Quote:
Originally Posted by bmwarg
Thanks guys. Those are both good cars, but I'm restricting myself to the San Francisco Bay Area or within 2-3 hours driving distance. I would say my budget caps at $40,000 which I think with a little bit of patience I should find one with good clean history, low mileage, and good options.
Has anyone used carmax? I was just looking at their website and it seems that the prices are better than at any BMW dealership and their inventory is constantly updating.
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Your budget is sound, particularly if you're looking at 2011s. 2012s will probably be found in the low to mid 40s. I say probably because I ended my hunt in November (thankfully), five months of looking will drive anyone crazy.
My hunt was comprised of regularly checking AT, Carmax, eBay, BMW CPO, and Manheim (I'm not a dealer but I have Manheim access). I can't tell you how many cars I looked at or how many VINs I decoded on the ETK website. Couple of suggestions there - first, if you're chummy with a BMW service advisor, ask them to run the DCS report for anything you're seriously considering. Since you're looking at 2011+, there should be no reason why any maintenance was done anywhere other than a dealer, and that's in the DCS report. Second, if you're calling on cars at BMW dealers, ask them to furnish you with the DCS report, the CPO checklist, and the CPO repair order (the latter two if the car is CPO, the repair order being the order to CPO the car and fix anything that fails CPO so you can see what they did to it). 95% of all dealers I asked gave me this information and if they don't that would raise an eyebrow for me.
As to the Bay Area, I looked at a car at Stevens Creek. I ended up passing because I thought there were too many undisclosed minor issues, I had a friend check it out for me. Not sure if I'd be a fan of that dealer. In So Cal, I was very impressed by Shelly BMW. A gentleman named Michael (can't remember his last name) in the internet department was very cool, I almost bought one from them as well but was too late on the trigger. There's another place down there called California Beemers that seems to have nice cars but they're a little unrealistic about price. I'd stay away from any Sonic dealerships in CA.
Speaking of Carmax...a couple of things. First, I seriously considered one of their cars but was immensely frustrated when I couldn't get any real information on it. When I asked about how much was left on the tires and brakes I just got the rigamarole about the car being inspected blah blah blah. Second, you could buy a car and have it shipped into your local location. If it shows up and you don't like it, you don't have to buy it but you're out the shipping cost. That's a very expensive bullet to fire in the hopes it works out. Third, I would definitely try and get an independent PPI for any Carmax car. I strongly suspect they are very legit about cars they keep on their lot but you simply don't know, I would treat them in this area like any other dealer in terms of things you should do before buying a car.
I actually sold my MB to Carmax and was very, very pleased by the process and the amount they gave me. It certainly wasn't retail, but it was better than wholesale. They marked it up $7K, then reduced that to a $6K markup, and it was gone.
If you'd like me to check Manheim wholesale pricing for any car you're considering, just send me a PM. If it was bought at auction (will show up on Carfax or AC) relatively recently I can probably find exactly what they paid for it but I'd also need color, miles, and VIN. Always good to have as much information as possible.