price of $42500. Which is a bit low than what I was expecting. I looked up to see what kind of price I could expect when selling it to the dealer and it ranged from 45-47k. I asked the person who gave me the appraisal why the price is so low and that KBB gave me a higher number. They told me that they don't use KBB because the price is higher and that they use blackbook and another company to get the appraisal value.

Sigh, I'm losing more than $20k on this, the car is practically new. I know the value depreciates once you drive it off the lot, but $42k seems quite low. What do you guys think? I think I'll take your advice on not dealing with selling to a private party, especially on CL. Should I try another dealer to see if they can offer me a higher price?

Or what about selling it in the classified section here?

[mbfanos]

Originally Posted by makiko

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Well I just got back from the BMW dealer and got an appraisal, and they gave me a price of $42500. Which is a bit low than what I was expecting. I looked up to see what kind of price I could expect when selling it to the dealer and it ranged from 45-47k. I asked the person who gave me the appraisal why the price is so low and that KBB gave me a higher number. They told me that they don't use KBB because the price is higher and that they use blackbook and another company to get the appraisal value.

Sigh, I'm losing more than $20k on this, the car is practically new. I know the value depreciates once you drive it off the lot, but $42k seems quite low. What do you guys think? I think I'll take your advice on not dealing with selling to a private party, especially on CL. Should I try another dealer to see if they can offer me a higher price?

Or what about selling it in the classified section here?

Have you tried Carmax and Autotrader?

[makiko]

I haven't tried carmax yet, but I figured they would offer me a much lesser quote than the BMW dealer... BTW, I have the title under my name, and the car has been fully paid off.

I will give autotrader a shot.

[tex2670]

Originally Posted by makiko

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Well I just got back from the BMW dealer and got an appraisal, and they gave me a price of $42500. Which is a bit low than what I was expecting. I looked up to see what kind of price I could expect when selling it to the dealer and it ranged from 45-47k. I asked the person who gave me the appraisal why the price is so low and that KBB gave me a higher number. They told me that they don't use KBB because the price is higher and that they use blackbook and another company to get the appraisal value.

Sigh, I'm losing more than $20k on this, the car is practically new. I know the value depreciates once you drive it off the lot, but $42k seems quite low. What do you guys think? I think I'll take your advice on not dealing with selling to a private party, especially on CL. Should I try another dealer to see if they can offer me a higher price?

Or what about selling it in the classified section here?

Virtually no dealer will give you KBB value.

Originally Posted by makiko

I haven't tried carmax yet, but I figured they would offer me a much lesser quote than the BMW dealer... BTW, I have the title under my name, and the car has been fully paid off.

From what I've seen on forums, it's the opposite--Car Max is usually higher than the dealer, but lower than private sale. It's worth a visit.

[makiko]

Really? i didn't know that, I'll try CarMax then.

[akack79]

I just sold my 2014 435i F32 earlier this month on autotrader:

1) use ebb/edmunds to see what your cars value is worth ( not what you think it's worth )
2) get it appraised from carmax to get an idea what a low ball offer would be
3) sold my car in 2 weeks on auto trader - provide a detailed description of your vehicle and plenty of photos
4) don't take personal checks....cashier's check only and finalize transaction at your bank
5) patience and be realistic on your price

Also autotrader and edmunds has a "value your car" and local dealers will give you an estimate for your car, from my experience usually higher than what carmax will offer.

[Outrun]

I'm curious as to why dealers don't follow KBB values?

[HotTea69]

I would stay away from KBB or Edmunds, Like mentioned, No dealer will use those values. They have their own system in determining values because they take depreciation, market supply, and market demand in to consideration where as KBB and Edmunds only does a simple straight line depreciation. This is why youll see prices vary from region to region across the states.

As for selling, When I sold my Car, I happened to have the same bank as my buyer so i asked him to do a funds transfer.

If not, then You can go to the bank with your buyer and physically see them make the cashiers check. Theres no possible way of fraud then. Any buyer who is not willing to do that is pretty much trying to hide something as I see not harm in going to your buyers bank with them to have a cashiers check made out to you.

You also have to remember, You are losing 20k Because
1) It is now a USED vehicle, Regardless of mileage.
2) Next buyer becomes 2nd Owner, Automatically depreciating the car.
3) Dealers offer TRADE IN Value because they still need to sell the car back out.

[wrickem]

I've always had great luck with selling my cars listed on Autotrader when it was their go. I think out of the 7 I've sold through listing there, I've only had one kind of suspicious e-mail unlike what you hear of Craigslist. It's well worth paying a little $ to write a nice ad, post pictures and actually sell your car. Good luck

[BEM-S4]

Try a few different dealers especially for instance if you have a RWD car in New England it may be worth driving it down south. Dealers base their pricing on recent auctions and what their wholesalers tell them, but it can vary quite a bit. I traded my dad's one year old Allroad on his new BMW wagon and lowest offer to highest offer I got was $8k different.

[Kabrich]

Originally Posted by Outrun

I'm curious as to why dealers don't follow KBB values?

Any item is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

Dealers know what is selling on their lots. They do not need KBB or Edmunds.

They also have access to Mannheim to see what the cars are bringing at Auction

Might want to read this thread as well

http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1317539

[Gearhog]

Why don't you give us all the details about your car along with some pictures and maybe someone on here will be interested in buying it?

[jondaman]

Originally Posted by makiko

I have a 2015 435i Coupe that's been hardly used, with only 2600 miles on it. I've decided to sell the car because I need the money. Can you guys suggest on how I can get the most amount of money for it? I was thinking about selling it back to the BMW dealer where I purchased it from. The car is in immaculate condition since it's stays in the garage most of the time. I'm sad to let her go, she's such a beauty, but I have much more important priorities that I need to take care of.

So it's either selling it to a dealer or a private party. But I've never sold a car before, so I'm not sure what the best process is. I appreciate any advice and tips you guys can offer me.

Private seller will get you the most money if that is your primary concern, but it will also take the longest and most work. I typically start by looking at couple different places to get an idea of price, KBB gives a good starting point, but eBay Auto will give you a better idea about the "going rate" (KBB could be under or over estimated the value).

Make sure you keep your car clean, nice, and smells good so the buyers have confidence that you took care of the car.

The easiest way is to sell to a dealer, if you are not buying a car, they will not give you a great price for selling to a brand dealer (BMW, MB, etc). You can get more from selling to CarMax, they give you an appraisal right away and you have seven days to decide to sell it to them or not. Then they cut you a check. Because they have to profit, so you will not get as much money as selling it privately.

Last, you can try listing it here in the classify, someone may be interested

[Kabrich]

Originally Posted by makiko

Well I just got back from the BMW dealer and got an appraisal, and they gave me a price of $42500.

Sigh, I'm losing more than $20k on this, the car is practically new.

To be clear, the Sticker was ~$65k (so you have virtually every option on it?).

I only see 1 2015 435i on Carmax Nationwide (Houston) and they want $48k for that one with 8k miles. Unfortunately it's a new arrival and no other details as to options for comparison.

And there is only 1 with 9k miles on Autotrader in San Diego with 9k miles for $47k.

And eBay prices are not going to make you feel even better

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Cars-Trucks/...pe=Coupe%7C%21

However if they are similarity equipped, $42k might be a good price. Carmax tries for a higher percentage on their cars.