Where are the used cars?

[AlexGSi2000]

Morning all,

Its coming to the point where I'm considering purchasing my next vehicle.

As with most of us PH'ers, I know what I'm after, and have done for a long time!

I've mainly run BMW 5 series cars over the past 10 years, as they fit the bill in terms of my requirements.

I'm now on the hunt for a 2013-onwards (LCI) 530d touring in M-Sport guise, ideally with a black interior.

One thing I'm seeing immediately, is that there don't seem to be many on the market, where are they all?

I remember back in 2012 when I purchased my e39 530d that I was spoilt for choice, there must have been around 30 available at the time and it was definitely a buyers market, pricing also differed a lot too, think I paid sub £5k.

Without fear of answering my own question, It seems that the 2L 520d variant was much more popular, I'm assuming down to the original purchase cost / tax.
I've been running an e60 520d for the past couple of years, although its "fine", I miss the smoothness and power delivery of the 6-pot, considering I'll probably be keeping my next car for 5+ years, it needs to be the 30d, or 35d at a push.

So, my main question is - am I looking in the correct places?
So far I've been browsing the below sites;

- AutoTrader
- PH (of course)
- Motors
- FB marketplace
- Copart (I'd consider one that requires a little work for the right price)

Any advice on where to search would be appreciated, thanks.

[sixor8]

There are a lot of cars on eBay, the listing costs are less than A/T. Many are duplications of cars on Autotrader, but most are traders, so viewing is possible along with a warranty and negotiation on price.

Many of them are declared with category write offs but not always so research is important. Even if you only use eBay for research, I'm surprised you haven't even looked.

There are 47 from 2013-17, although the cheapest one is a parts car:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_dcat=9837&_...

Edited by sixor8 on Wednesday 9th October 09:22

[66HFM]

Gumtree is the other option but again will be a lot of duplication from eBay etc.

The other option is to join one of the owners / members clubs. including Facebook ones and you may well find someone on there either selling or knowing someone who is selling one.

[AlexGSi2000]

sixor8 said:

There are a lot of cars on eBay, the listing costs are less than A/T. Many are duplications of cars on Autotrader, but most are traders, so viewing is possible along with a warranty and negotiation on price.

Many of them are declared with category write offs but not always so research is important. Even if you only use eBay for research, I'm surprised you haven't even looked.

There are 47 from 2013-17, although the cheapest one is a parts car:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_dcat=9837&_...

Edited by sixor8 on Wednesday 9th October 09:22

Hadn't considered eBay, however, you tick the "estate" box and none fit the bill. The 2014 535d is nice, but not keen on the cream interior.

[Arlen]

AlexGSi2000 said:

Hadn't considered eBay, however, you tick the "estate" box and none fit the bill. The 2014 535d is nice, but not keen on the cream interior.

If by ticking the box you mean on the filters don't. Sometimes the information the seller / eBay pulls in is incorrect and you will find yourself potentially filtering out cars as they haven't added "Estate" in the correct box. This goes for the other filter options as well as they are only as good as the information provided.

Takes time but trawl through the whole lot, hopefully you will spot a gem.