M140i/M135i - come in Johnny Racing...

My recent purchase of the X5 and subsequent discussions with friends has confirmed what I thought, which is that few private punters will spend over about £12K for a used car. The reasons are relatively obvious:

1. Not many people have access to £12K in cash, though it's easy enough to get a high street loan/finance draw down on that amount. Figures for the amount of people who use dealer finance (which is generally more expensive than high street) show people are often just lazy when it comes to hunting out finance deals.

2. Most people want the piece of mind of some form of warranty at that price level, even if the actual warranty you get from some dealers isn't much use. I'll admit that I've put a warranty on the X5 just in case though I doubt I will renew it as the mileage at that point will make the cost/risk ratio not so good.

3. Most people lack of the level of knowledge to trust themselves buying a car privately.

4. Most people lack the level of knowledge/confidence to sell privately so need to part-ex.

People think the X5 is a high cost vehicle but buying at 5 yrs old makes it cheaper to run than a new 3 series. Most people wouldn't take the risk and probably don't have deep enough pockets to cover the type of bills it could throw up (not that mine are limitless, I won't be buying a Porsche any time soon).

If you should want a quote on buying then a friend on another forum seems to hoover up interesting stuff - www.carrevolution.co.uk/

No idea what he'd offer but he doesn't need to make large dealer margins. If anyone's looking to buy then he only sells decent stuff as he warrants it for 6 months (generally, though shorter on cheaper stuff) himself rather than just getting an insurance policy warranty.

I do wonder if the people looking for a used 135i are less bothered about the equipment and more bothered about whether it is white or not?

Being picky, if it's a trader he looks like a very bad one as the pics are on the drive of a private house and in front of some national trust property. Therefore it looks like the "dodgy dave
dealing from his drive" type of trader. Not a brilliant ad either.

I'd be getting it photographed in one location (the National trust one is fine) and ditching the home driveway shots.

I'd make it clear how much BMW Warranty remains and how much left on Service pack. Personally I'd dump the pics of the detailing products too, again looks a bit barry.

Personally I'd be preferring to buy directly from an enthusiast owner (with an ad telling me how well they've looked after their car) than a small time trader.