My car was totaled, looking for a replacement

[jbwolfe]

An uninsured motorist turned in front of me in my M3 last week, and sadly it looks like it's totaled. The search is on for a lightly used replacement, and I'm dreading the process. I also find it frustrating to have only gotten to use the car during the "depreciation phase" - the period where little equity is achieved relative to payments made (half way through a 72mo loan). I drove my last car for 12 years and still have it, and I would have done the same with this one.

Couple of general questions:

Although I was the second owner of the vehicle, to my surprise, I was was covered under the maintenance plan at my preferred dealer through the end of the warranty. I'm not sure if a mistake was made so I never brought it up (I bought it elsewhere). Have any of you experienced the same thing?

Obviously paying full retail for a used car is not the norm, but how much of a discount have you been able to negotiate on used premium cars? 3%, 5%? I know there are many variables.

[Keca10]

I picked up my 2018 recently with 3500 miles on it. It was under 12 months old. BMW also automatically transferred the maintenance plan to me. I didn’t really ask questions.

For used car market:
1) try to understand current market for car you want. I like cars.com national search then deduct ~$2000 for actual transaction price
2) try to understand your own willingness to pay (it might be worth paying little extra for the perfect package)
3). set your walk away point from there. And stick to it.

I walked away from 2 cars (991.1 GTS and an M4 vert) where the dealers didn’t want to work with me. I was within $2000 on the GTS but couldn’t justify paying a dollar more than my officer. I am glad I waited. I did go up by $600 on the M3, but I wanted it enough.


Good deals on CS-es now, especially leases. Look at lease deals and compare to depreciation of similar cars if you buy. Seems like CS are selling for amazing deals.

[NickyC]

Sorry to hear about the car, hope you're back in another one of the most beautiful cars around soon!

[SMGCFP]

There are a lot of used F80's. Many more to come too. I downloaded the kelly blue book app. This will give you an idea (you plug in your zip code) of what they are trading for, selling for privately and on dealer lots.

I was in the car business for 9 months 20 years ago. We were told what the dealer owns the car for and were allowed to mark up accordingly. Some of those cars we marked up 10k!!! I think you can use Kelly as a guide. Then hit them lower. You may also be able to get a feel for how long they've owned it by talking with the non-sales people in the dealership. The longer they've had it, the more room you might have in negotiations.

BMW's lease tremendously well. In fact an Audi salesman (when I looked at an RS5) told me that if I was leasing, that BMW is the way to go because in his words, "they are a lease brand", and that "BMW subsidises their leases".

For whatever that's worth.

[Ex_Stig]

Perfect time to grab a leftover CS!