Selling 1 Year Old BMW - Best Option?

Chris344

Chris344

Chris344

Associate
Joined
2 Oct 2006
Posts
2,393
Location
Bexleyheath, London.
Last year, I purchased a BMW 1 series as a pre-reg with zero miles directly from BMW.

My circumstances have changed and I no longer need the car, it is pretty much just sat on the drive.

Spec is:
118i Shadow Edition
3 door
Auto
3.5k Miles

I’ve tried WBAC and a couple of local garages however, the valuations seem a little low.

Can anyone recommend any other ways to offload it and clear the finance?
TIA.
 
Chris344 said:
Last year, I purchased a BMW 1 series as a pre-reg with zero miles directly from BMW.

My circumstances have changed and I no longer need the car, it is pretty much just sat on the drive.

Spec is:
118i Shadow Edition
3 door
Auto
3.5k Miles

I’ve tried WBAC and a couple of local garages however, the valuations seem a little low.

Can anyone recommend any other ways to offload it and clear the finance?
TIA.
Click to expand...

Is the car on a lot of finance? What is the settlement figure and is this more than the trade in values?

What is the same car selling for at BMW approved used main dealers? Look for the lowest/low priced directly comparable.

How far apart is the trade valuation Vs BMW approved?

Selling yourself (piston heads/autotrader etc) will get somewhere between the 2 but it's a tough market for private sales unless you are the cheapest one and undercut BMW by some margin.
 
If you don't sell to a trader then you will need to clear the finance before selling (get a loan if you don't have the means to ckear it yourself). Otherwise private buyers will be detered when they do a check.

Selling a one year old BMW is going to be tricky anyway. Most people buying a car of that value will want the comfort of buying from a dealer and many will need their own finance. So the pool of private buyers will be fairly small.

But try the usually places such as AT and pistonsheds.
 
Hmm, just had a look on BMW and 12 month old (August) 118i 3dr Auto Shadow Editions start at £17.5k.

By 20k you are into 19 plate ones.

Privately you're in the £15-16k-£17k top bracket I suspect then.

We Buy Any Car say £15,700 so main dealers may be similar on direct sale.
 
Hades said:
If you don't sell to a trader then you will need to clear the finance before selling (get a loan if you don't have the means to ckear it yourself). Otherwise private buyers will be detered when they do a check.

Selling a one year old BMW is going to be tricky anyway. Most people buying a car of that value will want the comfort of buying from a dealer and many will need their own finance. So the pool of private buyers will be fairly small.

But try the usually places such as AT and pistonsheds.
Click to expand...
I’ve bought a car privately with outstanding finance. The seller called and cleared the balance while I was there. For some reason they wouldn’t take the payment from me so I had to transfer the money to him so he could pay it off. As long as you’re clear with the buyer then it’s not really a problem for most sellers.
 
MissChief said:
I’ve bought a car privately with outstanding finance. The seller called and cleared the balance while I was there. For some reason they wouldn’t take the payment from me so I had to transfer the money to him so he could pay it off. As long as you’re clear with the buyer then it’s not really a problem for most sellers.
Click to expand...

Rightly or wrongly though it puts a lot of buyers off. Perception is everything and some peoples perception is that outstanding finance = no.
 
[TW]Fox said:
Rightly or wrongly though it puts a lot of buyers off. Perception is everything and some peoples perception is that outstanding finance = no.
Click to expand...
Exactly. Unless its a very desirable car then I would just move on to the next one without a 'problem'.
 
Could try tootle? Seems like the way a lot of the m135/m140 owners were shifting theirs and it's likely where I'd look when i come to move mine on, if it's still competitive anyway!
 
Thanks guys.

Outstanding finance is £17.5k - A local dealer offered £16k and BMW (purchase) garage offered 14.7k. Mileage is around 3300.

I am happy to clear the finance before a sale however, I’ve never sold a car of this value privately and read many horror stories.

At this stage, I’m thinking of just going back to the local dealer and seeing if they would be prepared to up their offer to £16.5k and taking the hit.

It is better than another year worth of finance payments, insurance and general costs.
 
[TW]Fox said:
Rightly or wrongly though it puts a lot of buyers off. Perception is everything and some peoples perception is that outstanding finance = no.
Click to expand...

Too many horror stories of people buying a car with outstanding finance, previous owner defaulting and the finance company taking the car back. Pretty much nothing you can do in that situation.
 
akaFonzie said:
Could try tootle? Seems like the way a lot of the m135/m140 owners were shifting theirs and it's likely where I'd look when i come to move mine on, if it's still competitive anyway!
Click to expand...

Thanks buddy. Just done a bit of reading in regard to Tootle, the website seems to be down at the moment?

It appears that they are no longer trading.
 
Last edited:
Dis86 said:
Too many horror stories of people buying a car with outstanding finance, previous owner defaulting and the finance company taking the car back. Pretty much nothing you can do in that situation.
Click to expand...
If a buyer does their due diligence and doesn’t take the car until they can be sure the finance is cleared then I personally had no issue buying a car on finance.
 
imo, i wouldn't buy a car that has finance on it
if the seller pays it off first, then id buy the car
i wouldn't pay the finance of for him
 
Agreed, I wouldn’t buy a car with finance outstanding. Hence, I am happy to clear it first.

Just trying to ascertain the best route for selling. Selling to a dealer means they would clear the finance but offer less and selling private at this level introduces risks.

Waiting on a local dealer to come back to me today/tomorrow re upping their offer. Will take a hit on this.
 
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