Hey, i had my 05 TL 6MT non/Navi with 25000Miles on it.
now i wanna trade it in for 330, but fear the BMW dealer will rip me off on the trade in price, but dont wanna go though all the hassle for selling it on newspaper..etc.
Please tell me whats best way to do it.... Thanks.

 

Go to CarMax if there is one where you live. They will make an offer to buy your car that is good for 7 days or 300 miles which ever comes first. Then you have a valid offer to go the BMW dealer with on your trade. Do not mention that you want to trade until you have negotiated the price on the 330. When you have negotiated the deal on the new car then bring up the trade. See what they will offer you for the TL. You can then show them what CarMax will give you and tell them they can purchase it from you for $500 more than CarMax will pay.

 

How well does CarMax usualy pay? Do they use the NADA guide? Do they pay wholesale? Trade-in?

 

Im interested in knowing this too.

 

usually if the bmw dealership is big, they will have an appraiser who will look at every aspect of your can and deduct money from the factory msrp base on it. Such examples are iif the leather is torn or scratched on the armrest, deduction of 200 dollars. My friends dad is an appriaser and i'll ask him how uch its worth

 

Another big thing to think about is that you usually get more money if the dealer you are trading to sells what you are trading (ie the BMW dealer also sells Acura or he is owned by someone who owns an Acura dealer). We all know that you pay more if you buy at an Acura dealer than if you got it at a Ford dealer but you cannot get Certified used and whatever else. This is how I have always gotten as much as I could for my trades. Also, like cleanup said, do not discuss the trade untill after you have a price for the car. Just say that you want a second car to your TL and once you have a price for the BMW, "decide" that you cannot afford both and have them apraise the TL and show them the other appraisal from CarMax. If you deal on both cars at the same time, you are allowing them to move the numbers arround on you to make you feel good about the deal (ie give you $2000 over blue book for your car but have you pay full price for the BMW), it is all a numbers game. If you do not think you may be blinded by the thrill of a new car, take a friend to be your wingman (but at the dealership that is spelled a@@hole). I have helped many people by being their wingman. It is eaiser to have someone to even up the odds once once the dealer brings out the manager and his assistant manager and the janator and anybody else they can find to intimidate you into paying THEIR price. Good luck.

 

before bmw was going to offer me $4,000 for my 99 mitsu eclipse. I sold it in the paper for $8,000... the car was in great condition no paint damage, interior and exterior was great. if they took it for $6k i would have traded it but they did not. for some reason bmw low balls compared to honda, lexus, etc...

 

Good advice. Either a friend (who has been prepped to talk up the competition's vehicle(s)-- i.e. "but the Mercedes has this, and the Infiniti has that..."), parent or spouse who can negotiate and is prepped can be helpful in car purchase situations. I've always done that for my vehicles.
Don't think I've overpaid yet (but my wife disagrees... ).

 

Assuming CarMax is offering what the car is worth, wholesale, which they usually do, then why would the BMW dealer have any incentive to pay more than that? They could buy a TL at auction or wait for the next trade, assuming they really wanted a TL on their BMW lot.

In many states with sales tax, when you trade in a car, you only have to pay sales tax on the difference between the new car price and the trade in allowance. So you are saving quite a bit of money by trading in at the same dealer you are buying the new car at. (If your trade is worth $20K and your sales tax rate is 6%, then you just "saved" $1200).

Two points relative to that: In these states, it can be worth it to trade in the car rather than sell it yourself, due to that sales tax savings. (You'd have to sell the TL in a private sale for $1200 more than the trade-in value, in the example above, just to come out EVEN). Also, the BMW dealer would know all about the sales tax savings, and could even offer $500 LESS than CarMax and you'd still come out ahead.

 

Let's see. If the BMW dealer could make 3 - 4 thousand dollars by selling an Acura on their used car lot they would just rather pass that money up? neither CarMax or the BMW dealer is going to wholesale a 2005 high-end car, period!!! They are going to put it up for sale on their lot it they are a Ferrari, Lambourghini, Toyota, Nissan, Chevy, Ford, or Volkswagon dealer. All I was trying to do was give the person some negotiating room if he doesn't want to sell his car privately. Why the negativity from you, without a real good option? The guy doesn't say in his monkier which state he is from so who flucking knows if he is in one of the trax advantaged states. Going to CarMax is a no obligation way to start the ball rolling.

 

thanks guys, I am learning.
however, i am in New York, and they dont have carmax in new york...
Lets said if the bmw dealer give me some shitty price,
what else i can do to make him increase it?
Or whats the best alternative: ebay, cragslist, newspaper...etc??

 

In New York... they probably don't have carmax... however, they do have CarCash... and they are located on 625 West 55th Street (between 11th and 12th Aves.)

 

You can try to get them to charge you less for the BMW. Bid back to them and try to talk them down. But I am getting ahead of my self. First thing is once they test drive your car, get your keys back, saying something like you do not want to lose your house keys or some other BS. They love to keep your keys to make you feel traped. By taking your keys, youcan leave whenever you want. If the deal seems crappy, Get up an start to leave. If they let you leave, then leave. You can always come back or go to another BMW dealer. I would assume there is more than 1 BMW dealer in your area. Always be ready to walk out. You do not need this car, but they need your sale. I usually "leave" 3 or 4 times in a car deal. This pushes them to try harder. Remember, they want your car and to sell you a new car.

 

How much do you want for it. You can always post it for sale on Acurazine's "Black Market" / "Private Sales & Trades" and see what happens. Ohter option would be Ebay Motors, cars.com and autotrader.com. I don't have any experience selling or buying cars online, but I did buy a motorcycle from ebay, but the guy was local and I was able to go test drive the bike before buying.

 

A stated before, work your deal BEFORE bringing the trade into the picture.

I always feel a good # is the asking price OTD before trade.

so if the BWM you want is 35K try to get the car OTD for 35K then add your TL on top of that.


If you're good, you should have no issues with getting it for that price.

also I can't push this point enough, go into the dealership with cash in hand. AKA get pre approved for a car loan of X many dollars. DO NOT let them finance your car unless they have a kick ass deal that isnt a 12/24 month deal. a lot of the 0% loans are only for a short time then they jump up to 10-12-14-16%.....

I always go to dealers knowing the cash is in place. and I play the "I'll buy a car today if give it to me for my asking price" if they play hard ball, say thanks but sorry, I know of a few other cars that are in the price range I want to spend, They're a few miles farther to drive to but it's worth it to save the money. So far I've been able to get really good deals.