I must make amends

September 2, 2008 1:11 PM

How can I find the dealer's auction cost for a 2005 BMW 330ci convertible?

I'm in San Francisco looking to buy a BMW convertible. Found a 2005 330ci @35K, put the VIN into Carfax that says the last transaction was from an auction in April; from there it went to a dealer's lot. So it seems like its been sitting there for 5 months, which I'd think would make them interested in moving it, particularly since they will soon be pushing the 2008's out the door.

I'd love to know what the dealer paid for it. I would think that auctions are a cheap way to get cars. Would the dealer have bought it or would there be an intermediary that buys at auctions for dealers?

Does anyone have any suggestions on finding the value of the car from the dealer's perspective? Thanks.

posted by buzzv to Shopping (3 answers total)

Best answer: The dealer likely went to auction and bought it themselves (and offloaded the crap people traded in like grandma's 2001 Taurus). Find a friend with a Manheim account, but they likely paid about trade-in value, and are selling for retail value (KBB).

Auctions are cheap ways to get cars -- but you also get VERY little information. If the car in question has service records, has been worked over at all, its hard to account for that value. The dealer may have had to replace god knows -- an entire engine! You probably won't talk them down more than a thousand or two off what they are asking unless you are a smooth talker.
posted by SirStan at 1:33 PM on September 2, 2008

Also, "What should I pay for a 2003 330i", "How do I buy a car from auction", "Getting an auto dealer license just to access dealer only auctions worth it" among others talk about the perils of the auction.
posted by SirStan at 3:36 PM on September 2, 2008

Auctions are a cheap way to get cars, but they're just as cheap as all the other ways a used car dealer might get a used car. They're still planning on getting the same markup between trade-in and retail that they'd get if the car came from the last driver. The auctions just let them choose which cars to have on the lot.
posted by mendel at 4:41 PM on September 2, 2008