[trucheli]

Here in Florida nowadays the Department of Motor Vehicles has a book where they can see the price of the vehicle based on the year and miles. It used to be that you could lower the selling price and the buyer with his Bill of Sale could get a break in the taxes. Not anymore!!

My deal was not for free. I had my 335i advertised for $39,900 six months ago and no takers, lots of brokers trying to get me to pay a fee for them to sell it and lots of people trying to steal it. I was offered $37,000 two weeks ago and I did not sell it. I found the right buyer who loved the car and I know that $38000 was what I wanted. The buyer agreed, but when I went to the dealer they needed to get paid and I don't blame them. Dealer fee and inspection was shy of $1000. But at the same time I was saving $2500 in taxes. Once I paid the dealer fee I was in a better position to negotiate my new vehicle. This time I am not paying a dealer fee again. I think this was a fair deal for the dealer and for me as well. You will always get a better deal on a private sale especially in this economic environment. People are buying more pre-owned vehicles than new ones.

Find a dealer who can work with you, remember that they are in business to make money and you need to build a relationship in order for them to work with you. This is my third ED and I have been doing this because it makes economic sense. This is how to do it:

First, you have to do European Delivery. From the get go you are saving around 7% and if you get a deal at invoice or even $1000 over invoice you still will be ahead. In my case it helps that I don't pay for my airfare because I collect rewards points thru American Express. So my savings depending on the vehicle are around $6000 to $7000. That savings is basically the depreciation on the vehicle in a year term. My 2007 335i was purchased at $40,000 and one year later I've got $40000 as a trade in. On my 2008 I could not get even $40,000 because of the slow economy but still my cost of owning a 2008 335i was $300 a months. I think this beats leasing.

This is a great opportunity to take advantage of the European Delivery Discount on the M3. This is the first time since the E39 that BMW is discounting an M car. You can get into a well optioned M3 coupe or sedan for less than $60,000.

Thanks BMW for allowing us to enjoy one of the best sports cars in the world for such little money. Think what the rest of the world needs to pay in order to own one of this. Even Germans need to spend almost $100,000 euros for the same car.

That's why I am a loyal BMW customer and that's why I would like all the BMW enthusiast to know about how to get the best value for their money.

Thanks for all the replies.