@JasonRunco. That is s nice looking car and from the description seems to be well-maintained. I don’t know much about pricing, but it sounds as though your price isn’t out of line.
My question is: “Why are you selling the car?”
@JasonRunco, where do you advertise?
cars.com?
craigslist?
ebay?
are you getting absolutely no hits or low volume?
no hits would indicate that although the car looks great, you are above what people expect to pay
also, it took me around 5 weeks to sell much more common 7-years old Nissan Altima, I had to advertise on cars.com and craigslist and was getting 2-3 hits a week, sold it 100% spot-on KBB “private party” value. trying to list it higher resulted in zero hits
my car condition was pretty much “like new” too, but it did not shrift the final price a iota
It’s also a heckuvalot more trouble, worry, and aggravation than you’ll get from a similarly priced Honda… Or one that’s half the price, for that matter.
These days anything that does 0-60 in more than 5 seconds is considered mid-range at best, performance-wise. You are, after all, only half a second faster than my old '07 Acura (Honda) TL. I personally think considering either one of those cars “slow” is absurd, but I don’t get to make the rules.
The trouble you face is that, using my TL as an example, I have put less than $2000 into it for repair, and that’s only if you count the mandatory timing belt job at 105k. If you don’t count that, I’ve spent less than $500 maintaining it.
People are starting to figure out that you generally can’t even come close to doing that with a modern BMW, and so they know they need deep pockets in order to own one. But if they have deep pockets, why would they buy your old used one when they could just go buy a new one?
I don’t think your price is terribly out of line, but as you said, it’s a niche market car for a niche buyer that needs to be frugal enough to buy a used car, but spendthrift enough to not worry about paying lots of money to keep it on the road. I think you’re going to have to be patient for awhile if you really want to sell it.
The car has been posted on craigslist and I’ve been getting hits but most people seem to be non-serious buyers and others have thrown our absurdly low offers. I’ve owned this car for seven years and the only reason I’m selling it as I feel that it’s time for a change. I always hear people knocking BMWs for repair cost which somewhat true as they tend to be a bit more pricey than your average car however I don’t see them as being any more unreliable than your average car. This car has never had any major repair issues. In fact I just replaced the rotors and pads on all four tires, put new tires on it, and replaced the battery as normal maintenance.
Why not trade it in and get something new?
Not the place I would expect to sell a limited appeal BMW . Especially at the high end of Kelley Blue Book pricing.
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@JasonRunco. With a car as good as yours, I would see no reason to want anything different. My wife drives a well maintained 2003 Toyota 4Runner. It looks like it just came out of the showroom. There is no way she would part with that 4Runner. I drove a 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon with the 4-4-2 trim package for 33 years.
I’ll admit that I can’t tell one model year BMW from another. From the picture, your car looks brand new. If I were in your place, I would enjoy quite a few more years from the car.
I would advertise that car in Hemmings.
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Yeah, or at least cars.com. Selling anything on Craigslist in an exercise in infuriation, in my experience.
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Yes, I second the suggestion to advertise on cars.com
On Craigslist, it is workable, I sold 2 cars there, but my takeaway is that you have to be very aggressive in eliminating low-ballers.
Both good buyers I’ve got from there were respecting me and they received respect in return as we worked thorough transaction.
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Given what @JasonRunco posted, I’ll answer the question exactly the same…
It is a 6 series… a touring car purchased by folks that want an automatic. This is not a 3 series or a 1 series, sporty sedan or coupe. It is not selling because it is a manual transmission in a car that buyers want automatics.
You either advertise it in the BMW club magazine, the Roundel, or on BMW enthusiast sites or drop your price a LOT.
You could try listing it on EBay, put in a reasonable starting bid, say $10,000, and a reserve price that you’d be happy with. If it sellls, great, if not you’ll at least have a reasonable estimate for the true market price.
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One problem with Craigslist is that there will be a lot of dealers hitting that site up every day and trying to find a steal. They will start at 8 in the morning firing off emails and making phone calls while hoping that a certain percentage of their contacts will end up as a flipping deal.
It may well be the season, I bet a lot more buyers will be looking in warm spring weather or when school is out (same with houses). It also may depend on the market you’re in - in drives across the country I see many more BMWs in CA especially, and around big cities but not many in rural areas, the Midwest, etc. Plenty of people appreciate the driving experience of MT’s and seek them out and I’d like to think that the fewer buyers overall are chasing fewer available cars, he just needs one. If there are good independent BMW mechanics in your area he might let them know it’s available - they may know of a prospective buyer, let him post a photo and note on a bulletin board, or allow him to park it in their lot with a sign (he could offer a consignment fee). Also check with the local BMW owners’ club, or join them for a year, advertise in their newsletter, and take it to club events where he will meet brand enthusiasts. For a good first impression keep it spotless inside and out (and wheels and engine compartment), and waxed.
I did not see this problem myself, but I would not list my phone on Craigslist either.
Email only, deal with inquiries at your convenience.
I’d avoid it, just due to the cost of maintenance. My SAAB was wonderful to drive, when it was not in the repair shop. However, anyone looking for a Beemer, should know to expect a high maintenance cost. I’d love another European manual tranny car, but my Toyota engine spoils me.
I’ve had mixed results, doing better in high population metropolitan areas than rural ones. I sold one motorcycle on Craigslist and One on eBay after it didn’t sell on Craigslist. The first sold to a guy in South Florida when I worked in Jupiter. The second sold to a guy in the Orlando area who came to Fort Pierce to pick it up. Evidently, eBay casts a wider net, and Craigslist is more of a local thing.
My advice to the OP is to stick a “for sale” sign in the window and enjoy driving it. List it on eBay (which costs nothing until it sells and allows you to take credit card and PayPal payments). eBay also offers access to vehicle financing, although I’ve never looked into it.
Not too many people like the manual transmission…can’t text and drive with a manual transmission.
Considering that the point in which I posted, we hadn’t heard back from the OP or her son, any advice, even advice that isn’t seemingly positive or listing alternate posting options is still valid.
@JasonRunco In my area, as nice as it looks I highly doubt you’d get close to 18k. Here’s KBB for my zipcode:
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$18k is just about retail price for this car. Private party sale (which is what you’re selling as) should be closer $16.5k-$17k. So assuming you’re willing to come down on price a little bit, your starting price isn’t outrageous or anything.
The manual transmission might be a hindrance, but this is sort of a niche car, it appeals to people who know what it is, and not everyone knows what it is.
It also costs a hell of a lot more money to fix should something go wrong than a similarly priced Honda.
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