About to trade in my 1994 540i E34 - what is a reasonable value?

[larry26 24]

I am about to trade in my 1994 540i E34 for  EV.

It's done 79K, fully spec'ed with leather interior, electric seats, sun roof and after market JVC sound system with integrated reversing camera. Wheel are on 17" BS mags (albeit a bit curb rashed).

 

Runs fine, just having had new front suspension things (not sure - maybe trailing arms?)P and new front disks and rear disks/drums and rotors.

 

Just wondering what I should ask for a tradein - just a fair value

 

Thanks

[Eagle 1661]

Photos would be good but most average around 4-6k asking. Dont think they would offer you much on a tradein with a car like this - not very popular or sort after so hard to sell

[larry26 24]

Here are some photos - note the car does need a good wash 😞

[Jacko 2153]

They may offer like 2-3k as a trade in, not worth it. 

[Twistee 451]

That's a nice example, fits what I've been looking for. Wife has unfortunately stopped me buying another toy for the next few months. Pity to see it traded for peanuts. 

[C-130 Hercules 570]

Keep it. It'll appreciate. 

[Twistee 451]

What are you actually wanting for it, there are plenty of us that have impulse issues and are great at man maths. 

[larry26 24]

24 minutes ago, C-130 Hercules said:

Keep it. It'll appreciate. 

My mechanic I should sell it because even though it's low k's it's old and he said things are going to slowly break from age. Unless I can find another mechanic who is less expensive and equally or even more skilled living in the Wellington area,

[larry26 24]

22 minutes ago, Twistee said:

What are you actually wanting for it, there are plenty of us that have impulse issues and are great at man maths. 

I would probably take $5K ONO and throw in a new set of front Bilstein shocks I bought in error 😞

Edited August 19, 2022 by larry26

[Eagle 1661]

Those BBS wheels maybe worth a bit to someone if you sold separate 

30 minutes ago, larry26 said:

My mechanic I should sell it because even though it's low k's it's old and he said things are going to slowly break from age. Unless I can find another mechanic who is less expensive and equally or even more skilled living in the Wellington area,

Not wrong really. They are much cheaper to fix up than the newer models but they are old and most are on worn out parts (esp suspension side)

Edited August 19, 2022 by Eagle

[GorGasm 563]

Looks like a sick deal for $5k but a dealer will give you a sh*t sandwich for it and expect you to enjoy.

[curryinahurry 39]

Pity you're not in Auckland.... its very tempting!

[Twistee 451]

13 minutes ago, curryinahurry said:

Pity you're not in Auckland.... its very tempting!

My thoughts exactly.

[KwS 2421]

Id buy that for 5k in a heartbeat if it didnt spend all my money on broken British cars already.

Want an 09 Swift Sport to trade in instead? 😅

Edited August 19, 2022 by KwS

[treone 645]

As mentioned, dealer will probably offer you a token amount as a trade (my guess $1k-$2k max?).

Hmmm, an e34 for the work commute would be cool! You’re Wellington based?

[SmithyInWelly 212]

5 hours ago, treone said:

Hmmm, an e34 for the work commute would be cool! You’re Wellington based?

You know it makes sense!

[C-130 Hercules 570]

Take it on a final road trip towards Auckland with a for sale sign on it. You'll get more than trade in. 

[Twistee 451]

Pretty sure it would be sold already if it was in Auckland 😁

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

15 hours ago, Jacko said:

They may offer like 2-3k as a trade in, not worth it. 

Depends on how the whole deal is stacked, trade in is only one part of the transaction. Funny how many people focus solely on the price of their trade and forget about all the other factors in the deal.

What are you buying? What price are you paying? Finance rate? Deposit contribution? Outstanding finance? Orc? CCD? Warranty? Etc, etc, etc…

Unless the dealer you are buying from likes taking a huge risk on an old expensive to fix BMW they are only going to wholesale it off to someone so there’s no money in the trade for them, so it would most likely be of benefit to you to sell privately and not include it in deal for the other car.

[larry26 24]

The trading is going to be for a BYD Atto3 EV. 

 

I like messages about going to Auckland. Even at 16 l per 100km and with a price of 95 the way it is that may be worth a trip up there for a few days.

 

The problem is I wouldn't know how to sell it unless I put it on TradeMe perhaps left it up there with a relative

[C-130 Hercules 570]

Meguiar's Coffee & Cars every last Sunday of the month at Mt Smart Stadium usually draws a good crowd of people. 

[larry26 24]

Since I seem to have generated a bit of interest in the car in terms of potential purchase I thought I would include the following in the interests of full disclosure. Excuse the length of this posting but it provides the background to the issue.

The other day when out and about I got back to the car and the remote in the key didn't work. I turned the key in the door and all hell broke loose with alarms going off and lights flashing. And the car was effectively immobilised. With no other options had it towed to my mechanic late at night. The next day he called me to say the IR sender in the remote was dead and I needed a new key. I did have a spare but I had not been able to pair it so it was never used.   I gave it to them and left it with them.

A day later they called to say they had managed to get the car to run but they found the immobiliser module had failed so they removed it. They had spent a lot of time diagnosing the problem unplugging modules until they got it to start.

This module

https://www.ebay.com/itm/283504956363

But when I picked up the car I also found that the OBC display was no longer working and since it was closing time all they could say it was probably because the immobiliser module was gone.  That did not make sense to me so after some reseach somebody mentioned that the OBC is powered from the immobiliser module and if that module is really dead I could bypass it and just power the OBC directly from the power feed going to the immobiliser.

I plan to take it back to the mechanic next week to have them try that.

Also I actually wonder if the immobiliser is bad or it's just because the mechanic, not being a BMW dealer does not have the equipment to program a new key when this process is not available.

https://www.justanswer.com/bmw/30pvk-re-initialise-1994-e34-540-remote-key-opening.html

I wonder if I took the car to the BMW dealer they could program the key using their equipment? I don't mind paying for their service. 

 

 

[Twistee 451]

Go to a reputable BMW independent and get them to resolve it. No one likes fixing another shops problems, but most will take pity if it's a straight forward fix and sort you a good price. That has been my experience anyway. I'm sure that other members here can point you to some non main dealer service centers in your neck of the woods. 

[str8_6 275]

You’d be giving the local BMW dealer credit thinking they could pair a key. I doubt they could program a reset of the service lights.

2 hours ago, larry26 said:

I wonder if I took the car to the BMW dealer they could program the key using their equipment? I don't mind paying for their service. 

[KwS 2421]

Would this be something @promo might be able to do, or too old?