Opinions on this Surf...

[eccles291]

Colin,


Have you thought about trying to sell your Beemer privately. You'ld likely get more that trade in value for it that way. Look on Autotrader or similar websites and look at what prices similar year/spec motors are being offered at. That will at least give you an idea of what you can expect.

Hi Mike, yep, we had a look on Autotrader and there's absolutely LOADS of them for sale, all around the £6000-7000 price mark. I'm loathed to try Autotrader as it's never been very succesful for me in the past.

Is the car on HP or a personal loan? If it's on HP then you will have problems selling if you don't pay off the HP as it's strictly not yours to sell. If it's just on a personal loan, then there's no tie in to the car and you can sell it without problems.

It's on HP through BMW Finance and I agree, it IS better to clear that first. Then again, a friend of mine recently bought a Nissan Navara privately that was on finance at the time. The guy who sold it said to have the bankers draught made out to the finance company so my mate knew it was being paid off. Good way of doing it I thought, although possibly not strictly within the terms of the finance agreement!

TBH I'm not sure exactly how to approach the situation now. Whether to sit tight and do nothing or somehow work out a way of getting rid of the Beemer. Maybe trading it in somewhere that WOULD be willing to take a p/ex. But that means we'd have to give up on this particular Surf and we'd really set our hearts on it. <sigh>

Mine is the (even rarer!! ;-) ) ice blue over silver

This one we're looking at is the same colour.

[TJG]

Don't listen if anyone calls it Lilac, it means that you are confident in your masculinity!


Seriously put your self where the dealer is, why on earth should he give you a trade in for more than the ca he has sitting there? He wants £ notes in his pocket out of each deal, not cars on his front. You probably wont get a good deal on a trade in unless you are throwing in a fair amount of extra money as well. Sell you car privately and you will be in top position to get a bargain.

I had no PX when I came to buy my Surf and it puts you in a brilliant position, I got £1,200 off of the screen price with a little bit of effort. I would buy a fresh import if I were you, much better deals. You will need to put sometowards it for a trade in, you need to swallow hard and look back on the pleasure you had on buying from a BMW dealer, getting a nice keyring and the little logo on the number plates etc! If you want £7k for your ar I would say you probably need to be lookig at a car with a screen price of £10k at the very least. Keep looking and don't sound desperate, when I got my Pajero I couldn't believe it when he offered me £5k for my Rangey which everyone else was talking about £3.5-4k. Mind you he did squeal when I turned up and his mechanic took it for a drive, but as I said to him...the deal was the deal.

[Medieval Dave]

hello mr dave,

do you know mr rick hawkes, battle reinactment and balloon extrodinare?

aka suzi bandit rider? ...well you know, it can be a small world sometimes!

Jo

I don't know him by name, but then I would say that most of the people I know in the medieval re-enactment world I would not know by their given names. And lots of us are bikers.

Is he with any particular groups?

[Bludger]

It's on HP through BMW Finance and I agree, it IS better to clear that first. Then again, a friend of mine recently bought a Nissan Navara privately that was on finance at the time. The guy who sold it said to have the bankers draught made out to the finance company so my mate knew it was being paid off. Good way of doing it I thought, although possibly not strictly within the terms of the finance agreement!

have you looked at the finance agreement regarding Voluntary Termination. If you have a 48mth HP conttract, you can give the car back to BMW after 24mths and owe nothing on the finance. It can work if the car has lost a load of value like BMW's which are well known for losing value secondhand.

Check the paperwork, there should be a section about it. If it's on HP, then you should be able to give the car back and walk away owing nothing. You are then in a position to buy the Surf without a p/ex. Puts you in a better position to negotiate with the dealer too.

Just a thought.

[fergus]

I wouldnt worry too much about letting the Surf you are looking at go for now. It really is a buyers market out there now as anyone who has tried to sell one recently will tell you. The current cost of fuel and the constant drivel from the government about taxing (even more!) the big engined gas guzzelers (translated into 4X4s by the media) has driven re-sale values down. Put your BM up for sale privately and then go to any Surf importer with cash and you will knock hundreds off the asking price-as one earlier poster said- the car game is about cash not filling the foecourt with trade ins. a driend of mine in the motor trade said he the business now is all about selling finace and not selling cars!

I bought mine from an importer and paid about £2.5k less than the asking price for a similar model from the local Jap import specialist, so that might be an option for you. It isnt that complex to do the SVA and reg stuff yourself and there is plenty of help on here/.

hope it works out.

[eccles291]

have you looked at the finance agreement regarding Voluntary Termination. If you have a 48mth HP conttract, you can give the car back to BMW after 24mths and owe nothing on the finance. It can work if the car has lost a load of value like BMW's which are well known for losing value secondhand.

Check the paperwork, there should be a section about it. If it's on HP, then you should be able to give the car back and walk away owing nothing. You are then in a position to buy the Surf without a p/ex. Puts you in a better position to negotiate with the dealer too.

Just a thought.

Nice one! Just had a look at the paperwork for the finance agreement and found this...

Termination: Your Rights
You have a right to end this agreement. If you do wish to do so, you should write to the person authorised to receive your payments. The Owner will then be entitled to the return of the goods and to half the total amount payable under this agreement, that is £7311.34. If you have already paid at least this amount plus any overdue installments, you will not have to pay any more, provided you have taken reasonable care of the goods.

Looks like a phonecall to BMW Finance is in order. If this sorts out the situation for us, you're due a beer. (And I mean a real one, not a virtual beer!)

Thanks.

[Bobafet]

Following on from this thread I'm going to be looking at a Surf tomorrow. It's a '96 N-reg (which makes it a 3rd gen I believe?). It's listed as an SSR-X but has wood trim, air con, park distance control, power under mirror and I thought these were SSR-G spec items?

Anyway, it's got 105,000 miles and a service history from the owner who first had it after it was imported over here. The garage is asking £5295. How does that sound to you guys? Not got enough experience of Surfs yet although I don't think it's gonna be long til we get one!

Anything in particular we might be able to mention to try and get the price down? i.e. - typical things that need doing on a car of this age/mileage for instance?

Cheers.

Theres one near me on an 'm' a minter, though I haven't checked spec, £4850 ono sounds and looks like a great deal!! not sure if its a 3.0/2.4.
If you would like his number i'll get it! We're a friendly lot here.

[Djandco]

Nice one! Just had a look at the paperwork for the finance agreement and found this...



Looks like a phonecall to BMW Finance is in order. If this sorts out the situation for us, you're due a beer. (And I mean a real one, not a virtual beer!)

Thanks.

Just make sure you keep up with the payments until its all sorted and don't give them cause to give you a bad credit splat.

Your credit history will not be affected if you do it properly.
It just felt like a waste when I did the vectra.
But you have to cut your losses and get into SURFDOM!

ps,

I have now brought my 3.0 TDI R reg!
YIPPIE!!!!