Breaking...

Paul and I have just finished breaking up an E46 318 and we made a good return on it but it was a bit of a hassle having neds round my house collecting stuff and dealing with lots of idiots from down south trying to bid for parts. Also a hassle parceling things up and posting them away but for us it was the only way to recoup the monies from the car.

Now we have to get rid of a shell.

It would be a real shame to break up your car.

I suspect if I put the B8 on the market just now it would be lucky to reach £8k here.  Sad but true.  It has only 70k miles on the clock and was the Frankfurt show car.  Perhaps across the Channel the B8 could fetch over €15k but with a RHD GT you don't really have that option.

No offence Dunk but you know the Alpina is the ultimate E36 so where does that leave everything else?  I reckon the market hasn't even bottomed out yet but that's a reflection of the economy rather than the cars.

If it's a 'must sell' situation then that's a pity.  My inclination would be to store it till things improve.  Breaking it would be criminal.

Robert328 wrote: Seen you on the M8 the other day in this and it looked cracking.

Cheers Got a couple of good cleans in recently.

Robert328 wrote: If you think you could easily get 6k for it breaking it then it would be worth selling it for 6k just to save the hassle. I'd stick it on eBay for at 6k starting price and no reserve if you really need to sell it.

Yup, it's really a question of what the hassle will 'cost'. Looking at pretty pessimistic sums, I reckon £6k is the minimum so more is doable; the question is how much the hassle, Paypal & eBay fees and P&P eats into that. Not to mention the madness of breaking a car of this standard.

Robert328 wrote: I wouldn't say it's the best in the Country as I know of another in Scotland that changed hands for nearer 20k so possibly the second best

To the best of my knowledge and the wider BMW / GT community mine was the only one in Scotland (with the possible exception of a sighting some time ago in Aberdeenshire which never recurred). The only time I've heard £20k mentioned in the context of GTs was in the refurb bill spent on a mag featured car a good few years ago. Any further info you're able to give me for the Register would be very interesting.

m3Cecotto wrote: ...even fewer people prepared to travel 400 miles (passing a couple of others for sale on the way) to view.

Ironic given I travelled to Watford to buy this one passing another in Leamington on the way. A valid point nonetheless I fear although it is the only one on the UK market at the mo.

m3Cecotto wrote: I don't know where you have it advertised, but I often find that the old fashioned printed classic car magazines work best - a paid for ad in Classic & Sportscar or Classic Car is often the best.  May be a little new for them, but worth a try.

Pistonheads - quiet interest until pimped by Fluffy then a flurry of views
Various forums - whole range of interest
Autotrader - totally hopeless, just generated spam
Car & Classic - quiet interest (I agree it may yet be a little new for this audience)
GT Register - thousands of advert views

My feeling is that the message that it's for sale is out there but that either the economic climate or mileage issues already referred to are at the heart of the problem although it would be interesting to understand the location one you've just raised...

Andrew Rolland wrote: Now this is a bit of a curved ball and I'm prepared to get slagged for this but what about "we buy any car dot com"?  .

Laughable I'm afraid - £1900. I could sell bits off the car and be left with a perfectly functional M3 for that...

CAP has it at £2445 as it's valued as a 3.0l M3

I'd consider placing it on  commission sale basis with Old Colonel or Four Star Classics (they are very, very expensive though - transport fees, detailing fees, advert fees then 20% IIRC - but they DO sell some stuff at spectacular prices).

Or I have a good contact at Anglia Car Auctions and can get you a good deal in their classic car auction if it's of interest?  A magazine article often helps with an unusual car too - can you get it in Total BMW or something?

Or alternatively I have long term storage available at very reasonable rates.  Sod 'em.

Edited by m3Cecotto

gary wrote: What about ebay as mentioned above? Worth a try.

Nothing to loose really. Since eBay started I have sold every car (roughly 10) either on there or on pistonheads. Most have been on both sites. I've only let one auction run to the end on one as I was very unsure of the value of the car and got a good bit more than I expect so it ended up being worth the gamble.

Every other car I sold on eBay has been sold before the auction ended. I just sold my van on there and started at £1 no reserve. I then put in the text I have this advertised else where and am looking for £6k or nearest offer - which eBays system blocked as it must have picked up on the fact I was tryng to say I'm open to offers to end early so I just put or near 0ffer (the number zero ). Got an offer for £5k within an hour and sold for £5.5k within a couple of days (paid 5.7k for it 16 months prior via an eBay advert (but bought "off eBay). I was hoping to get at least £5k for it so was happy.

People slag eBay and say it rubbish / full of junk I personally think it's the best site on the net. Just a point to note, you can't end the auction in the last 24 hours so I just put on a 10 day auction (the longest) and if I didn't get an offer / sell it within the first 9 days I'd have taken it off and started again (never had to do this though).

I wouldn't put it as an advert with offers because someone could send you an offer which you accept then pull out. Then all of other people that were watching it would be able to see the offer you accepted. An auction is the  best - either stating at £1 with or without a reserve or just start it at the very minimum price you'd take no reserve. Even if you start at £1 with say a £8k reserve I'd never let it run to the end as if it only gets bid up to 4 or 5k and ends without meeting the reserve it basically says that's what the cars worth which is obviously not always the case.

Sorry for blabbing on but as mentioned I've sold and bought loads of cars on eBay and have always got at least the money I wanted for them. I am roughly breaking even sale price vs purchase price on them too.


Edited by Robert328

Thanks for the info Boyd. I may be in touch.

its up for sale here.
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2777246.htm

sailorbaz wrote: At THIS price??? I'm a bit lost, Duncan?

no Baz, some scammer is using Dunc,s pics.