Trading in Advice

thom119

Hey lads,

i was just wondering, what do you guys think I would be the cost of changing up to an E46 BMW 318i? Just a general guess would be much appreciated

I'm currently driving a '00 MkIV VW golf, 1.4l
FSH, Taxed until the end of this month, NCT up in Jan, due a service in 500 miles and 124k on the clock
It's a comfortline model, 18" alloys, heated leather seats, front and rear electric windows and CD player, central locking etc

Some examples of what i'm looking at;

http://www.carzone.ie/search/BMW/3-Series/318I-SE-/201141205018381/advert?channel=CARS

http://www.carzone.ie/search/BMW/3-Series/318-I-1./201139204684545/advert?channel=CARS

http://www.carzone.ie/search/BMW/3-Series/318I-SE-/201141204918126/advert?channel=CARS

Also, are there any issues I should be looking out for with a BMW of that kind of age and mileage?
Cheers

bazz26

To be honest you are not going to get a great deal by trading an 11 year old car in for another 11 or 10 year old car. The margin is pretty tight on cars of this age so in order for a garage to make money from the deal they will need to give you a low trade-in value on your current car.

My advice is to sell your car privately, given it is a Golf and is high spec compared to other Golfs and the facination that young lads have for them I reckon you will have no problems shifting it for alot more than you will be offered for it as a trade-in.

Also I would consider buying the BMW privately too, again at that age and price range you will get better value from buying privately. Cars of this age for sale in garages generally tend to be trade-ins that people just wanted to be shot of, also the warranties dealers offer on them are pretty limited and not worth the paper they are written on.

So the best option in which you part with the least amount of cash is to sell privately and then buy privately. Have a look on adverts.ie and donedeal.ie, some people could be interested in a swap + cash deal also.